Crampon durability? Stainless or Chromoly?

Up front, I currently own and use crampons from Camp, Black Diamond, Petzl, and Grivel. I still own Salewa and Chouinard crampons that I have pulledouta few times in the last decade or so and even older Chouinards and SMCs that I haven't used in this century.



The point is I have no loyalty to any crampon maker. I just want them to fit my boots and thenstay on the bootswhile I am climbing onthem. As you might imagine with crampons in my gear room that I used 30 years ago I look for reliability and atlong term durability as well.



These dayswith the emphasis onmixed climbing (read rock climbing) in cramponsyou can easily go through a set of crampon front points in a season or less, if you choose to participate.



So a crampon with an easily replaceable front point makes economical sense. But I have yet to see a crampon with easily replaceable front points that I really like...for a number of reasons.



So if you like fixed front points, as I do, you'll likely look for crampons that are the most durable and just as important the most reliable. The reason behind thisparticular blog and its information/opinions offeredis simple, losing a crampon on routeor having a crampon failure while in use can be serious. Fatally serious. That realitybought meto the obvious...a closer look at the quality of the steel used and different manufacturing techniques.



OK letstalk steel? But whatdoes a guy writing a climbing blog know about steel? In this case enough to make an educated comment from the quality and durability of steelsand the manufacturing processes currently being used to make crampons. As a professional I've designed and built literally hundreds of extremely high quality and very expensive small arms, small arm partsand custom knives from plate, bar stock and from forged, stainless and chromoly steels. One requirement that eachhasis they must last generations of hard use, not just a season or two.











Call me an well educated consumer for climbing hard goods.. My background in the small arms industry gives me some insight to recognisethe differences between actual forged parts or parts cut from plate or bar stock, the heat treat, hardnessand the differences in chromoly and stainless steel alloys. It isn't difficult to apply that knowledge to climbing gear at a basic level. Several decadesof ice climbing and the use of virtually every high performance crampon in that time frame lends me an idea or twothat might not be obvious at first glance by a casual climber or one simply not "into" the gear. This is a detailed gearcommentaryI think needs to be heard againin the climbingcommunity. As you will see I am a not the first one to have raised the issue of using chromoly and stainless in crampons



More on steels:



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stainless_steel



http://www.asminternational.org/portal/site/www/SubjectGuideItem/?vgnextoid=e0b0b4d68558d210VgnVCM100000621e010aRCRD

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steel





*Some materials and finishing perspective that needs to be considered first*



Working with a bare metal finish is a challenge for anyone, including skilledcraftsmen. There is nothing to hide a flaw.Doesn't matter if it is a small arm or a crampon, bare metal is always tough to work with. There is some obvious protective value to most metal finishes. But most protective finishes, especially "black" finishes will hide some pretty glaring faults/flaws as well. Faults you could never get by with on a bare metal finish like stainless.



Bottom line here? BD is allowing you to easily see every flaw in their stainless.Almost everyone else is using some typeof paint finish to protect their chromoly and just as importantly...look good cosmetically.



On the sells room floor cosmetics are king. In the real word cosmetics mean ZIP. Nothing! Function and durability mean everything. That goes for crampons and small arms. Who has complained they wereshot with an ugly gun? Does the mtn care about the color of your crampon?



It is easy to find flaws in metal work if you look hard enough. Just easier to see them in bare metal, that is in "the white". The photo below is is an example of four different bare metal, "in the white"finishes on stainless.









Four finishes on chromoly steel that wasthen final finishedwith Carbona Blue for cosmetics and a low level of base metal protection.









The issue of flaws, in finish work or how you produce a product, can easily be over come. You just need to usea materialthat structural or cosmetic flawswon't have a negativeeffectin the market place. Problems result when your base material can't live up to your design work, for the use intended and the product fails in use. Or your marketing department gets carried away with unrealistic claims.



The choice of material is critical when you have complex shapes, as you do withmodern crampons.

Flawscutting and bending in the manufacturing processthat have long been accepted with chromoly, and no ill effects, simply may not work with in the same process with stainless. Durability for stainless alloys and the heat treatbeing used seemsbarelyin the same ball game as time proven chromoly.








Petzl's handiwork inchromoly and a black painted finish

dbl click to get more details





Grivel's handiwork in chromoly and a black painted finish

dbl click to get more details



My perspective on gear breakage



If you have climbed ice long you have likely seen gear break. The gear that does break in our sport is commonly known these days, or should be. It is true that crampons, tools and picks have broken in the past (for decades) from every brand. Anyone that tellsyou the failureof current productiongear is the fault of your climbing style, boot sole rigidity, or climbing abilityis simply ignoring the real issue. The real issue ismore likelyone or more of the following, poor quality materials, lack of quality control andor bad design work by the manufacture.



