Cold Thistle

Fitzroy and the Funhogs!

2012-02-17T15:34:00.001-08:00

riMQpNf0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDUItVBDN2s&feature=related

It is a dead horse... (more on stainless crampons)

2012-02-17T15:15:00.000-08:00

but do you really want to be riding it?

OK, this got my attention. In less than 10 days counting back from today I got reports of 3 pairs of bent, broken or cracked Black Diamond Stainless crampons.

Call me cynical but it was exactly this time last year that the same thing happened...actually within days of each other one year apart. Over a dozen cracked or broken pairs of Black Diamond stainless crampons popped up over the last year. But 3 in a row, in mid Feb 2012! Again?!

This one bent while climbing ice. It isn't trick photography. The front point simply straightened out under body weight,

"The one front point flattened out when he was 5' off the deck. He fell to snow."

cracked using a rigid soled boot

Crack here is circled in red.

And these are crampons I really liked initially, BD's Sabertooth and Serac. Crampons I climbed and soloed in. And the most recent faulty crampons are all the reinforced 2nd gen. versions.

I could care less about Black Diamond. They made it clear last winter that they have little concern about your safety while using this product. The sales samples and prototypes excuses are really long in tooth a full year later. These cracks and failures are all in the same place. Make damn sure you inspect yours closely prior to EVERY use. The front point collapsing under body weight is a new one for me.

Check your gear, be attentive and pay ATTENTION if you are still climbing in any of the BD stainless horizontal front point crampons. When these do come apart, make no mistake, it is a catastrophic failure. Falling off an ice climb because of gear failure can very easily get you dead.

So one more time...

Since Black Diamond won't tell you this, I will.

You all be careful out there on Black Diamond stainless 'pons! Friends don't let their friends climb on stainless horizontals.

A reminder on crampon fitting....

2012-02-15T23:33:00.000-08:00

Just got in two new pairs of boots as I get ready to go to Canada for 10 days of testing, photos and climbing.

I'll take 5 pairs of boots and 5 different crampons to climb in this trip as I attempt to see where I am at physically and mentally.

As I spend the evening fitting crampons this comment comes to mind,

"Precision crampon technique is impossible without a proper (perfect) fit of boot to crampon."
Jeff Lowe from the WATERFALL ICE video, 2005.

In other words, if your crampons won't stay on the boots first, without latching the binding, likely the crampon doesn't really fit your boot.

Finally some one gets (again) how it is suppose to be. No tricks just a perfect friction fit.

Petzl Lynx on a Scarpa Phantom Ultra and no back binding.

More Petzl Nomic pick feed back?

2012-02-15T16:29:00.000-08:00

This from Petzl America recently:

"- We are NOT bringing back the Cascade pick for the Nomic. Perhaps this rumor is based on availability of the Cascade pick for the previous generation Quark, which is still in production.

- Same story for the 1st generation Griprest. We have no plans to bring this one back, although there still may be some stock out there which could be feeding these rumors.

- There is no new Griprest on the horizon, however, the latest (post* Quality Alert) generation of the Nomic Griprest will fit the 1st Gen Nomic."

The still available 1st gen Quark Cascade picks can be easily cut down and used in any version of the Nomic for those that prefer less "stick" water ice pick. And for durable dry tooling the old 4mm T rated Quad pick will work with little effort as well. Quad is my choice in the alpine if a lot of rock is involved. Might be better to think of the Nomic as having 4 different picks available directly from Petzl.

Ally's original Quad pick in a 1st gen. Nomic with a CT hammer. Winter of '10/11 in Chamonix.

Either way easy enough to copy the Nomic blade pattern and reshape the lower back section of the older Quark picks to fit the Nomic. Only adding the clip in hole, if required, is difficult. The Quark Cascade pick tooth and back edge patterns are exact copies of the older Nomic Cascade picks. A few minutes work with a grinder and files. Add a spacer, bolt the new pick in and you are ready to rock!

Older Quark Cascade pick on the bottom, Nomic Cascade on top.

Obvious where you need to remove metal on the earlier picks to fit.

Quick mid weight down jacket comparison?

2012-02-15T10:16:00.000-08:00

When guys get together there is usually no lack of posturing.   When it comes to climbing, the Internet allows all sorts of spewing that won't happen in person, face to face. "Stand and deliver" actually means something on the rock. It is how we measure ability..and mouth some times.

Some might have expected by now that I like measurement and comparisons. I see a lot of gear and the small percentage of what I do like I can easily put words to. But I find it even more interesting when very similar products are forced to "stand and deliver".    Get down to the details and there is generally a different worth noting.

Two mid weight down climbing jackets I like a lot and have mentioned before on the blog seemed worthy of a side by side comparison. Both jackets run a little small compared to US sizing. The numbers listed here are for a men's XL in both jackets.   I am 6'1" and 187#. Both jackets fit me well with even light layers under them. The RAB being the slightly bigger of the two for overall fit. But easy enough to call both patterns "athletic" for fit.

The Narrona Lyngen, 22.3 oz or 632g. 3" of loft at the shoulder. Retail? $348.95 Only one US retailer.
(3/4" of additional loft and a big drop of 9.5 oz in weight from my first Lyngen of 3 years ago!) One seriously has to wonder what changed?

"Aero™down proof 30 g

A super-lightweight and down proof technical fabric, aero™down proof weighs about 30 grams/m². It’s soft, water-repellent and windproof, and has a good strength for being so lightweight.
down™750

Our down products use the highest available down quality that we can find, which is a by-product of the food industry (in contrast to being killed just for insulation). Our down comes from the mountains of Pyrenees in France where the birds spend their days outside in a free gazing environment. All treatment of the birds complies with European standards, and the highly specialized washing of the down passes the Oeko-Tex 100 standards. Our down™750 means down fill power from 750 to 800 cu in/oz with the percentage of down cluster from 93–96%.

PrimaLoft™ One 130 g

PrimaLoft™ is a patented micro-structure that gives great thermal insulation to help the body maintain its temperature, minimizing energy loss. Extremely light and soft, it was originally developed by the US Army to replace natural down. As down absorbs moisture, it becomes wet and loses its thermal-insulating abilities. PrimaLoft™ absorbs three times less water, is 14% warmer when dry and 24% warmer when wet, than the competitive insulation."

130g Primaloft is used in the hood and neck, and in side panels from the wrist's cuff to the arm pit and back down to the waist's hem.

http://www.norrona.com/Products/3170-09/lyngen-down750-jacket-m

The RAB Infinity, 17.4oz or 492g, 3" of loft at the shoulder. Retail? $299.95 And many US retailers

"[shell] Pertex Syncro (10D ripstop nylon); [lining] Pertex Quantum (10D ripstop nylon)

850-fill European goose down" (It seems RAB likes a short description, but that is all they have listed :)

http://us.rab.uk.com/products/mens-clothing/down_1/infinity-jacket.html

For a gear geek is was kinda fun to make this comparison. For the 3" of insulation both jackets offer with premium goose down one has to ask why the weight and cost differences? And which jacket offers an advantage for the climber?

After all RAB has made its reputation based on customers for the most part, members of the climbing community. Differing with what Narrona has done for the most part in the skiing community.

I have used both jackets climbing with great satisfaction. Again both jackets are sewn through baffling with an extra layer of material used as a wind panel across the chest. Simply sewn through in back. Both have hoods you can use over a helmet. The Narrona hood is much larger though and easier to use with a helmet and offers much more protection with a flexible visor and a tunnel design on the neck.

28" back

24" back

The difference in that 4" is a longer back on the Lyngen.

Below is a side view of the front to back taper on both jackets.

But the front, where the harness is, stays the same.

straight cut sleeves and arms

Raglan sleeves and articulated elbows

Sewn baffle comparisons

Hood and neck detail

double cuff on left and a single cuff on the right

Nylon mesh chest pocket that doubles as a stuff sack with haul loop

small internal chest pocket..of minimal use because of size

22.6 oz or 17.4oz ? As expected from two of the cutting edge climbing design teams you get a choice. 5.2 oz more in the Lyngen gets you a little more jacket for warmth and coverage. More hood, more garment length and the back up of Primaloft One in areas most likely to get wet in use. And most important a pattern more easily allows one to climb some very difficult terrain and stay covered.

For a bit less than a 1/4 pound in weight savings the Infinity gets you a very basic jacket with a great attention to detail and a little less of weight. Hard to turn a blind eye to that fact with all the basic needs covered and $50 less @ retail.

Both jackets have single slide front zippers. Too bad because both could use a dbl slider to get around the harness. Both offer good zipper buffers/baffles and coverage.

The integrated stuff sack and tie in on the Lyngen is a nice feature. The Infinity chest pocket barely has enough room to carry the stuff sack that comes with it. The integral pocket with the net backing seems a bit fragile on the Lyngen. But it stretches to fit. The Infinity comes with its own stuff sack. Both carry systems have integral haul loops attached.

Compression is about the same on both jackets. Either will easily fit in the RAB stuff sack.

The shell material on either jacket will shed water for a good bit of time. But neither material is "water proof",   The Lyngen 's nylon is heavier physically than the Pertex RAB uses. Neither material will do well wrestling with limestone.

So what did I get from this review? Comparisons generally have a single winner.

I added up the "points". Lyngen has a better hood, better cuffs, better pattern and articulated elbows.   It has a better internal pocket to dry gear in and would make a better pillow if that is something you require. Call it 6 points better than the RAB.

The RAB is simple. I like the fit and how light it is. I like the Pertex. I didn't notice the smaller hood or the simple pattern cut on the RAB while wearing it, only as I layed them both out on the floor for photos.

I knew I liked the Lyngen better but wasn't sure exactly why. But no question I like the $50 savings on the RAB.   The RAB version might well have a better quality down and more of it. I can't tell.

I am obviously nit picking here. Others may prefer the simplicity and less weight above everything else on the RAB. Both are seductive.

Both of these jackets are exceptional garments for my own use. This review, like many I do was simply for my own edification. I am keeping and will use both jackets.

Bjørn-Eivind Årtun and Stein-Ivar Gravdal RIP

2012-02-11T09:30:00.000-08:00

The info below, sad as it is, was graciously sent to me from climbers in Norway and Sweden yesterday.

"Bjørn-Eivind Årtun (45) and Stein-Ivar Gravdal (37) were found dead attempting a new route at Kjerag in Lysefjorden, Norway yesterday.

They went out on Tuesday expecting to get back Thursday, when they weren't a Sea King was called on Friday and found them hanging from a rope 100m above the scree slope. Local mountain rescue will start a recovery operation today."

When they didn't return, a helicopter search was initiated, and on the morning of February 10 the two climbers were spotted hanging upside down on the face, motionless. There are indications that a large rockfall was the cause of the accident writes the Norwegian Climbing Federation on their website.

http://nrk.no/nyheter/distrikt/rogaland/ryfylke/1.7994611

Another really sad day this winter. Bjørn-Eivind Årtun was certainly one of my climbing heros. Both were easily two of the world's very best ice climbers. Bjørn-Eivind was gracious enough to help with the Cold Thistle tool projects early on.. My heart goes out to family and friends. Both he and Stein-Ivar will be dearly missed.

More on about Stein-Ivar Gravdal here:
http://www.climbing.com/news/hotflashes/norwegians_repeat_historic_trango_route/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8PxMYiUtwU

http://www.climbing.com/news/hotflashes/awesome_big-wall_ice_in_norway/

"Bjørn-Eivind Årtun on his and Colin's new route, Dracula, Mt Foraker, June 2010."

More here on Bjørn-Eivind

http://www.aartun.no/

http://coldthistle.blogspot.com/2012/01/bjrn-eivind-artun-interview-with.html

http://www.colinhaley.blogspot.com/2010/06/alaska-2010-dracula-and-cassin-simul.html

Bjørn-Eivind Årtun soloing on the Cassin

Stein-Ivar Gravdal avec Bjarte Bø, Sigurd Felde et Rolf Bae (†)

Great Trango Tower, 6285 m, Norwegian Buttress, Pakistan, 2008

Stein Ivar Gravdal

photos courtesy of: Bjørn-Eivind Aartun/Annelin Henriksen/Colin Haley

Hopefully a better translation from the previous news feed:

"Two climbers died on Kjerag. Both SeaKing and personnel at sea abort mission to collect the bodies of
the climbers." This according Victor Jensen at the Rogaland Police.

"Unfortunately the SeaKing helicopter has to return from Kjerag at 1.30pm. The rescue boat with crew has also returned from the place" says Jensen. "Low cloud and poor visibility has made the mission difficult. The crews will make a new attempt tomorrow."

The police are attempting to place guards at the scene of the accident until Saturday night. One of the climbers is from Stavanger and the other from Oslo. Both are well known in the climbing community. They travelled out on Tuesday to climb the Kjerag wall and were due back on Thursday evening. When they didn't return their families tried to reach them on their mobile phones without success. Search and rescue were alerted at 12.30pm on Friday that the two climbers were missing. A SeaKing helicopter sent out and found two people on the mountainside at around 2pm. A little later the climbers were found to be dead.

World class

Ture Bjørgen is a spokesperson for Rogaland mountain rescue, where one of the climbers was a member.
"These were climbers at an elite level. They were extremely experienced, talented and had a long resume of climbs" says a sad Bjørgen, who knew the climbers personally. One of the climbers had climbed the Kjerag wall multiple times previously and completed many new routes according to Bjørgen

Found at the bottom of the wall

The two climbers were found low down on the mountain side and Bjørgen speculates as to what might have happened "As they were found at the very bottom of the mountain side it might mean that they were killed at the very start. They may also have climbed to the top, abseiled down and have been killed at the bottom" says Bjørgen. Considering that the two are at the bottom of the wall, Bjørgen doesn't think it will be too difficult to get them down again during the day.

More details here:

http://www.rogalandsavis.no/nyheter/politilogg/article5923660.ece

Coilin Haley, Alpinist 32 "Scared"

"I might die climbing. You might, too. We can make efforts to minimize the risks, but ultimately we either accept the possibility of dying on a mountain, fool ourselves that the possibility doesn't exist—or we quit."

Ueli's MH system

2012-02-10T20:12:00.000-08:00

UKC/UKH at ISPO 2012 - Ueli Steck and Mountain Hardwear from UKClimbing.com TV on Vimeo.

Joshua Lavigne's videos...always good.

2012-02-10T08:59:00.000-08:00

Guiding Satoshi Shimizu from Joshua Lavigne on Vimeo.

Markus Bendler..fit?

2012-02-10T08:22:00.000-08:00

Eisprinz - Chapter one (with Markus Bendler) from Berni Kogler on Vimeo.

Black Soul M12+ - Icemonkey at work from Berni Kogler on Vimeo.

Even the small ones are dangerious.

2012-02-09T20:21:00.001-08:00

Approach and trail running shoes...Salewa?

2012-02-09T11:44:00.000-08:00

As I get back outdoors the gear I am using comes to my mind. Thought along with the previous training thoughts I add some comments on shoes. And one shoe in particular. Where I live here on the west side of the Cascades you can generally run trails for 10 months of the year with little heartache. Some do it year around. But not me. We do get a lot of rain and mud however. But that can happen any time of year.

I use a a combination of protective socks (http://www.sealskinz.com/socksand ) and differing shoes to protect my feet depending on the conditions and weather. I hate cold feet.

I have a couple of friends that make fun of running shoes. We have a long granite ridge traverse in the Selkirks that we do in the summer.

http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/819415/TR_Selkirk_Crest_High_Traverse#Post819415Trail

Running shoes without sticky rubber can turn that outing into a "run away" mission if you aren't careful. Adding the protection of a good approach shoe for that kind of adventure is just common sense. A hard lesson learned on my first attempt at the traverse.

My Garmont and Selewa approach shoes are better compared to low top lwt boots than my Nike Free running shoes. But they are the appropriate shoe for the Selkirks in comparison to my Brooks Cascadia.

The new to me Salewa Firetail GTX (bottom right) seems to be a unique blend of technology and construction that is a good match to my own needs. I have yet to have cold feet in these no matter the conditions an only regular socks.

Here is the Salewa company line on these:

"The Salewa Men’s Firetail GTX Hiking Shoe represents an evolutionary step forward, the missing link between a technical approach shoe and a lightweight trail runner. Specially-designed Vibram outsoles, climbing lacing, protective rands, and a customizable fit enable the state-of-the-art Firetail to handle approaches and descents on the most technical trails with ease and, thanks to the Gore-Tex insert, in any weather."

•Gore-Tex insert keeps your feet bone-dry on rainy days in the backcountry

•3F System distributes the lacing power over the whole foot for unmatched heel retention, so you enjoy a friction-free, blister-free precision fit as well as excellent ankle support

•EVA midsole and PU Shock Absorber cushion your foot on descents, and the Multi- Fit Footbed allows you to adjust the volume of the footbed in the shoe for a perfect fit

•All-around aramidic fiber and rubber rand protects the shoe from impact and abrasion and provides grip when you climb

•Climbing-style lacing extends further towards the front to allow you to dial in your fit

•Proprietary Salewa Vibram Approach outsole provides maximum grip and edging on rocks and helps you put on the brakes on steep descents

•Armored mesh protects the shoe against abrasion while enhancing breathability on hot summer hikes

There are a gazillion different running /approach and trail shoes available. Everyone has their own favorites and styles. So it is a tough market for them and good for us as consumers. The Salewa version was a new one for me as were the Garmonts previous. I'd rather use a running shoe to be honest and a light weight one at that. But for my own use the Salewa has come up with a good combo of protection, additional ankle support, sticky rubber, excellent fit and may be a link between a "heavier technical approach shoe and a not so lightweight trail runner". It is worth a second look if you require something similar for those full on, long days in the mountains.

Salewa Firetail GTX Hiking Shoe

Norrøna Lyngen down jacket?

2012-02-09T10:40:00.000-08:00

First time I have done something like this. But the price is a $100 off what I paid for mine a couple of years ago. While not cheap it is an exceptional jacket. Normal retail is 349 Euro or $465 today! I get nothing from this. Just a friendly heads up to the locals that might be interested. B/C has 47 in stock and three color choices @ $279.16 delivered. Gotta love a strong dollar.

http://www.backcountry.com/norrna-lyngen-down-jacket-mens

http://www.norrona.com/Products/3172-09/lyngen-down750-jacket-w

http://coldthistle.blogspot.com/2010/03/design-triumphsthe-norrna-lyngen-down.html

NORRØNA (V) MAGAZINE - A ski oddysey from Norrøna on Vimeo.

The "first" North Face climbing boot?

2012-02-08T14:37:00.000-08:00

The new Verto S4K GTX from North Face.

My first experience with North Face climbing boots was when they made La Sportiva a part of their corporation a few years back. I bought two pairs of La Sportiva boots on sale when that relationship ended. A pair of the first Trangos and the original Nepals.

So when I heard about the "first" North Face climbing boot I was at least mildly interested in the end result.

Seems North Face has saturated the blogger market with free boots to get the word out on the new Verto S-4K GTX. Smart marketing on their part.

I own or have owned and climbed in a lot of mountaineering boots. Boots suitable for technical climbing on the South Pole and boots suitable for a summer alpine scramble in the Sierras or Cascades. So there is a lot of leeway on what manufactures and users define as a "climbing" boot.

I have friends who use similar boots to the new Verto S-4K for much of their own summer climbing in the Cascades. The La Sportiva Trango S Evo GTX and Scarpa Chamoz GTX come to mind when comparing like boots.

North Face was also smart in using the obligatory red and silver colors on their new boot. It is now easy to confuse the La Sportiva Trango Extreme Evo Light GTX  (an actual fully featured climbing boot) with the North Face  Verto S-4K which is not.

That doesn't mean the Verto S-4K isn't a good boot. It seems to be from my perspective as long as you understand its limitations.  For one it isn't all that warm. But as warm as the red La Sportiva Trango Evo or Chamoz GTX I think. And because of the Gortex equally as water proof.   It isn't all that stiff in the sole nor is it intended to be. So it is easy to hike in. It fits my narrow feet and heels very well and it seems to be is slightly more robust that my Trango S Evos. I like the fully bellowed tongue. And how comfortable this boot was out of the box. That alone should sell a ton of them.  They weigh in at 1# 15 oz per boot in my size 12s.   The red Trango S Evo weighs in at 1#13oz in a comparable size 45.

The Verto S-4K needs a basket for the front of the crampon. But it will take a heel lever. They would work fine for any of the NW glacier slogs mid summer. But that is the limit of where I want to use them when it is cold and wet.

The soles are likely the best available for rock climbing in boots. It is the Vibram® MULAZ. Same sole on my beloved Scarpa Ultras and half a dozen other pairs of similar lwt mountain boots that directly compare to the Verto S4K.   The soles are closely trimmed and the low profile toe lacing allows you to take every advantage the sticky rubber on the MULAZ.

