Shoe demons...solved?!

I think I've finally found a good fix for out-of-control climbing shoe stank...and I shall be sharing it with you this evening!

The main difference I found with this fix is that it didn't just surface-treat the offending nasties, it got down and dirty with them, cage-match style. It resulted in the shoes being odour-free and taking a while to re-ordourise - not as long as a new pair of shoes, but much longer than any of the other treatments that I've tried.

Exciting stuff, stay tuned!

2012 Gear Stoke!

So I've been trolling the internet trade show infos...and I'd like to share a few tidbits I've come across!

In no particular order...

MSR is updating the crampon on their Lightning Ascent snowshoes, the "Torsion2" crampon points are now detached and can flex independently...supposedly offering better traction and stability on uneven ground.

[1]

My favourite tent company, NEMO Equipment, is introducing a really awesome pressurized camp shower this year called the "Helio". It's like your standard camping shower but with pressure so you don't need a place to hang it for it to work! And as seems to be par-for-the-course from NEMO, it's well-made and just  bloody awesome.

[2]

Outdoor Research has a pretty interesting new jacket called the "Lodestar" coming out, playing with their so-far successful hybid styling (I use their Alibi jacket for ice climbing, a hybrid of 2 softshell weights and a hardshell...and it rocks) and using a crazy looking quilted high-loft Polartec Power Shield  for insulation combined with Power Shield Pro for weatherproofing. Excited to check this one out!

[3]

As you may expect from the dead bird, some gorgeous works of art are coming to us in 2012. The Quintic (28 and 38) are a pair of new ski touring packs. from Arc'teryx:

"Specifically designed for skiing and snowboarding, the Quintic Pack has a suspension system that controls aggressive side-to-side motion and separate narrow compartments to keep gear sorted, easy to access and well-balanced during travel. The external strap configuration fits A-frame, diagonal carry of skis or split; horizontal and vertical carry for a snowboard. In the spirit of alpine needs for efficient ascents and secure downhill action, the true benefit of this design is load stability and access."

[4]

They've also changed the Alpha SV - a burlier but quieter and lighter face fabric (jacket loses 50g) and interestingly will be smaller around the chest, reportedly for "efficient arm motion".

[5]

Deuter is giving us a new alpine/ice pack called the "Guide Light" which looks to be loaded with great features - pretty stoked to see some nice product from Deuter. It'll also be available in a women-specific version which is a great idea.

[6]

Despite getting back into the Gore family, Patagonia is still pumping out new h2No designs and they'll be introducing a new 3-layer ("Exosphere") and a new 2.5-layer ("Trophosphere") in 2012. They also have an interesting new softshell addition to their Guide series called the Mixed Guide (below) - hardshell shoulders/upper chest and softshell everywhere else. Interesting!

[7]

They're also changing their Capilene 4 baselayer lineup to utilise a better breathing/more compressible Polartec Power Dry High Efficiency fabric (it's grid-fleece-esque and appears to be already available in the MEC T2 series of long underwear) AND great news, they *finally* are giving men a Cap 4 hoodie too!

[7]

That's all for now...2012 is shaping up to be a pretty sweet year in gear!

Images:

[1] to [3]: www.snewnet.com

[4] to [7]: ISPO Munich, www.ispo.com

My Early Season trip checklist

SO! This weekend is something I am incredibly excited for. I'm heading down to the Adirondacks High Peaks with Evan, Lara, and Steph hoping to jump on some delicious early season ice climbing. Our destination is the North Face of Pitchoff Mountain (check the video at the bottom), the locale that we figure has the best chance of having climbable ice.

The weather has been a serious pain...first setting up great early season conditions, getting our hopes up...and then threatening to squash them in a fury of mild temperatures and not-frozen cloud tears. But, we're taking the chance and heading down! Hooray for adventures!

Last year in ONTARIO we were able to climb by this date (Dec. 7th)...unfortunately I think southern Ontario will have to wait at least a week...So for Evan's birthday, this is our trip.

Given that we have the possibility of encountering wet, thin ice...some gear changes had to be made. Also a big change from previous trips, we'll be staying in a hostel this time...so no need to find a campsite!

I figured I'd toss a packing list up here for the heck of it, give y'all an idea of what I'd bring on this kind of trip. Anything in the list below that has a link will take you to info about the product. I'm not intending to advertise, but figured maybe someone out there is interested in knowing more about what I'm using.

