Movement Skis?

Toys?   I still get excited by the best of them. If you do any skinning in the winter hopefully you already know about Movement Ski. I'm in the process of writing an in-depth review but thought it worth a heads up first. Movement is an innovative Swiss company producing outstanding skis. Their "Alps Tracks" series are along the lines of the original carbon fiber skis by Dave Goode from Ogden Utah some 16+ years ago. By the looks of it no one yet has really upped the game from Goode's skis for weight. (1080g in a 95mm 160cm ski) But others (Movement included) have taken the technology and improved how carbon fiber skis. And the Alp Tracks series of skis really do ski exceptionally well! From my perspective the Alps Tracks Series keeps getting better, after having skied on some of last year's 2021/22 models and then their newest version of the same ski in the 2022/2023 models.

All, old and new, have been outstanding skis.

Better yet, most of them can be found on sale this time of year for around 1/2 off retail. Long gone are the days of underperforming lwt ski. Some of the best days I have had on snow, were this winter, on Movement skis.

One ski's weight (average between a pair), no binding, on my postal scale,

77mm 161 833g

85mm 161 968g

95mm 162 1108g

98mm 178 1275g

106mm 178 1290g

45cm ice axes for self-arrest?

 

Everyone starts somewhere.   The start of a skimo adventure circa 1970 :)

I've been lucky to ski a good bit this winter.  Great fun with a record year for snow fall.  Hang out with enough skiers and gear always gets discussed.   Everyone has an opinion.   Worth paying attention to see if your goals match up with the suggestions you get.  I have a number of comments I'd like to make instigated by recent conversations, but I'll start with the topic of "ice axes".  There is more, but I'll start here.

10+ years ago Bruno wrote what I still think is a pretty good description of and use for a traditional axe.

I'll try to address that same reasoning to a traditional SkiMo outing today.  Some may want to label me a troglodyte.  That's OK.  

Cold Thistle: The case for the classic axe by Bruno Schull

But let me cut to the chase up front.  Up to and including WI 4 ice climbing there nothing a 60cm traditional, steel headed ice axe can't climb easily, if you have the skills to climb ice.

There are many uses for an axe in mountaineering and ski mountaineering.  The first is likely the most obvious.  The axe gets used as a cane, holding onto the head and using the shaft for support.   It doesn't take much of an axe to get that done.  I've used a dead tree branch and I've used a old school, one piece, ski pole for the same effect many times over.

Man, the tool user.

There is a reason a "ice axe" is designed as they are.  First choice is the pick and then the adze to chop steps.  Seems like it would be the other way around but it isn't.  The pick is simply more efficient for cutting steps quickly.  Often times the pick is the preferred tool to chop steps in hard snow and maybe the adze to follow up and clean the step up.   Two strikes and you're done.   These days most will put on crampons rather than cut a step.  Too bad.  Cutting steps is a very useful skill in the mountains.  And often as not may be faster (and safer) than putting on crampons in an awkward position.   (More on the awkward position. As in, "you could die here easy enough!", below)

Die, you say?!  Did that get your attention?  The most obvious use for a mountaineering axe is self-arrest.  You know, the skill you practice until it is automatic, that skill that keeps you from stopping your fall before you hit the nearest flat spot, if there is one?

If you have done much self-arrest practice, a couple of things you'll note very quickly.  Not that easy to get stopped.  Stopping gets harder yet as the snow gets harder.  When you eventually hit water ice all bets are off.  Generally, the bigger the head/pick and the longer the shaft the easier it is to use the axe in self-arrest position and get stopped.   The added physical size of the axe gives you physical leverage and that really helps you get stopped in a fall.    The harder the snow, the harder (and slower) it is to get stopped no matter the axe designs.  But the only thing that really helps is having enough leverage on the axe to get the job done.

"For most, any axe under 55cm is simply a more difficult tool to sue as intended, getting stopped on hard snow."

A 45 cm axe of any sort might not be the best answer for the majority of skimo uses.  Sure, a 45 cm axe packs easier.   I'd rather have/carry the easiest tool to use as needed than the tool that is the easiest to carry.

Trying to stop a fall on steep, hard snow or iced, terrain or just as bad, steep soft snow will be rather educational with any 45cm axe if you are over 5'6" tall.  Really short axes are simply a very small tool (physically)  to work with.  

They are all tools.  Be sure to pick the right one for your objective.

The axes range from 65cm to 45cm. 

For my own skiing I have used most of what is pictured here.  Long Nordic poles for skiing some distance, so I use my arms poling.   Non-adjustable poles with long grips to save energy on side hill skin tracks.   Grip straps to support your hand and lower the fatigue when using your arms poling.  And of course the obligatory. "Whippet".  A ski pole with a short ice axe like head, used to get stopped or support yourself on a steep hard snow surface.

