Ade

Anyone planning on going into the Wadd this summer. We're a party of two looking for another group to partner with to make flights more economical. We plan to head in the w/e of 12th August and fly out two weeks later on the w/e of the 26th. Not looking for climbing partners just someone to share the ride. PM me if you're interested. Cheers, Ade

Compared to all the other dumb shit that gets asked on this board this is hardly pointless. Protein shakes (homemade), fish oil, vitamines E & C.

My initial expereinces with CF: A month of CrossFit Two chippers yesterday... ouch.

Sking is optional. I went a few years back and climbed Cutthroat - left my skis in Seattle. Good times...

That's true a lot of the newer ice/mixed boots are much more flexible in the ankle and cut lower making French Technique easier. Conversely the offer less ankle support for pure frontpointing, trading it for more flexibility which is useful on technical ice.

To get back to the topic in hand... I don't think French technique is that outdated. If you're doing a big alpine route the more you can save your calves for the stepper stuff the better. It's not that easy, probably harder in a lot of more modern boots that limit ankle flexibility (plastics for example). Still well worth practicing if you ask me. Ade

OK. So I guess "Wait while I go back for the other half of my load" isn't an option. Have you considered CrossFit? I've been doing it for a three weeks* (3 x 1hr) and am already seeing results. I'm adding in a fair amount of cardio work (4-5 hrs a week in >1hr blocks) but not able to go alpine climbing due the the weather. My run time up Tiger is already back down to my personal best, largely I think due to the strength training. You'll already find a lot of regular firefighters doing CrossFit, along with law enforcement and the military. It'll definitely give you the back, core and lower body strength you need as a basis for your 100lbs and 3-6 miles. In addition its focus is all round fitness which I assume would be useful when it comes to actually fighting fires. Take this workout for example... 400m run 15 x (1 dumbell clean and 2 dumbell push presses) 400m run 12 x (...) 400m run 9 x (...) Or a similar combination of resistance sprints interleaved with deadlifts. It'll mess you up, make you harder to kill. Have fun Ade * I was actually doing it before that but injury and illness prevented me from going consistently.

I would seriously consider trying to pack 50+ pounds 6-12 miles. In other words to two carries. Sort yourself out a big pack with water containers and go hike some hills. Deadlifts are definitely good to build core and specific leg strength.

If you have to ask then don't. With a sig. like that definitely don't.

Why don't you just put him back under his rock and leave him be.

When is the last time you had or heard about a camalot blowing up or falling apart on anyone? Why would C3s be any different? They are plenty flexible. But it's a BD version 1 product so anything might happen

Nice job!

Has anyone used a GSI Espresso maker? Are they any better that one little Italian ones. I'm worried an XGK might melt the handle on it. They're also bulkier but I only want it for BC. If anyone has used one? I'd like to know what they thought of it. Cheers, Ade Of course you might ask why I'd want such a yuppie, foo foo item in the first place. Well my climbing partner for a four week trip is a bit of an epicurian and has finally rebelled against another Folger's coffee bag trip. He has a point - I could get better coffee out of my butt than a Folger's bag.

So I have had occasion to use the above at 10,000' in late June. It works but don't expect to have fun doing it. In winter is would really suck - colder and a much longer night to wait through. We had a stove - MSR Pocket Rocket. Which really helped reduce suckage. Matches for a fire sound real useful but if you get stuck on technical ground, which seems more likely than below treeline, there isn't going to be anything to burn anyways. If we'd been relying on a fire we'd have really been hosed. You might want to consider an insulated bivvi sack instead of a bivvy bag blanket combo. Probably lighter and in winter a bivvy sack isn't much use unless it's raining - in which case you're really screwed.

So I got my pictures back... Here you go! WARNING... we had good weather some of them are alpine porn... (I tried to put a few of them directly here but UBB wasn't having it. Enjoy... Ade

Someone sounds bitter that they don't have a couple of hundred bucks to drop on a nice new pack... and it's not me. You're presupposing that it's an either/or decision. Some of us spend a fair amount of time trying to make sure we have the best gear for the job in hand and a lot of time training. You're also assuming that we all want to be rich(er). You can't spend it when your dead.

But then how could I hang out and smoke with all my fat pregnant meth using friends? I'm going to stay right where I am - shacked up with my 350 pound cousin in Redmond.

So I'm set. Just don't melt snow in it and have a bunch of hot water handly to make sure the fuel is liquid. And all for the same price as an XGK.

I have... They're SHIT. As opposed to THE SHIT. Don't fit as wide a range of boot heels as a normal lever system. These are the only crampons I've ever owned that simply would not fit some boots. Are hard to put on in any amount of snow. The lever is small and fiddly. If you think you'll be putting these on wearing mitts when its 0F forget it. Lots of rivets so if something breaks they're going to be harder to botch back together if you have to. There's like 30g difference between the sidelock and leverlocks. The only justification I've ever heard for the sidelock is that it doesn't interfere with heel hooking. Great. Of course if you're using them instead of fruit boots then you probably don't care but when P-C put these binding on an "alpine" crampon (Sarken) they really didn't do anyone any favours. I think they're no longer doing that - after spending a season trying to convice anyone who would listen that this was the "way forward", "huge improvement" and other BS. It's a pity because I really like my modified Sarkens with heel bails. They climb well and are pretty light.

So the big difference... Seeing as onbody else has pointed it out is that the MSR figures are for water boiled per 8oz fuel cannister and the JetBoil number is for a 3.5oz cannister so theirs is over twice as efficent.

No shit. Really? I'm not trying to save weight. But their marketing department is telling me their stove is better and lighter than the competition and I just don't see it.

bivouac.com are indeed Canadian based but they cover the Kluane and most of the US border peaks surrounding it to the West and South. They also seem to have entries for the Denali area etc. They have a sophisticated database to search the nearly 25,000 mountains recorded and draw maps etc. As you point out this doesn't come easy or cheap but that's way you pay them $20 CAN for I guess - which deosn't seem like a lot to me.

But according to the numbers on MSRs site it's no lighter and doesn't boil more water or any faster. A Pocket Rocket + pan is about 400g, the jetboil comes in at over 500g. The only thing is seems to be better at is it'll boil more water per cylinder so I guess for long trips you can save weight. Can't say I'm entirely convinced. Ade

If I had hot water I wouldn't need a stove now would I? More interestingly if you compare the stats for an MSR Pocket Rocket and Jetboil they don't seem to be much different.

Only if you believe that you need half this shite to do the sort of climbing most people do. Let's face it you don't need a $500 dead bird pack to hike Rainier.