Boots for me are first all about the fit. The new North Face Verto S-4K last fits exceptionally well on my foot.   Sad that the style of boot isn't one I use very much.

At least the sample boots I received are made in Romania. I have to say I am impressed with the end result. Rightfully or not my feet feel better trusting them to a European factory than one in Asia. I am hoping for great things from the future technical boot line up.

Bottom line on the North Face Verto S-4K?

It is not a highly technical "climbing" boot. But it will do anything a Trango S or Scarpa Charmoz will. So it is in good company. It could be lighter. But it is within ounces of the other two boots for comparison in my size.   But I had hoped the new contestant would win the weight comparison with a knock out. It didn't. Neither did they hit any surprise price point.   The buy in is steep at $350. Same as the Trango S Evo GTX.

As a first effort for North Face? They did extremely well.
Currently available in the UK.
The company spiel?

Verto S4K GTX £229.99

Inspired by the endeavours of The North Face’s team of elite mountaineers, the Verto S4K boot delivers absolute best-in-class technical fit and performance for the most demanding alpine conditions.

■Traditional Italian craftsmanship and innovative European design
■Finest materials assembled without compromise
■Synthetic leather and rugged Panatex textile uppers
■GORE-TEX lining gives waterproof, breathable protection
■X-Frame provides lateral stability and flexibility
■Over-injected TPU cage provides midfoot support
■Stainless steel upper eyelets and locking instep eyelet
■Smartlite PU mudguard resists abrasion better than rubber
■TPU Cradle heel stabilising technology with crampon spoiler
■Five-part co-moulded midsole
■BASF Agile PU body and EVA heel cushioning
■Northotic Pro+ premium EVA footbed with gel heel
■Ortholite forefoot cushioning pads
■TPU shank and polypropylene/fibreglass lasting board
■Vibram Mulaz outsole with climbing zone for superior edging

The Ply-Ice Board

2012-02-08T11:11:00.000-08:00

This is a guest blog by my long time climbing partner, Dave, aka in the UK "the Wanker", Fulton.

"Alright now so winter is finally here. You’ve been out to your favorite bit of ice a half dozen times and maybe even gotten in a couple of road trips to places that offer more choices than top roping the piss out of some smear off the road near an overpriced gas station. Hopefully more cold weather climbing is on the books but in the meantime what to do? Oddly enough maybe this is the time to go back for some more laps on that plywood training board also known as the ply-ice board. If you don’t have one, build one or poach laps someone else’s. Some may argue why bother when one could just get the real deal in on the weekend but then again getting a few laps in during the week can’t be all that bad, can’t it? Recently I added a few extra boards on mine in between the nice big chunky ones just to break it up a bit. Now I warm up by hooking all the big wood then break it up by hooking every other narrow board all the while keep a close watch on the feet. Up and down is one lap. The ply-ice is 16’ high so starting with 5 laps is a good warm up. Give it a one minute rest then alternate the thick boards with the not so think ones. My ply-ice has a bit of an unfair advantage in that the top 8’ is slightly over hanging and even though it doesn’t look like much after about 30 minutes you begin to notice it. Does this make a difference once out on the frozen stuff? I built this in my backyard in Idaho then left for work in Europe doing what I could to keep fit for when I returned in January. While I was gone and at my insistence, my buddy Joe got full use of it and when I returned it was pretty apparent it did him no harm. Consequently I did my best to play catch up while I was back and now that I’m back in the UK it’ll hopefully pay off when I get up to Scotland next week. Lesson learned? Just because you’ll be climbing this weekend doesn’t mean you should train a bit this week"

Ouray Ice

2012-02-08T11:04:00.000-08:00

The Petzl ICE pick issue

2012-02-08T10:30:00.000-08:00

The quotes listed below were found from a quick Internet search on the current Petzl ICE pick. It seems silly to me that Petzl had a amazinglyly well recieved pick, the Cascade, that they have now discontinued for the Nomic. Even more so now that the Cascade pick would fit all three tools, Nomic, Quark and Ergo. When your customers start using another brand's picks I suspect you have an issue that needs to be resolved, sooner rather than later.

None of this is to argue the newest picks are bad, just that some prefer the previous design.

Here is a short discussion on how to modify the newest picks for better ice performance by duplicating the older Cascade pick.

http://coldthistle.blogspot.com/2011/10/petzl-picks-again.html

Quotes by various Internet authors on the same subject:
"I've heard rumors that Cassin's X-All picks can be modified to fit onto Nomic or Quark. Any truth to this? I'm a little frustrated with the new Petzl Ice picks (detuning isn't working out that great)."

"The new Nomic Ice pick is hard to clean, but filing it down to closely match the profile of the old Cascade pick worked great for me."

"there are a few things I noticed with the new Ice picks. Durability, cleaning, and ice displacement. Maybe this season is a bad example because how thinner the routes are, but I noticed my Ice picks getting chewed up and worn down significantly faster. I've filed the picks three times already, when I normally do three filings for the entire season on my old Cascade picks. Cleaning on the new Ice picks is harder than before, this is well know."

"When I compare the picks to old style, they are completely different. It has been pointed out that I can modify the new Ice picks, but I haven't had the chance to test that out."

"I have a big potential issue with the new Nomic Ice pick though. At the gym where I train, it is literally impossible to get a stick in the Iceholdz(TM) on the mildly overhung system board. With adjustments to swing and hand position, I have been able to get good sticks with both Cobras and the old style Vipers. I'm guessing the first tooth is too steep (which is one of the things causing the cleaning problem with Laser picks) so I worry what they'll be like on real ice."

"The new Ice picks, while better than the old Astros, are definitely not as good as the old cascades from my experience using both of them last season on a pair of new Quarks and old Nomics. I'm pretty sure the reason is the same already mentioned: the angle of the first tooth."

In North America if you have a similar thought you can direct an email to Petzl America at info@petzl.com
It is a topic Petzl wants to hear from you on. So the emails aren't going to a round file as some might expect.

I don't have a Petzl France email but if you are outside North America I suspect your concerns will be relayed to Petzl France as well.

Working out and silly details.....

2012-02-07T21:12:00.000-08:00

I suspect when the hit count and membership goes up most who write a blog at some point start thinking what they write actually is important. Generally it is not. But like much of what I do, this is for me anyway :) So you are forwarned!

the man in the mirror

If the last 6 months taught me anything it is I want to be the water and not the rock. And water is not my personality, never has been. So it is a big change. Days like today (when you are suffering) if nothing else gives you a more clear picture of yourself. Why I ever go out on days I don't really feel like it, generally I'll never fully understand. But today I knew. There is a storm coming in tonight so I wanted to enjoy a tiny bit more sunshine. But I didn't really enjoy the sunshine. And the sun effected snow in the morning was well frozen shite by the time I headed home. Marley really enjoyed the snow conditions so that was one bonus! Me? Not so much, in the breakable crust. But it was my attitude not the snow conditions that sucked. For the typical climber with an A personality it pays to remember that it is not the workout that makes you stronger, but the rest and recovery after the workout.

When I really want to climb I don't take a HR monitor. But so much of my time outside is only training for something else more important to me. Which can make some days "less than fun". The HR monitor is generally my close companion. One I am constantly conversing with and referring to. If you are going to train, pays to heed the workout zone and the level of the effort for your desired effect. You simply need to pay attention to the details.

Zone 3

Zone 4

Zone 5

Speaking of details. This the second time I have skied in a pair of Dynafit "Movement" pants.

They came highly recommended but are hard to find as Dynafit imports so few to NA. I bought what was available knowing they might be too large. (they are) I first skied in them before cutting out the pre marked buckle slots. Nice pant but not all that impressive on the first run. After all they are not much more than a nice weight ski tight with a logo.

Previous to this trip I trimmed the premarked cut outs on the bottom of the legs. I am most impressed with the end result. The right pant really allows you to take advantage of the TLT boots in the back country. Dynafit's "Movement" pant is the "right" pant for the TLT. But easy enough to make your own as well. Again it is all in the details.

ski mode

walking mode

Home sewn pant mod that does has the same effect

http://www.randosaigai.com/jan_11.html

While I am thinking about clothing. This one was a surprise and continues to impress me, "Cabella's E.C.W.C.S Thermal Zone® Polartec® Power Dry® " long johns. Cabellas' is not the first place I shop for gear. But neither is Costco and both have surprised me in the past. The E.C.W.C.S Thermal Zone® Polartec® Power Dry® is a base layer made up of several different weights of Polartec materials that are smartly sewn. In comparison to other long johns I have used they are warmer and a lot less bulky. Which makes them much easier to move in and just as important stay dry in. There is some really amazing technology and effort incorporated here. I have one pair right now but will be buying more. The bottoms are that much better than everything else I have used. Ease of movement at the knee and no boot top bunch. Too my surprise I noticed both improvments today when I went back to skiing in the typical long john bottom.

E.C.W.C.S Thermal Zone® Polartec® Power Dry® top.

Nice mouth full ;)

More detail stuff, If you want to run a HR monitor or a tech watch and more importantly want to pay attention to them for some reason be sure to put them in the right place. This one is buckled over my base layer and the other layers are blocked from covering the monitor. Silly stuff, but just more details.

The details? Do you have a foot problem? Even just a tiny one? Pays to remember them the night before and address it then. Better than landing in the parking lot for what ever adventure you have in mind and forgetting there is a problem. A two inch strip of tape can make the difference between a really fun day for me and enough additional pain to be really annoying. Another small detail.

Doesn't matter if it is Water or Rock. What you have seen here are some of my details. Just a small reminder to pay attention to your own details.

At the risk of getting sucked in....

2012-02-05T15:38:00.000-08:00

.......into even more crazy endurance efforts and great reviews on gear...check out Nate's place

http://wilsonalpine.blogspot.com/2012/02/glory-speed-projectskimo-rant.html

Cerro Torre..chopping the bolts.

2012-02-04T13:18:00.000-08:00

"Sorry to be brutally honest, but I simply don't have respect for liars. Maestri told the biggest lie in the history of climbing for the gain of his own reputation. Alpine climbing often relies on the honor system, and unfortunately people like Maestri ruin the system of honesty for all of us. Dishonesty goes beyond the simple game of besting one's competition - consider for a moment that Maestri's drive to be labeled the winner was so great that he didn't even have the decency to tell Toni Egger's mother and sister the true circumstances of how Toni died in the mountains.

The fact that Maestri also vengefully showed the world the most heavy-handed climbing style it has ever seen - the epitome of the "murder of the impossible" - doesn't help him gain respect.

If Maestri were to come clean in his old age, and tell the world what actually happened during his 1959 Cerro Torre attempt, it would probably require more courage than any climb ever demanded of him."

Colin Haley 2/4/2012

More here:

http://colinhaley.blogspot.com/2012/02/removal-of-cesare-maestris-bolt-ladders.html

Uphill track!

2012-02-03T20:34:00.000-08:00

I'm alive and on the uphill track! It is a good start for the rest.

chamonixtopo.com

2012-02-02T11:39:00.000-08:00

For those that have been reading C-T, Dave Searle's name should be no surprise. Dave has offered the readers here some great gear reviews, commentary and amazing photos. The masthead photo of Ally on the Eiger is just one example of Dave's photography.

Mid-winter, first day of skiing, Dave broke his leg. He's well on the mend now and suspect he'll be out skiing and climbing literally within weeks now.

But Dave's a talented fellow. He used his time being broken and bent wisely. The end result of his efforts will make anyone's climbing or skiing trip to Chamonix much easier. I've only poked about a tiny bit inside chamonixtopo.com but from what I have seen...I said to myself, " Brilliant! Why didn't I think of that!"

Good effort on Dave's part and a must see, check out the links below and enjoy!

http://www.chamonixtopo.com/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/ChamonixTopocom/338207752876630?sk=wall

Grivel? ...What is happening there?

2012-01-30T22:12:00.000-08:00

A few friends have climbed on these and everyone seemed to like them dry tooling. My buddy Jack Roberts was pretty excited switching from a Petzl sponsorship to Grivel this winter. I know from our recent conversations that he liked climbing on the new tools as well.

I see Will Simms is now on the Grivel line up. His buddy Jon Griffith off Petzl and on BDs.

"Never the arrow always the Indian."

Anyone climbing on any of the Grivel versions of this one here in North America?

"Grivel has for nearly 200 years led the development of Ice Climbing equipment, but to move ahead in this rapidly changing “fast &furious” new age of technology and materials, we decided to make a radical improvement in our approach to development. This is the reason we decided to create a new dept. a real Laboratory for Development, a place where we can explore the possible and beyond. With all these recent changes in materials and design we chose to invest in this bright future, brought about by mixed climbing, competition and rising standards. To head this new department we have brought in a new face, Stefano Azzali a man devoted to climbing and climbing equipment, no stranger to high tech radical materials. Stefano’s work in this field of new technologies and avantgarde design qualifies him to lead “Grivel’s Racing Development”. (Grivel Reparto Corse) It’s almost second nature to a man coming from Modena, the home of design, engineering and above all “Speed”. We look forward to the future as we are proud of our past."

New DMM ice tools..this week

2012-01-30T22:04:00.000-08:00

Looks like a lot of lessons learned from Petzl by this picture. Hopefully they can up the game again. And I can't get much from the video but the new tools are coming. New tools are always fun!

http://dmmclimbing.com/news/2012/01/showing-at-ispo-munich-2012/

Thanks for the additional link guys!

Even more here: Not so impressive if you are on Petzls already, But the Raptor is very cool and old school.

http://dmmclimbing.com/documents/NewProducts2012LowRes.pdf

Gear giveaway?

2012-01-30T00:28:00.000-08:00

I decided tonight as a celebration of C-T's 2nd "birthday" I'd give some gear away. The only way to *win* is to be one of the members here and on the published list. More to come....good time to sign up at Cold Thistle. :)

I'll pull the first winning member the first of March. That prize will be the winner's choice between the two Blue Ice packs, the Warthog or the Octopus. The second drawing will come shortly after that. No clue yet what that prize will be.

From Will's blog....MORE climbing!

2012-01-30T00:16:00.000-08:00

It is easy to miss the current link updates on the side bar! DON'T!!

The Gathering, VIII 9, Second Ascent from Jenny Crook on Vimeo.

Happy Birthday! Two years gone by!

2012-01-30T00:07:00.000-08:00

C-T as of Jan 29 is now just 2 years old. Overall a million plus page reads with 80K+ hits in just Jan of 2012 alone. Most views in one day? 3541! Somewhere over 800 comments from readers and 700 answers. As of today 259 members. Truly unbelievable to me.

Thank you to everyone who drops by for a look see or asks a question or adds a comment! A special thanks to those guys who offered guest blogs this winter when I wasn't writing. Even more so to all the suppliers/manufacturers who trusted me to show case their products in the last two years. It has been great fun!

Here is last year's birthday comment:
http://coldthistle.blogspot.com/2011/01/january-29-2010.html

1+1 doesn't always make 2 aka "Climbing Insulation"

2012-01-29T21:06:00.000-08:00

60g Nano Puff pullover as the outer layer, mid winter, 12K feet

"Rainier this summer...then Orizaba, Kili, Aconcagua and Denali!"

That is a common hit list for the aspiring alpinist wanting to get in some altitude.
So it is just as common to answer questions about the gear required to make that dream come true.

I had to walk down to my gear room and count the synthetic and down jackets I own specifically to climb in. The count is split 50/50 between Primaloft One and Down in the 850 fill range.

The reason I mention the 50/50 split and not the numbers (besides embarrassing myself as a clothes hog) is to hopefully show I am not biased one way or the other for insulation. The only thing I care about is "will it work for my own use".

In the last few years the one item of clothing that has impressed me way beyond any other is a 60g weight Primaloft or Coreloft layer. Most easily identified as the Arcteryx Atom Lt or the Patagonia Nano Puff series are 60g. But almost everyone makes one these days.

I first saw full zip and hooded prototype samples from Mtn Hardware (which eventually became the Compressor with 100g layer Primaloft and then changed again).   The RAB Xenon is very close at 60g to the original prototype and one of my current lwt. favorites. And then Patagonia Nano Puff pullovers started showing up in places I never thought reasonable. Pictures of one or the other from the top of the Grand Jorasses in winter and summit of Denali early Spring for example. Not as inner layering pieces mind you but as the outer insulated shells. All 60g of that Primaloft One being used to the fullest.

I have Down sweaters that are every bit as capable...as long as you can keep them dry. As mid weight insulation and your outer climbing layer Down doesn't stand a chance if you are working hard unless the sun is out and it is cold and dry. When the moon and stars align Down will work fine. The rest of the time given the chance, Primaloft is what I'll bet on. And more importantly if I'll be working hard and know I'll eventually need the insulation I am wearing, Primaloft is a better bet to still be working at full value when it is required.

But lets face it is you can get by with only 60gs of Primaloft it isn't very cold outside. Even mid winter at 12K feet.   OR you must be working pretty hard!  Some time back I was laughed at for saying I sweated and got my insulation wet on lead. Work hard enough on technical ground or go fast enough on easy ground and you'll sweat. How you are able to manage that moisture in your insulation is key.

Soak it out and replace it is an option for approaches. But that won't work on the actual climb generally past your gloves. So having clothing that will dry out in use and most importantly keep you dry while moving is always going to be important if you are working hard enough.

Back to the layers? As I continued to pay attention to other climbers kit I started noticing a few guys using two 60g layers. That is 120g plus the 4 layers of nylon in some even colder places. 100g jackets are common enough as light weight belay jackets. How about layering a 60g jacket and a 100g jacket? The Arcteryx Atom SV and Patagonia Micro Puff are 100g jackets. The Patagonia DAS 170g.

With two lessor layers of insulation but more versatile garments you are now bettering a DAS' insulation  with the two additional layers of nylon shell.

I find it humorous that people still want to argue which insulation (down or synthetic) is the better one for the outdoors. For many that might be Down. But anyone who really has to rely on the insulation they climb in will generally bring a synthetic jacket and a down bag. I saw plenty of Down jackets on skiers last winter. None on the climbers in the huts or on the lifts fwiw.

Here is a more varied discussion on the same basic topic:
http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/1055771/1

Last winter I had down and synthetic jackets with me. When I skied I too used Down. It was also clear and sunny every time we skied. When I climbed I used synthetics. Much of the time it was with several layers intentionally.

There are some good down jackets available. Some of the better ones I have seen were reviewed here. on the blog.

I have a good many choices in the closet and find myself actually using 2 layers of 60g. a lot.   Or a 60g layer and a 100g layer.   When it is really cold I'll add two 60g layers and the 100g piece as the third layer.

Remember the idea is to stay dry, to stay warm. Layers allow you to regulate your heat output and just as important how much heat you conserve. And how mobile you are as well.    Options in the mountain are always a good thing if you don't have to pay a premium for them. If you gain something..like mobility it is a win!

Layering synthetics (or even a combination of down/down or down/synthetics for that matter) is just another option to think about. And one way to avoid ever buying that heavy weight belay jacket that you likely will never use and just as likely never want to carry.

Layered up for the -30 temps and a bivy

4 layers of Synthetic, top down, 60/100/60 and 60.

Two previous posts that you might find interesting on down/synthetics

http://coldthistle.blogspot.com/2010/11/daniel-harros-climb-stay-dry-to-stay.html

http://coldthistle.blogspot.com/2010/11/staying-warm-generally-means-staying.html

The Dru in winter!

2012-01-27T18:30:00.000-08:00

Winter alpinism again finally...thank you Jon!

Lesueur - Les Drus in winter (with variation exit) from Jonathan Griffith on Vimeo.

El Cap again

2012-01-26T19:32:00.001-08:00

Mayan Smith-Gobat climbing the Salathe Headwall from Andy Bardon on Vimeo.

Yosemite

2012-01-24T14:28:00.000-08:00

Yosemite HD from Project Yosemite on Vimeo.

Jack Roberts, climber, 1952-2012

2012-01-17T10:56:00.000-08:00

Jack Roberts 1952-2012

Jack was a friend. In the end a lot of things go through my mind about Jack. Too many stories to remember and tell. I was always impressed with Jack's climbs. How could you not be!? Jack wasn't perfect but he almost always had a smile to share and he never uttered a bad word about anyone. Both things I find hard to emulate. Those are also the things I find most important to remember about Jack Roberts.

Jack could tell his own story best I think.

"Life Training"
Thursday, May 12, 2011

By Jack Roberts

Here I am again running up the Mesa Trail in the early morning light with my dog Pisco, training for another South American climbing trip.

Pisco, with a smile on his face as well. Here is why:

http://blog.ospreypacks.com/?tag=jack-roberts-climbing-adventures

I’ve been watching my pulse, feeling my breath, counting the calories, the carbs and especially the fat content of all that I eat. I’m lifting weights on odd numbered days and climbing on all the others. That’s when I’m not guiding for a living as well. I’m trying to do the right things that make me stronger and more successful in the mountains - whatever that means. The training always changes. Sometimes I need to run more for endurance so I can fly like the wind on long, alpine routes. For other climbing trips I need to climb indoors and lift weights so I develop explosive strength for those steep, long free climbs that are always on my hit list. But one thing I do notice is that I am always training for something. What? And more importantly, why?

