The Love Letter

The truth about blogs?

Before I left for France in Feb. I got into a pissing match with one of the original supporters of this blog.  A supporter of blogs in general really, from what I know.

The dispute came from how blogs should be used.  Some how my friend wanted to see Internet support but not constructive criticism.  Let alone anything remotely resembling "investigative journalism" when the "facts" didn't add up.

I'm obviously not done with that topic or the investigative part of looking at gear with a critical eye and calling bs when i see it.

This week I became aware of what most already know I suspect.  Blogs are generally detail oriented!   The details you won't see in published print.   I obviously like climbing and would do more of it and write less if I lived in a place, like Chamonix for  example, where it is "easy" to climb every day.

Living just outside of Seattle, generally has the weather defining when I will climb and where. 

So back to the blog or blogs.  It doesn't really matter what Blog, most go into such detail that it can be over whelming or just plain boring even for me. 

I loosely follow a few blogs.  Generally on climbing or conditions but some on fitness and a few others on things I am interested in from time to time.

As a neighbor who works for REI pointed out.."I tried reading your blog a couple of times (she was interested in the trip to Chamonix) but it was too technical".

Duuuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhh ;-)    Most blogs are too technical.  They get into details that no one in their right mind would really care about.   Except for the details we do care about.    Be it your lactic acid threshold or what kind of steel your crampon is made of, how to pull a part a '86, the case capacity of a .416 or the oil cooler requirements of a '95 3.6 conversion.  Did I loose you yet?

You get the idea I suspect.  :-)

No worries, more details, useful or  not, coming on climbing gear asap.

Everyone draws a line some where....

If you haven' read this and the research behind it you should.

http://coldthistle.blogspot.com/2010/05/why-weight-of-your-footwear-is.html

I draw a line at cold feet and heavy boots.  Admittedly that is going to be a balancing act generally.  

While I was in the Alps a friend who was on the way to Chamonix asked me, "should we bring doubles?"

At that point in my own trip I had been handed my ass time wise and by the cold on two separate climbs that by guide book and my "sitting at my desk standards" should have been easy...to the point of casual.  They weren't and I was cold.  Luckily for me I never had cold feet.  But then I didn't have to spend the night out either as clearly I would have if  I had been required to do so.  One climb was in dbl boots, Spantiks in fact.  The other was in Scarpa Ultras.

So of course I suggested they bring dbl. boots.  And of course they didn't.  It worked out fine as the weather warmed up in the couple of weeks it took for them to show up in the valley and get on something big.
When they did climb, they climbed fast which helps :)

Snell's had several dozen pairs of the Scarpa Guide in stock but only 3 pair of the Ultras available.  No Ultras in my size or I would have bought a second pair as they aren't available in NA and easily replaced.

I've already reviewed the Ultra.  This is a revisit to that topic.

http://coldthistle.blogspot.com/2010/09/scarpa-phantom-ultra.html

http://coldthistle.blogspot.com/2010/12/phantom-ultra-vs-trango-extreme-gtx.html   

http://coldthistle.blogspot.com/2010/11/scarpa-phantom-ultra-and-scarpa-phantom.html

Weights are of a one boot in a size 45.


La Sportiva Spantik 3#.05oz / 48.05oz/ 1362g
La Sportiva Baruntse 3#2.5oz / 1503g
La Sportiva Batura 1st gen. 2#7oz / 1106g
La Sportiva Batura 2nd gen 2#11/ 43oz/ 1219gm
La Sportiva Nepal Evo 2#10.5oz / 1205g
La Sportiva Trango Evo Extreme GTX 2#3oz (35oz) / 992g
Scarpa Phantom Ultra new 2010 model 2#3.5oz (35.5oz) / 1006g
Scarpa Phantom Guide new 2010 model 2#7.5oz / 1120g
Scarpa Phantom 6000 new 2010 model 2#10oz/1190g

I've been trying to high light the gear I used and really liked in Chamonix this winter on the blog and will continue to do so as time allows.  I took 3 pairs of "big boots" on this trip.  The Ultra the lightest of the three.  It fits my feet very well and most importantly it dries easily.  They dry faster than either my new Baturas or my Scarpa Guides. Part of that is the insulation and inner boot body and part of it is the OurDry liner I suspect.  Now both the Guide and the Ultra are using OutDry.  My early Guides are Goretex.  Not sure what is in the Batura. But the Batura is warmer than either Scarpa single boot.