Before I get more into specific "axes" here is an opinion on the self-arrest poles of any manufacture.  I own a pair.  Have for well over a decade.  I am skiing more technical lines now than I ever have.  Occasionally skiing places you'll be lucky to survive a fall.  I have never used my Whippets.  Very likely never will.  Why?  Because if I ski into terrain when I need to self-arrest I want a proper ice axe to get that done.    Let's be honest.  If you are reading this bog, you very likely have no need for a Whippet.  Common sense and a little caution goes a long way to keeping you safe in the mtns.  First rule of skimo is, never-ever fall.  If you think there is a chance of that best to be somewhere else. 

There are other opinions.  Colin Haley for one, likes and uses the Whippet.

Another recommendation from a guy who has skied plenty of steep lines.

Ski Mountaineering Skills with Andrew McLean - Steep Skiing - YouTube

Whippet or Ice Axe? | Questions for a Mountain Guide (alpineinstitute.com)

 I've carried the green Camp Corsa axe above (weight is 209g) while skiing on the Haute Route a couple of times and on most of the Cascade Volcanos.   Great axe for the right conditions.   It makes a good walking stick and will self-arrest on soft snow easily enough.  The right conditions for a Corsa?  "Soft snow".  

I've taken two falls in crampons in my climbing career.  One in soft snow that even a tradition 60cm axe with a long pick wasn't slowing me down on.  I had enough time to think about that fact, roll over and switch to my adze, which was a much better tool at getting me stopped.  I was doing well, until I thought I had slowed down enough.   It wasn't slow enough.  I caught a crampon point and was immediately ejected into space.  The result was a long walk out and a couple of dozen stitches in my shins hours later.  Luckily I didn't break anything  which is what usually happens with a snagged crampon in a fall.

The 2nd time?  I popped a crampon off soloing on some easy water ice 3, right at 1000' tall.  The only thing that stopped me?  Catching my partner's pick with my axe's pick as I went by, as I continued to rapidly gain speed.  Thankfully, no harm no foul there.   I got off the water ice and found my crampon in the snow.  Strapped it back on and finished the climb.   If I hadn't, by chance, hooked my partner's pick?  Or had his axe placement failed when I "hit" it?  I very likely wouldn't have survived the 600 foot slide. 

Point being?  If you need an ice axe to get stopped, buy a proper ice axe that will easily penetrate the kind of snow conditions you expect on your trips and learn to use the axe  adroitly.  The easiest slide to stop is, one that never gets started. 

"Penetrate the snow conditions?"   A steel headed axe might be what you need.  But it isn't just the steel head version, or titanium or aluminum that you need.  You need a properly shape head to penetrate hard conditions.   No one axe will likely be the right tool for every tour or  every climb for that matter.  

For things like this?

Falling is not an option.

I can't tell you how many times I have heard of guys dropping into lines from the top and finding out in short order that was a bad idea.  Snow changes to ice or the surface has slide away or the snow conditions simply aren't skiable.  It happens.  It happens to everyone eventually.  Everyone.  Doug Coombs and Trevor Peterson come to mind.

Boot it from the bottom or ski it from the top?   I'm lazy but I never take it for granted from either end and now, after scaring myself silly, just once, I carry a proper technical ice tool and the additional bits of gear to sort things out if needed for that kind of "fun".

Remember I mentioned  previous?  It may be faster (and safer) than pulling skiis and putting on crampons in an awkward position."

When it is time to bail on a ski line by climbing out, better to have crampons on your feet, than skis.  Better to have actual tools in hand than a pair of whippets.  And an umbilical tied to your harness may well be in order?

Can you pull your skis off?  How about your snowboard?  Can you put crampons on your boots?  You've got your harness on already right?

I personally know of more than one pair of skis lost in this kind of transition and a single snow board.

Bad day all around there.  Trust me.

Expect and be prepared for the worst.  Think ahead and have the proper gear easily at hand.  Never be afraid to bail upward on a ski line.  The question will be is it safer to ski down or climb out.  One advantage to booting in.  The answer is usually more obvious up front.

I have just about every tool imaginable as a choice fro any climbing or ski mission.   And I have done a lot more, hard ice climbing than I ever will on difficult skimo lines.

I want an easy to place, steel pick, for hard water ice and a shaft that I can plunge into soft snow.

This is what I still use.  I like a hammer to set anchors, if required.  I see no advantage of an adze here.   

This tool is also no longer available from Petzl.  

A replacement I have been using more recently, the Petzl, Gully, axe or hammer.  Both tools shown have handles wrapped to be used as a dagger.  And a hand rest that is movable on the shaft.  The idea with the dagger position is to never allow a slide to get started.  Pick weights added to my Gully tools to ease penetration on water ice.

But make no mistake, I don't want to use either to self-arrest with!