Sure you can still break things ice climbing, but trust me, you will have to work at it for any of the quality gear available today..



I personally haven't broken any ice gearin the last decade. But I am alsovery critical on my choices in gearand I visually inspect themoften.



I have worn out 3 pairs of crampons. An early pair of Chouinard rigids by over sharpening. My mistake which I have notrepeated. The other two pair were Darts. Worn out simply by using them on modern mixed (read mostly rock) and having to sharpen them enough to keep them working onice. Fair enough in all three cases. All were chromoly and all were forged front points. Totally different designs or course but thatisn't relevanttothis conversation.



So here is what I know and what is generally accepted common knowledge in the small arms (guns and knives) manufacturing industry.



High quality stainless steel alloys are "soft and sticky" in comparison to chromoly used for similar applications in both plate and forged form. And no, before you ask, the "sticky" partisn't going to make a difference climbingrock.



Take any quality knife for example. If you want a durable and sharpedge you don't use stainless, you use chromoly. If you want inexpensive weather resistance, say from salt exposure, stainless might be anoption. A table knife you want to toss in the dishwasher? Perfect. Stainless is one of the most common and least expensive steels. Much of it recycled.. It is also the cosmetic winner and the lowest common denominator for actual performance every where else. Ifyou require a sharp edge that is durable, and long term weather resistance, you use chromoly. Depending on the level of protection requiredone of severalcoating options for the base metal.



The edge and the durability required can be a crampon point,a knife edge the professional requiresor a hammer that has to cycle a million rounds of ammo.



Bottom line...if you want it to last, you use chromoly and if required, a protective coating.

I would have to be convinced otherwise that a chromoly cramponwould need a protective coating past cosmetics. I know from experience that even simple powder coating is beyond the end use requirements to protect the steel on a crampon. The "normal* coatings we use in my industry are way beyond what will ever be required in climbing gear. As a side note. The one instance of aclimbing manufactureusing a *normal* industrial level coating that I know of ended in a complete disaster. Simply because the manufacture had no idea of the down sides of the actual coating being used. Down sides? Lubricity and brittleness in a fastener. Their reasonfor the coating process? Cosmetics!



Forging? Forging is expensive. The basic idea is to align the molecules in the metal toadd strength and durability to your product. You can forge stainless and chromoly. Forging will add to the durability and service life of both stainless and chromoly alloys if done correctly (hot forged ) and with the addition of a proper heat treat.



"Forging can produce a piece that is stronger than an equivalent cast or machined part. As the metal is shaped during the forging process, its internal grain deforms to follow the general shape of the part. As a result, the grain is continuous throughout the part, giving rise to a piece with improved strength characteristics.[3] Some metals may be forged cold, but iron and steel are almost always hot forged. Hot forging prevents the work hardening that would result from cold forging, which would increase the difficulty of performing secondary machining operations on the piece."



More here on forging:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forging






The beginnings of a BD stainless crampon.




Cutting from plate? It is a less expensivemethod of manufacture compared to forged. Basically cookie cutting by some method from flatsteel plate and then you cold bend and finally heat treat as required.General observation....durability compared to a forged product...will be less. Again,,general observation..price point in manufacturing is theobjective here. You can use both stainless or chromoly as a material in this process. Either will coldform, both will crack if not done correctly prior to heat treat. Flaws from the cutting or bending process, stress risers, becomepoints of failure if the cycle rate of the design isn't high enough. (see the detail pictures below)



Cutting or forging....two totally different methods of manufacture and twototally different price points for the manufacturer. But may be not the consumer.You may not get what you pay for. There are always choices in any manufacturing process. The trick is to know what choices to make, what can be combined in the manufacturing processand most importantly, why.



Everything I have stated isreallybasic info to anyone working metal. Not all the details are there, and to be honest as a climber the detailsare trivial. Gear either works as intended or it doesn't.Asimple Google search will give you more info than you will ever require on steels and manufacturing processes.



So what is the bottom line? Who cares about stainless or chromoly,forged or cut from plate?



There are someeasy comparison to make given enough time. But there are other issues as well. Does size matter? It certainly does in raw materials and production costs. How much the crampon covers on your boot sole and does it make a difference climbing? ThatI'll leave that up to your imagination.