I had intended to climb in only the BD Sabertooth crampons with these boots as they offer the best fit with the addition of Petzl bales.  But it bacame obvious pretty quickly that I had chosen the wrong crampon for the hard ice conditions we experienced early on.  (more on that choice of horizontal or vertical front points in a later blog)  Not a big deal normally but the Ultra (and its stable mate the 6000) are not the easiest boot to  fit a crampon to.  Here is why.  The sole profile on the toe of the Ultra boot.  By far the most narrow toes on a technical boot from  the Industry to date.

Ultra and a new Batura side by side here.

I find the Petzl crampons or at least crampons with Petzl front bails seen to fit the Ultra the best.  So I started using a pair of Dartwins in the rock hard ice gullies.  The fit isn't perfect but it works well enough and you aren't likely to loose a crampon as a buddy of mine did in Spantiks and Sabertooth crampons in the middle of a a tight mixed chimney.  Annoying that, at best.

 

No real point to this blog other than to say how much I like and used the Ultra this winter.   November through April it has been my go to boot.  It fits me well and climbs good enough.  Not the support of a Nepal Evo or Spantik but they are lighter than either by a fair bit and warm enough.  More support and warmer than the Trango Extreme.  And I consider all of the boots mentioned some  of the very best available for alpine ice climbing.

All the boots I mentioned are obviously excellent boots.  No surprise of  the boots I climb in and have pictured above that I would like one pair better than the rest.  They all climb well so it eventually comes down to fit.  The Ultras fit me the best..even better by a fair margin than the Scarpa Guides.

Down side of the Scarpas?  They aren't very durable to date.  Which is why I would have bought a second pair in Chamonix.    I like them enough and know they aren't going to last long.  The inners are coming apart on both pair of my boots, new Guides and Ultras.   And I have had friends collapse the toe box on the new Phantom Guides.  Scarpa NA wanted nothing to do with the obvious warranty issue.  Thankfully the UK importer took care of the problem with a complete refund.

Nov.

                                                                        

                                                                            Dec.

For Jan. it was Spantiks in Canada and during Feb in Chamonix as well.  March was a toss up between singles and dbls.

If nothing else writing a bog post like this reminds me I have gotten some good climbing in this winter season. Nothing spetacular by any count but it was fun ;-)

New Petzl Quark?

New Quark buried in Neve with a lwt C-T adze. 

Hardly new now as the first tools showed up here in the States back in Oct/Nov. of 2010.  The issues with the new Nomic and Ergo appeared and for one reason or another even the unaffected Quarks weren't available in large numbers again until mid Feb. 2011.  I played with a pair at the Bozeman Icefest.  But wasn't able to get my own pair until the week before I left for Chamonix in late March. For may folks in the warmer parts of the US the ice season was winding down by that time.the tools were available again.  Hard to justify new tools at full price at the tail end of your season not knowing what will be available next year.
(I don't know of anything new coming along for 2011-2012)

More than a few waiting for the new Nomic.  The Nomic may be worth the wait for some but easy to over look the more durable and likely a better all around tool, the Quark.  Many will have a the option of even more/better choices for their own use by having the new all around Quark and the even more technical (than the Nomic) new Ergo available.

The new Quark is certainly built in the Nomic's image.  The handle contours are very close and most importantly the aluminum heads are exactly the same profiles.

You have to look back at the original Quark to make a good comparison.  Petzl has changed more than just the head of the tool.  But changing the head made a new hammer and a new adze required on the newest tool.  Even the picks were changed.  Making them now T rated instead of B rated in both versions, the new ICE and New DRY.  Add to that you get a slightly deeper pick angle on the newest Quark.

Below: pictured is the new pick angle on the top over lay.  The new pick is slightly steeper, may be 2 degrees..  Middle is the newest ICE pick tip profile.  The  DRY version is the same tip profile.  The bottom picture is the older Cascade Nomic pick profile.