Mainly I’ve found that training for climbing helps keep my life simple. And in this day and age with instant meals, instant travel, instant information and instant gratification, life gets complicated. It’s not easy living a simple, uncluttered life. It takes work. Effort. Just like running, or climbing, or lifting weights. For me it’s important to not own a TV and to read a lot of books and to write. It’s important to cook my own meals and have friends to share those meals and wine with. It’s important to go outdoors often and return after a day out hungry, dirty, tired and sore. That always puts a smile of my face and makes me feel alive. It’s the simple pleasures that give meaning to my life.

Climbing for over 40 years has instilled values in me that go deep. The lifestyle that has evolved around climbing has now become more important than the actual physical sensation of moving on stone or ice. More important than reaching summits is living an examined life, making every action count.

Climbing has trained me well for life separate from the cliffs and mountains I play on. Climbing has taught me how to overcome fear, hesitation, self-doubt, sickness, hunger, fatigue and more. It has shown me the necessity of being alone occasionally, that being afraid is normal and that being in wild places where no one has gone before is a good thing. Climbing has taught me how to leave security behind in order to lead a more fulfilling life. It has taught me to conserve energy, and save money, time and resources. This lifestyle has given me everything. Whatever I can’t carry on my back has to be left behind, not only in alpine climbing but also in life.

This is what I m really training for as I run the trails or solo the Third Flatiron. A better life. It isn’t the physicality of the body that I am training for so much as it is to sharpen and hone the mind’s ability to let go of all the stuff in life that doesn’t matter. It is a constant reminder to keep my life uncluttered, simple and pure."

Name: Jack Roberts
born: May 29, 1952
Height: 5’ 10”
Weight: 170lbs

Best Rock Band: Rolling Stones

Favorite pastime: climbing

Married or single: married

Jack and Pam

Kids: no way! (Jack would have been great with kids as his students and clients all knew)

Claim to fame: Wearing a Victoria’s Secret dress in a La Sportiva ad (seriously, he did that)

Favorite motto: “You might not find what you want but you might just get what you need”.

Favorite curse word: Piss Off!

Biggest turn-off: Lazy, fat people (I often wondered why we ever got along)

Favorite climbing area: Tuolumne Meadows Why?: Perfect rock, perfect climbs, perfect weather.

How long have you been climbing?: 37 years

Favorite beer: Guinness

Current job: Professional climber/author/guide

Jack guiding in Cham 2011

Nominee for Coolest Song Ever: Marvin Gaye, “What’s Going On”?

Number of US States visited: 38

Most famous person you’ve ever met: Ricardo Cassin

Place of birth: Los Angeles, California

Best movie ever: Apocalypse Now

Who’s #1 on your speed-dial? Tra-Ling’s Asian Café.

Favorite fruit: Banana

Most memorable outdoor accomplishment: Having established 1st ascent SW Face Denali

Something nobody knows about you: I secretly listen to Neil Diamond songs, WAIT, no I don’t!

Dog or cat person?: Dog of course…….Golden Retrievers ROCK!

Most inspiring person in history: Mahatma Gandhi

Most recently-finished book: “Marley and Me”, by John Grogan

Other Sponsors: La Sportiva, Bluewater, Mammut, Osprey, Bibler, GU, Sports Street Marketing

More questions for Jack Roberts:
blog: http://www.jackrobertsclimbing.com

Do you clip bolts, plug cams, stack pads, or crush ice?

Yes, I dominate all forms of rock and ice!!

Jack doing what he has done from the beginning and making it look easy.

How long have you been an athlete with La Sportiva?

Approximately 16 years...

What are some of your lifetime climbing goals?

To continue to climb to my maximum potential in rock, ice and alpine climbs. To establish alpine FAs until I drop.

Do you have a claim to fame?

The reputation of the shape and condition of my toes and feet have made me infamous. Even Reinhold Messner wanted to see them! Also, I'm the only male Sportiva athlete to appear in a dress in any ad.

Do you have any vices?

Yes, but too many to list here........

One of the real pleasures in life...coffee in Cham with Jack

What makes you tick as a climber and in the real world?

Climbing stops the voices in my head from gaining control. If I stopped climbing I'd become dangerous.

What drives you to climb? The money? The groupies? The fame? What?

Alaska in '78

http://www.alpinist.com/tcl/email/jr/038.pdf

Definitely the fame. Groupies are over-rated. Money is....what was the question again? Seriously, the freedom of moving in the mountains either solo or with good friends feeds my psyche and makes me feel alive.

What is your favorite movie?

Apocalypse Now.

Do you have any nicknames? Explain:

Many old friends call me JACQUES rather than Jack. These friends felt that I had more style than the name "Jack" . implies.. The nickname stuck.

What’s the longest you’ve gone without sleep? Why?

Four days. On a new route on Denali. Altitude and stress kept both my partner and I awake. We spent that time in a Bibler tent waiting out a big storm.

If you had to be named after one of the 50 states, which would it be?

Alaska. Because I've spent over 20 seasons climbing up there and know those mountains to be the most beautiful.

What did you have for lunch yesterday?

Sushi. A Rainbow roll along with some salmon and tuna sashimi.

If you could hook up a thought monitor to your head, would you see pictures, hear words or would music be playing?

A visual of someone climbing vertical ice to the Rolling Stones song......Fancy Man's Blues....the lyrics appear in a bubble above the climber's head.

What really scares you about climbing?

It's very easy to mistake the sensation of feeling omnipresence for omnipotence and get severely hurt trying to understand the difference.

If your life was made into a movie, what would it be called?

The Unsolved Mystery of Alpine Jacques......in 3D version.

Where would you live if it could be anywhere in the world?

Mexico. Food is tasty, Tequila is the world's best alcohol, Surfing is the perfect compliment to climbing and the beach life down there doesn't get much better...

Have no food or have no gasoline?

Got beer and two sticks to rub together for my fire...... Why ask for more?

Do you wish you had sexier feet?

No one has sexier feet than I have. Didn't we have this discussion earlier?

Jack's feet, while working in the spring of 2011 before surgery.

More about Jack here:

http://c498469.r69.cf2.rackcdn.com/1997/80_roberts_arctic_aaj1997.pdf#search=%22jack%20roberts%22

http://coldthistle.blogspot.com/2011/02/you-dont-know-jack.html

http://www.climbing.com/exclusive/basecamp_blog/jack_roberts_a_tribute/

God's speed my friend. I wish I could do more.

Canadian ice in 2009

"Yesterday, January 15, Jack Roberts was climbing Bridalveil Falls, an almost 400-foot-high (150-meters) Grade 5 ice route up one of Colorado's biggest waterfalls. Jack, in his guidebook Colorado Ice, which details most of the state's ice climbs, calls Bridalveil Falls, "A climb of legendary stature and beauty" and "A Colorado and indeed an American classic."

Jack was leading the second pitch, a long steep pitch up a pillar on the right side of the falls, when he fell 60 feet about 12:20 p.m. His belayer was able to signal hikers below, who summoned the San Miguel County Search and Rescue group. While waiting for rescue, Jack suffered a cardiac arrest and died. The 18 rescuers were able to evacuate Jack, who had a broken hip, off the falls but their CPR efforts were unable to resuscitate him."

Photographs and quoted content are courtesy of Jack and a number of known and unknown Internet sources not credited directly. I hope no one minds.

I found this frightening........

2012-01-16T12:11:00.000-08:00

Every year it seems someone dies locally in a tree well. They are usually found in late spring or summer as the snow cover melts off. My local area, Crystal Mtn., sadly had a fatality in a tree well last year. I have to wonder if the new boards and rockered skis make the possibility even more common place because of what gets skied so easily these days.

Either way this video showed me just how fast it happens, how screwed you really are if it does and that 4 minutes is a very long time to hold your breath. Carry a shovel, ski with a partner (who has a clue and a shovel) and make your turns just a a little bit wider. This is a danger in the mountains you can actually control your exposure to.

http://www.treewelldeepsnowsafety.com/index.php

http://sports.espn.go.com/action/freeskiing/news/story?id=6669936

"The body of a skier who went missing at Washington's Crystal Mountain ski area in early March was found Wednesday, according to Crystal's director of ski patrol Paul Baughner. The remains were recovered in a tree well.

Paul Melby, 40, of Lakewood, Wash., was last seen toward the end of the day on March 1 in Rabbit Ears Chute under High Campbell lift. Ski patrol initiated a search for him that night and the search efforts lasted a week with no results, covering over 2,000 acres of terrain with help from 130 volunteers.

The week after Melby disappeared, Crystal Mountain received more than 20 inches of new snow and the search was suspended. Ski patrol resumed the search in early June when the snow began to melt.

According to Baughner, the cause of death was likely suffocation. An employee found the remains while skiing through some dense trees in an area called Mine Shaft, to the skier's left of Middle Ferk's run. "We did multiple passes through that area, even though it wasn't an area of highest probability based on the workup we did," Baughner said. "But after he went missing, there was heavy snowfall and our chances of finding him grew less and less."

Melby was a former ski patroller at Crystal, who switched to driving snowcats in recent years so he could get more skiing in during the day, according to his friend and fellow Crystal Mountain ski patroller Kim Kircher.

"Paul was a fixture at Crystal," Kircher told ESPN. "He was a local, expert skier that everyone knew and liked. He could be found in line at the bottom of the ski area on a powder day. He was soulful and kind, quiet and smiling."

Kircher said the search was hard for many patrollers. "As the season progressed, it was especially difficult to know he was still out there, right under our nose, and there was nothing we could do about it," she said. "Paul Melby was one of us, and that made it all the more trying."

Melby's death is the ninth tree well fatality at a U.S. ski area this year. This type of incident makes up roughly 20 percent of all ski area fatalities."

Millet Davai alpine boots...

2012-01-15T12:50:00.000-08:00

Millet has been very successful in the 8K meter boot business a while now.

photo courtesy of Valerio Massimo

The newest "Davai" single boot, designed for hard technical climbing, is one I am really looking forward to testing and reviewing.

Vibram® outsole
EVA midsole provides shock-damping support.
Compatible with all crampon
Semi-rigid Cordura® upper.
Quick, efficient lacing.
Superfabric® reinforcements.
High-thermicity PrimaLoft® lining
Stretch gaiter / waterproof, breathable PTFE membrane.
Waterproof flapped zip closure.

LES DROITES / NORTH FACE

"4,000M / ED. 1,000M.
First Ascent: 1955, DAVAILLE & CORNUAU.
For a mountaineer, scaling the north face of Les Droites is a tremendous achievement: 1,000 metres in wintry conditions of snow and ice, with an ED (extremely difficult) rating. With this committed, expert-only route in mind, Millet is launching as part of its 2012-2013 winter collection a technical winter mountaineering boot, a lightweight three-layer Gore-Tex jacket with a radical design, and a pair of warm, precise gloves for holding iceaxes. These three exclusive Millet products bear the name Davaï
– a nod to the route’s inaugural masters: Davaille and Cornuau."

DPS Spoon?

2012-01-15T11:10:00.000-08:00

I am a big fan of the carbon DPS 138.

http://dpsskis.com/ski/lotus138

But the "Spoon" is another step on the wild side. With OR coming next week it is fun to look back at what was shown last year and still isn't available yet. I got on the list anyway.

http://www.powdermag.com/stories/first-look-dps-skis-new-spoon-in-action/

"this design has been in the works for a year and a half, and its really cool to see a skiable example of it. stoked to test it in the next bit, once the tradeshow circuit slows down.

the ski is designed to really promote super high edge angle powder skiing with out seeing drag and reduced speeds from snow contact on your leg from loosing the plane. when a flat-base ski gets higher and higher edge angle , the amouint of float gets lower and lower. this spoon shape starts to engage at the point that a normal flat ski starts to dive. and then keeps going... so like really from dragging your hip in pow super powerful GS type deal.

aside from that, the goal was to open up a totally news style of drifting into and railing/carving super cleanly out of turns and terrain features.

the cleats were added to enabe the ski to be somewhat controlable on runouts. it is pretty different from magnetraction where you are trying to gain edge grip by undulating in and out. the cleats go down to add a small level of stability and edge so a fully convex base will change direction and slow down etc on 2dimensional snow. as it is now, you will not be carving turns. if there were no cleats, the ski would be in essance a death trap. ~20deg base effective bevel otherwise.

this ski shape is based around a lotus 138 + 12mm. full rocker (reverse camber). 192cm. his particular ski was built in eden utah in the engineers garage. it is not ready for retail production, but the tech will see trickle down in the future, is the goal. once the amount of base convexity and positioning and amount of cleats and height of cleats etc is finalized.

base prep out of the mold is a pain, but once that is done, tuning is straight forward actually. far easier to wax etc than i thought they might be. hand prep the base. really no biggie. flat enough to mount bindings without issue upderfoot.

stephan sees this as being the future of powder skiing, based on his testing of it the past 2 days, and well... going by how it looks in my hand, i am inclined to agree... but i have not skied them yet. these skis literally came out of the mold 4-5 days ago."

Last edited by marshalolson; 01-27-2011 at 08:51 PM.

http://dpsskis.com/blogs/2011/january/dps-spoon-150-patent-pending-dps-cleat-technology

www.dpsskis.com

For the Locals...it's a PARTY in North Bend!

2012-01-14T17:49:00.000-08:00

My favorite low key, local, ski shop is having a party! Free beer and the newest Dynafit gear to play with and drool over....it has to be fun! Be sure to check out Mike Yost's hand made, “SHOT 5 SKIS” while you are in the shop as well. These guys are obvious serious about skiing!

http://www.proskiservice.com/

"Backcountry Ski Party and FREE Trip Giveaway!

January 16, 2012
Pro Ski and Guiding North Bend, WA,

In celebration of a solid ski touring season we're inviting all our friends to come party with us! The snow pack has been building, coverage is great and storms are lining up off the coast. We're looking forward to a night of hanging out with all our 'ski bum' friends!

Write down the date: Monday January 16th 6-9 PM!

Everyone who comes to the party will be entered to win one of four spots on a free ski tour on Dynafit Demo gear with one of our guides! We'll have the Dynafit Rep here with some goodies to give away along with Ortovox, and tons of backcountry gear to play with!

We'll also be supplying some adult beverages so show up early and enjoy a beer with us!"

More details on the newest La Sportiva ski line up for next year, 2012-13

2012-01-12T11:19:00.000-08:00

La Sportiva Skis 2012-13 from Skiing Business on Vimeo.

Boulder, Colo.) –La Sportiva North America, makers of the world’s finest mountain products, introduces three new skis and a redesigned line of ski boots for the 2012-13 winter season. La Sportiva will debut its new skis and boots at the 2012 OR Winter Market, SIA Snowshow and ISPO tradeshows.

“Ski mountaineering continues to grow in North America and we’re excited to add more innovative products to our award-winning lineup,” states Colin Lantz, winter sports director at La Sportiva. “Our RT Binding and Hi5 ski were well received last year and now we’ve expanded the line to accommodate powder chasers with the Hang5 ski and deliver all-mountain versatility with the Lo5 ski. In addition, our full line of ski mountaineering boots will provide demanding ski mountaineers with the performance that La Sportiva's customers have come to expect from our technical footwear.”

In the ski line, three new ultra-lightweight skis are debuting that are all made with paulownia wood cores and high tech carbon fiber laminates. The Hi5’s little brother, the new Lo5 ski is an all-mountain ripper that has enough rocker to comfortably handle a variety of snow conditions. With measurements of 125-95-115, the Lo5 is available in 168, 178, and 188cm lengths, and weighs 1695g in the 178cm length to keep it light while providing ample downhill performance. At 145-117-135, the new Hang5 is the big daddy to the Hi5 and a pure powder machine that is at home in soft snow. Available in 178 and 188cm lengths and tipping the scales at 1885g in the 178cm length, the Hang5 is still light enough to be comfortable for long, demanding tours. The GTR is a touring-friendly ski that measures 114-82-104, is available in 158, 168, and 178cm lengths and weighs just 1245g in the 168cm length so that it goes up as well as it goes down.

Mid winter...what do we start thinking about?

2012-01-11T16:19:00.000-08:00

http://teton.outerlocal.com/hiking/running-the-grand-outpost

THE System....

2012-01-06T21:55:00.000-08:00

Ueli Steck's Custom Outerwear System from Mountain Hardwear on Vimeo.

Hadn't seen this in awhile..always good motivation.

2012-01-06T21:37:00.000-08:00

Ueli Steck Speed Soloing the Ginat on the Droites from Jonathan Griffith on Vimeo.

Alpine Mentors and Steve House?

2012-01-06T09:02:00.000-08:00

The American alpinist Steve House - © archive Steve House

"Alpine Mentors promotes alpinism by encouraging, coaching and climbing with technically proficient young alpinists who aspire to climb the worldʼs greatest mountains in a lightweight, low-impact style."

http://www.alpinementors.org/

I think this is a GREAT idea!

But it aint a give away either.

This is one of the questions on the application.

"You are climbing the 1938 route on the north face of the Eiger. The first day you manage to get to Death bivouac, half way up the route. That night a storm comes in and you are pinned down for 3 days. You started with three days of food and fuel, but by being careful, you have saved a small amount of both. You have a partner of equal experience, 6 cams, 4 pitons, 6 nuts, 4 ice screws, and 2 60 meter ropes. You have no radio or cell phone and no chance for outside help. It is 10 degrees F and has snowed 12" in the past 24 hours. What is going through your mind and what would you do?"

Gotta love TURF sticks!

2012-01-05T18:29:00.000-08:00

The really fun stuff starts at around 25 minutes in.

Alpine Cragging At Ptarmigan Peak, Alaska from Ephay on Vimeo.

Bjørn-Eivind Årtun interview with Rolando Garibotti

2012-01-05T11:16:00.000-08:00

"We need to allow ourselves room to be more daring. Too often by over-analysing and over-intellectualising climbs we confuse fear for real danger. It is important to learn to distinguish one from the other. There is a big difference between getting intimidated by the steepness, difficulty or length of a climb, and real dangers such as avalanches, rock-fall, limited options of retreat, cold, etc. Venas Azules is a good example, an intimidating line that is reasonably safe, with little objective danger. Being brave and open minded without compromising your safety is the fine line we walk in our hunger for adventure."

Bjørn-Eivind Årtun

Great interview with one of the leading alpinists in the world today. More here:

http://www.planetmountain.com/english/News/shownews1.lasso?l=2&keyid=38981

And the online guide book with more info here:

http://www.pataclimb.com/

Torre Egger, Patagonia Photo by archivio Bjørn-Eivind Årtun

Venas Azules, Torre Egger, Patagonia.

Torre Egger, Patagonia Photo by Rolando Garibotti

The south face of Torre Egger in Patagonia and the line of the route established by the Norwegians Bjørn-Eivind Aartun and Ole Lied in December 2011.

Thanks to Bruno for the heads up on this one!

Feathered Friends sleeping bags?

2012-01-04T11:36:00.000-08:00

Lee out in LaLa-land, snuggled into a Feathered Friends Hummingbird.

It is kinda funny when you look at all your gear and it is so easy to miss the really important stuff. Not the biners or hardware or the newest ice tool or a pair of boots. But the really important stuff like sleeping pads, the bags and the tents.

I'd guess part of it is I hate having to carry any of them. So until required I try to ignore all of them. The when I am forced to sue them I generally take the smallest and the lightest of all three. It has made for some uncomfortable nights. But it is never the gears fault. It is an issue with faulty decision making. To be specific my faulty decision making.

In the old days I carried a pack like this pretty much every where I went and spent half the year or more living out of a sleeping bag.

Now I am more likely to measure a climb by how much can I get done in 24hrs or less and how much do I REALLY have to carry.   This size pack is about as much as I want on my back these days.

As you might imagine that has cut down on a LOT of gear including the size and more importantly the comfort range of my sleeping bag.

I suspect there are a few sleeping bag companies that make good bags. Western Mountaineering seems to be well liked by friends over the years. A quick search turned up this:

http://www.climbing.com/print/equipment/bags215/

I've owned a few bags. My first down bag, which was second hand, I resold at some point. My second, a synthetic, was stolen off my clothes line, where it sat drying one too many days and nights, after a minor epic in the Canadian Rockies. The third the same brand of synthetic I eventually wore out and gave away.

My fourth and first really nice down bag I bought in 1976, a Trailwise Chevron, which still own. I thought it had about died on me till I had Feathered Friends cleaned it for me a few years ago. It was always a good bag but they worked wonders on it.