They are both 45s and both way, way to difficult to self arrest with IMO.

Pick the right tool for the job!

Ignore the fashion trends or get determined to get really good self-arresting with short axe.  Most anyone will have a hard time self-arresting with a 45 anything.   Always better to have the right tool and the skills to use them than the other options.  The mountains have no sympathy.

Yvon Chouinard is 5'8" tall.  The photo is from him teaching an ice climbing class in the '70s.  The axe is a 60cm piolet.  There is a hint there.  Even if the axe won't fit inside your pack.

Lots of handier ways to carry an ice axe than inside your pack.

Another look from my friend Dave Searle who lives and works, year around, guiding in Chamonix.

How to Choose an ICE AXE for Ski Mountaineering // DAVE SEARLE - YouTube

DPS Phantom Glide....no more waxing!

 PHANTOM Glide At Home Application Instructions - YouTube

The back story for me?  Some time ago (years) I purchased and didn't use the original 2-part application of Phantom.   I was skiing a lot more this winter and some new skis to mount, so I finally added the older 2-part Phantom (one package) which allowed me to cover three pair of new skis.

The results were pretty impressive.  No more hot waxing my ski once a week.

This Spring there were more new skis in my shop.  And enough skiing that waxing was getting tiresome.  So, I bought the newest version of Phantom for the newest skis.  It is a much easier one-part application than the older stuff.   One of my big concerns was just how well my skins would stick to the surface for touring.  If you have ever had a glue failure on your skins, mid trip, you know the concern and how you can so easily have a really bad day.  But that was bad skin glue.  Not a bad base job.

Keeping the bases clean is a huge help to keep skins on as well as keeping the glue in good shape.

It took a couple of longer days skinning and in different conditions to make me comfortable with Phantom while using skins.  Once that was done the worry was gone.

But at $50 to $100 a packet, Phantom is not cheap.  The older 2-part application can be found on Ebay right now for $50.  I was able to easily coat 3 pair of 100+mm width x 180cm skis with that version.  The newer 2.0 version I get one pair of 100+ mm skis per package.  That is $95 per package and one pair of skis currently.  So, Phantom isn't cheap.

DPS says the Phantom coating will last the lifetime of the ski.  No reason to not believe that with the product now almost 10 years old.  But I can't verify that life cycle from my own use.

What I can tell you is I'll no longer be waxing my own skis.   I'm already planning on the skis I'll ditch at next Fall's swap.   Those would be the ski without Phantom that I am not willing to clean the wax from the old bases.   If I was still making a living on skis for half the year, Phantom would be a Godsend.  And worth every penny in my book.

I could "wax on" about how great the Phantom is on snow.  But I won't.  You wouldn't believe me if I did.  I wouldn't believe the experiences I have had with Phanton if I hadn't actually been on the skis with Phantom applied.  Midwinter blower to early Spring slush?   Phantom simply works.  It works better than any wax job I have ever used.  The one caveat so far is 45F+ air temps and lots of sun.  Phantom gets a little sucky there.  Wax might be better at the extreme of where you'll be in slush.   DPS says additional, traditional waxing won't hurt the Phantom.  And they claim the Phantom will make your hot wax adhere better and last longer.   Seems adding a warm weather wax (via a hot wax) as needed is a common technique to get the most out of the skis in really warm weather.  More when I get some better feedback off my own skis to offer up over the next couple of months.

And no more hot waxing messes to clean up in the shop.  If you can get a little sunshine, the new one-part application for the current Phantom is easy and quick.

This is simply a PSA.  This stuff was worth the initial buy in for me despite my original skepticism.  It just took a while to really appreciate the advantages Phantom offered to my own skiing.

Good luck!

1996 Blanchard Interview

 The story about this film series: In 1996 and 1997 Chic Scott recorded 84 interviews with leading mountaineers all across Canada, as research for his book, Pushing the Limits, The Story of Canadian Mountaineering. These interviews have been safely stored in the archives of the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies for 25 years and have now been digitized.

Barry's  routes on the north face of North Twin, the east face of Mount Fay, and the Emperor Face of Mount Robson are amongst the hardest in Canada. In the Himalayas, his ascent of the North Face of Rakaposhi in 1984 with Kevin Doyle and Dave Cheesmond was one of the best climbs of the era. In 1988, with three companions, he almost succeeded in an alpine-style ascent of the Rupal Face of Nanga Parbat. These climbs were on the very leading edge of Himalayan climbing.

Showa 282-02 winter glove..late to the party?

Takes about 2 minutes to do a Google search for this glove.  One of the first web reviews you'll find is Colin Haley (yes that Colin Haley) endorsing them for climbing.  I should/could  just leave it at that.