A '80s vintage forgedChouinard/Salewa on the left with 6 down points. A plate cut stainless BD on the rightwith 6 down points for the *same size* boot sole. It should be obvious which pattern offers the most traction on snow and ice. How much is enough?


BelowChouinard/ Salewa Hnged, hot forged, chromoly crampons. Bought in 1979 and used all over the worldon ice and mixed.Notable..mixed climbing...theChouinard/Beckey/Doody route on Edith Cavell,Canadian Rockies. And literally 1000s of feet of water ice and easy mixed. I've never heard of a pair of these failing in any manner. But no Internet for much of their life span either.. Weight 204g forone front half.








Chouinard /Salewa'sfrontpoints after years of use.






Black Diamond Stainless Sabertooth. stainless, cut from plate and cold formed.Known catastrophic failures with thiscrampon technology on complicated designs. Total use on this pair? Two trips up the Cosmic Arete, early March . Maybe 10% of what the Chouinard/Salewa Hinged above did on justthe North face of Cavell. Weight 142g for one front half (stripped w/no bail)






















Current production BD Stainless Sabertooth Crampons after only a few hours of climbing on moderate mixed terrain. Dbl click the photos for a close up view.







Two sides to every story. And admittedly I only see a small part of even my side on this one. I admire innovation and on first impression you might be ableto make a case for stainless as a reasonalbase material forcrampon manufacture. Misleading infomercials asidethe manufacturing techniques and alloy chosen would have to be up to the task as well to reap the real benefits of stainless in a crampon.




To follow thenext part of the discussion please view the BD product video linked below.


Upgrade to stainless: The benefits of Black Diamond stainless steel crampons. from Black Diamond Equipment on Vimeo.







Making a *direct comparison to the best chromoly technology* used incrampon manufacturehere aremy observations and comments to theBDthe video.

BD claims these benefits (in bold print below)to their stainless in their video and my answrs to those claims.





More "green" manufacturing. yes, better thanadding a coating,check.

No rust.stainless willstill rust,better than Chromoly for rust? Sure.

Wears better in use. Sadly not what I have found in use and not the consistant history of stainless.

Extremely hard. Not even close to chromoly.

More durable. Again not even close to chromoly.

Stronger. No, chromoly is generally stronger in use

Lighter. chromoly and stainless weigh the same..the same.




Of course you couldargue the point with different variations of stainless and chromoly alloys and the terms,"extremely hard", "more durable" and "stronger". Just my opinions, based on my own experience, that are expressed here.




Below is a production (not a sales sample) Sabertooth Pro failure from last winter. And not the only pair with similar stainless steel failures I documented in the / winter climbing season. BTW all of the failures I am aware of have been either in the the EU or Canada.




To be fair likely the biggest retailer in the USA has no problem with the durability of the BD stainless crampons. I was made privy to the BD returns at REI for /11 and the % was extremely low. Returns of BD crampons at REI for any reason are well below anything to raise their corporate concerns.












Comments below are from the owner of the broken crampons pictured above:




"The boot is/was a Nepal Evo bought in . Size 42.5. The crampons only really had 10-15 days on them (I originally posted 20 but I was being overly conservative). I do weigh in at 200lbs but am not aggressive with my kicks. The majority of the days climbing were on tame WI3 as a seconder with a few days leading. By no means am I an expert but I would not say that they were seriously abused in such a short time and with relatively low impact climbing. In total, there were three days walking up grotto falls. Three days at Chantilly, climbing no walking. 4 days at King Creek, only climbing and two days on THOS. Not a lot of mileage...




Hope that helps,

Blake"




FWIW the Grivel G12s I'm climbing onin the picture belowhave beenon much more modern mixed than a couple of laps on the Cosmic Arete andshow virtually no significant wear on the front points. They are still going strong with a second owner.












You don't have to be a materials engineer or a rocket scientist to see what is happening here. Similar wear patterns on both sets of crampons. Just a lot more wearin a short amount of time on the stainless version.You have to be extremely naive to believe the marketingpitchof better manufacturing techniques and the use of a higherquality of material. I was originally.Ihave been awareof the issues inmanufacturing and production on this subjectfor several climbing seasons. But I hadn't had the time to field test the stainless long term to my satisfaction until now.




Photos beloware the microflaws (stress risers) inplate cut stainless crampons. The most recent pair arecoded *1069*(69th day of ) the oldest *0168*. Givenenough use/time,IMO, thesewilleventuallyfail.See if you identifythe manufacturing flaws in thesephotos.