So as you can see, it aint your old Quark.  The new Quark with a hammer weights in at 588g or 528g with no hammmer.  The old Quark with a hammer installed is 682g.

With the new Quark that includes a second higher grip in both over all weights.  With after market hammers and adzes available for the new Quark and the additional factory movable second grip the new Quark has a lot of options. 

The newest Petzl factory hammer on the left on a new Quark.  The C-T hammer on a original style Nomic right. Weights vary from 30g for the low profile C-T hamemr to  60g for the Petzl hammer.

The other improvement that Petzl made on the new tool is a full size carabiner hole in the spike to clip umbilicals into.   Big improvement. 

 This one of my personal Quarks, with fixed trigger for high daggering, a rubber grip wrap and a C-T hammer installed.   Lots of options on how you set this tool up.  And an incredibly versatile tool on any terrain.  The Adze in the opening photo is its mate.

Snow slogs...

Used here to good effect on hard technical dry tooling.  Jack Roberts on a bolted M7+ @ a dry tooling area in France.

I have climbed with the Nomic almost exclusively since it became available.   The Quark before that.   Abandoning every other tool in my quiver sometimes to my detriment.  Only the new Ergo has swayed me until now.   The new Quark has taken the majority of technical advantages of the Nomic and added them to a more vestal shaft of the older Quark.  All the while giving you a majority of the Nomic's advantages in one form or another (the moving slider grip)  while offering some additional advantages on less technical ground.  The new Quark is one of the few tools imo that rivals and generally betters the original Nomic as a truly all around tool. 

Hard not to be pleased with the newest Quark.  For many the Quark will be a better (and more appreciated) all around tool.

Seems a lot like this one, just done up a little better :-)

Blue Ice again?

I have been lucky enough to secure a steady flow of Blue Ice climbing gear to the NA market.

They offer some unique items now and more to come in the near future.

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

The durability of ice tool picks?

This is just an observation not a condemnation of any manufacturer's gear. I have a reputation of bitching on the blog about every one's gear.  This is just a reality check.  Ice climbing gear breaks and bends and fails.  It is also a reality check on what is acceptable and what is not.  This is the kind of stuff you expect to see from differing manufactures.

When you start measuring there is always going to be someone who comes out on top.  Fact of life.

I had a chance to visit with a lot of climbers and manufactures this winter both in NA and Europe.

I have made high quality picks for my own tools and BD tools in the recent past and still make the Petzl lwt weight hammers.  My real job involves working in metal every day and making a "better" pick is no doubt the most difficult project I have taken on in that arena.

This is a commentary and photo essay of what does happen to picks.

Everyone, if you climb enough, will eventually have a pick failure.  I have broken tools but never broken a pick.  I have how ever bent any number of them, starting with the Terrordactys.

Photo credt to: Eric Dumerac photo from Grav Sports of BD picks going back several generations and a decade or so.  BD seems ot have solved that problem with a redesign of the picks last winter
 ('09/'10)

Then my partners started bending Grivel picks as they switched from BD tools to Grivels five years ago or so.  And finally I bent the last generation Petzl picks on this trip.

That was a new one to me.  But then I have never really put any effort into dry tooling either. 
Come on I still have an adversion to putting good steel on rock instead of ice.  Old habits die hard :)

I had heard of it happening but never thought I'd actually see it in person. 

The pictures below come from  Jon @ http://climbs2high.blogspot.com/  Pretty much what mine looked like though before I took a hammer to them in the tunnel on the Midi.   They (Jon and crew) generally bend them by doing figure 4s off the first couple of teeth while on full body weight upside down.  I try to never to get upside down!  I did the same by pulling full weight (200+#s ) on my Nomics in some knife blade crack in the alpine..  Having a hammer is critical to straightening these guys out.  But easy enough to do even in the field.  Blade is never going to be the same again though.  My bent ones are now straight but used only for dry tooling at road side crags

.

So it happens, failure, on some level, to all of them.

I've included some photos of the wear you can expect to see climbing mixed.


Petzl....

Old and new BD C/Ts from Chamonix..

