wands

[iain]

I was just about to make some more wands and was wondering if anyone had a good material for the flagging part that I don't know about. I've always just used surveyor's tape and bamboo poles. Usually use tape large enough to mark on w/ a sharpie. Just wondering if someone had some groundbreaking high-viz material they use. I have used those "pumpkin" trash bags that are on the shelves around halloween before too.

[salbrecher]

Havn't tried it myself but was told red duct tape works better than flagging tape. The rigidity and colour makes it stand out better then sagging orange tape. Even the silver duct tape would work better. It should be real easy to see the outline off rigid tape against the snow.

 

[ 11-24-2002, 08:21 PM: Message edited by: salbrecher ]

[Jarred_Jackman]

I use black duct tape, in a whiteout it shows up great.

[iain]

thanks guys.

[Pencil_Pusher]

If you have a lot of loose dinero laying around, go to Galls online and pick up some of their reflective tape. For that matter, pretty much any LE/Fire Department supply company will sell that stuff. Heck, I think even Shomer Tec sells it now. Highly reflective and costly.

[pindude]

Of the different types of flagging, from talking to surveyors and timber cruisers, glo-orange is the color that stands out best. When I sold supplies to these professions, glo-orange was by far the best-seller, glo-pink was #2, and glo-yellow #3. Didn't have too many requests for different colors beyond that.

 

On my own wands, for contrast I use 2 colors of flagging: glo-orange and glo-yellow. And to wrap the top of the slitted bamboo wand where I've slotted and tied the flagging, I use 3M reflective tape availabe at Lowe's or Home Depot. For me, these wands are easier to see than the NPS wands with the red-tape flags.

 

--pindude

[AlpineK]

Wands are for wankers.

[Dr_Flash_Amazing]

Or fairies at the very least!

 

[Stefan]

The best wands I found are not orange or yellow or red or any fricken color, but something with reflective tape.

 

I found that you can still see the wands if they are black in a snowstorm, but you can't see ANY fricken wand if they don't have any of that specialized reflective tape during the dark with your headlamp. Where to get the reflective tape? Hell, I don't know, but it should be reflective tape that acts like a back reflector on your car.

 

This way, when you get to one wand in the dark, you just scan the slope with your headlamp for the next one wand, and walla, it appears like a "little flash" in the night.

 

[ 11-26-2002, 09:50 AM: Message edited by: Stefan ]

[jordop]

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Edited June 15, 2021 by jordop

[salbrecher]

quote:

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Originally posted by jordop:

Thanks, but I'd rather wallow around in a midnight whiteout in crevasse land than being lowered to using wands, they just scream out , "I know I won't be able to find my way back"

Wands DO NOT impress the crevasse babes, believe me! Finding your way back to the tent by the light of your Indiglo watch, now that's what scores the chix

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I'd rather GET back to camp than impress a "crevasse babe". You'll be able to impress them with your survival skills when you can't find the way to camp, or maybe with 100ft crevasses fall...

[fern]

quote:

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Originally posted by pindude:

Of the different types of flagging, from talking to surveyors and timber cruisers, glo-orange is the color that stands out best.

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how much timber and survey work is there on whited-out glaciers?

[snoboy]

quote:

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Originally posted by pindude:

Of the different types of flagging, from talking to surveyors and timber cruisers, glo-orange is the color that stands out best.

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I always liked the blue flagging best, it stands out better when you are red-green colour blind.

 

Whoever came up with neon green flagging for use in the woods must have been a little .

 

I use real time DifferentialGPS , dont you?

[chelle]

I recall hearing that the glo-green color stimulates both the rods and cones in your eyes, so it is more likely to be seen.

 

When's the last time you set wands in the woods?

[Cpt.Caveman]

quote:

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Originally posted by ehmmic:

glo-green color stimulates rods

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Porn Movies might do that better

 

[ 11-26-2002, 12:07 PM: Message edited by: Cpt.Caveman ]

[pindude]

quote:

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Originally posted by fern:

quote:

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Originally posted by pindude:

Of the different types of flagging, from talking to surveyors and timber cruisers, glo-orange is the color that stands out best.

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how much timber and survey work is there on whited-out glaciers?

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Of course timber cruisers aren't normally on glaciers, nor are surveyors. But they do both work in snow and sometimes in wet, foggy, or white-out conditions. While timber cruisers are obviously usually just among trees, surveyors are not. Guess I confused the issue for maybe a couple of you by mentioning timber cruisers. FWIW, most of the flagging I sold and pro opinions I heard re. those results on color were 95% plus from surveyors working in remote-site areas, who are out in all types of terrain and weather, and choose their flagging colors for such. While working for the same company, I also supplied thousands of wands per contract to ASA for use in Antarctica. Their color of choice? Glo-orange.

 

However, the original question and discussion was about what stands out best for wands...I was letting it be known what pros--people who for a living use flagging--like best in terms of flagging colors.

[wdietsch]

quote:

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Originally posted by salbrecher:

Havn't tried it myself but was told red duct tape works better than flagging tape. The rigidity and colour makes it stand out better then sagging orange tape.

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ditto .........

 

I have made them with red duct tape for years and you can now get red/white (and other choices) reflective tape from supply houses that specialize in industrial safty gear ....... work like a champ

 

wes

[iain]

quote:

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Originally posted by ehmmic:

When's the last time you set wands in the woods?

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Searching for a guy cranked up on meth the other day...

[iain]

I use wands more on searches and stuff than as part of rec. climbing. Usually just to mark a track trap with a date and time etc. Or to mark evidence and stuff. But I have used them in sketchy Wx on big glacier when there is a clear path through an icefall and stuff. Thanks again for all the input. Guess I'll stick to duct tape.

[Beck]

you can get high vis, reflective, or tem mile blaze orange duct tape for use on wands.

 

My impressions on wands:

you may want to reuse them, and surveyors tape is NOT the durable choice.

 

rigid tape makes flagging stand out better than a surveyors' tape or nylon.

 

the flags last even longer on the wands

if you actuallly split the bamboo pole, and get a the flag worked like a wedge between the two split halves, and reinforce with tape below the flag to stop split.

 

a 3-4 inch square flag is visible at easily twice the distance than a NPS "standard" flag size of , like one by two that you see on Rainier, and better than than three times a surveyors tape wand in full whiteout conditions. they just "pop out" at a greater distance, it's pretty significant when seen in inclement conditions on a route wanded by different parties.

 

This from a guy who has spent at lot of time up on Rainier in whiteouts, looking for lost folk.

 

colour, the old photo farts said red always helped sell the picture, it stood out the best in mountain photos, so I'm down with red.

finding a nice, OSHA approved, fabric backed, red/reflective floor/ hazard safety striping tape sounds like the best bet for a alpine route wand.

 

and take them back down the mountain. it's a no litter zone.

[Fence_Sitter]

quote:

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When's the last time you set wands in the woods?

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boulder glacier approach in april