Colin Haley’s Clothing System for Alpine Climbing in the Chaltén Massif - Patagonia

Of course, I won't.  Hard to cut this glove with a sharp, really sharp kitchen knife.   I tried.    Just the ticket for busting 8" of ice out of 100-gallon stock tanks while the wind is blowing, and the temps are in the teens F.    Even better when you need to pull all that ice out of those same tanks now with 50 gallows of water in them and 200# of block ice.    You get wet no matter what you do.  But no reason to have wet or cold hands now.   I have used expensive neoprene gloves in years past, and they work as well.  Just not the the dexterity, warmth or comfort of the Showa.  And the long cuff with an elastic draw cord fits over my Arcteryx jacket sleeves like they were made for each other.

I have yet to climb in them, but I know just from working around here this winter they'll be one of the best gloves I own for ice climbing.   Only thing I miss is a leather palm.   These things are way stickier than leather.    I own a LOT of high dollar gloves climbing gloves with similar warmth and durability.  None of them cost anywhere close to $20! 

These things are easily found, currently for under $25.00 a pair.  Usually under $20.! 

I have been buying them here:   I am typically a XL in any glove and the XL fits we well enough, but a XXL might be appropriate as well.  Worth a try on sizes as they are very stretchy.

Showa 282 Temres, Gloves (go2marine.com)

Have a little faith.

 

Mt. Fury.....and some serious "respect!"

 Finding Fury on Vimeo

Nirmal Purja? Project Possible?

Missing this one I have obviously been asleep at the wheel.  This is the most impressive bit of mountaineering I have ever imagined, let alone seen accomplished.

Looking back at Covid?

I had made this post on a FB page April of 2020 with little care and no clue where we would be today.   I found the post gain this morning and like the reminder. 

We aren't totally locked down in Idaho but practicing social distancing is lowering the curve and making a big difference in new numbers. First time out in a month and was able to get in a tortured 18 mile one way ridge line tour. Bad snow so it went a little longer than planned. Skiing is skiing even if you are just walking in knee deep isothermal chit snow that wouldn't support a ski.

I should add this considering the current situation via the virus and 1st Responders. By the time I realized I was going to be really late for my pickup and with no or little phone reception to call this one off I was feeling pretty stupid. It would be an easy run up the ridge line via the road I was following on a snow machine to pick me up if something had gone wrong. Not like post holing has ever caused a sprained knee or an easy slow motion fall hasn't caused a nasty spiral fracture. I am use to getting in over my head and getting out again...knock on wood....but I was feeling pretty chagrin at the thought of having to ask for help to get off an easy ski tour. I was having a hard time imagining what all would have been involved had my ride home decided to call 911 when I was 6 hours late. Some lessons learned and relearned again. Ya'll be careful out there!

Late?  Yes...hours late.

Tifosi Sledge sunglass with CLARION RED FOTOTEC lens?

Common for me to go back and look at a product I really like. Less common of me to go back and buy something again that I really like and to my surprise have been using a lot.

 https://coldthistle.blogspot.com/2020/05/sledge-sunglesses-by-tifosi.html 

 We are having an outstanding Fall here. The riding has been exceptional. 

 My general review format is, "did I notice the gear". If I did notice the gear it is likely not such good gear for me. If I didn't notice the gear past, "was actually helping me enjoy the sport", then I am likely impressed. For a few decades Oakley has been my go to sunglass on the bike. 

 I don't like change much so I keep one good pair around to keep me and my eyes happy. The Tifosi Sledge was inexpensive by comparison to any Oakley and silly me, made a lot of judgements on the lens quality and technology just from the price.

 Until wearing the Sledge I just thought of Tifosi and a "cheap" sun glass brand by comparison to a other more well-known glasses. Admittedly really dumb on my part. 

 I really like the huge field of view in the Tifosi Sledge. Reminds of some of the old school Oakleys from the 80s that the Sledge profile (and others now) resemble. I liked it enough on the bike that I went looking for others just so I didn't have to look through the frame of the glass if I didn't want to or was incapable of lifting my head to look ahead on the bike. So much that I bought a couple of cheap pairs with similar frames off Amazon. 

 Silly move there. Lens were OK for the price...but nothing to write here about. My experience is lens are really, really good or they are crap. But the frames...they were no question, crap. Nose piece was killing me on just a 30 minute ride. Ditched them asap. 

 The Tifosi Sledge on the other hand was really comfortable. Even more comfortable than my favorite Oakleys I hold in reserve for the adventure rides. So comfortable I simply don't notice the fit, the frame, the lens, in any condition even after hours on the bike. My better half with a much smaller face seems to agree with me. Impressive to me that one glass can be used by both of us and we are happy with the results. Next up for me?    This glass and skimo soon enough. 

