dbconlin

raven pro is a great general mountaineering axe (and has an all-steel head), as is the regular raven for a few less bucks and only slightly heavier. for more technical routes, the air tech evo is a great axe, but it is spendy and if you aren't going to need it's technical prowess, probably not worth it.

As alluded to in previous posts, the hardpeople who would actually use a bag like this are few and far between, or are couples. Reading advice from some of these people indicates that they almost invariably use synthetic insulation in their sleeping systems. Also, they choose bags with less extreme temp ratings. This bag may appeal however to mountaineering couples and with less insulation to through-hiking couples.

Regarding a rack for your 4runner, I've always liked Yakima racks. They make a 'tower' that will fit in the stock rack rails and support a round crossbar. You can then attach just about anything to the round crossbar, including safari-style racks, ski racks, bike rack, cargo boxes, kayak mounts, etc. The advantage of this method is the interface between rack and car only occurs where there is a factory rail installed anyway. The other option is to get towers that clamp around the top of the door/roof, available through Thule, Yakima, others. My concern with these is that if you end up basically leaving it on all the time, you can end up with paint damage under the 'foot' of the 'tower'. It is also not as easy to remove if for example you go on a road trip and want to improve your economy a bit and don't need the rack, or if you want to go through a car wash. finally, a third option is to install mini-rails (available through Yakima, others) by drilling into the roof of the truck. This is what most people do to install them on pickup truck toppers, but can be done on any vehicle. The advantages are very easy to remove rack from vehicle, very strong, very clean look. Disadvantage is that the rails are essentially permanent.

Cool, when you posted your TR for the attempt at what later became 'the history of things to come' i was wondering when gank'd and slay'd would be climbed. Looks sweet! Sounds harder than it looks!

i'll show you mine if you show me yours...

i carry a pentax optio wp - 5 MP, 3x optical zoom, submergible (yes, I have). it is great because i take it backpacking, ice climbing, etc. and i don't have to worry about it getting wet. it is very compact and fits in a pocket. while climbing, i carry it attached to a neck lanyard (available at cell phone stores) and tuck it into a chest pocket, usually on one of my inner layers. i don't find the minimal optical zoom to be too limiting. usually i wish i had wider angle, not more zoom. disadvantages to this camera that I have noticed are: no optical viewfinder, so it eats more batteries to use the digital screen. proprietary rechargeable battery only lasts a couple of days if you take a lot of shots and buying additional batteries is expensive. in cold weather lasts even less. i haven't seen another camera currently made that i would rather have.

Nice ride. Toyota trucks are great and the year of 4 runner you got are in my opinion the best design. Unfortunately, when I had a Toyota truck, I was suprised to find that finding/buying Toyota-specific accessories was harder than I expected. I used to own a Jeep and there are oodles of good catalogs for aftermarket accessories for those. I expected there to be enough of a cult following for the same to be true for Toyota trucks. Here is one of the better catalogs I've found, and they happen to be based in WA too: http://www.northwestoffroad.com/

I fill a 28 oz, bicycle-style bottle at the gym. I usually go through 1.5 to 2 bottles full in a 1-hr workout. So, YES, I'll take your bet! At my gym there is almost never a line for the fountain, though. Plus, I bet you consume person-minutes at the fountain filling a water bottle, than if you have to repeatedly return to sip.

no. good strategy. ff bags are sweet. a 10 deg bag should do just about everything without weighing you down. think about getting the eVent shell. it is heavier, but more water resistant. always a trade-off

I second Patagonia Guide/Super Guides. And there is NO need for an additional shell NO MATTER WHAT THE WEATHER brings, as suggested in an earlier post. The unnamed BD pants could be the BDVs or the Alpine pants. I would stay away from the BDVs, though. No shape, elastic waist, they fit more like sweat pants and the leg taper is too much.

I would start by filing off the bottom of the first tooth. Have you done that? If not, what did you do to modify it?

yeah, but you cannot attach a grivel slider.

nice work guys. looks like an appealing line.

f'n awesome! what a sweet line and stellar conditions. That ice looks purdy!

that looks sweet! way to go, guys!

