Ade

I have an Air Tech racing and really like it. The alloy spike is fine for general use, it has worn quite significantly but this is a lightweight axe and as such you shouldn't expect the same level of bombproof durability that you might get out of an axe that is one and a helf times the weight. Looking at the picks on the racing and evo there shouldn't be much of a difference self arresting. The real issue is with reverse curve picks found on technical ice tools. These tend to bite very aggresively when self arresting; either pulling themselves from the climbers grasp or causing injury. A friend of mine self arrested with a technical tool and dislocated his shoulder in the process.

Firth/Slawinski, Greenwook-Locke - first winter ascent. Slawinski/Babanov, Robinson-Orvig / Sphinx face - second ascent & first winter ascent. Semple/Walsh, Robinson-Orvig / Sphinx face - first one day ascent (in April but in winter conditions). House/Prezelj, N face North Twin, independent line joining the Lowe-Jones for the upper half - third ascent of face (in April but in winter conditions).Full Report

I did. But we ditched the camera along with all the other gear to make a desparate fast-and-light push from the last bolt to the summit before that massive storm hit.

I think you'll find that they don't let you return climbing hardware or ropes etc. I'm not saying that in some cases they shouldn't take gear back too but there are quitea few stores that have a similar policy. I've also returned stuff there w/o any problem.

I'd stay away from the 10cm screws if I were you. For alpine climbing you'll have to clear of more surface crud as with a very short screw you'll need the whole thing in good ice. You'll save weight but make placements potentially more work. If you're climbing with six screws as Don suggests do you really want to run it out 20m on a 10cm screw or belay off two of them? In water ice they're great if the ice is thin and solid, but that means you're on pretty technical ground. Get some 16/17s, a couple of longer ones (I actually like these for garbage ice - gives you a bit more metal deeper where the ice might be better). The 13s are OK, but I usually take the 16s in the alpine unless I'm expecting thin ice. With an BD Express screw the time taken to place them doesn't really depend that much on the length, you can spin them in really quickly once they're started.

It's obvious what happened... The owner removed them after shitting himself on the insanely runout and hard to protect crack he'd just led. I'd recommend anyone who did that route took at least three or four pairs of skivies on it to save embarrassment.

I was told that the BD Sabertooths were supposed to fit the Terminator boots. Have you checked those out?

Sweet trip. The Line... Like McArthur, I shall return. Or in this case have another go at getting to the base of it.

That's the only drawback I've found with it. There isn't much scope for strapping stuff on the outside. The lid is also kind of small so it's hard to pack stuff under that too.

Serratus Genie rules. Very small, very light, very cheap. It doesn't have a back pad which either requires that you pack carefully or add one. It has a slot for one but no foam. You can by foam from http://www.friendlyfoam.com/

I'm up for this. Does the estimate on gas saved factor in the massive reduction in population caused but all the fatalities as bikers are run over by the rest of the bloater population in their SUVs?

red-haired guy == Minus

In fact Metolius' site is just full of stuff you either don't need or can buy elsewhere for a lot less: Tape: http://www.metoliusclimbing.com/climbingtape.htm Gloves: http://www.metoliusclimbing.com/gloves.htm Labels: http://www.metoliusclimbing.com/gearlabels.htm Brushes: http://www.metoliusclimbing.com/boulderbucket.htm#M-16%20Brush

Yep. Anything to avoid actually having to think for yourself.

If only I could ski then I could avoid downclimbing the stupid thing. I guess one day I'll graduate from the "Colchuck Lake is my favorite backcountry ski" school of skiing. Nice job anyways.

The Brits do that for routes that for the most part are extended boulder problems with terrible gear. "crux at 40' protected by bad RPs" type territory.

So do the socially inept get directions? Where is this place? Humm... Hell freezing over. All I'd have to do is kill myself and I could spend the rest of my death climbing with Alan Rouse. Sweet!

I agree a frameless pack will keep you honest in the summer but in winter it's much harder to cut the load down. I used to carry a frameless pack all the time but got pissed off with it for heavier loads so I got a pack with a removable frame. I'd still use a frameless pack in the summer though (Serratus Genie). I also happened to look at a Shadow this weekend. Nice looking but very thin fabric, lots of stitching, and the buckles are very tricky to undo. Why spend $200 on a pack only to have to take a knife to it?

If we're all going to sit in the same room sending endless drivel to each other with PCs then I'm not coming... It'll remind me too much of work.

Before you rush off and buy a second set of cams. You might want to consider the other options. It's pretty rare to need, or to have the energy to carry, more than one set of cams up a route. I guess the exception might be splitter cracks, but there you need lots of same size cams not full sets. Your partner probably has some cams too so now you have three sets - basically a substantial aid rack's worth. You might consider getting some passive gear; nuts, hexes etc. They're cheaper, lighter and in some cases predictable when placed.

Forged friends are actually lighter and cheaper than the tech friends. The biggest issue with the smaller ones is that if you place them in shallow horizontal cracks a fall will load the stem over an edge. You can mitigate this by tying the stem off (there's a hole in it for this). In larger cracks this isn't so much of an issue as in a lot of cases they're deep enough that the shaft isn't loaded. Buy tech friends in smaller sizes (< #2.5 say) and forged in large sizes. The camming ranges overlap so for a lighter cheaper rack you can get away with a rack of half or whole sizes, depending on the route obviously. For really small sizes there are the new zero Friends or Aliens. I've only tried the Friends a couple of times, they're much better finished than the Aliens but the trigger bar is smaller and closer to the cams making them a bit harder to get out if deeply placed.

You obviously were not going fast enough.

I have a Chaos. I used it to drag stuff up to 14k on Denali. For a pack that size it's pretty light because it has no frame. It carries OK when loaded but obviously not as good as a framed pack. It was the biggest pack I could find that actually seemed to be designed to climb with. For the Cascades I have another pack that's smaller and has a removable hip belt and frame (a POD Black Ice). It's a much better option for the Cascades where long approaches but shorter climbs are more common. The Chaos is a good design but definitely not state of the art materials but they are durable. A lot of the very lightest packs are made of lighter materials which aren't going to last as well. This might be worth a read too.

Other things worth noting: The other thing you can do to make plastics climb better is to get a better set of footbeds for them. Either Superfeet or equivalent or a custom footbed if you can afford it. These will significantly reduce the amount of heel lift while climbing. I have invernos and intuition liners, the shells are slightly too big, but the footbeds and liners filled up some of the volume and got me a significantly better fit. Sizing is really critical a friend of mine got a smaller shell size and with intuition liners he couldn't use the boots they were too tight. Some thermo liners expand when you cook them, some don't. You can re-cook intuitions when they pack down to extend their life. I only use them for AK etc. Winter in the cascades, Coast in summer etc I just use leathers because the climb so much better.

So just like last year then. At least it's reliable.