 SLEDGE-MATTE BLACK-CLARION RED FOTOTEC $79.95 

 May be something a little special if you have the need. We bought ours (wife and I) on sale. I really like them a lot. Enough so, to write about them a second time! The lens changes from a cat 1 to a cat 3 lens in a very short amount of time. The Tifosi Fototech is as least as good/fast on lens change as my favorite ski glasses by Julbo.   That is saying something!    Julbos like Oakley also easily cost dbl the retail of the Tifosis.

The list?

 I have seen this before but seems like a better list now that I live 600 miles closer.  But a wonderful story of life in the mountains as well.  Worth a look if you haven't seen it.

Inspiration?

 

I have no clue if I am anything like other people when it comes to inspiration and imagination.  I do know that as long as I can remember I have admired other athletes for their known skills and likely even more for what they could imagine.  

Early on in my climbing I had read somewhere that one of the great alpine climbers of the 1920 or '30s said, "where there is snow, I can go".  That to me was imagination, as silly as it sounds now.  That quote opened my eyes to what might be possible.  Then as now I do a lot more reading than actual climbing.

But it wasn't long after reading that I went looking for snow to climb.   The quote might well have been from Wilo Wasenbach.

  

If you have been around the climbing community long enough if becomes pretty obvious it can be a dangerous sport no matter the level you climb at.  The higher the level of your achievements puts you at a higher level of risk.  It doesn't take much research or experience to see that many of the "best" in every generation of alpine climbers don't generally live full lives.  

What I am really thankful for, isn't the technology advances that a good many climbers have brought to the sport but the level of imagination they bring to do things differently.  Making adventures and efforts once thought impossible, eventually common place.  Even if those sorts of efforts were only being done by a very capable few. 

The inspiration you get for free.  And often as not that will still spark my own imagination and give me a goal to aspire too.  It doesn't have to be a cutting-edge goal.  Just a goal.   For that I am grateful. 

Gear geeking and why it can pay off.

Bear with me ;)

10 years ago I came home from the Alps tired and not recovering well.  One of the toys I had to play with trying to stay on top of my efforts and recovery was a polar heart rate watch.  I'd used in in Triathlons and running in general prior.  And I'd used a Mio HR monitor prior to that.

I was lucky enough to be sponsored by Polar for a few seasons and had great faith in the Polar products because of their support.

I am genetically blessed with a resting heart rate of 44 to 46.   So when I couldn't get my heart rate below 60 after any of my efforts in the Apls (and none of them I'd consider BIG efforts) I figured I was just burn out, and needed some time off and a rest.   That as in April.   By June my resting heart rate was still in the low 60s or high 50s.  Still not good enough.   I just kept blowing the discrepancy off to no working hard enough and by mid-summer intentionally being a lot less active.

My annual physical is in Sept. every year   Even my GP thought I was healthy but thought I should see the ENT guy for some swelling on th exterior of my neck.   I was getting concerned as my throat and side of my face's symmetry seemed slightly off.  Enough that I could see it shaving.    Thankfully a Physician Assistant (who had previously been a MD in Russian) knew what he was looking at.  it was bad enough that 48 hrs. later I was in surgery for stage 4 throat cancer. 

I knew there was something wrong.  My resting pulse was sky for me.  I was lucky my cancer was caught before it could go any further or get any bigger.    

Neat thing about the older Mio HR monitors was it didn't need chest strap.  The Polar HR monitors did.  They are a pain to use.  But not enough of a pain to ignore one.  I'm glad I didn't. 

Today?   I bought my wife a Fitbit watch not long ago to help her on her own fitness program.  Turns out she really likes it.  The little watch tracks her steps, her HR and he sleep patterns.   Handy tools all if you wonder why you aren't feeling as healthy as you might.

I found myself a little jealous of a little watch that does so much.   I have my own testing and endurance data going back to the '80s.  And I like making comparisons to a 40 year younger version of me.  Even more so with some of the health issues I've worked through.

Which got me thinking a watch HRM might well be a handy thing.  Might just tell me when i ma stoking out on the side of a hill or the ditch where I fell off my bike :)

So the bike?  (follow along I'll get there eventually) Power meters 10 years ago were very expensive.  I always wanted one to up my training but never had the coin I was willing to drop on one.  Turns out the price has been chopped in half these days and better yet the data is even better.  

Recently I was wanting to rebuild one of my 10 speed Cervelos and though the addition of a power meter would be a fun toy at 1/2 price while doing that.  And it was.  I learned more from 5 ride on a power meter than i had on years training with just a HRM.  Basics is by the time a HRM shows you have blown up you have pretty much toasted the effort for the day.

A power meter can tell you how to ride a fine line and never intentionally blow up if you are paying attention.   I ended up buying a Wahoo Element and a Quarq Power meter.  If nothing else I wanted to see just how different the power of each leg was after breaking my pelvis.  No additional straps and the Element takes care of the rest through a phone app that you can study and apply at home.

