Random Tips and Tricks Thread - not spray

[fern]

For some reason ... even though I think it is not true ... I can easily imagine chucK wearing those water socks elf shoes all day every day.

 

 

[Ducknut]

I have a tip/question. I saw a few guys wearing water socks around camp in the cascades last year and thought that was the best idea for alpine camp shoe. But now I can’t find anything like what they had. They were extremely light and rolled up together into a ball about the size of a baseball. I can't remember specifically, but I think they were blue, rubbery and mostly open except for the sole. They looked comfy with socks on. Anyone out there use something like this?

 

try here These work great and are light weight, nice break from boots at the end of the day.

[tvashtarkatena]

There are some good tips here. Here is one you can use on the east side in the middle of summer in good weather. Go without a sleeping bag and wear your clothes in a bivy sac. This creates room in the pack for a half rack of your favorite beer to use for hydration on the approach and at camp afer climbing.

i've experimented in da hills w/ the only bivi sack or only lightweight sleepign bag and from now on will always go w/ the sleeping bag...the sack always ends up being colder, but then i've never unexpectedly been hit by a rainstorm.

 

No sleeping bag?

 

Fawk that shite.

 

The extra clothes you'll to keep your teeth from shattering will undoubtedly outweigh a nice, warm, summer bag.

 

Skimp on the clothes, not the bag. No sleep = shitty performance and a shitty time.

Edited March 23, 2008 by tvashtarkatena

[Hugh Conway]

Wet wipes--moist towelettes--or better yet, Baby Wipes, are a high-demand commodity at populous base camps, such as on the Ruth, in Patagonia,

 

just walk 15 minutes to El Chalten and buy toilet paper. Except t. del paine (walk to the luxo lodge) there won't be anyone to trade with

 

#1 tip - any exotic destination you've heard of isn't remote from the interweb, cell service and an ATM. Of course medical service and a rescue are way the fuck down the line. If you don't have the 3 horsemen of civilization you are way the fuck off the beaten path (google search return = 0)

[mike1]

There are some good tips here. Here is one you can use on the east side in the middle of summer in good weather. Go without a sleeping bag and wear your clothes in a bivy sac. This creates room in the pack for a half rack of your favorite beer to use for hydration on the approach and at camp afer climbing.

i've experimented in da hills w/ the only bivi sack or only lightweight sleepign bag and from now on will always go w/ the sleeping bag...the sack always ends up being colder, but then i've never unexpectedly been hit by a rainstorm.

 

No sleeping bag?

 

Fawk that shite.

 

The extra clothes you'll to keep your teeth from shattering will undoubtedly outweigh a nice, warm, summer bag.

 

Skimp on the clothes, not the bag. No sleep = shitty performance and a shitty time.

Here here!

[KaskadskyjKozak]

There are some good tips here. Here is one you can use on the east side in the middle of summer in good weather. Go without a sleeping bag and wear your clothes in a bivy sac. This creates room in the pack for a half rack of your favorite beer to use for hydration on the approach and at camp afer climbing.

i've experimented in da hills w/ the only bivi sack or only lightweight sleepign bag and from now on will always go w/ the sleeping bag...the sack always ends up being colder, but then i've never unexpectedly been hit by a rainstorm.

 

No sleeping bag?

 

Fawk that shite.

 

The extra clothes you'll to keep your teeth from shattering will undoubtedly outweigh a nice, warm, summer bag.

 

Skimp on the clothes, not the bag. No sleep = shitty performance and a shitty time.

Here here!

 

What about those half-bags? I've heard some folks swear by them.

[cheamclimber]

I saw this in the movie First Ascent, sew a velcro loop onto your harness whre its easy to grab then clip the cam/chock you will need in the crux into it, then when you get to the crux just rip the gear off the sewn velcro and plug it in, it might seem like it doesnt save any enerngy but it really dows when you are in a crazy hard one finger jam or something. I used it when I had to place a chock while hanging on a single pinky jam at the bluffs.

