dbconlin
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Posts posted by dbconlin
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My only reservation is on technical climbs when I'm bending my wrist a lot, I find that the back of my hand presses buttons and I'm constantly finding that I'm in "logging mode" which eats the battery quicker...
Yeah, I find that a watch altimeter is in the wrong place when I need it, too. I don't want to bare my hands/wrists, undo velcro, pull up my sleeves, etc to get a look. I don't want it restricting the motion of my wrists. I don't care to have it banging against rock or ice. You can get a lanyard adapter at REI, which basically replaces the wristband with a bit that attaches to a lanyard supposedly to hang around your neck. I went a step further, removed the neck lanyard and clip it instead to a keychain biner. Then I clip it to my packstrap (or anywhere else). I like it much better than on the wrist.
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Hell yeah.
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0.4 or better yet grey Alien
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yeah, they should. I have put them on scarpa alphas and scarpa t2s, as well as la sportiva makalus and k3s. i honestly cannont imagine a step-in compatible boot that they wouldn't fit.
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nice photos! looks like fun climbing.
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it is best not to have to change your pants. even with full-zip, do you remove your harness, or what? i think this may be why more people don't have full zip pants.
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i would check out the mammut cormayeur pants for all around performance.
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Soft shell is Ideal for 80% of conditions. The other 20% is Gortex or suffering!
I take a shoft shell for 100% of conditions when climbing. For backpacking, I still take a hardshell if there is any chance of extended periods of rain. Backpacking temps are warmer and any precip is likely to be liquid. Climbing the precip should be either 1. brief or 2. crystalline, for which softshell is perfect.
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FYI, I weighed the following items, which may be of use to the uber-hardcore lightweight afficianados:
Patagonia Men's active boxer: 3.9 oz
Patagonia Men's active brief: 2.1 oz
Patagonia W's active brief: 1.1 oz
Patagonia W's active low-rise thong: 0.5 oz
commando: 0.0 oz
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ericb has a good point regarding pants. for backpacking i usually either bring a light nylon pant which is not waterproof, but dries quickly, or i go shorts plus ultralight waterproof pants. in the mountains (i mean climbing, rather than backpacking) i always wear a softshell pant, no matter what the weather. your precip pants would fit my criteria for ultralight waterproof pants, which will be good for very wet (like olympic rainforest) backpacking and could be employed for climbing too, but maybe not ideally so.
on top the precip jacket is a good lightweight jacket. there are lighter however (but maybe not as inexpensive) and the cut/fit and hood on the precip are not ideal for climbing. patagonia makes some awesome very light shells that have stretch, but are hardshells nonetheless (ie totally (?) waterproof). check out their jetstream or spraymaster jackets. mont-bell also makes some nice light jackets.
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crampons and jacket gone to ebay...
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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.
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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.
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I have the 58 cm one, in pretty good to very good condition ... could you spice the deal up a bit?
ummmm...what does that mean?
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shaft too long for me get happy.
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I am ideally looking to trade my 66 cm Air Tech Evo for same axe in a size 58 cm.
Mine has been used on 4-5 trips and is in good shape. Some scratches, and grip strips are rubbing off (have spares to renew axe). The pick has never needed to be sharpened.
Looking to trade for same axe in comparable condition, size 58. Would consider selling if I can get enough to purchase a used one to replace it.
PM me. Thanks.
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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.
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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!
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i'll show you mine if you show me yours...
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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.
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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/
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Pet Peeves
in Spray
why the fuck do people back up the water fountain line at the gym filling up 16 or 32 oz water bottles? how about just take a drink or just fill up the bottle part way? wanna bet they usually don't drink it all and dump it down the sink at home?
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.
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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
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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.
Treating the palms of ice climbing gloves?
in The Gear Critic
Posted
I've been using seam grip on the area between thumb and forefinger, where my gloves tend to wear out fastest, most likely from rope handling and rappelling. This has worked really well. The most recent gloves i bought, i did this before using them at all. It definitely helps them hold out better.
If you already have a split in the leather, you can use needle/thread to stitch it back together and then put seam grip over that. Works well and can breathe at least another season back into a glove that is otherwise trash.