That wasn't my first experience with Feathered Friends however. In 1980 I had them build a custom Peregrine. Black VBL inner shell and a bright green Gortex outer. Loved that bag. I remember waking up at 17K on the west butt one morning with chilled feet. Thinking sheet...not enough bag. Until I reached for the stove pot and it singed my hand it was so cold.  That is really cold! Wonderful bag! 17K was the first time I had actually zipped up that bag on Denali.

I sold that one....as I didn't want to be anywhere that cold again. That was a mistake as I did 2 more Alaska trips after that and never could afford to have another one built.

With Feathered Friends virtually willing to build you any bag you could imagine in the next 20 years I did have them build several more custom bags though. All over filled, all with something extra I figured I needed and all of the bags truly spectacular.

I still have them.   One of each, a Humingbird, a Widgeon which I had them build to my specs. And most recently a Vireo that I returned after using it for a couple of years to have it modified as well.

Feathered Friends makes some amazing bags you can buy off the shelf. But when you ask them to do some thing special....look out 'cuz you'll get more than you ever expected. It is kinda like they appreciate the request and what to make the very best just for you.

So back to my last bag from Feathered Friends to finish up these comments. I had my Vireo over stuffed to the max (5 oz in the body of the bag, most of it on the upper half) and a collar added. They did quiz me on the collar...."you want what?"   "Really?" "Ya, can you do that for me?" "Sure?" Price was right. Now I have this dinky little lwt sleeping bag I can get into my dinky little packs for when I don't make those 24hr estimates. And I'll sleep a good bit warmer in this one for the added 1/2 pound. :) The Vireo has truly been transformed from a summer bag to a decent 3 season bag for me now.

How cool is that?

I have some brand loyalty again. Feathered Friends has never told me "no" when asked for something special on a custom bag. And they are local for me. The cost and wait has always been more than worth the end result. Few pieces of gear get my unqualified support. Feathered Friends earned that support 20 years ago and continues to today.

Baffin Island Skiing

2011-12-30T13:14:00.000-08:00

Baffin Island: A Skier's Journey EP2 [Season 2] from Jordan Manley Photography on Vimeo.

thanks Dave!

The Russell Moccasin Co. and minimalist running shoes?

2011-12-29T18:27:00.000-08:00

The Munson Army Last has been around since 1912. -Named after its inventor, Edward Luman Munson, A.M., -M.D., Lt. Col. Medial Corps, United States Army, the Munson Army Last was adopted by the U.S. Army to enhance the fit and comfort of military boots issued to soldiers. The Munson Army Last was and is one of the few lasts that ever approached normal feet shape and contour.

It was the view and understanding of Dr. Munson, way back then, that “Weakening of the foot muscles is one of the penalties of civilization, as walking is less and less a factor in locomotion....the introduction of railroads, street cars and automobiles, has materially interfered with foot development.”

http://www.russellmoccasin.com/munson_last.html

"I did an hour hike up and down a back-country ski trail the other day in a custom pair of minimalist shoes. Packed snow, nine degrees Fahrenheit, and my feet were toasty the whole way. They have no heel lift, no cushioning, an anatomically correct design, and are the only shoes I've found other than FiveFingers where I can actually splay my toes; they have excellent traction. No need for snow shoes, or Yaktrax.

A new start-up minimalist shoe company? Nope, this company has been making minimalist footwear for over 100 years. It's the Russell Moccasin Co. of Berlin, Wisconsin, and the shoe in question was produced for me as a prototype after a conversation with the 80-year old owner.

Like many of us, after starting to wear Vibrams on a regular basis, I realized that traditional shoes were no longer going to cut it. I'd been able to find decent, but not great, alternatives for office wear, but the one problem remaining was cold weather. How to get a boot that would be suitable for hiking in the winter in snow and on ice? After a good deal of research, I found that the Russell Moccasin Co. makes custom boots, and some of them sounded close to what I was looking for."

More here:

http://www.russellmoccasin.com/product_reviews/minimalist_footwear.html

I suspect a few are now beginning to think I have lost my mind :)

I and my family have a long history with the Russel Moccasin Co. So if you have ever wondered where my shoe fetish started, it was here while in the 2nd grade.

I could go on but I'll leave that for the Q&A session in the comments that are sure to follow. If you are a minimalist runner I suspect you'll like what Russel has been doing with shoes and boots for years. For the rest of your it might take a bit of wrangling to wrap your head around the need let alone the actual shoes/boots Russel offers and their cost.

There isn't much footwear that gives Dane "happy feet". A custom pair of Russels is one of my definitions of the term. But until just the last few days I had never thought about actually just running in them. I have used them for everything else and in conditions that would never makes sense if you didn't know more about the construction of Russel's entire line of footwear.

But "just running" in them makes a lot of sense if you are into a minimalist running shoe. Which I have been, long before the Nike Free or Vibram 5 Finger.

If you ever wondered what tight rock shoes or rigid soled mountaineering boots were doing to your feet this is a good read.

Dr. Edward Luman Munson's observations from 100 years ago:

http://www.archive.org/details/soldiersfootmili00munsrich

Hey I just liked the photo :)

2011-12-28T21:05:00.000-08:00

Photo courtesy of Paul Clifford

Climber is Greg Vadasdi from the other side of the country, decked out in some sweet C-T gear suggestions. Thanks guys!

MY “2 PENCE” ON MIDLAYERS

2011-12-27T15:43:00.000-08:00

Croz Spur, courtesy of Ben O'Connor Croft

By Dave Searle

When the aim of the game in alpine climbing is to stay warm and dry it's no wonder that we all spend so much time agonizing over our shells without spending much time worrying about mid layers. “What's going to be best today? Softshell, hardshell, wind-shirt, or can I get away with just a mid-layer?” It's inevitable that we get it wrong at some point and will be cursing the Gods as we shiver out a long belay, get a good drenching or feel the sweat run down the small of our backs whilst our mouths dry up as we're sucking in that cold, dry air and remembering the measly amount of water that is left in our bag.....

Something that I have realized over the last few years is that most of our problems run deeper than the shell. Finding a mid-layer system that works well can often be overlooked by most climbers and skiers. My problem is I have slightly ridiculously long arms. This causes me all kinds of problems, things that I never thought about when I was starting out. First off having such long arms means that every time I reach up above my head (which strangely I do quite a lot whilst climbing) my sleeves start to creep up my forearms. Not a big problem you say, well actually it is a massive problem. Something that I have discovered (or maybe no one ever told me) is if my wrists get cold my hands are cold almost instantly afterwards, hardly surprising when you think where the blood that should be keeping your hands warm comes from. For me sleeves either have to be equally as ridiculously long or they need thumb loops. Ideally they should be both because if they aren't long enough but have thumb loops then you get another problem manifesting around the harness area. You'll know what I am talking about if you normally climb in trousers as opposed to salopettes. Being “un-tucked” around the waist can range from a slight draft to full blown harness-hip chaffing. I usually keep my climbers partners updated about this problem during a climb with a simple 1-10 scale. '1' being all tucked and correct, '2' being a slight draft/small patch of skin showing up to '10' being horrendous multiple layers out of the top of the harness with full lead-rack/harness-hip interface. Seriously though, I got my layering system wrong a few times in the last few years and ended up with some seriously rubbed hips to show for it.

There are many different types of mid-layers from the super sleek and thin fleeces such as the Patagonia R1 Hoody and the NWAlpine Spider Light Hoody (I have one of the latter and I'm super impressed with it so far, just need to get out there and give it a good test) all the way up to synthetic or down insulated offerings like the Arc'teryx Atom (a firm favourite of Dane's). I am going to concentrate on the fleece type here as that's what I use most of the time in the Alps. I've only written a few up here but it should give you a good idea of what I look for in a mid layer and how important they are.

(edit by Dane: Just to be clear I don't use the Atom LT as a mid layer as Dave implies here, but as my outer layer/action suit top. A R1 or the other tops Dave is discussing in this review I use as my base layer. More here on how I layer. http://coldthistle.blogspot.com/2011/09/winter-layers.html )

During the day, before myself and Ally headed over over to Grindlewald to climb the '38 route on the north face of the Eiger, I was getting stressed out about what I was going to wear on the climb. All my kit was in order and I was tossing up what I was going to do about my top half insulation. I decided, to calm my nerves, I should take a trip to Snell sports in Chamonix to buy some more energy gels (as you can never have enough, Yum) and check out what was the latest offering was for a mid-layer. I spent some time trying on various brands and settled on one that I liked. I went for the Mammut Yukon hoody and shelled out half a week's wage buying one at full price, hours before we set off (and the other half on energy gels!). That was almost a year ago and I haven't regretted buying it for one minute and it has come with me on nearly every outing into the mountains in the last year.

Golden granite is on the Direct des Capucin courtesy of Gavin Pike

It has everything I was looking for. A light hood that can be worn under a helmet and is also stretchy enough to pull over the top at a belay. Thumb loops and long sleeves keep my wrists warm and hovering between 1-3 on the 'Un-tucked Scale'. The thumb loops are well thought out and comfortable next to the skin and stretchy enough to pull over the top of thin gloves. The main body material is slightly wind-proof without sacrificing any breath-ability and is also very stretchy and hard-wearing. The one small pocket on the chest is big enough for my camera and I like that it doesn't have 'handwarmer pockets' because I never need or use them. If I could change one thing about this I would get rid of the full length zip for a ½ length one to keep things simpler. Apart from this it really is the ideal mid layer fleece.

Like I said I am really looking forward to giving the NWAlpine Spider Light Hoody a run for its money when I get the chance.

http://nwalpine.com/black-spider-light-hoody

It's more of a fitted mid layer that can be worn next to the skin and would be great for really fast paced alpine routes where you might just be wearing a wind-proof or light shell over the top. It's got a ½ length zip that curves to the side to eliminate the dreaded chest bulge that you can get when you raise your arms in some mid layers. The thumb loops feel good, the hood is great for going under a helmet, and it's got a chest pocket too. This is a proper dedicated climbing base/mid layer fleece. I can't imagine it would stand up to granite stemming in the same way that my Yukon did but it's designed to be used under a shell because they have used thinner, more breathable fabric.

When I was given a First Ascent Hangfire Hoody to test I really wanted to like it. I really did. It looked and felt great and seemed to be fairly similar in design and features to my beloved (now slightly worn out) Yukon Hoody.

http://www.eddiebauer.com/EB/First-Ascent/Mens-First-Ascent-Fleece/index.cat

The thing is that it's just not quite right. First of all I was puzzled as to why it hasn't got thumb loops. I know they probably cost a little extra to add to a jacket but for me it not worth having a jacket like this without them. The body fitted me really well and was almost better than my Yukon. Unfortunately the lack of thumb loops and much shorter sleeves on the Hangfire meant that they would ride a few inches up my forearms and pull the bottom out of my harness and the cut around the shoulders means that you get a large chest bulge with your hands above your head. Not ideal if you need to look for that next foothold. Also the hood on the Hangfire is neither stretchy enough to go over a helmet or thin enough to wear underneath, rendering itself slightly pointless. The main body material seems a lot tougher than that on my Yukon and it does shed light precipitation which is a plus on some approaches. This jacket hasn't found its way into my action range because it just not quite dedicated enough. I can see what they've done, I can spot it a mile off. It's a more casual, around town, going cragging hoody.... It's just not trying hard enough to come out with me on a big alpine face I'm afraid, so a Cragging/Pub hoody it will remain. I was hoping to use it as a skiing mid-layer this winter, of which I'm sure it would have been very well suited... unfortunately being British I still haven't learnt how to ski so I thought I would just give this winter a miss and sit about at my mum's house in the UK eating chocolate. :-)

Salewa Pro Gaiter Mountain boot?

2011-12-25T14:37:00.000-08:00

This is a boot Salewa first showed at the summer OR show in 2011. It still hasn't hit the dealers shelves yet but thought it worth mentioning some of the things I know about it from the samples I have.

The most obvious it this little guy and flex adjustment for the sole.

And a closer look at the internals that make it possible

With my friend Eric giving us a tour of the boot at OR this summer.

What is missing here and easy to not see with all the new technology is the last and human engineering that has gone into this boot. To be honest most climbers are not into fluff. And it might be easy to pass off Salewa's newest technology as fluff in a hardcore mtn boot.

What impressed me even more (and surprised me as well) was the last (actually two lasts) of the new Salewa.

In long email conversations with one of Salewa's and Dynafit's boot designers, Federico Sbrissa it became clear as to why.

I easily saw the design, last and fit similarities to the new TLT5 Dynafit ski boots and the new Pro Gaiter from Salewa. The emails back and forth to Federico Sbrissa just confirmed that guess on my part.
What I have here is the performance fit. It is tight and form fitting. I really like the fit but would prefer what I think will be a warmer boot the INSULATED PLUS FIT in this boot. Only because I know something of the Dynafit/Salewa design collaboration and trust the end results. Only time will tell if I am right.

But if I am correct the Pro Gaiter might well end up being a dominate player in full on technical boots just as the TLT has become in BC and touring boots. The TLT has done that so thoroughly that few are even in the same game right now. Salewa is betting a lot on this new technology.

The new Pro Gaiter isn't the lightest "super gaiter" style boot out there with even more to come from the major players, new and old. But if a boot truly fits well I am willing to give up a lot of things. And I suspect this boot is going to fit my foot exceptionally well. A few ounces being one of the things I am willing to accept for a perfect fit.

I am really looking forward to giving this boot and several others a real test.

A close up look at just two of the newest boots that will be available by early summer of 2012.

Mountain boots? I just don't get it?

2011-12-25T14:34:00.000-08:00

If you look at any given climbing forum there is almost always a thread on going about what boot is suitable for what ever mtn you might imagine.

The typical forum poster wants to be able to use the same boot on Whitney in summer and Everest in winter...or pretty close comparison anyway.

Hood, Rainier, Aconcagua and Denali are all lumped into one, all inclusive group.

Climbing has always been an elitiest and expensive sport.

19,000' on Aconcagua is not the same for cold as 19,000' on Denali given the same season.

Big difference in that last 3000' from the top of Hood to the top of Rainier. The gear for a typical Rainier climb is simply just not good enough for an Aconcagua trip. People need to recognise the facts.

You can pay now or eventually pay later once your luck runs out.
These are the toes of a friend after 24hrs out climbing in late Nov. @ 7000' in the Cascades.

There is no climbing boot made that costs anywhere near the bill here in money and time off.

"Glaces"...a history of ice climbing and technique

2011-12-24T18:37:00.000-08:00

Just one of the many historical photos in "Glaces", Beyond Good and Evil., Mt. Blanc Range.

I like to read. I like to collect mountaineering books or at least have in the past. Obviously one of my passions is ice climbing. I come by that honestly having been lucky enough to have started waterfall climbing at the "golden" era of Canadian waterfall activity in the Rockies.

So I have autographed copies of Bill March's book, Chouinard's, Jeff Lowe's, Twight's, Will Gadd's and most recently Steve House's. All great books in their own way. I've talked about most of them here on the blog. But always special to me to have autographed copies even from guys like Chouinard or House who I have never met.

Some I think are more important historically than others. And some stand out for their influence on the English climbing community.

As a student of ice climbing history living in North America I have long known that Chouinard didn't invent the curved axe. And that the curved axe didn't really make the huge leap in climbing difficulty that some have implied. The climbers did generally and not all of them were from NA.

That was left to others living in the Mt. Blanc Massif and in Scotland and the gear they used or designed.

But that story, their story, has never been seen in one place that I know of, until recently...very recently in fact from what I have seen.

Leave it to my friends at Blue Ice to publish the most recent European tome on ice climbing, "Glaces: arts, experiences et techniques" by Jerome Banc-Gras and Manu Ibarra

There is a lot here. I could tell you more but my French is limited. No English version yet but I know they are working on it. It will be well received.

Short ummary of contents?

History
From Antiquity to 1908: Ice as an adversary
1908-1968 : La glace des faces nord 1908-1968: Ice faces north
1968-1998 : La glace des cascades 1968-1998: The ice cascades
1998 a nos jours: La glace sportive 1998 to Present: The ice sports
Ice
Snow
mixed
The gear
The gear progression
Safety equipment
Maintenance
Choosing the route
Choice of technical equipment
Selection of protection
Organization of gearaterial
Moving on the ice
Which route?
Analysis of the possibility of collapse

The historial accounts which I found most interesting by:
Walter Cecchinel
Ludger Simond
Bruno Sourzac
Will Gadd
Pavel Shabalin
Christophe Moulin
Ueli Steck
Fred Degoulet
Philippe Pellet
Jerome Blanc-Gras

"Glaces: arts, expériences et techniques" by Jerome Banc-Gras and Manu Ibarra is available from Blue Ice France now. Send them an email encouraging them to do a English version!

http://www.blueice.com/en/products/glaces-arts-experiences-et-techniques

Some more shots from the book that should give you an idea of how much a treat this one really is.

From ancient history to the most modern techniques, tools and climbers, it is all here.

Brooks-Range Cirro Hoody

2011-12-23T14:49:00.000-08:00

This is a jacket I should have written up a long time ago.

It can be found here:
http://brooks-range.com/cirro-hoody.html

Last winter when us rookie Americans kept missing the last Midi tram off the mountain at the end of the day we had few options. The Loo or the walk over to the Cosmic hut. Being on a budget we would stay in the Loo unless the tram crew kicked us out because of the bad weather and over crowding.

Even in the Loo it was a miserable night for the most part. Not very comfortable with no gear and colder than I would have liked but not the typical -30C it was hitting outside either.

I think it was the second night up there that I started dropping the Cirrus in my ruck as my "last" layer. And it did make a big difference in the grand scheme of things. I was comfortable with that last layer when I hadn't been previous. Less than a pound and worth every penny. I would have used it a lot more this summer and fall if my plans had worked out. My only complaint was this particular one was in black. Hard to get good pictures with a black jacket :) More so if you only use it climbing at night or on an uncomfortable bivy. When and where the jacket did get used is high praise though for a garment designed just for those exact kind of instances.

Here is why it is so good:

It has a great hood, that does fit over a helmet, and a stand up collar in addition to that hood. The fit is relaxed so I could easily layer under it. Slick as well so nothing to hang up when layered. And it all stuffs into one of the side pockets easily for packing. As good as it gets for materials and insulation when a lot of the 60g jackets have gone to Primaloft Eco, Brooks didn't dummie down this jacket.

•Insulation: Primaloft One®, 60g/m2
•Shell Fabric: 15 denier Pertex™
14.7 oz on my scale for a XL

No joke, layer six is a Brooks-Range Cirro. The Midi upper station Loo, 2am, Feb 2011.

60g of Primaloft One and 2 layers of Pertex are enough to make a stark difference when it is cold.

If you wear an men's XL upper...

2011-12-22T22:11:00.000-08:00

And are looking for some new climbing clothing this may interest you:

http://coldthistletools.blogspot.com/2011/12/cold-thistle-review-gear-for-sell.html

There are some bits and pieces of hardware there as well.

The RAB Xenon jacket

2011-12-22T10:48:00.000-08:00

Because I like and use the Atom LT so much and the Mtn Hardware Compressor before it I am always on the look out for first rate lightly insulated (60g) climbing jackets.

The Xenon first came to my attention and a few of my pals a couple of seasons ago. I was pretty stoked...right up till I had a chance to try one on and found the side pockets had no zippers. What was RAB thinking on that one? I actually discussed that with one of the RAB reps earlier this fall. I just figured someone made a huge mistake on that order to China.

But nope no zippers was intentional first time around to save weight. Clearly stopped me and a couple of my friends from buying the Xenon though.

This year the Xenon does have zippers on the pockets, thankfully. Makes them so they don't fill up with snow and you can actually store something in them with no worry of loosing what ever that happens to be.

The RAB party line:

"The Xenon Jacket is a super lightweight synthetic insulated jacket with a very light outer fabric.

The Xenon Synthetic insulated jacket is the culmination of several years hard work with fabric and synthetic insulation suppliers. We have taken Primaloft® synthetic fill and wrapped it up in the lightest Pertex® Quantum® GL 10 Denier fabric that is currently available.

You get a full length garment with a full length YKK zip, 2 hand warmer pockets and a chest pocket and all for just 340g/12oz!!! The whole jacket packs into its own chest pocket and is ideal as a superlight belay or over layer jacket, to be carried in a pack or clipped to a harness.

Ideal for Alpine Climbing, Mountain Marathon,Mountain Walking, Trek and travel and any fast and light activities. What more could you want?"

Sizes: S - XXL

Weight: 330g / 12oz

◦Pertex® Quantum® GL 10D ultra light rip stop nylon outer and lining

◦Light 60g Primaloft® One in body, sleeves and hood
◦Lycra bound hood fits snugly under a helmet.
◦1-way YKK front zip with internal insulated zip baffle and chin guard
◦2 YKK zipped hand warmer pockets and 1 YKK zipped chest pocket
◦Double exit hem drawcord
◦Packs away into chest pocket
◦Short cut

I am obviously not doing any climbing right now. But I am using the Xenon almost every day. I really like this jacket. One of my projects has been to figure out where in my climbing clothing system I can use this one.