[111]

put a stick/wire through the aligned holes in large cam lobes to keep it contracted, and thus smaller, until it is needed

[Dannible]

No sleeping bag?

 

Fawk that shite.

 

The extra clothes you'll to keep your teeth from shattering will undoubtedly outweigh a nice, warm, summer bag.

 

Skimp on the clothes, not the bag. No sleep = shitty performance and a shitty time.

 

Personally I care more about being warm during the day, and have gotten pretty used to going into my happyland (a warm beach where it's just to hot to do anything but lay there) to get through cold nights. By the end of last summer I was alright with just a lightly insulated/waterproof jacket, light long underwear, rainpants, a bivy sack, a 5 oz foam pad, and a warm hat. Sleeping with your feet down in your pack helps a surprising amount too. I went on a six day trip like this and only had one night of no sleep (sleeping on a cold slab on a windy night), one night of little sleep, and the rest were ok. I seem to be less affected by sleep deprivation than some. This system gives me a more comfort and options during the day when the weather is less than perfect. Eat some fatty food before you go to bed, if you wake up cold eat more, and if it's really bad do some pushups. Sometimes I brought one of those non-breathable emergency bivies (not the space blanket kind) too, but found that by morning I would just be soaked and colder than I was without it. If you are somewhere where you can have a fire then you can bring less and it will be even better.

 

When it's a bit colder I'll go with just a sleeping bag, and lay out the rope to sleep on rather than a pad. I'll admit that a half-bag would be nice, but there are too many other things that I want to spend my money on first.

[mike1]

There are some good tips here. Here is one you can use on the east side in the middle of summer in good weather. Go without a sleeping bag and wear your clothes in a bivy sac. This creates room in the pack for a half rack of your favorite beer to use for hydration on the approach and at camp afer climbing.

i've experimented in da hills w/ the only bivi sack or only lightweight sleepign bag and from now on will always go w/ the sleeping bag...the sack always ends up being colder, but then i've never unexpectedly been hit by a rainstorm.

 

No sleeping bag?

 

Fawk that shite.

 

The extra clothes you'll to keep your teeth from shattering will undoubtedly outweigh a nice, warm, summer bag.

 

Skimp on the clothes, not the bag. No sleep = shitty performance and a shitty time.

Here here!

 

What about those half-bags? I've heard some folks swear by them.

I have a friend that uses one and he's never complained. I've been contemplating making my old zero into one, but I can't bring myself to put the scissors to it.

 

I've got a 15 degree Sierra Designs bag now that has a "lid" cover that zips on to get another 15 degrees of warmth. I picked it up at a close-out sale and haven't seen one since. I've used the cover for an ultra-light bag (20oz).

Edited March 23, 2008 by Mikester

[Bug]

I have a synthetic mummy bag that my 10 yearold just outgrew.

I would use it as a half bag but my summer bag (Moonstone polarguard 3d) is only 2oz heavier.

I go out for three or four days and start with 25 pounds counting water and no climbing gear.

 

Many years ago, dad and I went backpacking in the Bitterroot divide country for six days. The first day we hiked up a canyon about 15 miles and our ride went home. When we stopped for the night and unpacked, I was sans sleeping bag. Dough!

I built fires on both sides, piled pine needles a couple nights (this worked great), borrowed all my dad's extra clothes, etc. It did not adversly affect our trip and he loves to bring it up to this day.

 

But for an extra 2.5 lbs I'll take the comfort of a sleeping bag & bivy sack any day.

[Dechristo]

I've had some cold nights in bivy sacks.

I like my 24oz bag over my coat and pants, inside a bivy bag.

That's 2.5 pounds of pleasure.

 

I used the same on a 25-peak traverse.

 

Compressible stuff sacks are great.

[Buckaroo]

If you want duct tape that will last several seasons, go to a builder supply and get "code graded" duct tape, it will last forever. But a ski pole may not be the best place to store it, some up and back routes you leave the poles at the base.