Trip Length: 3 days
Camping: no


GEAR


Ice Axes (Black Diamond Fusion)
Crampons (Black Diamond Cyborg)
Harness (Black Diamond Xenos)
Helmet (Black Diamond Half Dome)
Ice Screws (Black Diamond Turbo Express)
Nuts (full set + nut tool)
Small Hexes
Tri-cams (0.5-2)
Pitons
Slings (dyneema - 60cm, 120cm)
Quickdraws (wiregate, dyneema dogbone)
Locking carabiners
Loose carabiners (at least 2 for every sling)
Cordalette (6mm ~10m)
V-thread tool (homemade)
2x 8.5mm Half-Ropes
Reverso3
Figure 8
Tibloc
Stove (Primus EtaPower MF)
Poles (Black Diamond Contour Elliptic)
Pack (Arc'teryx Cierzo 25)



CLOTHING


Outerwear
Softshell Jacket (OR Alibi Jacket)
Hardshell Jacket (Berghaus Temperence II Jacket)
Insulated Jacket (Westcomb Himalaya Hoody)
Softshell Pant (OR Alibi Pant)
Hardshell Pant (Cloudveil Koven Pant)
Boots (Mammut Mamook Thermo)
Thin hat for under helmet (Helly Hansen HH Dry)
Buff (HH Warm Buff)
Thick hat (Mammut Placid beanie)

Gloves
OR Stormtracker gloves (primary climbing gloves)
MEC Windbreak gloves (backup climbing gloves)
BD Punisher gloves (very cold or wet weather climbing gloves / belay gloves)
BD Mercury Mitt (Hand toasters)

Under-the-Outerwear
2x lightweight long underwear
2x short-sleeved base (this and this)
2x long-sleeved base (1 merino 1/4-zip, 1 lightweight synthetic crew)
2x insulating top (MEC Amenity and T3 Stretch hoodie)
4x boxer briefs
6x socks (including these which i am very excited about - primaloft yarn!)


And that's it! Some stuff I have left out (e.g. binoculars, sleeping bags) because someone else is bringing them or they aren't entirely necessary...but there you go, that's the plan!

You can definitely expect a trip report when we return!

the North Face of Pitchoff Mountain:

I feel it in my fingers, I feel it in my toes...

This sunday is the government-mandated remorseless killing of a wonderful hour that heralded sun and extended activity time for the last few months...but hey it's not all bad, right?

One man's daylight savings time is another man's ice-climb makings time. As October leaves us, dazed, wondering what happened last night and where our pants have gone, November rolls on in...that jacket you've been donning to walk the dog in the evening suddenly is not quite enough...the tips of your fingers are strangely less effective during your early-morning text messaging blitz while standing at the bus stop...

There is already snow in the Adirondacks, and the Presidential Range in New Hampshire has climbable ice! Oh deliver unto me an unending stoke!

I think this weekend I'm going to trundle down into the basement and brush the dust off my crampons and get down to the lovely business of making them ready for ice season. Axes too...some careful filing and they'll be ready for the big leagues! Last year, we were climbing in Ontario in the first week of December, I'd love to do better this year!

So, I've started my ice dance...who's with me?

First day out last year...December 9th I think...

keep it cold!

Trip Report: Last day out of the season!?

Every day we go out becomes the "last day" out...because the current temperature fluctuations are making our noblest of endeavours a risky business...
So! although sunday's excursion with Ryan was our last day out, Tuesday's excursion with Evan was also our last day out. Who knows, maybe next week we'll have another last day out.

We decided to take advantage of some outstanding bluebird weather to zip into Elora and check the conditions at Irvine Creek, a great little haunt right in the town (Irvine empties into the Grand).

We parked on the side of the road, walked over to the gorge edge, hopped a barrier and rappelled in. Probably the most relaxed approach possible, dandy! All things considered (recent near-double-digit weather with rain) the ice was in great condition, in some cases noticeably fat and growing.
Once in the gorge, it's possible to walk along the edge of the river to the bases of a few WI4's. In this area, climbing is speediest if you are comfortable leading WI4 ice up to 40ft...if you had to build TR stations at each climb, it'd be a bit of a headache. Luckily the ice was in fat conditions and provided plentiful fun.

We started the day on a nice fat section with great ice and a sketchy topout. My lead, Evan redpoint.
Next we turned to the left and jumped on this cool vertical curtain that spills over an overhanging tree. short distances of vertical between excellent rests, but the thin nature and verticality make it more of a head game. The ice was bomber though so made for a great time! My lead, Evan redpoint.
More leading followed, up some stepped WI3+ with some serious excavation required to find screws. Me: "hey man, this is right up your alley!" Evan: "eh?" Me: "it's like a bloody archaeological dig up here finding screw placements!" (Evan has a master's in classics). Good times! My lead, Evan redpoint. You can sort-of see the line following the right edge of this compiled picture:

Some pretty creative climbing was required here to navigate the mushrooms and poor surface ice. 'twas great!