It would be a LOT easier if the hood fit over a helmet. It doesn't. Typically that would "kill" any climbing jacket for my ow use. But the new Xenon (with pocket zips) is good enough that I have been looking for places to use this jacket. Here are the reasons I want to use this jacket. First off the materials used, Primaloft One and Pertex® Quantum® make it a lwt package that is hard to ignore. The nice detailing, zipper baffle, corner zipper reinforcements, and the fleece chin guard you notice. Even the hood has a slick little retaining strap for when it is not in use. The XL size is more like a comfy US large than a XL and it actually fits me very well after the chemo diet. It might be the only jacket in the house that does come to think about it!

If I am not using the hood I don' want it full of snow...the hood retainer strap is a nice detail.

The Xenon tucked into it's own chest pocket with a loop for clipping it to your harness. My XL (call it a roomy US large) weighs in at full 11.8OZ! For once the "stuff" pocket is over size for the jacket and easily goes into this one. The jacket would go into a smaller (more durable) stuff sack if the bulk is a concern on the harness. Though you are on your own for that.

I may not get the winter use I had planned for the Xenon without a hood that will go over my helmet. But this will certainly be the jacket I throw in the pack for the rest of the year as required. Yep, at under 12oz. I like it, a lot. Really, who actually gives an honest garment weight these days..BRAVO, on that one RAB!

I like it enough that if they made the hood big enough to go over a helmet and kept the zippers on the side pockets I'd buy one of those too :) After all how much weight is a bigger hood really going to add?

Here is a buying tip....if you find this jacket on sale via the Internet...make sure the version you are getting has the side pocket zips if you require them.

Happy Holidays!

2011-12-21T14:06:00.001-08:00

Winter Solstice from Uncage the Soul Productions on Vimeo.

Stay sharp...and stay alive this winter!

Winter Alpine and Ice Glove Choices: part 3

2011-12-20T18:11:00.000-08:00

So I left the last glove comments with a tale of cold fingers and me using some pretty thick gloves in Chamonix last winter. None of them the best fit inside a Nomic handle on technical terrain.

Common sense would have me climbing in a pair of wool Dachstein mitts again if I had a pair with me...which I didn't. Dachsteins with a reasonable over shell are good down to any temp I want to climb in and warmer than anything else I have used...first time every time no matter the conditions.

But easy to use placing rock pro and screws they aren't. They work but just barely compared to say a pair of Hydras.

Like double boots.... there is a fine line between what is fun to climb in..like a pair of Phantom Ultras and what keeps my feet warm and happy like my Spantiks.

So a couple of gloves I looked at this fall that I wanted to see what all the fuss was about.

The first two were the Arc'teryx Zenta AR ($185 retail) and the Alpha SV Gloves ($275 retail) and the third was the Outdoor Research Firebrand ($320. retail)

Dave's shorted lived review here on the Zenta. They recieved high marks from Dave's comments.

http://coldthistle.blogspot.com/2011/11/shortfield-test-of-arcteryx-zenta-ar.html

Dave's Zenta's were a medium and I use a XL. Good thing too as I was still on the hunt for a warmer glove than even the Zenta.

But get real at $300 for a pair of gloves I wasn't in too big of a hurry. You can buy a state of the art ice tool (just one of course) or a Narrona down jacket or a damn good Feathered Friends down bag for $300 for chrimney sake! In the right place at the right time $300 will get you a season pass.

The Zeta was impressive. But I wanted a removable liner as well. The Alpha SV and the Firebrand were the other two options and I wanted the warmer of the two. Once you get your hands into a pair of each brand that is obviously going to be the Firebrand.

Simple to figure that out as the Firebrand ($320 retail) is the thickest glove intended as a cold weather technical glove that I have ever seen and with the most amount of dexterity. Most of the insulation is on the back of the hand, fingers and thumb. So you can actually use the Firebrand for some pretty delicate work. The fit on this glove for the insulation involved is simply amazing

But make no mistake this is a serious glove...in cost and where you will use it.

While the Alpha SV Gloves ($275 retail) is no doubt a nice glove and should be for the price, the OR Firebrand is in a totally different league and has a totally different intended use imo. Think super charged, and armored Humvee verses a Ferrari here. Both will do an amazing job if you know when and how to apply the technology. Tough comparison...obvious differences and much the same like the great deterity in both.

But FMR...$300 for a pair of gloves?! I still find that hard to fathom no matter how good the glove is. May be I should just stay indoors more.

Yes, it is cold...even climbing quickly in a puffy and Typhons.

Winter Alpine and Ice Glove Choices: part 2

2011-12-20T14:25:00.000-08:00

Yep, that is me in a pair of Mtn Hardware Hydras. On a "warm" day last Feb. high on the Midi.

Obviously I am showing some brand loyalty on my glove choice here. But as I mentioned briefly these are *NOT* the only gloves I have climbed in, bought or tried or seen fail on my partner's hands in the last few years. Just what I like this year and have a history with the earlier versions.

So...the Mountain Hardware gloves?

The amazing Hydra

Medusa

Minus One

Typhon

There are four gloves from Mountain Hardware that I use a lot these days. The Minus One, the Hydra, and the Typhon or Medusa. Again Mtn Hardware also has a lot of good glove designs available for climbing. These are what I like for my own climbing and not the only Mountain Hardware gloves I have used.

Funny thing about gloves. Until last winter I didn't think it got much colder than the Canadian Rockies. I've spent some pretty cold days and nights out climbing on the Columbia Ice Fields mid winter. So last winter when I headed to Chamonix for a couple of months of winter climbing I wasn't expecting anything I hadn't done previous. Or being any colder. Silly me fior thinking that.

The Hydra, like the OR Alpine Alibi but a little warmer, seemed to be to be enough glove the majority of time for me climbing any where. Well they were anyway until we rapped off the Midi Bridge and I then stuck my hands into some cold powder snow for the "hike" down to the gullies we wanted to climb. Didn't take long to figure out a Hydra weight glove wasn't going to cut it most of the time in the shade at 12K feet. Hello?! The only time I have had cold hands like that was soloing Shooting Gallery in too much snow, mid Jan. It is the reason I now add tape for insulation on my tools for a high dagger position.

So I ended up in either a Medusa or a Typhon for most of that trip and a majority of the climbing. And at times they weren't warm enough either if I wasn't moving quick enough. A little shocking for me really. Which brings me to Part 3 or my glove choices.

But in general here (Cascades and Canada) the Hydra/Alibi is warm enough. The mixed thin technical glove, the Minus One (or a Vert) is great if the temps are warm enough and the climbing hard enough to keep you warm. I've used the Minus One and Vert on some cold windy days in the Icefields as well, as long as we kept moving.

All the Mtn Hardware gloves are lined with OutDry and water proof and well as breathable. I like that technology a lot.

Winter Alpine and Ice Glove Choices: part 1

2011-12-20T13:14:00.000-08:00

Doug in a pair of the new Alpine Alibis.

Last couple of years my winter alpine and ice glove selection has narrowed a lot. I no longer go looking for all the "new gloves". I found what I thought were some pretty good gloves over the past couple of winters. From what I have seen on the show room racks I have no reason to make any big changes in brands or the current styles from what I am using with a few exceptions I'll get to later.

What follows is *not* the list of gloves I have tried over the last two or three winters but my list of the "best" gloves currently available for my own climbing, leashless in cold weather. Generally I can get buy in relative comfort using a fairly lwt glove.   You might not so YMMV. Nothing worse than cold hands or feet. Try the idea of lwt gloves before you buy into the idea too deaply. Take something besides just the glove I suggest on a climb and see how it goes. You might regret my suggestions ;)

Two manufactures that I think are worth looking at, Outdoor Research and Mountain Hardware.

Outdoor Research first, simply because I have been using them the longest.   Another blog coming on Mtn Hardware gloves shortly.   Outdoor reasearch has a long list of great gloves made specifically for alpine and ice. But not everything I use from OR was designed for cold weather climbing. It says a lot for their products I think that even the Vert I use a a good bit of the time in winter as one of my main climbing gloves in the Cascades and almost as often in Canada.

I use the Vert, the Extravert, the Arete, the Alpine Albi and the pretty amazing Firebrand (more on it later) depending on the temps and what I am attempting to do.

The Alpine Alibi is an exceptional glove now with heat pack pockets both front and back in this glove. It allows a much more user friendly glove (read thin) to be use in colder weather. They are awesome with a nice gautlet and leather palms. It is now one of my go to gloves.

Almost all the OR gloves were redesigned and improved last year and the difference is stark. The gloves were good before. They are awesome imo now. Best thing besides the performance offered I think is the range of retail prices OR offers. Vert is $50 and a steal imo for a winter glove that will do anything. Arete is $89. and will do anything, go anywhere for a Goretex winter climbing glove with a removable liner. What is not to like?

The Vert, while inexpensive can be used on approaches, back country skiing and on the climb. I've used the several times on Polar Circus in mild conditions and amazingly, couldn't have been happier even on the long raps. The new Extravert is a bit warmer and better reinforced in the palm with a velcro closure. It is an awsome glove for most winter activity if you can stay out of running water..

The Vert

The Extravert

The Arete

And the over the top OR Firebrand for the most extreme conditions

The new Petzl production light weight Nomic hammer?

2011-12-19T13:18:00.000-08:00

Seen here, bottom of the page

http://www.petzl.com/files/all/technical-notice/Sport/Acc_LAME_PANNE_MARTEA_U195010B.pdf

Only took them 5 years after I gave them the original drawings to do it wrong, twice :)

This was in answer to the new Petzl hammer question from another forum.

"I have cut down the larger, current production, Petzl Nomic hammer, which is virtually what Petzl is doing for the LWT version from what I can tell by the drawings. The CT hammer isn't much of a hammer for pounding on things. The newest Petzl one even worse I suspect from my earlier efforts last year with the Petzl hammer. The bigger production hammer makes the Nomic unbalanced imo which is why there is a CT hammer. The Petzl LWT version will solve the balance problem but not be much of a hammer. For many a little "head protection" is all that will be required.

If that is all you require yes, the newest LWT Petzl "hammer" or cutting down the bigger Petzl production hammer will solve your problem I suspect.

But to be clear, the profile of the Petzl LWT version and Cold Thistle version are not similar in head coverage, head protection or hammer profile. Let alone their respective abilities as actual hammers.

What Petzl's hammers (any version) won't do is make it easy to change picks in the field.....ask those that have tried. Serious design flaw imo."

I'm out of CT hammers until or if I decide to build more. That will depend on the future demand.

New La Sportiva skis?

2011-12-19T09:49:00.000-08:00

I'm always the last to hear :)

But some sweet new skis I suspect from La Sportiva at the OR show in Jan for Fall 2012 delivery.
I am obviously a big fan of the Hi5 already. The new skis should be just as good.

"New skis will be at the OR on-snow demo. The Lo5 is the little brother to the Hi5 (95 underfoot and toned down rocker profile) and the Hang5 is the big fat uncle to the Hi5 (117 under foot, same rocker as Hi5 in the front with just a little rocker in the tail). "

CT walking wounded ?

2011-12-17T16:44:00.000-08:00

For those that might have missed it Dave Searle, our great new gear reviewer, broke his knee at Grand Montets skiing last week. Not like Dave to be crashing on piste :)

http://searler.com/

Here's hoping for a quick recovery, Dave! New reviews from Dave might be a bit slow in coming though after a full week in the hospital putting his knee back together!

On the other hand, today was the first day of exercise for me that wasn't just puking in months. So writing and climbing can't be far behind.

http://coldthistle.blogspot.com/2011/10/what-one-learns-and-second-chances.html

A little off topic but pretty trippy film.

2011-12-16T10:04:00.000-08:00

Enjoy the imagination..

CT Nomic hammers?

2011-12-15T13:59:00.000-08:00

Fall 2011 preproduction orders on the CT Nomic hammers were shipped today. Thanks for the support!

I have a few left, but won't be doing another run till fall of 2012. Best to check on availability via email before you order.

If you are outside of the USA make sure to add ROW shipping and a verified shipping address or your order will be cancelled.

Man Yoga?

2011-12-14T16:57:00.001-08:00

MAN YOGA [New Mixed Route on the Stanley Headwall] from Joshua Lavigne on Vimeo.

Chamonix Rumors?

2011-12-14T10:03:00.000-08:00

Corrado 'Korra' Pesce

"His many outings in Mont Blanc include soloing the Droite’s Jackson route and down climbing the Ginat to arrive in time to pick up his daughter at kindergarden.... In Canada he has soled classics such as Polar Circus, Suffer Machine, Ice Nine, Lower Weeping Wall, and climbed with partners routes like Sea of Vapors, Curtain Call, Terminator, etc. Also in Europe he took care of climbing the classics, routes like the north face of the Eiger, north face of Matterhorn, Colton-McIntyre, Divine Providence, the Freney Pillar, etc."

http://www.planetmountain.com/english/News/shownews1.lasso?l=2&keyid=38888&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

Last winter I heard about all sorts of things getting done around Mt Blanc.

But the one that most impressed me was:
"soloing the Droite’s Jackson route and down climbing the Ginat to arrive in time to pick up his daughter at kindergarden"

Corrado Pesce on the Dru.

Photo courtesy of Corrado Pesce Collection

More here:

http://vimeo.com/32753834

Eddie Bauer First Ascent Down Vest?

2011-12-10T11:44:00.000-08:00

By Dave Searle

I never used down for insulation until this year. I had survived for years with my €35 Quecha belay jacket so why did I need to spend my beer money on a down jacket? You and I both know the pro's and con's of down over synthetic and it was when I realised that if it was wet in the mountains I'd rather be something else that I realised I should probably start using down. This year I bought my first piece of down clothing, a Rab Microlight Jacket which I have been really happy with and recently I was given a First Ascent/Eddie Bauer Downlight Vest to review for Cold Thistle.

My first impressions were....who or what is First Ascent/Eddie Bauer. Maybe I'm particularly ignorant but I had honestly never seen or heard of this brand before in the UK or even in Chamonix where they have it all. I realised I wasn't that ignorant when all of my mates kept asking where I had got it from. I was really surprised that no one had heard of it as it looked really well made with good materials and features. Why haven't we seen it before? I dunno, I'm just a climbing youth living out the back of my van but if I had to have a go at answering that question it would be that they have a lot of competition over here especially from Rab. So it would seem only fair to write this review with a comparison to Rab's rival product, the Microlight Vest, to get a better understanding of why I genuinely think that Downlight (the First Ascent one) is the better down vest.

Apart from having very similar names and looks this vests actually have very subtle differences in there design and features. First off the Downlight has a higher fill power than the Rab Microlight (800 over 750) which means it will have better loft under outer layers which could give it the edge in warmth although you would proabbly really struggle to notice. I think that the Pertex on the Rab vest is probably better at keeping the wind out but it is heavier than the material the First Ascent has used which is in my opinion more breathable. The Downlight has zips on the hand warmer pockets with a fleece liner which I prefer to the the non-zipped, pertex lined pockets of the Microlight because they do fill with snow if its windy and you can't put anything in them when your climbing, however I have heard this is something Rab is going to change soon. I would have preferred to have seen the pockets on the Downlight slightly higher so you could still use them if its tucked into your harness but I can see why they have put them so low and lazy for a more relaxed feel when your just dossing about town or at the crag. I like that First Ascent offer regular and long fit's for this vest which I have never seen before and given the option I would have gone for the longer cut.

I did have a few issues with feathers coming out to start with but that seems to have stopped now and I think it was probably just the slightly sharper feathers working they're way out rather than an issue with the fabric or stitching.

I am a big fan of my Downlight Vest now. At first I didn't know where it was going to fit into my clothing system but now it comes with me everywhere, mostly as a back up layer, but I have also used this to climb in too which worked really well, keeping my body warm without restricting my arms. It seems to be putting up with some reasonable abuse with little sign of wear which is also impressive for such a light garment.

Even though the Microlight and Downlight are pretty similar I prefer the cut of the baffles around the shoulders which give a less restrictive feel. However Rab have managed to squeeze a chest pocket into the Microlight which I would like to see on the Downlight as its a useful place for me to keep my camera and spare headtorch batteries. If I was stood in the shop with both these vests in my hand I think I would go for the Downlight primarily because of the cut around the arms and the pocket design. With this choice would come with the added benefit of being a bit different to the rest of the Brits you see shuffling about Cham-Town in there Rab kit. I hope I don't get excommunicated from the British climbing fraternity for such a conclusion but screw 'em I'm happy.

Blue Ice Gear is back again!

2011-12-05T13:59:00.000-08:00

I just got in another big order from Blue Ice.

I now have in stock ready to ship:

The Warthog Pack
Octopus Pack
Single Monos
Double Monos
Choucas harnesses (limited supply med/lg)
Boa Leashes

If interested you can order one here:
http://coldthistletools.blogspot.com/2011/04/blue-ice-gear.html

The case for the classic axe by Bruno Schull

2011-12-03T17:52:00.000-08:00

The alpine ice axe revisited

The thesis of this post is that the classic mountaineering ice axe, or alpine ice axe, has been generally overlooked, with the current movement toward climbing harder and harder ice and mixed routes, and the focus on technical ice tools that such practice demands. I think that there is still an important place for the alpine ice axe in the mountains. Furthermore, I think that careful study of the alpine axe may paradoxically shed light on the design of modern technical tools, and yield new perspectives on climbing.

Who am I?

Dane, the gracious host of this blog, invited me to write a guest post, so I imagine a few words about who I am are in order. Dane always goes to great pains to emphasize that he is a normal climber, just like the rest of us; for example, he dreams about the same routes, visits the same web pages, purchases all of his own equipment, and so on. Of course, we know this is not true. Dane climbs WI 6 with one hand, he dangles upside down by his crampon points, and he leaps mountains in a single bound. I, on the other hand, truly am a normal climber. I teach high school, I live in the middle of a flat city, and I am the father of a young child, more preoccupied with changing diapers and warming bottles than plotting lines up steep faces. My only claim to fame is that for several years I worked as an instructor for the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) leading mountaineering courses in the Rocky Mountains. In this capacity, I spend countless hours carrying absurdly heavy packs, wearing baggy nylon trousers, and covering my boots with high black gaitors, things for which NOLS is famous, I am told. I have lead students on easy glaciers and peak ascents, and I have introduced plenty of people to climbing on rock, snow and ice, but I am definitely not a guide; rather, I consider myself an intermediate climber, always learning, always growing, trying to find my own place in the mountains. Following blogs such as Dane’s make me feel like I am still connected to the mountains, even when my next climbing trip might be months away. I have always had an interest in the technical side of things, hence this post.

What is alpine climbing?

Because I plan to talk about alpine ice axes, perhaps the first relevant question is, “what is alpine climbing?” The best answer to this question I have seen is on Raphael Slawinski’s blog:

http://raphaelslawinski.blogspot.com/2010/12/faux-alpinism.html

My favorite requirement for alpine climbing from Slawinski’s list is slogging, endless marching on moderate terrain, preferably through deep powder. While entertaining, this point is worth emphasizing, something made clear by Mark Houston and Kathy Cosley, in their superb book, Alpine Climbing, Techniques to Take You Higher. Houston and Cosley report that the “typical” alpine climb only requires about 20 percent roped technical climbing, as compared to 80 percent scrambling and hiking. That is the kind of climb I am thinking about when I say, “alpine ice axes.”

This is probably the place for Dane to interject, and post a picture of Steve House, Colin Haley, or some other professional, climbing a mountain with technical ice tools, perhaps followed by the caption, “Is this alpine enough for you?” While these climbs are undeniably alpine, I think the comparison is misleading in several respects. There are important differences between these types of climbers, the routes they undertake, and their equipment choices, including their ice axes, and the rest of us (more on this below). So, for now at least, I will describe an alpine ice axe as a classic mountaineering axe, with a relatively straight shaft, a spike, an adze or possibly a hammer, and a low-angled pick.

What are alpine ice axes good for?

Once, when I was a student on a mountaineering course, I asked our guide, “Are we going to carry ice axes?” To which the guide replied, “Yes, and we will try to use them for more than digging cat holes.” While alpine ice axes are effective tools for burying human waste, they do serve a wide variety of other uses in the mountains.

Probably the most obvious use of an alpine ice axe is simply as an additional balance point when walking over easy ground, like a cane, hence the common term, piolet canne. The importance of using an alpine ice axe this way cannot be overstated, especially when just starting out in the alpine world. In no particular order, alpine ice axes are also useful for self-arrest, building anchors, plunging into soft snow, clearing platforms, staking out tents, chasing marmots, threatening uncooperative climbing partners, and finally, swinging overhead, in the familiar piolet traction position, to gain purchase on steep snow or ice.

Many choices

Enter “ice axe” into an image search engine, and you will be confronted by a bewildering diversity of options. Some of these are strange creatures indeed.