 

I have a thin kids bag that comes up to mid chest, put the puff jacket over upper body. You can find bags at thrift/2nd hand gear stores if you don't want to cut something more expensive.

 

When shaving weight look at the packs empty weight. Go-Lite is about 2 lbs lighter than most.

 

When big walling sew a loop of thin webbing to everything you need to clip in, (stuff sacks, bivy sack). On drawstrings retie typical overhand knot with a figure 8 and clip that also.

 

When really thrashing like glissades and bushwack it's nice to have the stuff on the outside of the pack, like axes, cramps, snowshoes, tied in 2 places on each piece. Like the regular pack tie-ins, and then an added strap that runs through everything for backup.

 

On low angle rappels with twin ropes a rope bag is nice, especially if there's a lot of loose rock.

 

After you've gone over the hill you need something to help you keep up. The best thing I've found is GU, it's got the highest nutrition to weight ratio. On hard hike/climb days eat ONLY GU and water until dinner. I get about 20% better performance this way.

 

Olive oil with dinner is the best nutrition to weight ratio for recovery at night. It will also keep you warm at a forced bivy.

 

McDonalds is not food, you might as well eat the container. Tree bark has more nutritional content.

[Dechristo]

 

McDonalds is not food, you might as well eat the container. Tree bark has more nutritional content.

 

well, it does have more fiber.

[ken4ord]

When you are at the top of a lead and setting up a TR, pull up a few meters of rope, tie a loop and clip it to youself before untying to thread the rope through the links.

you should do this and clip the bite to your rap/belay loop...keeps you on lead, protected by the last piece while you thread the anchor!

 

Better yet, just pass a bite of rope through the anchor, tie figure 8, clip the 8 into your belay loop, and untie the end of your rope, pull loose end through the anchor and lower.

[ken4ord]

Duct tape is useful for things that break in the backcountry, but how to bring duct tape without bringing the whole roll?

 

Rap duct tape around your ski poles for how much you think you need.

 

Can also rap duct tape around MSR fuel bottles.

Change the tape out every season, as it won't last much beyond a year of so before it sticks itself beyond all comprehension to the bottle/pole/whatever. Then, if you can get it to come off, it shreds and turns into little pieces of sticky string. Trust me on this one...

 

I just wrap it on a lighter, when the lighter is finished throw it away and start a new one. That way the tape is somewhat new and it doesn't get all beat up like tape on poles and fuel bottles.

Edited March 24, 2008 by ken4ord

[ken4ord]

Maybe counter-intuitive but: if you have time to go climbing, don't worry about the weather forecast, just go. Wait til you get there for the next decision. To me, climbing isn't about getting stuff done so much as it is about the rare times when crazy ideas work out.

 

A related tip: try the routes you haven't heard anything about.

 

Hell if the weather gets really shitty, go and do something really easy. The last time this happened that we couldn't go to our destination we ended up on the Tooth. Normally a super easy alpine outing, but when it is raining and sleeting sideways due to the wind, it becomes a totally different game. By the time we got back to our packs were thoroughly soaked and freezing, I picked up my pack a pour a gallon of water out it, it was a character building day.

[ken4ord]

Alright here are some more.....

 

 

* Whenever I buy a new pack I always try it on for size. That is, I make sure I can fit in it with boots on and prefer the snow skirt to come up to my waist, in case I have to bivy. I also like packs with removable pad so that I can pad my core.

 

* On multipule raps, I usually take a two foot runner and girth hitch it to my harness with a locker on it and sometime the rappel device (note it is hard/next to immpossible to ascend the rope when the device is on the sling). This way I can rap right to the anchor, clip the locker into the anchor and rap tight to the single point. This reduce the risk of shock loading the anchor and you get to somewhat test your anchor before your off rappel.

 

* Water flavors to help with hydration. I hate drinking water a simple packet of gatorade or Emergen-C makes it much easier to keep hydrated.