Current BD from last year on Mt. Bradley  http://huntingtonsouthface.blogspot.com/

Old and new BD Aermet off the Cassin

   

The two used  picks above were new 2 short Chamonix mixed climbs earlier. Granite and a foot of new snow is like taking a grinder to a set of picks...any pick. No file used on these two and "good" by some of the standards I saw in Europe as "usable picks". Set is compared to a new Cascade Petzl pick in this picture .  Trust me...picks in that condition really suck on ice.  And now I ama beginning to understand why no one wants to bring a file on route.  Why bother? 

A well worn Nomic with an old  Quark Quad pick installed.  The older 4mm Quark Quad mixed picks have some distinct advantages on alpine mixed ground. 

The wear on C/T (top) and BD Aermet (bottom) from one trip up the Cassin.  New picks in profile under the used picks.

If you happen to have some good pictures of well worn dry tool picks send them along and I'll post them in this thread with what ever credit you'd like to see along with them.

Patagonia Nano Puff Pull Over?

This is a great piece of clothing  but up front I am not a big fan of Patagonia.  I think they are over priced, and the fit is generally terrible.  The fit has always been off...and nothing seems to have changed in 30 years.  Arcteryx is a good comparison...high priced but a great fit in almost every single piece of clothing they make.   The Atom Lt is one of my favorite pieces of cold weather clothing because of the fit.

Atom Lt in the Icefields in Nov.

I bought two of the Nano Puff Pullovers on sale this winter.  One for a buddy's BD present and one for myself.  If I had known just how good they were I might have given my buddy a decent bottle of wine instead of the Nano!

The best thing I can say about Patagonia is they have a stellar warranty and refund policy.  So no question what you buy will either live up to your satisfaction or you can get you money back or do an exchange.  I've done both in the past but generally stay away from Patagonia clothing because of fit. 

In the last year I have had two different pairs of Micro puff pants...neither size fit.  One of  the other pieces from Patagonia I used this winter was the Hooded Down Sweater.  Which I liked a lot except for the fact t was down.

I wouldn't be writing this one up if I didn't think the Nano Puff was truly a stellar piece of kit.

Like almost any light weight piece of clothing I use the Nano Puff as part of my layering system.  With the Nano it is generally used as a wind shell or over layer.  When it is warm enough I'll use it as an wind and insulation layer over a thin R1 hoody or collared R1 layer.  The R1s are another excellent piece of kit from Patagonia.   They also fit much better than the norm.

  Nano Puff Pull over used with a R1 pullover.

In cold weather I'll use the Nano Puff as a wind shell and additional insulation layer over an Arcteryx Atom Lt hoody.  Awesome combo that gives me 100g/m worth of insulation while still keeping the extra breathability of the Atom Lt side and under arm panels.  Easy combo to climb technical ground with.

-20C and windy @ 10K feet...a Atom Lt Hoody used with a Nano Puff as the wind shell layer.

There were only a couple of clothing items I wore almost every day in Chamonix late this winter and into spring.   We had temps of 0 and -25C between storms and brilliant sunshine.  The Nano Puff pullover was one of the few pieces of clothing I had with me that was versatile enough to use at both ends of the temperature extremes.

Sadly the Pull Over version doesn't fit me the same as the full zip or hooded full zip.   The Pull over is the only one that I think fits well enough to buy.   I'd own one of each  of the others if they did actually fit.  Even in my XL size  this pull over  jacket packs up super small and adds way more warmth than expected for the thickness of the insulation. I really like climbing in this rig.  It breaks the wind and adds enough insulation to make even a cold day in the sun super fun.  At the moment I own one...the bright green shown here.  But it won't be just one for long.   They don't take the abuse of rock or sharp objects well.   Next time I get the chance I'll find and buy another on sale.   This is a piece of clothing anyone can use and one worth throwing in the pack anytime you head above treeline.

Not many pieces of clothing I get really excited about.  The Nano Puff and the Atom Lt make an unbeatable combination for alpine climbing...and other fun, cold weather things as well!

 

Fast and light...but SHEEEEET!

My buddy Jack Roberts and I were chatting while having a nice warm cup of coffee Chamonix.  I mentioned something about Colin Haley and his times frames climbing a le Droites-le Courtes combo.  Jack mentioned something about Colin being fast in the mtns (El Cap and Hal Dome in a day or the Cassin in a day seemed to register) and according to Jack those weren't "normal" (more likely he meant not normal for old guys)  time frames.