Consider this axe with a telescoping trekking pole in the shaft:

http://www.petzl.com/en/outdoor/glacier-travel-ice-axes/snowscopic

This axe with a plastic grip molded into the head:

http://www.grivel.com/products/ice/ice_axes/60-futura

This axe with an aluminum pick:

http://www.camp-usa.com/products/ice-axes/corsa.asp

Or this axe with a full-length rubber grip:

http://www.petzl.com/en/outdoor/classic-mountaineering-ice-axes/summit

All of these axes, in one way or another, address the purposes described above. Broadly speaking, there are axes geared more toward walking (the piolet canne end of the spectrum) and alpine axes geared more toward climbing (the piolet traction end of the spectrum). And between two extremes, there is a wide continuum of designs, each with different features. It goes without saying that some designs are more successful than others.

For my climbing style, the best alpine ice axe on the market is the Grivel Air Tech Racing, which, despite its “technical” name is in fact a classic design with a few subtle and important innovations.

http://www.grivel.com/products/ice/ice_axes/8-air_tech_racing_sa

I like the Air Tech for many reasons. It has a substantial forged pick which holds a good edge and can be swung solidly into ice. It has a very subtle curve on the shaft which gives it some clearance while still permitting self-arrest. There are no grips on the shaft so plunging is easy. And it is very light.

However, the main reason that I like the Air Tech is related to the design of the shaft and head. The Air Tech shaft extends all the way to the top of the head—the head is slotted into a groove in the shaft and capped with a small piece of plastic. This creates a wide platform for the hand along the top of the head, making the ice axe comfortable to hold and thus secure. Not all axes are built this way.

Consider the Petzl Snowalker:

http://www.petzl.com/en/outdoor/glacier-travel-ice-axes/snowalker

The head of the Snowalker is simply a thin piece of metal resting on top of the shaft. As such, the head cuts into your hand like a blade, and makes proper use of the axe difficult.

Or the Black Diamond Raven:

http://www.blackdiamondequipment.com/en-us/shop/climb/ice-axes-piolets/raven-ice-axe/

The Raven incorporates a flattened surface along the top of the head to provide support for the hand. At first glance, this seems like a good thing. However, below the pick, there are two half-circle indentations, designed for fingers. I find this uncomfortable. My fingers get trapped in the indentations, and I can not move my hand. This difference, between simple designs which allow a variety of hand positions, and more complicated designs which lock the hand in one position, is an important concern that I will discuss in more detail below.

Length
Perhaps the most important characteristic of an alpine ice axe is length. Here, there is an interplay between a climber’s skills and the length of an ice axe. In general, beginners are better served with longer axes, which will function as added balance points on gentle ground, while more experienced climbers will be better served with progressively shorter ice axes, which only become useful on steep terrain. I had this point made abundantly clear to me when teaching a friend basic snow travel. The terrain was nearly flat, but he was using a very short axe, therefore, to progress, he had to bend over in an awkward and contrived position. For his purposes, a longer axe, which allowed him to stand in a more natural and upright position, would have made much more sense.

As climbers develop better skills, they require the assistance of an ice axes less and less. That is why you often see guides climbing with very short ice axes, while their clients are carrying long ice axes. The guides, because of their skill, can move over easy ground safely without using axes, while their clients are still in the stage where they can make good use of long axes.

To a large extent, this also explains why professionals often climb with two technical tools: their skills have progressed to the point where they simply don’t need axes most of the time, and only use the technical tools when they arrive at steep pitches. This does not change the fact that most of use can still benefit from using correctly sized alpine ice axes, which is to say, sized to both our body and our ability.

When I bought my first ice axe at a large retail store, the salesman tried to steer me toward a short axe.

“You’ll just buy a shorter axe later,” he said. Although the salesman was correct—I did eventually buy a shorter axe—I think his advice was misplaced. I made good use of my first, longer axe, and then, as my skills improved, I bought a shorter axe. I now own two Air Tech axes of different lengths, both well-worn, which reflect this progression.

Hand positions

In addition to length, another important design consideration for alpine ice axes is the variety, comfort and support of different hand positions. As you progress from easy to moderate terrain, you naturally use more hand positions, for example, switching from the cane to the self arrest position, holding the ice axe high on the shaft under the head, holding the ice axe by the adze with part of the hand aligned with the side of the pick, and so on. I won’t enter into a discussion of the various advantages and disadvantages of all the hand positions (or the equally contentious debate about which is the best grip to use, the cane position or the self arrest position, which is treated delightfully in Houston and Cosley’s book) but I do think that it is important to choose an axe which supports a wide variety of hand positions, in particular, those which suit your particular climbing style. Thus, if you like to hold an axe by the adze with the pick facing forward, choose an ice axe which supports this position, and so on. I will also say that the best axes, like the Air Tech, accommodate a wide range of hand positions naturally and comfortably, and thus easy to adapt to different terrain and techniques.

There are some ice axes which seem purposefully designed to limit hand positions:

http://www.camp-usa.com/products/ice-axes/x-lite-1421.asp

I can see that holding the X-Lite in the prominent groove built into the head might be comfortable, but it appears that many other hand positions would be impossible.

In contrast, features which make moving between different hand positions easy include simple shaft designs, rounded edges, and smooth contours. If I was asked to improve the Air Tech, one of the few changes I would make would be to round the sharp corners of the adze: I think that softer edges would allow for more fluid changes between hand positions.

Transition tools

Before I move on to technical tools, it’s worth noting that many ice axes can be classified as transition tools, or intermediate tools, which fall somewhere between alpine ice axes and technical tools. Usually, these axes include steeply-dropped picks, curved shafts, and some kind of dedicated grip.

Here are some examples from the big three:

http://www.grivel.com/products/ice/ice_axes/65-jorasses_20

http://www.petzl.com/en/outdoor/verticality/ice-axes/technical-mountaineering-ice-tool/aztarex

http://www.blackdiamondequipment.com/en-us/shop/climb/ice-axes-piolets/venom-ice-axe

One important point about these tools is that they too, like alpine ice axes, encompass a broad range of features and intended uses. These axes may be the most versatile tools on the market. The danger, of course, is falling into the “jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none” category. It probably takes an experienced climber to understand exactly how such tools can be used. Beginners are probably better served with traditional tools for mountaineering, and technical tools for steep ice and mixed.

What can alpine ice axes teach us about technical tools?

I think there are some important parallels between the design of alpine ice axes and modern technical tools. For example, I talked about the differences between the Air Tech, which supports several different hand positions, and other tools, which lock the hand in limited positions. This is a question of ergonomics, or the relationship between physical objects and our bodies.

Nearly all technical tools are designed to be ergonomic in some way. Indeed, the name of the popular and excellent Petzl Nomic is derived from the very word:

http://www.petzl.com/en/outdoor/ice-climbing-tools/nomic

Here is a similar tool:

http://www.blackdiamondequipment.com/en-us/shop/climb/technical-ice-tools/fusion-ice-tool/

And another recent offering:

http://www.grivel.com/products/ice/ice_axes/75-avatar_comp

Each of these tools provides a specific place, or a number of specific places, where your hand is designed to fit. The popularity of these tools attests to their success. However, are ergonomic tools necessarily a good thing?

Allow me to make a comparison to the design of road racing bicycles, a world which I know more about than I ever will about climbing. For nearly a century, the standard design of the road racing handlebar followed rounded curves from the tops of the handlebar through the lower sections.

http://ritcheylogic.com/dyn_prodfamily.php?k=355357

The proportions of the curves varied but the contours were always smooth. Then, in the nineties, the ergonomic handlebar was introduced, offering, it was said, more comfort, greater power, different reach, and so on.

http://ritcheylogic.com/dyn_prodfamily.php?k=299398

I find that ergonomic handlebars tend to lock my hand in a single position, or a limited number of positions, instead of allowing the infinite number of positions afforded by a traditional bend. It will probably come as no surprise that I prefer handlebars with a classic curve.

To return to ice axes, perhaps the new generation of ergonomic tools lock our hands in a single position, or a limited number of positions, instead of allowing the variety of positions which more traditional designs might offer?

Don’t get me wrong: I love my Nomics for steep ice, however, part of the reason that I prefer Nomics over other similar tools is that Nomics offer many hand positions over the length of the shaft and grip, and all of the contours are relatively smooth, making changes easy. Several times on this blog, Dane has mentioned the rounded curve of the pommel of the Nomic, and how this design allows for a good deal of rotation in the hand: this is the kind of feature which I think makes Nomics such good tools. I question the serrated spike in the new Nomics, not because of the failure issues, but because of the degree to which the spike might limit the rotation of the pommel.

Following this train of thought, I wonder if modern tools would benefit from simpler shaft designs with fewer ergonomic grips? Would ice tools with deep curves and high clearance but relatively smooth shafts work? Would such tools allow you to move your hands easily and access a wide variety of hand positions? I don’t have the answers, but I think the questions are intriguing.

Another parallel between alpine ice axes and technical tools can be found in the design of the old vs. the new Petzl Quark. Here is a link to Dane’s discussion of these tools:

http://coldthistle.blogspot.com/2011/04/new-petzl-quark.html

I recognize the benefits of the new system: the modular adze and hammer, the ability to strip down to the tool to save weight, the improved swing, and so on. However, I have reservations about the new head design.

The Quark is a great tool for steep ice. But the Quark is also a decent all-around tool. Quarks plunge well, the head offers a wide variety of hand positions, the adze and hammer swing nicely, and with a little finesse you can even use the them for self arrest. With my Quarks, I often switch between a variety of hand positions, the same way that I do with my Air Tech. I am not sure that the new design—with the adze or hammer installed, or with these components removed—will offer the same support and comfort as the old design. As I mentioned above, I like holding my ice axe by the adze with part of my hand aligned along the head. This is very comfortable on the old Quarks but less so on the new Quarks, because a good deal of metal has been removed and the angles are all sharper. Of course, it will come down to how you intend to use the tool, but I will probably stay with my old Quarks.

New perspectives

Is there anything we can learn from this discussion about climbing itself? Perhaps the only lesson is that alpine ice axes, especially designs which incorporate some features of technical tools, like dropped picks, are quite versatile, and surprisingly capable on steep ground, including ice and mixed.

Often, I see beginners setting out to tackle relatively straightforward objectives with two technical tools strapped on their packs. Maybe this is unnecessary. Maybe a single alpine ice axe would be enough for many if not most alpine climbs. There is a certain grace, as well as a pleasing challenge, in taking only one tool on a climb. Do more with less. Or, to quote Steve House, “The simpler you make things, the richer the experience.”

So, my final advice is the following: take your old alpine ice axe out of the closet and study it closely. How can you use that axe? Would it work for that ridge traverse you are thinking about? That couloir you have been eyeing? That summit you have in mind? Perhaps your alpine ice axe can take you to greater heights than you imagined.

"Three tools...all of them being used on one climb. Only one made the climb actually possible, a classic style axe. needed just to get over the 'shrund!"

Avi on route....and cowboy tough. .

2011-11-25T17:49:00.000-08:00

Heal up quick!

Petzl Lynx crampon part deux

2011-11-24T04:53:00.000-08:00

This review started with a request by a popular and very commercial UK web site asking me to review the new Petzl Lynx. "Commercial" in that they take loads of free gear, then write editorial comments on that free gear (and support that opinion in the forums to the uneducated) and sell commecial ads to support their website and staff from that content. We had a few earlier discussions on how Cold Thistle benefited their customer base (my view) and how I was stealing traffic from their web site (their view).    I had written for them in the past and thought, "hey why not again?"

Then more recently when I asked I made a rather bland comment on one of the newest soft shells coming to the market. Likely the Editor on their web site and I got or preseason samples from the same place. I was shall we say, "less impressed" than their gear editor. Who came back to my comment with nothing but glowing reviews of the same jacket.   Same piece of kit but two totally different opinions on the details.   I didn't bother with a second response.

Last I did a full mental check (30 minutes ago) there is not a single bit of kit I own or have owned that I didn't think needed "fix'in" in one way or another. Even my all time favorites, the Nomic, the Scarpa Ultra or the Atom LT could easily be improved. Even stuff I helped design from the very beginning is not immune and generally takes a rethink once or twice to get right. CT hammers and the NWA Salopette I dearly love fall into that category.

Bottom line if you tell me all the good things about a product and never mention the down sides...either you are a DOLT or you think I am.

If you are looking for good info to make a purchase from the writer who doesn't mention the down side is simply a thief or an idiot. Harsh but there you are. Simply bad info imo.

Some times I will intentionally leave off the minor down sides on a product I think so good it isn't worth mentioning. And others rightfully so have disagreed. Atom lt for example? No zipper stop, no two way main zipper, no draw cord on the hood. Yet it is still the best in category imo.   Even with those (minor to me) faults I still wear it on almost every winter climb.

That is a long way of saying verify and trust no one when it comes to reviews.   Best to know who pays the author and how. No one pays me for my content. You get what I think is important to me...and just me......as a climber.   Not because some one gave me the gear and they do now and again. But the Lynx I bought with my own cash so take what I say here with that under consideration.   I have other crampons I like.   There was a distinct reason I bought the newest Petzl offering having already owned just about every easily available crampon on the US market.

A couple of weeks ago I hosted a discussion with the local Mountaineering club on ice climbing and the gear we use to climb it with. One of the things that was made clear to me in the discussion is that crampon fit is generally the defining factor of your own crampon of choice. (or at least should be imo)

For those that have followed the CT blog I would guess that is no surprise. I've only lost a crampon once, with almost fatal results, how I fit my own crampons is a serious matter to me.

I talk to climbers on a regular basis that have lost crampons from a poor fit. How people aren't more seriously injured in those incidents I have no clue.

Last winter after all my gear was on the way to Cham I got in a pissing match with my contacts at Black Diamond about the reliability of the crampons I wanted to use. I had Sabertooth Pros, Cyborgs and the new Stinger in my kit. The Sabertooth was my crampon of choice. And it was breaking last winter in first gen. form. The Stingers were a virtual copy of the Petzl Dart and my second choice for climbing in the Alps. The Cyborgs, heavy but proven reliability in comparison to the other two. When asked by Black Diamond to return my Stingers for my public comments on the broken Sabertooths that were appearing on the Internet, I balked. I didn't care about "losing" the the Stingers. They were easy it replace with a Grivel G20 or the original Dart. But at that point I was no longer interested in climbing on any BD crampon. The fact I would have to buy a pair of crampons in Chamonix at retail, that I had duplicates of hanging n the gear wall at home irritated me. Annoying like a tick annoys you on a day out climbing. Trivial but annoying if you continue the relationship.
I had Dartwins and Darts at home as well as Grivel G12s. Any of the three fit my boots very well.
But I ended up walking in Snell's and buying a new pair of Dartwins. Later I picked up a pair of the G22s to try out as well.

But it was the Petzl Dartwins that fit my boots, Phantom Ultras and Spantiks, the best without any modifications. So that is what I ended up climbing on during the trip. Not that I thought they were the best crampon. I actually like the G22 better and I still really like the design of the Sabertooth.

But fit and reliability is what defined what I would climb on.

Which is a long winded way to introduce you to a new crampon that really impresses me, the Petzl Lynx.

There are a lot of things I really like about the Lynx. But I think the most important is the one I first over looked. We are back to how a crampon fits.

This from an ice climbing friend, Debbie Sand who is still climbing in the early yellow Trango Extremes, size 38.5.

"Last year when I got the Cyborg Pros I was super excited to get out, but when I climbed the boot would shift and there was nothing I could do to stop it. Thinking it was just me not knowing the finer points of how to adjust them, I got help from friends, then Pro Mountain Sports, and even a guide in Canmore to help me adjust them, but they still moved around. The shifting made it feel like I wasn't stable when I was using a feature, and when I kicked in I was not getting in the way I had in the past. All of a sudden I couldn't rely on my feet - and I'm definitely a finesse climber-so I was burning all kinds of energy trying to kick in harder, and also using my arms more to compensate. This nightmare combo led to losing my
confidence and eventually my lead head. Reading Cold Thistle on crampon fit last year, I was beginning to get the picture of what was going on. On a women's discussion group, I posted and found lots of women having problems with crampon fit to smaller boots. A friend had gotten a pair of Darts that looked promising boot fit-wise, and I was really thinking about those, but wanted the versatility of more
points underneath. Then Pro Mountain Sports posted a link to the Lynx video that promised it would fit any boot. Brands? Sure, but smaller boots? I went in to try them. We took my boots, my Cyborgs, and my measuring tape. When the Lynx was on my boot, the difference in how the front wire contacted the boot was striking- much more contact. We measured the width of the Lynx front wire, which is narrower, but you could see it just looking at them side by side. The front of the crampon is also angled, which follows the curve of my boot much better.

I had only planned to look- but this difference seemed to be the grail I was looking for in crampons for smaller boots, and last year had been demoralizing, so home they came. I was hopeful this would make at least some difference. Well, it turned out to make all the difference. Climbing on the seracs on hard ice days, I was able to kick in with no movement. My feet are solid again, and I can count on them to stay where I kick without shifting. I put them where I want them with relative ease, and they stay where I put them. I can keep my weight on my feet and not have to think about them. Seriously, Lynx gave me my footwork and my confidence in my feet back. I'm super stoked about the season now! FYI, an experienced gal friend with a one size smaller, newer model La Sportiva boot than mine tried them too, and found them really well fitting and solid.

And a guy friend with a bigger boot tried them and wants to dump his Cyborgs.
I think this is his boot, Kayland Apex XT I think. 8.5 for sure."

The obvious distinction of the Lynx is it comes with both a wire bail for the front attachment and a "basket" that is currently the most popular crampon attachment in the world.

When Alexis Vallet from Grivel talked Carlos and I through the Grivel line last year at OR and dropped the sales numbers for "basket" crampons Carlos and I were both in disbelief. With one notable exception neither of us knew anyone who climbed serious ice in North America with a basket style crampon binding. But take a look around Chamonix in winter and they are pretty common.

Vince Anderson, on their new route, North Face of Mt Alberta, photo courtesy of Steve House

The numbers don't lie. And it is obvious that basket style crampons do work in even the most difficult climbing and conditions. House also used a similar Grivel set up on the first ascent of the Rupal Face on Nanga Parbat.

http://coldthistle.blogspot.com/2010/04/la-sportiva-spantik.html

The Petzl Lynx comes with both binding options which gives you the opportunity to fit your smallest single boots and your warmest cold weather double boots with ease.

At $245 USD or £190.00 in the UK the Lynx is not a cheap crampon.   Besides the two attachment systems there are other advantages that might make up part of the financial hit if you require them.

This from a friend
"I've also been playing with the new Lynx crampon and have noticed there's absolutely
no need for a assym bar any more. The front portion is shaped in such a way that the
back of the front section is not parallel with the front points, true left and right
crampons. These should make me climb harder for sure."
William 11/1/11

It goes back to fit really. Petzl used some innovative engineering here to make one pair of Lynx fit a majority of boots commercially available. And trust me, just being able to fit 50% of the boots available is a major accomplishment. With the Lynx, I think Petzl made it well past the 50% grade.  Not sure any recently manufactured crampon can claim anything remotely similar.

Let's look at the numbers?

Number of points: 14

Boot sizes: 35 to 45 with M linking bar (included), optional L linking bar fits boots sizes 40 to 50 (T20850)

Weight:

2 x 540 g = 1080 g (configuration with two points and ANTISNOW)

2 x 455 g = 910 g (configuration with one point, no ANTISNOW)

One of the reasons I like the Sabertooth design so much is that it also has 14 working points.   The 2 extra down points really do add to your security on moderate terrain.   Security you easily find missing on the Stinger, Dart or G20/G22 style crampons. Although the Grivel design work has tried to minimise that lack of security with the Patented MONO-RAIL technology.

The ability to move the front points horizontally side to side and front to back allows a multitude of positions, no other Crampon offers. I am a big guy at 180# and I don't like how monopoints shear though for me on waterfall ice. But there are advantages in a monopoint on ice and mixed. So sometimes I compromise. With all the options the Lynx offers I can use a Mono point that is supported by a shorter but second front point. In really rotten ice I can adjust them for really deep penetration.

A lot of options on the front points. But even more important to me is the actual size of the forefoot foot print on the Lynx. The Lynx is lighter than a pair of stainless Cyborgs but the added coverage under foot is beginning to rival the older crampons (several generations back) and duplicates or slightly betters the the G12 for instance and betters by a huge margin the Dart, Dartwin, G20/G22 or the Sabertooth. The difference is a huge increase of security with this crampon on moderate terrain. Something everyone should be cheering even with the marginal added weight gain.

Options? I like the options.

Down sides? The heel lever could still be better. The retaining strap really needs to go through the top of the lever, not the bottom to actually keep the strap on the boot. Come on guys time to change that one through out the entire Petzl line. Petzl's anti bots? Decent now but still lacking. They work but others (BD and Grivel) both have better bots. They beat duct tape though which is what I will use as required on my Darts.