Quarq DZero DUB Power Meter Spider | Competitive Cyclist

ELEMNT BOLT GPS Bike Computer Bundle | Wahoo Fitness

I was liking the power meter a lot and learning from it.  It didn't take me long to start thinking GPS tracking of my actual ride would be pretty cool.  But I wasn't interested in another computer upgrade.  I also started thinking a no strap HRM  and  the addition of a I phone might be really handy climbing, running, and swimming.  Might be a few other things I could use it for as well.  I'd seen them from Garmin and Yahoo and thought what a waste of money originally.

I had ended up with a good size credit at my LBS selling my tri bike.  On a lark really, I bought the Yahoo Element Rival watch.

On the best purchases ever for me.   If I had known I'd likely not have bought the power meter.  I am still learning how to run the watch but so far it gives me way more info than I can use at the moment for training and a GPS route of every workout with a lot more useful additional data.      

I like tech tools that surprise me and help me do more with less.   I like knowing exactly how my main machine is working.    The Rival makes that happen.  YMMV.

Wahoo Triathlon Watch | ELEMNT RIVAL GPS Smartwatch | Wahoo Fitness

Not a place I really like to be.....

I've never been on terrain skiing in North America or the little bit in South America where I really thought I need a technical tool in my hand let along on a harness or in a pack.

France?  I can't say that.   Stuff gets skied most every were that would likely scare me bad, put me in a pity party and really wanting a rope.  Just seems to be easier to access and more common in Chamonix for me.    But one thing for sure it is not common need for me.

I used this axe from Camp on a trip of the Classic Haute route from Cham to Zermatt.  It never came out of my pack on the couple of small bits of boot packing we did.

A week later when we skied the Cosmic in hard conditions and I actually did want to rap one more rope length, and needed an extra anchor the aluminum head wasn't my 1st choice for a tool.   But it was what I had.  And it sucked.

A trip the next day to Snells I picked up this one.   This one or better yet a pair of them you can climb ice with.  Pretty much any ice  :)

The old hammer version, and shortest, Petzl Sum'tec.   After a couple of uses I bought two and used them a couple of times instead on Nomics on easy alpine ice that I skied in and out of.   Only down side in the pack is they are heavy.   The weight is a good thing for me when I am scared and trying to set dubious anchors or want a self-belay while I am trying to set dubious anchors.    

I wrote this in Jan of 2017.

Cold Thistle: Petzl's new tools?!

Been a while but now we know what was then "new".  I had hoped for Ueli's "mini Nomic" but that is not what we got.  Recently I bought a pair of the Gully tools.  Ace and hammer combo.   Chances are I'll be using them some in March.   FWIW...I bought mine on sale in the off season at $99 per tool.  Having seen now where and how they have been used the last 5 years I hope to be pleased with the purchase.   I have a short trip planned mid-winter specifically just to play with them.  

Any one care to comment on their own set of Gully tools?

 

Currently $127.50 at backcountry.com

Petzl Gully Ice Axe - Climb (backcountry.com)
  

Thanks Anthony!   Among others Colin, Ueli and Kilian have been standouts for adding new techniques and specialized gear for us all in the last decade and more.   Fun trying to keep up! (with just the gear)

Nomic weights are a perfect fit on the Gully tools.   And an obvious advantage in anything but neve conditions.  

Gully hammer       362g with high rubber wrap and pick weights

Gully  axe             352g with high rubber wrap and pick weights

Sum'tec hammer   496g with full rubber wrap

Nomic hammer     588g  that is bone stock

100g = 3.5oz

Kinda funny when you look closely at all three.  The fly weight.  The other arguably most versatile ice tool to date.   And an old school knuckle dragger tool that will likely get you up and down anything reasonably moderate in the mountains.  Sum'tec reminds me of the Chacal and the Terro before it.  Both were very capable tools on ice and alpine mixed.  No flies on any of the old style three.

And I remember a time when I thought a Nomic was going to be too light.

Winters coming!

Alien boots for sale?

 I still have a pair of size 29 Alien 1.0s  I'd like to sell.   Still pretty much new.  I used them one long day in Cham.  My feet paid the price.   No booting in them.     Just too narrow for my feet but I sure wish they weren't.  $470 for the boots with a new and spiffy pair of the Lycra gaiters included.   I'll pay the postage in the US.    This could be a real score for some wanting an extremely lwt boot that skis really well. 

What's up?

The last time I wrote seriously here was in 2015/2016.  

I had left Chamonix in the Spring of 16 burnt out and sick.  I had bailed on a 6 week pre paid trip less than 3 weeks in.  Heart breaking for me.  But my heart, soul just weren't into it.  I needed a change in life style.