One definition of fast and light:   Colin Haley simu soloing at this point and about to start simu climbing.

photo courtey of Colin Haley, http://colinhaley.blogspot.com/.

Jack aint exactly normal himself (just look at his feet and is past resume in the mtns and you'll understand that statement) so comments like that stand out in a conversation.

Anyway I digress.

These is so much "bull shit" to fast and light.    You aint going to go fast if you aren't going light.  More to the point and more important to me personally is you aren't going to be going fast if you are too cold.  But no way in hell will you go fast if you are too hot.   

"Say what?  What are you talking about now Dane?  Light?  Fast?  Cold?  Hot?"

Here is my thought on it.  To go fast you have to go light.  To stay warm you have to keep moving.  If the climbing is too hard for your skill set or too slow because of your comfort level the idea of fast and light hits the ZERO fun button pretty quickly.

To climb fast and light both climbers obviously have to climb quickly.  In the mtns, rock, ice and mixed...the second needs to be half the time of the leader.  That takes some effort generally and you have to want it.  Better yet simu clim or simu solo. Which is why I pay so much attention to my umbilicals.

To climb fast you can't over dress, but neither can you afford to get really chilled.  Add too many clothes and you can't climb in them or over heat instantly when you do start climbing.

Cold will numb the body given enough time, but worse yet it will numb the mind if you allow it to.

And I have allowed it.

Pushing the conditions (climbing in lots of new snow) made several of our recent climbs really slow.  Really slow.  Seldom have I been so uncomfortable in the mountains, slow.  To stay warm at the belays in the shade at 12K feet in -20 temps took some effort.  It only takes one of those trips to encourage you to take enough clothes the next time.  Having your core get chilled and shivering on belays and then not being able to generate enough heat to warm up on lead or while following can be mentally and physically disabling.

For an old fat guy I pride myself on the speed at which I can climb technical ground and the lwt weight clothing systems I choose to do so in.  But to climb fast and dress light I have to be able to closely monitor and control my body core temperature.  Which means I have to be able to climb quickly and spend little time on the belays.

Terrain, conditions and the team's skills will define the speed at which you climb.  The idea is to hit the perfect balance between those three and your gear selection.  

Here is a good comparison:

I am wearing a Atom SV plus an  Atom Lt and likely two lwt hoodies under that combo, with NWA salopettes and two pair of longs under them.  It took that to stay warm at the belays.  The SV would come off mid pitch if we belayed and was in the pack when we climbed together.  Even with just an Atom LT on as an outer garment climbing together I was too warm.  But if I had stopped for any length of time I would have chilled my core.

Better answer?  We should have simu climbed the entire route together (which would have required a stronger and/or more skilled team)  and I should have had a lighter outer shell available (my poor gear choice).

For this one  I am using a Gortex hybrid shell jacket, a lwt Merino wool sweater and a pair of Gamma LT pants with no longs.   If I had stopped or had to belay....no question I would have chilled my core in a very short amount of time.  Better answer?  One pair of longs would have made this a much more comfortable (mentally) combination.  Physically, for this climb, this day it was a perfect combo for soloing.  But it was also very obvious to me I didn't want to stop for long either. 

I'm still learning.  And the best lessons are still painful.  But every lesson makes the game easier in the long run.

Double boots, one more time.....

There is no story of a great feat or feet in this case.  Just a caution and a a little jubilation of getting away unscathed, again.  And another lesson. learned or relearned, taught by a hard, but incredibly beautiful mistress.  No technical difficulties to over come or one arm pull ups involved.  It happens every day, all year long, in Chamonix.   For myself and my partners on this trip just a small part of a bigger adventure this winter.  

I was lucky enough to climb most of Feb, March and a tiny bit in April this year in Chamonix.  That after starting the ice season earlier than ever in Nov. in Canada and then Montana and back to Canada again in Jan.  And the season isn't done yet.  Hopefully I'll get another month yet in Canada again before everything has fallen down.

In all that ice climbing I have used dbl boots once this winter in NA (Canada) and on four climbs in the Alps.
But more than once I have regretted my choice in footwear.  Never while wearing dbl boots however.