The next threepictures are closeups of the front points.

































Andsmallcracks starting on the outside edge of twodifferent frames that will likely end asa catastrophic failureif you continued using it.
















The lesson here is to be sure you visually check ALLyour gear at the time of purchase and prior to every use!


Petzl, Grivel and DMM have a choice and are still using chromoly. Camp beat BD to market with a stainless crampon. That is the Camp •"Sandvik Nanoflex® stainless steel for superior performance and durability."



Black Diamondhas a very good marketing department.here in the US. Claiming among other things"stainless is lighter than chromoly". Which is of course is an incorrect statement.





Facts I do agree with?

Nice that Grivel has written them all down :) When I first saw this info on Grivel's web site a few years ago I put much of it off to childish bickering between two companies fighting overmarket share.After all didn't everyone want some pretty new crampons? I certainly did! But no doubt some truth to Grivel'spublished info.Now? I am more concerned aboutwhat I strap on to my own boots. And I worry less about who originally pointed out the down sides of stainless.




http://www.grivel.com/company/inox_vs_nicromo




http://www.grivel.com/company/metalli/interview_emilio_ramous.pdf




If you bother with a search of this blog you will find a fewpositive commentaries onBD stainless crampons. Specificallythe newest stainless Sabertooth and Serac crampons. I like those model'soverall weight and climbing on them even more so. I still think the Sabertooth is one of the best all around crampon designs we have seen to date.But good design work willseldomovercome a bad choice in materials and poor manufacturing techniquesif the tool is pushed to the extreme. And crampons are always pushed to the limit.




Mark Twight and Will Gadd have both, at one time or another commented in print, onjust how well the Sabertooth (the previous chromoly version anyway) climbed.




More on my thoughtsof how well the Serac and Sabertooth designs climb.




http://coldthistle.blogspot.com//11/black-diamond-serac-crampon.html




http://coldthistle.blogspot.com//02/these-freakn-pons.html




Fun to see BD sponsored, Colin Haley climbing on the Midi in the Sabertooth.









Earlier that month I hadsoloed thesame gully. I made thedecisionnot to usestainless therebecause I was concerned aboutreliability. It is not a difficult climb but not one I want to have a crampon failure on either, roped or unroped..














Stainless steel might be an upgrade for your kitchen appliances but it is not an upgrade when it comes to a sharp kitchen knife or ice climbing equipment. There are simply too many trade offsto not question the use of stainless in crampons.

It is all a matter of trust. Spend your money wisely.

My money (and boots) are nowon Chromoly.




And a follow up..... that adds to this conversation




http://coldthistle.blogspot.com//08/more-crampon-talk.html




http://coldthistle.blogspot.com//02/it-is-dead-horse-more-on-stainless.html

When a Bike Is Not for You, What to Do?

Regardless of how much time we put into looking for a new bike, how much research we do, how many reviews we read, and even how wonderful the bicycle seems during a test ride, sometimes it happens: We buy a bike that isn't right for us. Perhaps the handling ends up not being to our liking. Or perhaps the bike is too heavy, too aggressive, not aggressive enough... There can be so many reasons. And often, those reasons only become apparent after we get into the swing of using the bike.



And so there we are: As far as resale value goes, our new bicycle is now a used bicycle. And we feel excruciatingly guilty for having made the wrong choice.



Once we realise that the bicycle we so longed for is not all we had hoped, the question is: what to do next? We may try to deal with the situation by continuing to ride the bike even if we are not entirely happy with it, hoping that over time we'll get used to it. We might make modifications to the bike, in attempts to get it to handle how we want it to handle. Or we could admit defeat and sell it. Some of us tried the first two approaches, before ultimately deciding to sell. Others just cannot bear to sell the bike - either because of the monetary loss they will incur, or because of sentimental attachment.



It's a tough call which decision is best. It took me a while before I could bring myself to sell my Pashley, while an acquaintance sold her Batavus just a month after buying it. "Mama Vee" of Suburban Bike Mama has been struggling with her Sorte Jernhest cargo trike for nearly two years now and is still torn over what to do (in fact, she has just issued an exasperated plea for help, so perhaps someone can advise her!).



Not counting myself, I know of about half a dozen ladies in the blogosphere who either have recently sold, or are considering selling the bicycle that was supposed to be their "dream bike." We did everything right and the bike seemed like the perfect choice at the time. And yet it wasn't. If you've ever been in this situation, how did you deal with it and what was your ultimate decision?