Trip: Kent NF - unnamed mixed route Date: 2/3/2007 Trip Report: On Saturday, scottgg and I climbed the north face of Mt. Kent via a mixed line to the right of the major ice pillar seen in the center of this photo and what from this angle appears to be about half way up the face: Here is a closer up shot of the route, the sweet-looking pillar to the left, and our line on the right: We left the TH at 0415, arriving at the base of the face at 0630. We started off with some simul-climbing for a couple hundred meters over some grade 2+ ice and steep snow slopes into the bowl beneath the pillar. We had intended to climb the pillar itself but when we got there it looked too big, steep, and intimidating for our mediocre waterfall ice skills (probably grade 5). I consider myself a better alpine mixed climber than waterfall ice climber and felt more confident leading up the mixed line instead. It turned out to be more difficult than it looked, but not too bad. Protection was scarce (the rock was pretty poor, we had a minimal rock rack as we had intended to be on ice, ice wasn't thick or good enough for even stubby screws, and the shrubs were further between and more fragile than it had appeared from below) but I found a decent belay under a roof after about 40 meters. Scott took the next lead, up some more sketch ice, to some better rock with a good tree anchor, and then traversing left on exposed mixed climbing back into the drainage above the ice pillar. Both of these pitches I would rate at about WI3+ M4/5.8. We belayed one more pitch on moderate grade 3 ice steps above the pillar and then simul-climbed the rest of the way to the summit, arriving at about 1330 in a light drizzle. Looking up the mixed line (be assured it is steeper than this photo depicts / good ole foreshortening at work): Scott approaching the first belay: Scott starting out the second pitch, you can see the ice pillar in the background: Some mixed moves on the second pitch: Scott removing the last screw on the last belayed pitch, just above the last technical difficulty, a short WI3 ice step: Scott approaching the last belay, from whence onward we simulclimbed: Summit shots (me=short, scott=tall): Overall a fun alpine route with a little bit of everything, some water ice, some mixed climbing, minor routefinding challenges, and some vertical bushwacking in spots. This was Scott's last climb before becoming a father (baby due next week). Congrats Scott! Gear Notes: lots of long slings for the trees would be nice! Approach Notes: Quick with solid snow conditions, just over 2 hours to the base of the face.

looks to me like: carbon fiber vs. aluminum shaft cobra = straighter lower shaft with more severe bend up high, while viper = more continuously curved shaft resulting in: cobra - plunge better, pound pitons better viper - more clearance it actually looks like the cobra gives an overall steeper hooking angle though. all this is of course just from gaping at the photos, i've never seen them in person.

i can't stop looking at those pictures. anyone who was at the show care to comment on the grip design? big hands. little hands. same as previous versions, different?

approximately perpendicular...

Yes, this is what I have been waiting for! -clearance shaft -pinky rest/guard -full strength (?) clip in point for umbilical Yes! Yes! Yes! -and of course BDs great head/pick designs. Bonus!

Nice job! That must've been you we saw over there. We were thankful that you guys were on the first pitch when we got there, giving us an easy excuse to do something else--something much less committing! NYC007 and I climbed Wash. Dihedrals, which was really fun & mellow with no runouts...

I think catbirdseat's most recent post is useful advice: I would add to it that when travelling on low-angled glacier, where the most likely fall would involve arresting a ropemates fall into a crevasse, would be a good place to use self-arrest grip. On steep snow slopes where one may be using the axe to help move their weight against gravity, the piolet canne position makes more sense.

yes! all the 'developing' countries i have been to do this standard. you sometimes have to buy things '3 for a [monetary unit]' instead of being able to buy just one, so they don't have to deal with worthless units of currency. pennies are so lame. some countries I have been to essentially roung to the nearest dime or larger. and this is in countries where smaller amounts of money are more valuable. why can't we do this in the US? [well, because businesses can make a lot of money by nickeling and diming us (but not penny-ing?). It adds up] whatever

Patagonia Guide pants seem to run a little long, but maybe not that long. Mammut pants are available in a zillion sizes. Other than that, maybe beyondfleece would be the ticket.

the second pitch doesn't need to be protected really. i placed one screw, slung one tree, before reaching the next belay.