 

* Before I got the Genie pack, I used to make back packs out of the rope. Do the coil wraps around gear and strap it on like a backpack. Carry one water bottle and fill and drink whenever you get a chance.

 

* No tools for the steep snow slope, then find some pointy rocks to use to create steps in the suncups and gripping to the snow.

 

* Reverso work ok for short bits of ascending on the rope in locking mode, not really too efficent, but it works.

 

* Single or two nights leave the stove at home. I need coffee in the morning so I bring double shot or some coffee beans to chew on.

 

* Rather than carrying a screw link for backing off a route, I just use leaver biners. They are lighter and they can be used on the rack until needed. I rack my nuts with them since I place multipule nut on a single biner and never really use the racking biner for anything except for racking. I never understood the sense in carrying something that you were most likely not going to use especially if there is a substitute. For that matter too, prussiks can be made with slings from the rack instead of carrying seperate prussiks.

 

 

 

[Stefan]

are you a weight freak and willing to gamble a bit?

 

Here is one tip for longer trips when you want to carry white gas or kerosene. Unless you have money for a titanium bottle...here is a suggestion for us hobos out there.

 

Carry the smallest MSR metal bottle, but carry the rest of the fuel in a plastic drinking bottle(s). Never had problems when I did this for a 3 week trip. I don't know what the gas will do to the plastic in 4 weeks. I had to be extra careful to pack the plastic bottle away correctly so it did not puncture.

[sobo]

I have a tip/question. I saw a few guys wearing water socks around camp in the cascades last year and thought that was the best idea for alpine camp shoe. But now I can’t find anything like what they had. They were extremely light and rolled up together into a ball about the size of a baseball. I can't remember specifically, but I think they were blue, rubbery and mostly open except for the sole. They looked comfy with socks on. Anyone out there use something like this?

Nike makes a thing called the Aqua Sock, but it's like $35

GI Joe's has damn near the same thing for $10. I've got a pair and use them just as those dudes that you saw last year did. And they're da bomb for creek fording.

[underworld]

When you are at the top of a lead and setting up a TR, pull up a few meters of rope, tie a loop and clip it to youself before untying to thread the rope through the links.

you should do this and clip the bite to your rap/belay loop...keeps you on lead, protected by the last piece while you thread the anchor!

 

Better yet, just pass a bite of rope through the anchor, tie figure 8, clip the 8 into your belay loop, and untie the end of your rope, pull loose end through the anchor and lower.

 

don't lower through the anchors!!

 

if you're tr'ing, use qd's or build an anchor. if cleaning: rap off!!!

[cheamclimber]

When you are at the top of a lead and setting up a TR, pull up a few meters of rope, tie a loop and clip it to youself before untying to thread the rope through the links.

you should do this and clip the bite to your rap/belay loop...keeps you on lead, protected by the last piece while you thread the anchor!

 

Better yet, just pass a bite of rope through the anchor, tie figure 8, clip the 8 into your belay loop, and untie the end of your rope, pull loose end through the anchor and lower.

 

don't lower through the anchors!!

 

if you're tr'ing, use qd's or build an anchor. if cleaning: rap off!!!

 

why? I dont lower through anchors often but i dont get why it would be bad other than being unnecessarily hard on the rope in some cases

[TrogdortheBurninator]

 

don't lower through the anchors!!

 

if you're tr'ing, use qd's or build an anchor. if cleaning: rap off!!!

 

omgzers teh wearz, teh wearz

 

both lowering off and rapping off have their places. the wear is generally minimal for lowering 1 climber.

[cheamclimber]

ya I prefer to rap directly off anchors, If i plan on having lots of people climbing/lowering I always build/use quickdraws

[pup_on_the_mountain]

When really thrashing like glissades and bushwack it's nice to have the stuff on the outside of the pack, like axes, cramps, snowshoes, tied in 2 places on each piece.

Talking about glissading, the ride will be much smoother if you unclip the waist buckle of your backpack, and let the pack glide on the snow at a higher level (than your butt-level that is ).