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sportnoob

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Everything posted by sportnoob

  1. The north couloir on McClellan Butte is a good one if avalanche danger is low; access is easy. People ski the east / south couloirs on Guye Peak (search for TRs) and those could also be good ones that are relatively accessible and not too steep. Again with the caveat that couloir climbing should be carefully considered relative to avalanche hazard. I've had good luck using the Southwest Ridge of Red Mountain in Commonwealth Basin (as described in Jim Nelson's "Selected Climbs... Vol 2"). It's not as steep as the couloirs described (definitely not 2-tool terrain) but has easy access and is somewhat steep, reasonably done solo.
  2. I don't really know anything about fabrics. It seems like there's variation across models and brands of the types and thicknesses of leather used on the palms of gloves (designed for climbing). It also seems like most gloves that are worth looking at that are more than simply a liner or powerstretch (eg for handling gear in the snow or ice climbing proper) have leather palms. I get that most gloves aren't gonna be waterproof due to the seams (and the fact that there's a big-ass hole where I stick my hand in). But I'm wondering about how quickly they dry once they do wet out (like, say, on an overnight trip). I handled some Mountain Hardwear gloves (Hydras, I think) and the leather seemed thin and supple. In contrast, I took a look at some Eddie Bauer Guide gloves and the leather seemed thick and stiffer. Is leather that seems / feels thicker and stiffer gonna dry out slower once it wets out? Also, several folks on the internet praise the OutDry feature of the MH gloves. I could see how this affects the rest of the glove body in terms of staying dry and / or drying out. Does this affect the palm part? The motivation for this question was my experience this summer with some affordable softshell & deerskin gloves I got from Eastern Mountain Sports and treated with Sno Seal. Seems like they wet out relatively quickly, and took forever and a day to dry out.
  3. An earlier thread I posted asking about the cilogear 45 got a response suggesting I check out the 30:30, which hadn't been on my radar. Can anyone with experience weigh in on the 30:30 vs the 40B? It looks like the 40B has a little more width and therefore volume. Outdoorgearlab's online review more or less says the 30:30 straps and belt aren't very comfortable when the pack is loaded, which is why I am interested in the 40. The pack would be for climbing situations where I approach the night before, bivy, and then strip the pack to climb before returning to camp. I'd also like it if it worked for carry-over climbs that aren't technically very hard for me. For both of these reasons, I'm thinking a more "real" hipbelt would be nice when the pack is loaded (my big reservation about the 30:30). Any suggestions of other packs of similar design? I don't like the BD Speed swing arm thing, seems gimmicky and weird. Haven't tried the Patagonia Ascensionist 45, but am wary of the closure design and like to not be a "first adopter" in case it ends up being weird / sucky. I want a removable hipbelt, which rules out the Cold Cold World Chernobyl. I'm asking as it's not easy to do a try-before-you-buy thing with Cilogear.
  4. Thanks, Alex. I'm thinking of stuff like the Picket or Gunsight range where the approach is nontrivial (I know the big boys do traverses of the Pickets with small packs, but I'm not on that level). My thinking was that both partners would need the space afforded by a bigger pack for food / bivy gear, etc. I am concieving of the 45L as one-stop shopping for a carry-in big pack as well as a compressible pack OK to lead with. Your line of reasoning would suggest perhaps a party having one "OK to follow with" bigger pack (like a Cilo) and one "OK to lead with" pack (perhaps something small that could compress in a regular backpacking pack if a lot of space were necessary for the approach like a REI Flash 18). Seems like a good choice that trades off a slightly heavier load on the approach in favor of something that is less of a bother for the leader. Any other opinions out there?
  5. Hi, I'm looking at the Cilogear 45L as a climbing pack for trips where I might be carrying in bivy gear to the base of a route, then stripping it down for climbing. I'm thinking primarily alpine rock. What's attractive to me is that it's big enough that I won't have a bunch of stuff strapped to the outside for schwacky approaches. I looked at a friend's Cilo 45L and liked a lot about it. My one concern is that it is really tall for the portion of the trip where I'd be actually rock climbing. The conclusion I came to is that I'd remove the hipbelt, foam pad, and framesheet (probably wouldn't use the framesheet at all anyway) for climbing, then cinch down on load lifters all the way to 'eat up' the 4 - 6" of height above the connection point of the shoulder straps. This, combined with yarding down on the internal compression strap for whatever is in there, seems like it would effectively have the load on the shoulders. Playing around in his garage, this seemed like it shortened the pack up enough such that the bottom didn't ride over my harness (getting in the way of chalkbag and gear loops). Is this what other people do? I'm kinda nervous about doing this a lot and somehow making the load be carried by the inner fabrics in a way that isn't ideal or something. Especially if I'm putting stuff in there for a walkoff that weighs a little something (like the rope or rack). For actual climbing when I've just got a little water, food, and clothing, seems like my setup would be OK. I'd sure like to hear what others are doing who have a pack like this. The 30:30 is a little on the small side for what I'd like to be doing and the equipment I currently own; also I'd like the more 'real' hipbelt of the 45L for approach hikes. Caveat emptor: I haven't done alpine rock climbing with a sack this big, as most of my stuff has been car-to-car with a smaller pack.
  6. I'm new to the area and am a moderate trad leader (5.9 and under). I've got tcu's on my rack for the small stuff, and camalots for larger. I've never used offset cams before but on my few recent outings in the Icicle I've found some funky placements where my tcu's were ok but I was wondering "are these the sorta placements offsets are made for?". The typical marketing spiel around offsets is for pin scars. I wasn't encountering these so much as just pod-like features and flaring cracks. I don't have any friends who have some for me to try out. Do folks find they're useful for free climbing mostly moderate trade routes around here? Or am I overthinking it?
  7. Looking to do some solo TR laps on random weekday mornings when things aren't crowded. Ideally 10s and 11s. I know Repo Walls at X32 and Gritscone at X38 are toprope-able (e.g. there's a walkup where one can reach the anchors without necessarily having to lead the route). What else? I've been to a lot of cliffs with partners for leading and such and haven't checked to see if there's walkups. I could just explore them all on foot (will probably happen anyway), but hoped some kind souls here would save me a little time and energy.
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