Foxes Feast on Food

Two foxes (of a rare sub species) are currently moving up and down the mountain from Paradise all the way up to the summit. While the mountain is their natural environment, the food they have been eating this year has not been coming from the mountain, most of it has been taken from climbers and day hikers at Camp Muir. Foxes have been consistently searching out food left in backpacks and tent vestibules.

Sadly, we have experienced what happens when foxes become habituated and dependent on humans in the park - we lost our friend Pickles.

Mount Rainier is home for these foxes, meaning we can't relocate them nor would we want to. At this point we are trying our best to have the foxes and climbers interactions be kept to a minimum. Please help us with this effort by maintaining a clean camp and storing all food zipped up, inside of your tent. Day hikers and skiers please be tidy during snack breaks and clean up your scraps (both food and wrappers). Thanks so much for your help!

Off the Beaten Path in Vienna

When people learn of my travels to Vienna, they typically want to hear about all the things they associate it with: the gilded neoclassical buildings, the opera, the horsedrawn carriages, Wienershnitzel, Sachertorte, and Mozart. But while all of that is indeed here, it is very marginal to my experience of the place. The centralmost 1st district - with its maze of white stone, processions of tourists, ticket peddlers dressed as historical figures, and endless shops selling fur coats and stockings to overcoiffed ladies - is a place I keep away from inasmuch as possible. The absurdly grandiose architecture of the famous Ringstrasse is something I look upon with fond irony, but it does not define the city for me. My experience here has always been that of an on-and-off resident, rather than that of a tourist, and "my" Vienna consists of real neighbourhoods, out of the way cafes, small parks frequented by locals, and other places you are unlikely to find in tourist guides. For me, these places are what makes Vienna special, what creates the captivating atmosphere that so draws me here. And yesterday I spent the day wandering through one of them, on my bike.



While many are no doubt familiar with the Prater - a large park that runs through the Southern part of Vienna and includes an amusement park, a stadium, various athletic facilities and horse trails running through wooded alleys - few venture beyond it into the tiny neighbourhood of Freudenau on the outskirts of town. On the map it does not look like much, and descriptions of it are not particularly inspiring: there is a golf course and a horseracing track, but otherwise it seems unremarkable. But the maps and guidebooks say nothing of the gravel trail that will take you through what can only be described as an enchanted forest, past a cluster of mysteriously abandoned mansions, ancient stables and ethereal-looking horses.



The horses are unexpected, because they really are in the middle of the woods, and not always contained within enclosures. They can be found wandering around untethered between the moss and ivy-covered tress, grazing serenely. I suppose so few people happen through this area, that no one bothers them.



The horses are not only beautiful, but tame and very sociable. You can pet them and feed carrots to them, which I sometimes find lying around.



I've been trying to understand what the horses are doing there and who they belong to, but there is never any human around to ask. I could be wrong, but I do not think that these particular animals are racehorses; the racehorses I've seen are not kept like this and don't behave like this either. A friend suggested that these are therapy horses for handicapped and emotionally disturbed children. Apparently Vienna has an equestrian therapy program, and this could be where the service animals are kept.



Riding on the gravel trail through Freudenau is a soothingly surreal experience. There is such a haunting sense of history, and I am nearly always the only person there. I can hear nothing but the sounds of overhanging tree branches creaking, ravens' wings flapping, horses hooves clip-clopping over dried leaves, and my own bicycle tires rolling over gravel.



Perhaps the uneven gravel, with its occasional ditches and root protrusions, explains why not many feel compelled to venture here. But Jacqueline handles it without a problem.



On the way back to civilisation, I am delighted to pass one of my favourite signs in Vienna. It's charming, because it suggests that the sign is for the cats themselves, rather than humans. "This way if you're a cat."



Of course it's only a sign for a cat shelter.But Katzenheimhas a more romantic ring to it, and I choose to imagine it as a genteel home for wayward felines - no doubt with miniature Jugendstil furniture and catfood served in little crystal dishes.



Right before Freudenau connects back to the Prater, there is a small cafe where I like to go. With traditional outdoor cafes like these in Vienna you never know what to expect. Some will serve awful microwaved food and packaged supermarket sweets that they simply open and dump onto a plate. Others will serve homemade dishes prepared with local ingredients that are as delicious as anything you could order in the best Viennese restaurants. This one leans toward the latter and I am never disappointed with even the simplest food I order there.

