jordo Posted October 18, 2001 Share Posted October 18, 2001 Met 5 Jacket W/Heat Kit by The North Face: "Technology you might find in a space suit comes to the backcountry. Built into the chest panels of this jacket is a network of hair-fine conductive filaments, which swathe you in generated heat. The heating element can keep pumping 105 F of warmth to you for five hours. . . " - From mgear.com What the #@*% is this? Is it just me or is this akin to Messner calling bolts the rape of the impossible? Here we have the rape of the elements. I know this sounds a bit masochistic, but sometimes I enjoy shivering my ass off on an icefield! I've been accused by friends of thinking too much, especially about climbing, but it seems that the more gadgets we employ, the less of an authentic experience is encountered (just don't look in my closet!). Think of snowmobiles (I don't know how much of an issue this is in WA, but in SWBC [sweet white butt crack] its a big deal with backcountry skiers) and how pissed off and betrayed we feel at having spent five lung-burning hours to get to a place that has taken someone fifteen minutes on a machine to access. Is it the same thing? Of course the refinement of gear has allowed for an increase in what climbers accomplish, but isn't artificially heating your body's core a bit much? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lambone Posted October 18, 2001 Share Posted October 18, 2001 I think that jacket is really for snowmobilers... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David_Parker Posted October 18, 2001 Share Posted October 18, 2001 Goes with their heated handle grips! Hey, there's an idea for ski poles!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EddieE Posted October 18, 2001 Share Posted October 18, 2001 Yeah, it's kind of a jack ass thing, and I can think of at least 17 things I'd blow 500 bucks on, but I think its just the evolution of heated socks and those hand warmer packs for your hands. You probably wouldn't even know some dude has it on unless he's spraying about it. My dos centavos. I want heated grips for my ice tools. [This message has been edited by EddieE (edited 10-18-2001).] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MysticNacho Posted October 18, 2001 Share Posted October 18, 2001 Ever sat in a car with heated seats without knowing that they were heated? Makes you feel like you had an accident. Especially when you get some clueless female sitting there, sometimes you get to watch them turn white as a sheet. Now that's funny! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MysticNacho Posted October 18, 2001 Share Posted October 18, 2001 What are you doing checking this website at 5:30 in the morning Eddie? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EddieE Posted October 18, 2001 Share Posted October 18, 2001 It was an alpine start at work today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willstrickland Posted October 18, 2001 Share Posted October 18, 2001 Rape of the elements? What makes it that much different than a 880+ overfilled Feathered Friends parka? I've had a heated jacket for years...throw a disposable handwarmer in your jacket pocket and you will too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beck Posted October 18, 2001 Share Posted October 18, 2001 I walk around winter camps with a one quart hot water nalegene bottle heater, added to extra socks and s--- I've got drying out in my coat- but it makes me look like the Pillsbury dough boy on a raid to the snow kitchen! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hikerwa Posted October 18, 2001 Share Posted October 18, 2001 I carry a can of lighter fluid in my pocket, when I get cold I squirt a small amount onto my coat and light a match to it. Viola, happy warmies.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EddieE Posted October 18, 2001 Share Posted October 18, 2001 You can warm up your sleeping bag by eating spicy food for dinner. As long as you keep your bag sealed around your neck, your tentmates don't get too pissed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rodchester Posted October 18, 2001 Share Posted October 18, 2001 I think Messner said "murder" of the impossible. But I agree with your sentiment, to a point. Let the yuppies have their toys. Do you really think anyone will buy this AND actually use it? No. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bronco Posted October 19, 2001 Share Posted October 19, 2001 quote: Originally posted by Rodchester: I think Messner said "murder" of the impossible. But I agree with your sentiment, to a point. Let the yuppies have their toys. Do you really think anyone will buy this AND actually use it? No. Read Matt and Mattp's trip report on 3 fingers. I bet they would have fought over the jacket if they had one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beck Posted October 19, 2001 Share Posted October 19, 2001 I'd by one for my lift served ski bunny if I had one... Grandma, too! she'd love it "OOhh, a heating pad I can wear!!! How much did it cost, sonny?" "Get the stick, boy,and come over here for that whipping you deserve for spending money like that!" Got to love old Grams. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottP Posted October 19, 2001 Share Posted October 19, 2001 "but isn't artificially heating your body's core a bit much?" Is it that much different than using a box on one's desk to find out the conditions/gear list/beta of a route one intends to do so as to improve the chances of success? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dru Posted October 22, 2001 Share Posted October 22, 2001 I bet it will make spooning at those ultralight bivies more fun. Now you and your partner can see if 2 people can fit in 1 jacket! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 22, 2001 Share Posted October 22, 2001 This is a test, punks! Don't gimme no lip. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cpt.Caveman Posted October 22, 2001 Share Posted October 22, 2001 Did your test work Bunkpoint? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 22, 2001 Share Posted October 22, 2001 If I wanted any lip, I'd be unbuttonin' my pants right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cpt.Caveman Posted October 22, 2001 Share Posted October 22, 2001 And then I would kick those gonads into outer space Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sexual_chocolate Posted October 22, 2001 Share Posted October 22, 2001 Original quote by Jordo: "Of course the refinement of gear has allowed for an increase in what climbers accomplish, but isn't artificially heating your body's core a bit much?" What's the difference between this and wearing clothes? Clothes could be considered "artificial"; we weren't born with them. So by wearing them, we are "artificially" heating our body's core, are we not? Naked mountaineering, without ANY equipment, would truly be the only pure way of climbing anything "naturally". And that goes for "trad-climbing" ethicists. Anything less is surely cheating! Next time I see pope and retrosaurus out climbing, I'll be there with my camera! For surely, as "pure" as they are, they wouldn't dare cheat with shoes and clothes and chalk and a rope and a belayer.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sexual_chocolate Posted October 22, 2001 Share Posted October 22, 2001 I forgot a smiley face. Dang. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dru Posted October 22, 2001 Share Posted October 22, 2001 I believe the amount of methane and hot air emitted moondancing makes all the other environmental impactors you mentioned pale by comparison. I believe your trolling license has expired. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairweather Posted October 23, 2001 Share Posted October 23, 2001 quote: Originally posted by sexual chocolate: Dru. Do you drive to the crags or mountains? Your air-pollution doesn't wash off. Do you wear nylon-based garments? Oil is used, a non-renewable resource. Do you use wood products? Old-growth forests will really never be as they once were. All of these affect the air we all breathe. Do you eat cow? (Are you not proud?) The methane produced by cow-farming significantly increases atmospheric methane, which increases global warming, and meat production also increasing net-suffering on the planet. The effect of bolts pales in comparison. PS. A strong enough acid would wash those bolts right off.... OK Chocolate, You're the one trolling so I'll take a bite: 1)"Your air pollution doesn't wash off"...actually it does, minus some CO2. 2)"Old growth forests will never be what they once were"....sure they will, if left alone for a few hundred years. (And by the way, a replanted clearcut actually absorbs more CO2 than an old growth forest) 3)"Do you eat cow (are you proud)"...yes, occasionally. It is delicious. As for the "suffering"...better the cows than my hungry children. 4)"blah, blah,blah....increases global warming".....Last year the Academy of American Scientists put forth a document stating that the Earth IS in fact warming. 6000 members signed a statement to the fact that humans are to blame. However, 15,000 signed a letter stating that NO conclusion can be reached at this time regarding any human causation. In other words...probably just a natural cycle. Global warming is a fact. Those who blame humans for it may have an agenda. (they think we're "living too well"??) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erwin Posted October 23, 2001 Share Posted October 23, 2001 Some eskimo in the Yukon probably will call us all wussies for driving to the mountains in a heated car while his ass is walking in the coat he made from last week's kill. What's the difference? Or using a stove. its artificial heat, if you want it, use it. but don't complain to the people who use it, you're not any cooler, just tougher. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.