Buy the Fall of 2016 we had sold our home of 25 years and moved 500 miles south west to the Idaho desert.   No real snow close to speak of ( really Rainier and Alpental were close) and what therefor snow  is goes fast in the Spring.  I am close to the Sawtooths, and the Tetons.  Sun Valley is just up the road.   Haven't been.   And we are close to where I grew up as a kid, or at least closer than the Cascades. 

Moving was wonderful change of place and pace for our family.  The family grew by 5 more horses on the way.  For a total of 6.  The new 5 all under 4 years old then.  Now we ride them all.   We adding acres of hay to nurture, cut and bail twice a year, water to run during the irrigation season, May to November. and horses to feed every day, twice a day.

I got busier than I ever thought possible.  But no skiing, no climbing and not riding any bikes to speak of.  When I was riding it was a horse.  Something I had really missed from being a kid but just never realized how much.

Less than a year later (Spring of 2017)  my wife got in a horse wreck riding in a remote section of the Snake River canyon.  A badly broken the pelvis the result.  A harrowing day followed with a life flight at the end of it.  Two surgeries and a month in the hospital and then months of rehab followed.

Almost  a year to date (Spring of 2018) I broke my pelvis but thankfully not as bad.  And I was "lucky" enough to do it in our arena, a few feet from the back door on our house.  No surgery but again months of rehab.   Tracy likes to refer to it as pay back for not taking better care of her the first time around :)   Truthfully? Knowing what a broke pelvis is like now....I should have been a lot nicer and way more helpful! 

And you thought climbing was dangerous?

Today were are both back on our bikes and running again.  Life is good.   And I feel like writing again with new adventures just around the corner coming up.  

I get an occasional question  here on the blog.  They always surprise me.  I really thought Cold Thistle  would just cease to exist.   I have only ever written about what interested me.  If anyone else found it helpful or entertaining that too generally just surprised me.  Eventually a few folks saw what I was doing and spun their own web and most of them were doing it better with some rational behind it besides "just for fun".  Good for them!

I had a question on skimo race suits today.  Which I actually know very little about.  But I have two of them and I like to use them on occasion.   You can search that topic here but what I have is a Dynafit suit and a Camp suit.  The Camp is 8 years old now and the Dynafit almost 6 I think.  Likely made in the same factory but also slightly different.  Both are good from my limited use.

If I were looking for a new one today I'll head to: Men's Race Suits (skimo.co) 

They'll answer most any question you can ask and should be able to sort you out quickly.

Race suits are an acquired taste.  But once you try one, you'll likely know pretty quickly if it is for you or not.  The cost seemed a lot of money at the time.  But I've also got a good deal of use out of them and will continue to for some time yet.  Money well spent for me.   If you wear Lycra on a bike you are  probably doomed to own one.  And they look cool on any boot pack :)

So Skis?  Yep I am excited about a new ski that I can find little to no info on.

I have been a big fan of Dynafit since the TLT5.  Most of the skis I do use are still Dynafit.  There are 2 dozen pairs of skis in my shop, many still unmounted.   I just slowed down mounting and testing once I found a couple of skis I really liked and was writing less.   But may be I am just a hoarder?!  I had a chance to go to Las Lenas late summer of 2015.   And lucky enough to snag a pair of early Dynafit Denalis to take along.  I simply loved the ski.  There on a mostly Spring corn or glare ice conditions.    I looked for the ski on sale the next summer and was able to buy a couple of spare pair, cheap.  But still skiing on my original pair that have been drilled twice.  The early word came down that the Denali was breaking and was going to be discontinued and then replaced.  I thought bummer!  At least we'll get another ski like it.  The replacement was called the Dhaulagiri and bright pumpkin orange in color.  

The 176 Denali weighted in at 2# 12oz for one ski.

The 177 Dhaulagiri was @ 3# even for one ski.

Your probably asking, "why do I care?" by now.  You may not but here is why it interests me.

Enter the new Black Light 95.

The Black Light 178 weights in at the same old 2#12oz for one ski  or 1247gr. in my 178cm length.

 

All these skis are/were '95 plus under foot  I found the Denali and amazing all mountain ski.  Back country, touring, even lift skiing.  Amazing on ice and hard snow.  Good for the width in soft.  I really like it.  And have yet to break a pair.  The  Dhaulagiri is virtually the same ski as the Denali for side cut and rocker, "I think",  but I have yet to ski them.   The plan was I would mount them after I broke my current Denali.  Not happened yet.

The '95 Black light  I have to assume was a replacement for the Denali/Dhaulagiri size touring ski.   It is a slightly different shape and rocker.  And will obviously ski a little longer.  But a 177 aint gonna ski very "long" at any time.   Either way I wanted a pair.  Just wasn't willing  to fork out $750 for the experience.  As I said I have plenty of skis.  BackCountry.com was running them on sale this week.  $599 for a pair.  I bought in.

