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worst gear improvement projects


jordop

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Allright, here's a good one. Always trying to fiddle with gear and never leave well enough alone, what's the worst gear tinkering project you've ever come up with. I only bring this up cause as we speak I am repairing a TNF down bag that I was "improving". Convinced that the bag was understuffed to begin with, I took an old Eddie Bauer down jacket (cotton shell!) which actually had some nice gooose down in it, sliced open the bag, stuffed in the down to bursting and sewed it back up. Actually, the Bauer down was far better quality than TNF 600 fill. Except I put WAY too much down in and could never get the bag stuffed. So now I'm unstuffing the damn thing again. What a moron! Other lowlights include: trying to engineer a tent pole/avi probe combo, trying to create a screw-in housing to make a probe out of non-probe sectional poles, only taking a box of 24 Powerbars for 7 days on the Columbia Icefield, ill-fated attempts to tape old pair of prescription glasses to mountaineering glasses, the shovel/deadman combo that never works, and trying to make a coated nylon jacket breathable by sanding the the interior coating off (it fit well).

Don't think I'll ever get a job in gear design.

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I've done boocoo crazy shit like that too. 1.Cut off all the inside pockets of a $400 Arcteryx parka to "help" it breathe.2.Shortened all straps, cut off all outside pockets, removed all tags, and other general mayhem to nice Arcteryx packs. Fucking up their useability I might add.3.Modified and messed up trekking poles.4.Shortend and ruined 2 ice axes.5.Screwed around with countless variations of the "perfect" hydration bladdar set up. Finally concluded that the old Nalgene was hard to beat. About $200 later.

This is just some of the shit I've pulled. If you count all the non-hiking/outdoorsy stuff I've "improved" the list would be embarrassingly long.

Now that I'm 14 years old and wiser, I just leave shit alone and live with it. Cheaper in the long run.

[ 02-14-2002: Message edited by: trask ]

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I climbed with a guy who was alway tinkering with his stuff. Some of his more memorable inventions:

An old nalgene bottle with a hole in the top that tubing fit through to create a hands free drinking system...years before the bladders came out. A binder clip closed off the tube when not drinking. Leaked like hell.

He bought a full on Gore-tex, one piece suit, then glued adhesive non-slip stair tread things to the knees and elbows...in case he had to self arrest they would offer more friction.

A mini picket, bigger than a tent stake, smaller than a picket...good for, well nothing.

Various pieces of home made rock pro including 'hexes' mades from round pipe and T-tonsmade from T stock aluminum.

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quote:

Originally posted by jordop:
A certain well-known executive of an alpine club that I climb with occaisionally carries, and wears at the same time, Gore pants and jacket, a rain poncho, and a pack cover. The man also takes a full spice kit wherever he goes!

The danger words here are ...executive.. and ...alpine club...

The only "club" worth a damn is the KTK. The rest {the ones wid Executives and so on} you should run not walk from.

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quote:

Originally posted by Dru:

The only "club" worth a damn is the KTK. The rest {the ones wid Executives and so on} you should run not walk from.

werd up ktk for life

snoop emailed me today drul wondering when he was getting his triple gold harness.????

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quote:

Originally posted by trask:
What's your excuse genius? The fact that you couldn't pass the bar?

I rarely pass a bar. I almost always have to stop and get a drink. But I'd rather chew off my arm then be a lawyer.

Tighty-whiteys all bunched up today? Hmmm?

Sorry if I offended you Trask old boy. Just having fun.

Rob

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