Past that I really don't have much to bitch about. It is a short list. And like the Atom Lt hardly worth mentioning. I still don't get a perfect fit on my Ultras but out of the box they are a perfect fit on my Spantiks (and TLTs) . Having all the options for front point set ups makes me a happy camper.

At the moment and until something better comes along....I haven't see it yet.....the Lynx will be my go to crampon every where.

You'll want to make this Party!

2011-11-21T16:09:00.001-08:00

Special Guest - Yvon Chouinard from Bozeman Ice Festival on Vimeo.

A "short" field test of the Arc'teryx Zenta AR gloves :)

2011-11-19T11:17:00.000-08:00

Some times things just don't go as planned. So you punt. When I first heard part of this story last week I could hear the pain from my stalwart field tester Dave Searle through the trans Atlantic email. If you climb you'll likely recognise the pain.

Dave on one of the ramps of the Desmaison/Gouseault on the Grandes Jorasses

All photos courtey of Ally Swinton

http://allyswinton.blogspot.com/

Dave's story:

"Gloves are quite literally the bane of my existence.....

They are expensive and they always break........ if they make it that far, i.e you don't knock them off a Bivi ledge.

When I got a pair of Arc'teryx Zenta AR gloves off Dane I was totally psyched. On first impressions they looked really well made with excellent features. They fitted my hand really well and I was really impressed by how dexterous they felt for a glove of its size and levels of insulation and protection. I would never normally climb in a glove that had goretex and primaloft in it as I would ordinarily find them too thick to feel anything but when I first tried on the Zenta I knew that they would probably be a lot better than other because they are really well shaped and moulded to your hand.

Just call me Lefty :)

Gloves have a lot of expectations placed upon them. We expect them to be warm, light, strong, dexterous, neat fitting, waterproof, breathable and easy to get on and off.......oh yeah and well priced. I really like that Arc'teryx hasn't conformed to the normal regime of making cheap gloves. They have put more money into the technology and precision manufacture and passed the cost onto you and me - the fussy climbers. So often manufacturers build cheaper gloves that inevitably fall apart after a few routes or never really fit well from the start. I like that these gloves are out there filling the upper end of the market. Having said this though, as a climbing bum, I would really struggle to justify purchasing a pair of these gloves. They will get trashed at some point and any which way you look at it 160 euros is a lot for a pair of gloves that might only last for a few routes.

My last foray into the mountains was for the Desmaison/Gouseault on the Grandes Jorasses. This route is a long and sustained mixed route following a series of steep ramp lines and tricky compact rock sections that require some rock climbing and modern mixed climbing to make progress.

many meters of ice

It seemed to be the perfect time to try out these new gloves so they came along for the ride along with a pair of thinner gauntlets and a super thin pair for harder, drier pitches. I was so impressed by the dexterity of these gloves. I really thought that having primaloft on the palm was going to seriously affect their feel on my tools (petzl Nomics) but I found that it was only a minor issue and I could second all of the pitches easily with the Zenta's on as well as taking on some less technical leads. One thing that I did notice is that I can't fit all of my fingers on the handle which means that I have to push my index finger up onto the trigger to get a better grip to stop my fingers from getting crushed and cold. Not a major issue but it's something to think about when you're trying on gloves in the shop. I have my griprest to the medium setting nearly always as I would rather have more support when I'm using smaller gloves but this means that I can't get bigger gloves like these onto the handle.

Bit of M6 high on the wall between mixed ice ramps

We had a good day out climbing on the Desmaison/Gouseault but it wasn't meant to be. Lots of spindrift slowed our progress down from the start and our heavy packs and lack of acclimatisation further slowed our progress up the face. When we eventually stopped for the night on the face (after 17 hours of climbing) we worked out that we were perhaps only a third of the way up the difficulties of the route and just under half of the way up the face. We realised that it was going to take a lot longer than we originally expected to climb the route and we knew we didn't have sufficient supplies (primarily gas) to make it viable. We found a good bivi site and settled down for some food and sleep. I managed to drop two things off the ledge that night. My Jetboil cup and the right hand of my Zenta AR gloves. Guess which one I found at the bergshrund the next day when we bailed off the route? I definitely would have preferred to have found the glove.

I was really angry at losing such a great glove as I had had a lot of fun climbing in them for the limited time they were with me. They kept my hands warm and snug and dried really quickly inside my jacket when I took them off. The draw cord is perfect, no other way of describing it, and I was surprised by how good they were for manipulating gear. If you're on the market for a super warm, waterproof glove then I would really recommend you take a look at these. If you're serious about your climbing then the extra money is very well spent and for what you get (probably the best designed and manufactured gloves of their type on the market) then they are a good deal. It's a shame that I didn't get to use them for longer to see how they would have lasted but c'est la vie. I suspected that they would have done pretty well as the left one (the one left) shows no signs of wear yet and they got a hammering on Jorasses. Oh and Arc'teryx perhaps some idiot loops might be a good idea but apart from that, nice work, I'm impressed!"

Ergo or Nomic?

2011-11-17T12:09:00.000-08:00

Another gumby happy with his Ergos ;)

November 17, 2011 11:41 AM

Aaron said...

"Your (Ergo) articles, and some swinging at a demo, convinced me to go with the Ergo as my first set of tools.

I agree that they look radical when compared to other tools, but after a few laps I was a believer! The swing felt a little different when compared to other tools I've used, but those were all more "traditionally" shaped tools (quark, viper, old set of prophets). It didn't take long to adjust.

Some field testing results to back up your statement about these being good beginner tools:

I'm a gumby when it comes to ice, and while I'm working on fixing that, I feel that the Ergo will help greatly along the way. Sticks are easy to get and the orientation of the handle, more like a pullup bar, eases pump and lets me move my hand around into different positions while hanging. This gives me more time to work on proper foot and tool placements without pumping out. I've let a bunch of my other ice gumby friends try them and they really are a hit. Most of the beginners felt that they were easier to climb with than the other tools we had (viper/cobra and quarks)."

Photo courtesy of Jon Griffith @ Alpine Exposures

Ueli Steck and his Ergos on Super Coulior Direct

And more on the Dru.

http://www.tvmountain.com/video/alpinisme/8621-couloir-nord-des-drus-massif-du-mont-blanc.html

Blue Ice Warthogs are back in stock...

2011-11-15T19:10:00.000-08:00

Photo courtesy of Dave Searle collection

I have a good number of the Warthog packs back in stock. Pre-orders were shipped today.

If interested you can order one here:

http://coldthistletools.blogspot.com/2011/04/blue-ice-gear.html

Cold!

2011-11-11T17:44:00.000-08:00

COLD - TRAILER from Anson Fogel on Vimeo.

ICE!

2011-11-09T20:41:00.001-08:00

Terminator, The Trophy Wall: WI6 M5, 3 pitches from Joshua Lavigne on Vimeo.

Burning Turns!

2011-11-07T16:59:00.000-08:00

My buddy Kevin sent me this one today after I begged him for the pictures and called him nasty names for getting in some awesome turns without me.

This may be worse than missing a good day on the ice.

"Woke up at 3 am Friday morning to get up to heliotrope ridge trail head. We were the second car at the TH and followed a set of skin tracks up the mountain. Our original intention was to climb and ski the Coleman-Deming route on Baker. However upon reaching an area just before Colfax we

realized that our group progress was too slow - especially with breaking trail in all the new snow. Instead we ripped skins and enjoyed great turns down. We picked a point to drop off our glacier gear and ended up doing several laps on the face. Around 3pm we called it a day since one member of our group had to be back in Issaquah for work that night!"

Jealous? Ya, damn right I am jealous! But some nice turns in those TLTs Kevin :) Be sure to dbl click every photo for full effect.

Photos and trip report courtesy of Kevin Oberholser

Jealousy?...all mine!

They even had someone setting track for them. It is killing me!!

Part Two: the Soft Shell intro

2011-11-06T19:21:00.000-08:00

Liberty Cap '78

Like most of us that lived through the wool, pile and polypro phase of climbing clothing I was thrilled to see the US versions of Sheoller fabric being produced and introduced in to 4 way stretch climbing garments.

We can all thank Polartec for that and more as climbers and skiers.

My last Shoeller specific garment was a pair of alpine bibs that was a wool and Lycra blend. I bought them in Banff at Monods in '85 . Amazing piece of clothing that I dearly loved and still have. I used them ice climbing and for skiing. But I never took them into the alpine. Not enough stretch and the weight was more than I would have preferred.

Gortex and Polarguard @ 20K' in 1988

Enough good things about them to really like the idea and material used, but enough lacking in design and materials that I used them on a limited basis instead of full time.

Besides reasonable weather protection I wanted two things from my "soft" pants at the time which haven't changed over the years, light weight and good breathability.

Enter Polartec's Power Shield garments. I used both a Gamma MX Hoody, the Gamma MX pant and the Gamma Salopettes a lot from 2003 to mid 2008.

I had thought Polartec's Power Shield was the best climbing fabric I had used at the time. It is still one of the best imo I just use it on a much more limited basis now.

Cold, dry and clear. Perfect conditons for the MX and Power Shield.

In cold weather (-20C) in the Columbia Icefields I've used the a Gammx MX Hoody and Gamma Salopettes a number of times. Generally with a R1 layer or stretch pile under both and been happy with the results. In the Cascades I have used a lighter pant and the Gamma MX hoody in wet and barely freezing temps, until the jacket soaked through and I added a light weigh Primaloft belay jacket to get me dried out and keep me warm.

After spending more time in the Cascades one season than I did in Canada (what was I thinking) I came to the conclusion that Power Shield garments were too warm and too heavy. The fact that you couldn't get them dried out in the field with out donning a Primaloft layer over them made me start looking for a Primaloft garment I could use as my only outer garment and still climb in. The end result of that search was the Atom Lt. Not Primaloft of course but 60g Coreloft from Arcteryx it seems to work just as well in a lwt garment like the Atom Lt.

The Atom Lt is a an incredible cold weather climbing garment with an RI hoody or something similar under it. I've been in one for 3 seasons now and still impressed. It is super light and warm without ever being too warm in winter conditions. My friends are becoming converts to the Atom Lt and its mate the SV over layer as well.

The obvious Atom Lt vents

There are two down sides to the Atom Lt for climbing though. First it isn't totally wind proof. The stretch side panels which allow you to climb hard in the jacket also make it a little chilly in a good breeze. So you still need wind protection and a puffy for when it gets cold or windy. The other is the outer shell material is fragile compared to even some of the lack luster soft shells available. You don't want to do a lot of rock or mixed climbing on limestone in an Atom Lt.

Nano Puff over and Atom Lt in the wind, great combo.

So what I am still looking for is the "holy grail" in climbing soft shells. Hard to identify..but like porn you'll know it when you see it.

Here is my list of the "best" features of a soft shell. Although I have yet to see one that will fill the bill.

Under 20oz in a large
Super breathable
totally water proof
4 way stretch...a lot of it
a few well placed pockets easily usable with a harness and pack
a helmet compatible hood
good wrist seals
athletic cut, but long enough to tuck into your harness
inner liner you can easily layer over wool or R1 style hoodies
warm enough to climb in mid winter with a single R1 weight layer under it.

The up coming soft shell review will hopefully tell us just how close the new Goretx and Primaloft fabrics are to my "holy grail" wish list.

They'll have a lot to live up to.

Grivel's G20 Monopoint

2011-11-04T15:16:00.000-07:00

The crux of the Croz Spur, photos and content courtesy of Dave Searle

So I had a problem.... I had just bought a brand new pair of scarpa 6000's and I didn't have a crampon to fit on them. I prefer using Mono points for mixed climbing and I knew that if I wanted a super-light crampon I only really had two options. The Grivel G20 or the Petzl Dart.

I bought the G20's from a shop here in Chamonix over a year ago now and I have used them for nearly all my climbing. I have used them on the north face's of the Eiger, Droites and Grandes Jorasses. I used them water ice climbing and I have also used them mixed climbing in Scotland as well as using them as my dry-tooling crampon. Are they reaching the end of there life? I'd say so, but hey they have had a good innings.

I knew when I bought them that unlike a modular crampon like the G14 or M10 it would be expensive to change the front section when the front point became to short. I do a lot of climbing and I was willing to take that financial hit for saving the weight and having a more technical crampon. I really wanted a crampon with rear facing secondary points for dry tooling and steep mixed.

These crampons have worked really well in all but one area..... ridges. I know that they weren't designed for that and to be honest any climber who looked at them or used them would say the same thing. If your looking for a crampon that will cover classic alpine routes then look somewhere else. If your looking for a super-light mixed climbing mono then these baby's are well worth a look.

Why aren't they any good for ridge's I hear you ask. Well they are built around Grivels own “mono rail” concept which means that the front of the crampon is attached to the back by a single rail with four teeth along its length. It sits right underneath your foot so when you put your foot on any flat or rounded rock your balancing on one of the rail points which is isn't that stable.

I used these crampons when I climbed the Colton/Macintyre this year and they worked really well on the face, but after we topped out we continued straight into the traverse of the Jorrases, a long and precipitous ridge climb to get to the Canzio Bivi. It was quite hard work with these crampons on but I still managed it ok. I'm not saying you won't be able to climb ridges with them on, all I'm saying is if you want one crampon to rule it all then there are probably better designs out there.

What you loose in stability on that kind of terrain you gain in other area's. For example not having the 4th row of points on the side of your foot means that the 3rd, rear facing points are easier to use when drytooling or steep mixed climbing because there isn't anything in the way on the side of your foot. If you've ever properly used the 'rake' points for there intended purpose you'll know what I'm trying to say. Also having the points underneath your feet on the fixed bar means that if you ever kick your foot out or use it sideways around a icicle you can really get them in because they are so solid on the bottom of your foot.

As can be expected from Grivel these crampons are really well made and I have had no issues with the build quality. I'm not sure what to say about the longevity of them as I personally think they have lasted really well for the use I have given them but some of my friends who have used them as well don't feel the same way. Perhaps I'm better at hitting the ice rather than the rock when I'm mixed climbing?

One thing that Grivel have gone for over Petzl is three adjustments holes for the front bail. This means that you can have the front point super short for technical mixed climbing or super long for ice. Its useful to have that adjustment for when you've filed the front point down a bit as you can push it further forward to get better hold on softer ice or snow.

When I bought these crampons they did not come with the subsidiary horizontal front point that they now come with. I'm not sure how much this will help with grip in snow or soft ice but I haven't had any issues without it. They don't grip as well as a traditional crampon in snow but all you need to do is kick a bit harder up that snow cone before the fun really begins.

I thought that I was going to have some problems with balling up (when heavy wet snow collects under your crampons in a ball, which is heavy and annoying on the flat and pretty dangerous on a slope!). I can honestly say that I haven't had any issues with this with these crampons and that's not because I haven't encountered the right snow for it. I can recount a few times when partners that have been using the Darts have had a total mare of it when its been fine for me. You can buy an anti-balling plate for the front but I haven't felt the need for it yet.

There is only one thing I would change about these crampons. I would get rid of the first point on the mono rail (the furthest forward one). Why? Because I find when I stand on a large spike it takes me a bit fiddling to locate the front of my foot onto it securely. I think if this point wasn't there not only would it be a few grams lighter but it would be easier to nestle your foot on the top of that big granite block your eye-balling.

Pinocchio, Mont Blanc du Tacul

http://searler.com/

"All in all its a great technical crampon that excels on mixed terrain and water ice but also copes really well with big stuff and dry tooling." Dave Searle

Pinocchio, Mont Blanc du Tacul from skigrandbec on Vimeo.

Sometimes you just wear gear out and it simply needs to be replaced

Scarpa 6000 double boot review by Dave Searle

2011-11-03T09:06:00.000-07:00

High in the Dru Coulior

all photos courtesy of Dave Searle

This is Dave's first gear review on Cold Thistle, but hopefully not the last. Dave and a few other Brits are living and climbing hard in Cham. Likely more good alpine climbing done in a typical weekend there than in all of the USA every winter.

I respect the opinions of climbers out there and actually doing things. Ally, Jon, Will are a few I met in Cham last winter that are "doing it". Dave is right in there as well. His opinions are hard earned and worth the read.

You can read more about what Dave is up to here:

http://searler.com/

Scarpa 6000 review.

I have been using my Scarpa 6000 now for about a year and on the most part I have been really impressed with them.

Dave in his red chuck hut slippers, Spantik and 6000 at his side.

General Design and Features

When I was first on the market for a pair of winter boots (and this was my first pair) I was strongly recommend by lots of people to go for the La Sportiva Spantik. I tried them both on in the shop for hours, in different sizes and came to the conclusion that the 6000 fit me slightly better. This was perhaps the main reason I went for them in the end however I also prefered the design of the 6000 too. They seemed to be more nimble and precise and I prefer having a gaitered boot any day of the week as it keeps them drier when your wading through snow and it means that the laces aren't subject to any wear. The sole unit it thinner than on the Spantik which sacrifices warmth but gains precision.

Fit

I had a slight problem with heel lift after using them maybe three of four times. I didn't have this problem in the shop and it was strange that it developed over time. I have rectified that now with sticky back foam stuck to the liners around my heel and a heel raiser to lock my heel into the back of the boot. I would have probably had this problem in any boot as I do have particularly narrow heels. Now they fit like a dream. If your set on these boots then it is worth remembering that if you have a low volume foot like mine then they can be made to fit.

Lacing

To start with I was a fan of the lacing system, it seemed easy to tighten up and easy to use with big gloves but I pretty soon realized that the locking cleat eventually works itself loose after a few hours of climbing or walking. I originally combated this problem by tying a normal shoe knot over the top of the cleat but now I have taken it off completely and now I just use a reef knot to fasten them. I never feel the need to adjust the laces when I'm climbing so now when I'm tying them in the hut or at the bivi I use a knot that won't come lose and this seems to be the best option for me. I think the lacing system could do with a rethink in my opinion as I have had other friends who have had similar problems with it. Perhaps a beefier cleat or thicker, less slick laces which are easier tie?

Warmth

I have been really impressed with the warmth of these boots as well. I thought that they weren't going to be as warm as a Spantik but I have since realised it depemds entirely on your circulation and the fit as to whether or not you'll feel the cold. I have sat two nights out in them without a sleeping bag and I didn't have any major issues. The first and worst of the two was on the Colton/Macintyre on the Grandes Jorrasses. Me and my two buddies got benighted at about 4300m with only a two man man bothy shelter and half a karimat to share. It was November here in Cham and the ambient temperature was close to -15C and felt much more with windchill. Jim and Gav both had Spantiks and I was in my 6000ers and I was really worried about my feet but the only option was to sit and suffer.... which we did.... for 8 hours. The night passed slowly and I emerged with very minor nerve damage to my big toe (phew). Jim had the same and Gav was fine. I don't think the 6000ers are as warm as the Spantiks but if you have good circulation then these should be fine for what they are recommend for (winter alpinism and greater range climbing up to 6000m). I think my circulation is average and for most of the climbing I have done with them (alpine north faces in autumn and spring) they have been spot on. Light and dexterous enough for mixed climbing, warm enough for the kind of temperatures you encounter out here and stiff enough to plough up a 1000m of ice without your calves exploding out the back of your trousers.

Eiger N face

Wear

They haven't shown much sign of wear yet. I had a small nick in the orange fabric after their first days use scrambling over sharp granite boulders on my way up to the Carrington/Rouse on the north face of the Pelerins. I though that was going to set the tone for how they were going to fair but that is the only damage they have sustained in the year I have had them which I think is pretty impressive as I have done some long approaches on sharp granite moraine, mixed climbed in Scotland and they have been up six 1000m+ north face routes as well as a load of shorter mixed routes.

Crampon Compatabilty

One issue that I encountered with these boots was getting my crampons to fit. When I first got these boots I had a pair of plastic bailed G14 (older version). I strapped them on and started off up without really paying a huge amount of attention to how they fit. I felt pretty insecure on the first route and it was only on closed inspection when I looked at the set up that I realised the front points were only forward about 5mm or so from the front of the boot as supposed to 25-35mm as I would normally expect. I worked out that it was because the sole unit is really narrow at the front and it doesn't hold the crampon far enough forward. So back to the shop I went for a new pair of crampons (G20s). It was a hungry month after that! So be warned check your crampons on them first.

In an ideal world I would change two things about these boot.

1. I would make them tighter around the heel to combat heel lift. It might just be that I have really skinny heels but some other guy's I know who have them would say the same thing.

2. I would change the lacing system to something more reliable. Its pretty frustrating having your boots come undone on you when your ankle deep in snow, trying to hop about getting them done up again.

All in all they are really great boot, and have definitely become very popular out here in Chamonix and for good reason. After all Ueli Steck was the main man behind the design of these boots and he knows what to look for in a good boot! I'd change a few things like I've said but I'm really happy with them and if I was on market for a pair of winter boots again I'd make the same choice.