Dynafit Blacklight 95 Ski - 2022 (backcountry.com)

       

The Black Light I'll mount with race bindings and ski hard.   Should be fun to give some feed back once I get them on snow.  

Skis?  I am still looking for the magic ski that rules them all for my purposes :)  The stoke is back!

    

It's still Fall. Time to start dreaming!

 

Hello World!

Sledge sunglesses by Tifosi?

    -click on the photos to get a full size version-

My environment has changed a good bit in the last couple of years.     I live in an area now that gets 210+ days a year of sun and 82 days of precipitation.   It is a desert.    Beautiful as it is here the barren land and glare here are both rough on the eyes.

We moved here from a environment of 205 sunny days  and some kind of precipitation, on average, 173+ days per year.   Needless to say there was a lot of green :)

With a enough green in the environment light colored glasses are usable even with blue eyes that are more prone to bright light damage.

If you have read through CT it is likely obvious I own and use lot of different sun glasses.   Skiing, climbing, on a horse or bike, or just in the field,  I literally don't leave the house without a pair of high quality sun glasses on or stashed on my person.  

I rate my own glasses two ways.  Sun protection and eye protection.   On a tight single track or a fast road bike decent I want eye protection.   On a horse here in the desert I want eye protection from the blowing sand and dirt.   Shooting?  Eye protection is mandatory as a safety concern.

Enter Tifoi's newest sunglass, the "Sledge".    Or maybe better described as a "google"?   In the last few years any number of sunglass companies have enlarged their lens to almost the size of a small pair of ski goggles.    The Sledge is one of them  and it was designed ground up specifically for cycling.   And they work extremely well there.  Great protection and most importantly great vision with the super large lens.  There are no blind spots with the Sledge on a bike.  If you have ever been hunched over for hours on aero bars looking through the frames (not the lens) of a poorly designed sun glass frame you know the pain.   That is not a Sledge problem.   Ever done that quick lane change and snapped your head left for a second to check oncoming and not have a clear view of what's coming because of a bad frame/lens design?!

I wanted the Sledge in the darkest lens they had available.  Which is a mirrored gray.  And it is dark (3).  Good enough for the bright summer days here.   But it was the clear and intermediate lens that got my attention for every day use in less harsh conditions.

I have a couple pair of clear lens glasses that I use as safety glass for shooting or crashing through the brush.   If I am weed wacking or mowing the lawn  I use a sun glass of some sort as a "safety glass".    But typically none of them offer the eye coverage and protection of the Sledge.  

The lens come as filter rated clear is a 0, the intermediate lens is a 2 and the gray mirrored version a 3.  All tucked into a handy carrying case.

The last time I had an eye injury was from a shard of ice while climbing.   It actually cut my cornea from a pick placement mid lead .  From then on I have generally climb with a visor attached to my helmet.  A eye injury in the middle of a week long climbing trip was not something I want to ever repeat.   Ice climbing is  a place the typical sun glass might be too dark or too light or simply not offer enough protection all the while guaranteed to fog up on you.   I like having multiple len shades to choose from and good venting.

The Sledge has great venting.  I've had no fogging even when just working while stationary wearing  them during 80F temps and 70% humidity and sweating badly.    On a bike...I don't think you'd ever have a problem.  Ice climbing?   I still need to check out.

The company spiel?

Grilamid TR 90 frames.   My Dynafit ski boots are made of some sort of Grilamid.  I have yet to break any of them.  Not without trying!   :)

Polycarbonate lens...tough stuff.  Ballistics tough.
100% UVA and UV protection
Hydrophilic rubber on the frames that gets stickier as you sweat
Lens are coated to reduce eye strain

[b]and a lifetime guarantee against defects[/b]

Sold in four colors, you’ll have the choice of Crystal Orange with a Clarion Blue lens, Crystal Red with a Clarion Yellow lens, Matte Black with a Smoke lens, or Matte White with a Smoke lens – all of which are shatter proof and provide 100% UV protection.

May be the best thing about the Tifosi Sledge from my point of view is the price....$80. MSRP     I am way over what most are asking as the going rate for a decent pair of sunglasses these days @ $200+.  The Sledge is my first pair of Tifosi.   I am impressed.  They won't be my last pair of the brand.

Rethinking tech Bindings?

The most difficult lines I have skied have all been in lwt "race level" Tech bindings.    The story linked below isn't the first time I have heard of a major failure on a tech binding toe while in use.    

Y'all be careful out there!

"How a Close Call in La Grave Changed My Thoughts About Bindings" 

Gear failure is part of the risk we accept as skiers—so how do we stay safe?

https://www.powder.com/gear-locker/how-a-close-call-in-la-grave-changed-my-thoughts-about-bindings/