No one dislikes climbing in dbl boots more than I do.  They (any of the three best currently available) are big,  and bulky and heavy in comparison to the single boots I am using.  The up side to that is they offer more support for your calfs and feet and more protection from the pounding endurance alpine ice will give your toes.  All that before you get to the added warmth they offer and the added benefits of a dbl boot drying out in a bivy.

Check out the climbers on the S. Face of the Midi.

And for perspective the little bump in the middle of the Massif which was our school room on several occasions.  The Cosmic Arete is the sky line ridge, left to right.  S. Face of the Midi is the clean wall on the right.

During late Feb and early March in Chamonix my partners and I kept getting bounced between -20 temps or lower and 20+ cm dumps of new snow up high.  All that while trying to get acclimatized on the Midi at 12391 feet (3777 m).

Most every chance I got I would hop on the Midi tram and head to 12K feet or at least to 10K on the GM lift.  For a flat lander coming straight from sea level there were some painful days in all that.   And the GM had a better lunch :)

One of our first adventures was a little trip out the tunnel on the Midi in a wind storm after a 15 to 25cm dump of snow.  The first lift on the tram was late as is typical after new snow but I was pressing to get some climbing in.  At that point I was 7 days into a 44 day trip and not done any climbing yet.  But the skiing was good :) 

In crotch deep new snow (so much for the 15cm) before we even hit the end of the rope hand rail on the Midi arete Josh's noise was white with skin freezing up.  It was cold and the wind was whipping.  Hard to judge just how cold it would be at 12K from our apartment in town.  (and that got only slightly easier in the next month)   Josh was smart to turn around as his Rudolf's nose declared for the next week or so.  He got revenge by coming back on a still and blue bird day for his solo climb as we road the lift down off the mtn. 

Matt and I continud and ventured off to "look" at the Cosmic Arete.  Two French parties were held up in the old worker's hut at teh basse of the ridge out of the wind.  The sun felt good and Matt and I thought, "why not take a look".  After all how hard could it be?

Mind you the last tram down  is at 4:30 and we didn't even get off the tram till after noon...so the real question should have been, "just how fast are we?"

In good conditions the Cosmic Arete is a awesome alpine romp that generally takes an hr or so.   We hit the Midi platform at 5:30 that afternoon.   More to that story but not the point thsi time out.

-20C (around -5F) and a strong wind can be pretty cold.  At 12K feet it is cold even in the sun if you are not acclimatized.  By the time we got to the last 4 pitches of climbing I was full on shivering even in a MEC Tango belay jacket over a Atom LT and two hoodies.  Thankfully my feet we not yet cold.  I was wearing a pair of Scarpa Ultra single boots.  But it was obvious to me that when my feet did get cold...and it was just a matter of time....I would be totally FOOKED.  Quick way to end a climbing trip, that.

The good news was the last 4 pitches were excellent and fun climbing in most any conditions, even that particular day.  And thankfully no more trail breaking in deep snow.  My feet were out of the snow for the most part and  my core was finally warming  up again from the effort of easy technical climbing.

I made myself a promise after that first climb...."always bring full face goggles and always wear my dbl boots up high here".

Of course I failed to keep that promise and regretted it every, single, time.

By the end of my trip it was early April.  Things had warmed considerably up high around Chamonix.
More storms were rolling through the mountains by the end as well.  The power of a good storm in the Alps rivals anything I have seen in Alaska.  Impressive.  Scary if you have to be out in it.

There is a reason for all the huts in the Alps.  Getting caught out in those conditions with out brick and mortar around you, can just as easily kill you.  The final storm we weathered at the Cosmic Hut would have, if you had been unprotected on route.     

The obviously now happy campers leaving the upper tram terminal after being stuck on the Midi for two days..

When the final tally was made and the tram started down again on day three, half of the 20 passengers were French Mountain Police and Chamonix Guides.   Bad weather can catch anyone, even the most experienced. I counted.  There were 4 pairs of single boots in the crowd.   I felt terribly under dressed.  And happy I had a hut  and WC to hid in  for our time up high.   Spantiks weren't a fashion statement there...but a survival tool.

It is all about conditions, isn't  it :)