Colton/ Macintyre on the Grand Jorasses

Eddie Bauer Peak XV jacket?

2011-11-02T13:01:00.000-07:00

I have a long history of using Eddie Bauer gear. Longer than I can remeber actually as one the first down bags was I used was Eddie Bauer that I borrowed from my Mother on early over night trips to the back yard!

So the brand name was a household word growing up in Washington and Idaho for me.

In 1977 there were better down garments available in Europe. Moncler and Egge were two that were easily available in the US at the time. I took my Monclear Teray jacket to Nepal the spring of '77. It was so obviously a better climbing jacket than the Eddie Bauer Karakorum we were supplied with.

The Terray, after a open bivy, high on Mt. Deborah, Alaska, May of'76

Eddie Bauer sponsored and supported John Roskelley and I in the spring of 1977 for a two man attempt on Makalu's West Pillar. (the first two man 8KM permit given in Nepal) John got ill on the walk in thankfully, as the project even today would be serious challenge for the best two man team. Although it does perk one's imagination doesn't it!

My friends John, Chris Kopcynski, Jim States and Kim Momb went back to Makalu in 1980 and after a concerted effort with fixed camps were able to put John, alone, on the summit.

http://www.himalayanclub.org/journal/makalu-west-pillar/

JR (back), Kop (center), Kim(right) and myself on top of Takkakaw '82.

Lots of down in the picture, none of it from Eddie Bauer

So while we all knew about Eddie Bauer and they did supply a lot of expedition support back in the day by the time I was doing much all the EB gear was well dated.

In fact past the down sweaters I really wasn't interested in much of what Eddie Bauer was selling, until recently.

Funny story really. Someone started complaining on an Internet forun (imagine that!) about the newest First Ascent Peak XV jacket. And how they had washed it in a machine and the baffles had ripped apart. (imagine that!) Even though the jacket had been given to him, shall we say "very well used" after an Everest trip and more. Eddie Bauer's retail store honored the lifetime warrenty and gave him instore credit or a new jacket. His choice.

Whittaker Mountaineering Gear Review: First Ascent Peak XV Down Parka from Whittaker Mountaineering on Vimeo.

I was impressed by the warrenty. So next time I was in town I made a point of stopping by the local Eddie Bauer store. And didn't expect much. What I found shocked me. The Peak VX was the best heavy weight, technical, down jacket I had ever seen. With a price point no one could match. I ended up buying 2 that season...one as a spare as I figured the price would never be equaled for what I was buying.

A couple of years later and my mind hasn't changed. The original Peak XV is still the best, heavy weight, technical down jacket I have seen or used. The second version isn't bad either. Lucky for us both versions are available. The Peak XV is a good start. Eddie Bauer now has all sorts of different clothing pieces that are exceptional values. Mind you not all of the First Ascent gear is...but some are simply amazing, no matter the price point compared to value and design. As I get the time I'll write up the gear from Eddie Bauer that has truly become "go to" climbing and skiing garments for me and my extended family.

If I were to go back to Makalu tomorrow this is the jacket I would take. But it is not a jacket most will have a use for. It is simply too warm.

But it would work just fine in fall/winter on the north side of Rainer as well. Ptarmigan in Oct. '75.

More here on my thoughts about some of the most popular belay jackets:

http://coldthistle.blogspot.com/2010/02/belay-jacketsthe-heavy-weights.html

Everyone needs a hero...

2011-10-31T22:27:00.000-07:00

Here is a group of mine. These guys and gals get after it all year long! I'm also envious of all the sunshine.....

Late October Teton Psych from andy dorais on Vimeo.

More here:

http://slc-samurai.blogspot.com/

UltraLite Alpini Shelter 200

2011-10-31T21:10:00.000-07:00

Over the years I have used a lot of kit. Much of it home made. Not because I was cheap but because you simple couldn't always buy the gear you needed in the US. Back in the '70s I made my own bivy sacks (bothy bag) from coated nylon on my Bernina sewing machine.

A quick search under goggle images for "bothy bags" will turn up a pot full of them

But here in the US you would be hard pressed to come up with a proper bivy sack. I am not talking sleeping bag covers here, but real climbing bivy sacks. The kind that will make the difference between survival and death if caught out in really bad weather in the mountains.

Thankfully I know one place that can square that situation away, Brooks-Range.

http://brooks-range.com/home.php

Half the size of a Nalgene 1 liter bottle and 8 1/2 oz on my scale for the two man version.

http://brooks-range.com/UltraLite-Alpini-Shelter-200.html

Simple idea, coated nylon generally, keeps heat and moisture in. Works better than you would ever suspect keeping you warm. They were made from silk or canvas before nylon and used on most of the big north face in the Alps as standard survival gear from the '30s on.

Not bad in a pissing cold rain either.

The Rab Infinity Down Jacket

2011-10-31T13:29:00.000-07:00

Mr. Rab Carrington himself, at a crag in Osp, Slovenia. photo couresty of Veronika

The "RAB" stands for Rab Carrington. For guys like me of a similar generation Rab Carrington was one of the hard Brits running around the Alps and later the greater ranges knocking off the plums.

"In the 70’s, you weren’t a rock climber, you were a mountaineer. In winter you ice climbed, in spring you tried to get rid of the winter fat, in the summer you went to the Alps, then you did a bit in the autumn before it closed in for the winter - the drinking season.

In 73/74 we started going to the Alps in winter. We went out, a team of Brits, not knowing much, doing our own thing. We were aiming for a speedy style, but the first route took Al and me two days, and we later found out that Patrick Vallençant had skied down it in about 15 seconds.

The whole team of us shared an apartment. That was a wild time, totally drunken and debauched. We didn’t get our deposit back at the end of the season, that’s for sure.

I learned how to make sleeping bags by accident. Al Rouse and I had a completely abortive trip to Patagonia in 1973, when we travelled overland from the USA. We got to Buenos Aires to pick up our climbing gear - which was being shipped out from Liverpool - only to find the gear hadn’t even left the port thanks to a dock strike. We partied instead, but I also ended up working for Hector Vieytes, a friend of mine, for six months in Argentina, and that’s were I learnt the basics.

I fell out with Al Rouse in Kangtega. We were very successful, Al and I, and had gone on lots of great trips together over the years. We’d just done Jannu in 1978, were going to Kangtega in 1979, then on to meet Doug Scott and go to Nuptse, then Makalu the year after, then we’d a chance at Everest. But we’d grown apart, we had a different emphasis. He was more into publicity and success à la Bonington, I was less in to that - we separated.

I started my business when Liz, my daughter came along in 1981. It was the only thing I knew how to do. I worked on a building site in the day and in the evenings I sat upstairs in the attic and sewed sleeping bags."

More here:
http://www.thebmc.co.uk/Feature.aspx?id=1685

The reason I mention Rab's history is I am convinced a basis in hard alpinism is the design genius behind a lot of innovative and quality gear. Problem is there are a lot of pretenders out there with neither design genius or building quality gear. And the climbing public seldom knows the difference. Give enough shit away and sponsor the right people with a slick multimillion dollar catalog campaign and all is "right" with the world. Right of course till the "shit" fails by design or by lack of quality.

I am a huge fan of down as insulation. Sadly I don't generally climb where is it dry enough to use it a lot these days.

Alaska sure. In the Alps? Not so much for what I have been doing recently. May be this spring that will change. My buddy Jon Griffith thinks down is the sheet for climbing jackets. Here in the Cascades..you are a dead duck. In Canada...on the ice fields, or the big faces? Sometimes. Around town? Sure.

Jon's hard won suggestions:

http://www.ukclimbing.com/gear/review.php?id=3533

There are a few down garments I have no problem recommneding if used i nthe rght conditions.

The excellent Norrona Lyngen and Eddie Bauer Peak XV jackets are two. More here:

http://coldthistle.blogspot.com/2010/03/design-triumphsthe-norrna-lyngen-down.html

http://coldthistle.blogspot.com/2010/02/belay-jacketsthe-heavy-weights.html

As slick as the Norrona is it is a bit heavy for some things as is the XV when you start adding them to your pack.

I have a bunch of down sweaters, the previous Eddie Bauer pullover Hoody being one of the best and most used. But is is a pullover which limits the garment's use I find. And most of the time if I want down I want more than a sweater weight garment.

Enter the Rab "Infinity:". It has a little more loft than a sweater, packs smaller and was obviously designed by a team that knows about "fast, light and warm". The down is 850 fill.

Here are the factory specs:

◦NEW Pertex® Quantum 10D ultra light rip stop nylon outer and lining

◦Stitch-through baffle construction
◦210g /7oz of down fill. (L) of 850 fill power superior quality European white goose down
◦Lycra edged fixed down filled hood
◦2 hand warmer pockets with YKK zips
◦1-way YKK front zip and mini internal insulated zip baffle with chin guard
◦Elasticated cuffs
◦Double exit hem drawcord
◦Short cut

I got my XL a month or so ago. It weighs 17.5 oz on my scale...close enough to the advertised over all weight of 16oz/460g for a large. I spent a day in a light rain with it and the material was still shedding water when I finally added a shell. I like the cut and the amount of insulation you get for the weight involved. Like many really good pieces of kit, it is a simple product with a very complicated design.
And imo this one is done right.

Of all my down gear, the Infinity is a piece that finally fits in where I thought a good piece of kit was needed. It is a small niche market for climbers but the RAB Infinity is one well worth looking at. if you have similar needs.

The Eddie Bauer Sweater pictured above at -30C. The RAB "Infinity" bumped it in my line up because of the better design and materials used for cold alpine climbing by RAB.

Credit where it is due? Eddie Bauer has a price point that is difficult to ignore for high quality down garments. The original Down Hoody is an excellent bit of kit.

RAB Infinity Jacket is $280 retail. The Eddie Bauer Hooded Down Sweater is $200. The $80 difference? While both are sewn through, The RAB is a "jacket" and the EB a "sweater" in my opinion both with appropriate levels of insulation.

Up next? A soft shell review

2011-10-30T11:48:00.000-07:00

In the early part of this century I purchased a set of clothing that while not new to me made a big impression.   It was a Gamma MX top and pants from Arc'Teryx made from Polartec Power Shield. Likely one of the first really popular soft shells in North America.

Certainly not the first soft shells available though as I had been climbing in wool blend Schoeller materials since the early '80s that came from Europe via Canada. The Arc'Teryx gear offered similar performance and a lot more stretch. The stretch is what impressed me the most. All of the garments have proven themselves durable even in the nastiest limestone off widths.

A few years climbing it the Polartec products had convinced me that I never wanted to be without that "action suit" again in the mountains.   So I bought spares on sale and put them away for safe keeping.

Today my spares sit unwrapped in the closet and I have for the most part moved on from soft shells. The one strong hold is pants but even there my soft shell pants have gotten lighter and more breathable than my original Gamma MX gear.   Gamma AR maybe. The Gamma Lt version I use a lot winter and summer.   Or the NWAlpine Saloppettes.

But the new Gamma MX hoody...hangs unused for good reason.

An Arc'Teryx Gamma MX Hoody on Curtain Call, 2008.

The reason I mention all of this is I am about to start a new soft shell review. So to get much traction the newest soft shells have a lot to live up to. I have climbed and skied a lot in different versions of the older models. And I have indeed gone on to products I think work much better in a winter climbing environment, like the Atom LT and Nano Puff. We'll see if that still holds true from all our gear testers this time around.
What the newest versions can do different and better is worth looking into.

Here are the hooded jackets I will or want to be testing in this review. Currrently the list is stacked in Arc'Teryx's favor. No intentional just what I have easily available for comparisons.

Arc'Teryx:
old Gamma MX
old Gamma SV
new Gamma MX
new Venta MX
ACTO Hoody

Patagonia:
Knifeblade

Outdoor Reasearch:
Albi

Mammut:
Gipfelgrat Jacket

RAB:
Alpine Jacket
Baltoro Alpine Jacket
Baltoro Guide Pro Jacket

Eddie Bauer:
First Ascent Hyalite

I am open to any suggestions for any similar garments.

And if anyone has a contact they are willing to share at Mammut USA I could use some help there.

Photo courtesy of Dave Searler and Ally Swinton on Pinocchio, East Face of Tacul, Chamonix.

The kind of place a good soft shell garment excels.

Petzl Picks again?

2011-10-29T22:03:00.000-07:00

Or, "Why do your new DRY and ICE picks suck on ice and mine don't?"

If you aren't having a problem ignore the rest of this. For those that are hopefully this will be helpful.

Most of us loved the original Cascade picks on the Nomics and the older Quarks simply because they climbed water ice better than anything else available in factory form...then or now.

Petzl in all their engineering wisdom decided to better the first generation Nomic and we see now how that has gone. I am a little amazed at just how far off their customer's requirements are in all of this.

Not like it will lose Petzl a large part of the market share but disappointing none the less that we have to fiddle with the gear to make it work as required.

I posted most of this info previous but people keep asking as the new tools arrive and get into climber's hands.

The first change is the new DRY and ICE picks have another couple of degrees in incline. To put that into perspective there is generally 2 or less degrees of difference between the Fusion/Cobra/Viper?Reactor.

So in the grand scheme adding two more degrees on the Nomic is a BIG deal.

Top set of picks is the Cascade overlaid the new ICE

Middle is the new ICE Pick

Bottom is the older Cascade pick for a Nomic

But the change in tooth pattern on the ICE pick is what most will easily notice on the Nomic while on ice.

It isn't easy and you can't duplicate the Cascade exactly by carving up a ICE pick. But you can get close enough to make them climb ice easier.

Again the Cascade is the upper pick. The lower is a slightly modified ICE.

On this one I have only cut down the new elongated and heavy hooked front tooth.

dbl click the picture here. Top pick is a ICE I modified to climb pure ice easier and the lower on a brand new ICE, that is untouched.

As you can see to improve removing the pick on water ice the entire row of smaller front teeth ( I do the first 6 and taper into the higher ones) need to be cut down to the smaller proportions on the upper Cascade pick.

All of this is easily done with a hand file (I use a 10" Bastard file) in just a few minutes.

I have highlighted in the pink circles the new pick where I cut it down with a hand file.

Here is another look at the added angle to the new picks.

Cascade pick is in back of this overlay and a new (slightly modified) ICE in front.

The new picks work great for mixed and dry tooling imo. Not so much on pure ice. I have saved a small stock of the older Cascade picks for pure ice just to save myself the hassle. Hopefully Petzl will still be selling the original Cascade picks.

What one learns and Second Chances...

2011-10-29T18:54:00.000-07:00

In the past few weeks I have learned a good bit about myself.

With some after thought I guess I have learned more about myself, people in general and our relationships when I have been injured.

In early September 2011 I was diagnosed with Stage 4 Tonsillar Cancer which is HPV P16 driven.   If you are going to get Tonsillar cancer, pray it is HPV P16 driven. (more on second chances in a minute)

http://www.komonews.com/news/health/132764463.html?tab=video

Up first was a "radical neck dissection" to remove the tumors. I was pulling 5.10 a week after surgery so how "radical" can it be?   Now Radiation and Chemo follow. I'll be fine in the end.   A little worse for the wear and tear may be but pounds lighter and seconds faster. It won't hurt my climbing in the long run is my guess at this point.  I will come out of this even healthier and more fit than I have been in a long time.   But not a fitness and weight loss program I would recommend either.

So I get a second chance. A cancer they can cure. And a new lease on life with a rebuilt body after loosing 25% of my body mass from chemo and rad.

We all make promises. Some you intend to keep and others you know you will unlikely be able to keep. Most of us do what we can and with some effort more than we might have thought possible until pushed.

I had first intended to keep my health issues quiet. But as I realised there wasn't an easily accessed body of knowledge on how to get through this I started asking for beta from any of my friends (and their friends) that might have some insight into a this particular cancer and treatment that would eventually strip me of 25% of my body mass. It all seemed pretty damn scary at the beginning. A little less so now even after dropping 20# in the first six days of treatment.   And my friends pulled through for me. Thank you, THANK YOU!

To pay back that debt I will eventually start a new blog documenting this entire experience in detail so it will hopefully be a little less scary for the next guy.

Ten days ago I was unsure if I would ever be able to walk again let alone climb. The initial chemo shattered me physically and mentally in a short 6 days. Not something I easily admit to, but there it is.
Water boarding? Shit, try Cysplatinum.

I, like many who ride a bike, often wonder if Lance did drugs to win those Tours. I don't need to wonder any more.   Lance did weeks of Csyplantium. I'm only required to do a few days. Lance has been required to suffer more than most can ask to endure.   I suspect that is how he won Tours. Chemo drugs may have taught him the secrets of suffering but no one in their right mind wants the education.

My friends, family and and our extended climbing family have been the BEST. People have reached out to help and support me, some I hardly know.   But I "know" them now. It means a lot to me and I am more than grateful. When you can't move and someone offers a helping hand they are a more than human...more than a kind soul. How anyone does this by themselves hopefully I'll never have to know, thankfully.

Like climbing we seldom do anything alone. And there is a time when we are all alone and a required to dig deep and run it out. That comes as well. But we never get their by ourselves. Some one helped us get to that.

I rushed to get the shell review done before all this started. I was happy with the end result. It was one more off the tick list of "to dos".   I have a huge assortment of gear review projects currently in the works. But they are going to have to wait till I can write (without chemo brain) and get outside again. Those sorts of things will be on hold for a bit as I get through this. Future plans?  Cham and maybe the Kahiltna again this spring.    I am antzy to this over and get to THAT future.   But for now I am living cancer. It will be my way of life for a short time. The experience will enhance me, not define me.

I learned (again) to never take a day for granted. Never forget you have friends. Take care of them, even when you don't have the time. And be thankful every day above ground. Use those days wisely!   2nd chances are a wonderful thing :)

Ice is coming...time to start thinking about technique.

2011-10-26T15:54:00.000-07:00

Photo courtesy of:

http://www.alpineexposures.com/

Every fall I start thinking about ice climbing again, what I learned last year, and what I find are the important things I want to work on this year and the kind of climbing I most enjoy.

Over and over again for the last half dozen years I think the ability to use one tool in the most effective manner is the most important advantage with the newest ice tools. Some tools allow you to take advantage of that opportunity better than others.

But no matter the style of tool, being able to easily match hands on an ice tool and make the lest amount of placements per foot of vertical gain is what we are looking for and what is really important.

The fewer the placements the better your endurance. The more positions you can use on your tool the more your strength will last, short or long term. That will happen on vertical ice or less than as well.

The more you move your hands around and use them in slightly differing manners the warmer your hands will generally stay.

These are videos I have posted previous. But if you haven't seen them it is worth taking a close look at how the climbers in each use their tools. Both the videos are getting dated now for gear but the climbing techniques shown are not. Hopefully you'll get some new ideas of your own from what you see.

and another example here:

http://www.tvmountain.com/video/alpinisme/6769-goulotte-lara-toun-grand-capucin.html

I like having options!

Just a tease.......

2011-10-25T21:05:00.000-07:00

of an awesome new line,,

WI 7+, M7, 600m It's a mega version of the famous Polar Circus in Canada. In the massive gully it almost felt as if I was in a canyon, surrounded by fantastic granite features. The ice is really steep, full of air holes and the overhanging sections through the ice flutes were hard to protect. And even the transition sections in waist-deep powder were not particularly easy. I had to summon all my strength and conviction to climb the final meters to the top and I almost gave up. Breaking trail through the deep, unconsolidated snow took a long time and was really tiring. But when you get so close to the top, you just don't give up.

Ines Papert and Wolfgang Russegger established Quantum of Solace (ABO, WI 7+, M7, 600m) up the Great Wall of China in Kyrgyzstan.

more here:

http://www.planetmountain.com/english/News/shownews1.lasso?l=2&keyid=38683#

Classic Rocky's limestone

2011-10-25T19:00:00.000-07:00

Everyone should get in some of this fun! One of Temple's classics.

Greenwood/Locke, Mt. Temple aka 'the Eiger of the Rockies' from Joshua Lavigne on Vimeo.

The author's write up is worth a look as well.

http://alpinesummits.blogspot.com/2011/08/greewoodlocke-mt-temple.html

winter's coming......

2011-10-25T18:45:00.000-07:00

MATRIX RELOADED - climbing movie full version from BERNARTWOOD on Vimeo.

Ya ready?

Simply Alpinism!

2011-10-25T18:27:00.001-07:00

Bravo!

Blue Ice gear is here again!

2011-10-21T21:52:00.000-07:00

If you live in North America and have been looking, I have a limited stock of Blue Ice, Octopus packs, the Chouca lwt mountaineering harness and a few dozen of the Boa ice tool leashes now in stock and ready to ship. Sorry, the Warthogs are sold out again!

details here:

http://coldthistletools.blogspot.com/2011/04/blue-ice-gear.html