Did some more exploring, the fantastic pillar down the river was still standing...hopefully it'll hang out for a little while so we can get out on it! Conditions are quickly deteriorating though so we'll have to see.

Re-learned an important lesson about standing in the line of fire, though...

no worries, i'm fine...and it'll leave a great scar!

Keep it cold!

UPDATE: Moonlight Madness pictures!

Alright finally got some pics from Coleman of our bomber day out at The Egg and the FA of Moonlight Madness!

Looking up at the start

From gear.ME

moving carefully through the mushrooms

From gear.ME

let the run-out begin

From gear.ME

almost halfway

From gear.ME

gritty ;)

From gear.ME

pulling up onto comfortably sketchy ice-layer-over-snow-over-ice at the halfway

From gear.ME

up on the 2nd half

From gear.ME

it was a great day out...hoping that it stays around freezing there's a bunch more waiting to get FA'd right around it!

keep it cold

Trip Report - The Egg 13/02/11 - Moonlight Madness

---

I wondered at Evan the other day just how much of our ice climbing has been done at night...it's gotta be up near 50%.

---

The Money Wall is a beautiful place, and it's always nice to go there during the daylight hours when you can actually see the abundance of ice available for a'whackin'.

The plan today was to zip in and do redpoint repeats on as many of the lines as we could (i.e. one of us would lead it and leave the gear up, and then we'd do laps) - much more rewarding than top-roping and gets one's head in the game with less danger than actually leading.

Coleman and I got into town a hair after 1pm and trundled into the Money Wall. It was warm today...like +4C warm...the snow was heavy on our feet and the ice was under attack! Down-climbing onto the frozen river, I was beyond stoked to see that the morning's warmth hadn't resulted in any catastrophic collapses. Not only that, but in the 2 weeks since I'd been there, an overwhelming fphatness* had occurred!

So we got to it. Warmed up on some of the shorter, easier lines - I led and Coleman cleaned on top-rope. Evan arrived around 3:30 and we moved over to some taller, more vertical ice. Once again I led - then Evan jumped on the TR for a warm-up, and Coleman the mega-badass redpointed the line - so proud!

Feeling fantastic, and buoyed by outstandingly plastic ice, I wanted to have a go at a line that I have been scoping for the entire season. It follows a small pillar straight up to an excellent ledge, where another pillar has spilled over the side of a tree and touched down. Very cool line combining two halves of delicate, super-heady vertical climbing with a dandy rest in the middle. It's hidden away and never seems to see any traffic, two of the appealing aspects, despite being so aesthetic...so I was admittedly a little motivated by first ascent dreams as well.

Following some silliness getting Coleman up into picture position (these things are important...) involving a good cerebral solo by Evan, we were ready to get underway. It would be my first time leading proper vertical ice but conditions were aces so I wanted to have at it.

The first section was vertical with tons of white-topped mini-mushrooms big enough for the first four-to-six points to rest on - excellent feet - but looked comfortably unstable because of their white tops (aerated or snow ice). Got a screw in the bottom about 7 ft up and then another one maybe 10ft above that. From there I just didn't feel there were reliable enough placements to be worth spending the energy...bring on the run-out! Pulling the bulge onto the ledge where snow-covered rock and sketchy crust awaited me, where a slip would mean 100% ground-fall, was a good time indeed!

Up on the ledge, alive and resting, time to get some blood back into my hands and suss out the next section...place a screw at face-height...no more ground fall! hooray!

The upper curtain was beautifully bonded and touching down on the ledge but was still only about 9 inches thick...so needless to say it was important to forget about this and just get to climbing! The plastic ice paid serious dividends and soon i was placing my final screw to pull the bulge at the top...a little more pumped than i would have preferred...swings becoming a little desperate...

Up high enough to hook a chunk of rock, pull a little more, hook a small tree stuck in the ice and i'm over! Such a fantastic feeling! I scrambled up a small snow slope and set a quick anchor and called for tension.

What followed was a dusk-turning-to-night epic involving a severe lack of headlamps, 50ft of WI3 solo'ing for me to retrieve my gear, and a small hairy solo for Evan and Coleman. Everyone made it out safely and the grins were huge on the brisk trot back to the cars.

End of the day I've got a small cut on my lip from a chunk of ice, and a first ascent (at least for this season, but likely for real!).

Moonlight Madness - WI5- M1 T1

- M1 for hooking the rock at the top-out

- T1 for hooking the tree at the top-out <-- quintessential Ontario Brown rating - more to follow on this

pictures coming soon!

*fphatness - referring to ice that is both fat (thick and abundant) and phat (pretty awesome)