I don't usually feel compelled to photograph food, but readers have been asking about this more than anything else! So here is a ridiculously stereotypical meal, photographed just for you: frankfurters and sturm.

Sturm is a sort of fermented young wine, made from the first grape harvest of the season.It is naturally fizzy and low in alcohol, and tastes somewhat like a grapey version of hard cider. There are loads of vinyards outside of Vienna that compete to make the best Sturm in celebration of Autumn, and it's typical to sample them from as many places as possible this time of the year.

And a Viennese Apfelstrudel: heavy on the apples (local and fresh, not canned or jellied!), tart and not sweet, and very light on the crust - which is thin like filo dough, only soft instead of crunchy. There are also raisins mixed in there with the apples, which I could personally do without - but the rest I love. It's hard to eat Apfelstrudel elsewhere after getting used to the version they make here.

It's difficult to explain my attachment to Vienna without discussing my personal background at length. But I hope these pictures help express what words fail to.



Vienna is a large, sprawling city and some of my favourite places are difficult to access without a bicycle. Cycling is truly the best way to travel off the beaten path and to visit all the places I love - on the road and off.

Three Trees

Polartec Power Shield Pro...

Patagonia's Northwall jacket in Polartec Power Shield Proand agrid fleece interior


As unlikely as I might havethought you'd ever see a virtual Patagonia ad on Cold Thistle..here goes :) Theeditorial content is reallysuppose to bea well deserved Polartec ad/public service announcement but I can understand the confusion. I am just as enamored with all thepretty colors, so what the hell:).



16 months ago I was lucky enough to get early samples of two different Polartec fabrics Patagonia was going to be using to great effect. Obvious now, Patagoniahas decided to expand on that effort in their alpine climbing line. Great decision I think.



I'm generally not a big fan of the Patagonia patterns as they haven't fit me very well. The current generation of garments are better. Not an "Arcteryx fit"yet but much better than in the recent past I think. Call fita work in progress at Patagonia. It doesn't happen often but I just spent some of my own money on gear at the local Patagonia store so it is good enough! And some of what I boughtis very, verygood I think. Thanks for the extra help there Travis!



What isn't a work in progress is the two fabrics that Patagonia is using.



Polartec Power Shield Pro



and



Polartec Power Shield Pro with theRegulator high-loft grid fleece interior.



Both are amazing fabrics for myintended purpose, which isalpine and ice climbing in cold environments. And to some extent, alpine skiing, BC and lift served.






Interior fleece on the Northwall jacket


Photo abovecourtesy of http://backcountryskiingcanada.com. Good review here:

http://backcountryskiingcanada.com/index.php?p=page&page_id=Patagonia%20Northwall%20Soft%20Shell%20Jacket



My first thought with the Polartec Power Shield Pro w/ fleece interiorwas, "just add Neoshell". And "I REALLY gotta have pants in this stuff!" Thenwe would REALLY be rocking! From the few I have heard of using the Neoshell/ Power Shield Procomboso far, the feedback I have heard is"best pant I've ever used!".



I think that pretty much "covers it" from my perspective as well. Much more to come on that in a future review or two.



Polartec Power Shield or Power Shield Pro isusedin all these garments from Patagonia. Costly and hard to justify the price, may be,but well worth a look. I think these garmentsand the various versions of Polartec's Neoshell are the cutting edge for performance fabrics at the moment.






Mixed Guide Hoody is a hybrid hard and soft shell combo.

Green is a hard shell, technology, the blueis stretchy and tough Power Shieldsoft shell. Not the Power Shield Pro material. But there is only a slight difference in the laminate used and virtually none in actual use outdoors that I can tell. Check out the listed stats of bothstats in the comments section below.



















soloing in a Frontpoint





The first jacket I used with similar (almost exactly the same) hybrid construction to the Mixed Guide was the now discontinued Eddie Bauer Frontpoint. The Frontpoint is still a bench mark in performance and weight for me. And a go to piece for my own climbing even now. Although a bit heavierby 4 oz in a size large (and likely more durable as well) the Mixed Guide will likely replace the Frontpoint for many projects.





The Patagonia Northwall pant pictured above. Much as I really wanted to LUV these pants, for me the fit wasterrible. Which was ahuge bummer.( and eventually became perfect with a little help from the Chemo diet a year later)But the Patagonia 100% customer satisfaction guarantee was rock solid, so no worries. Patagonia is expensive in comparison to some other soft goods companies but also really easy to deal with if a problem does occur. I'm always impressed by that. Atsimilar price points,let me knowhow far you get with Arcteryx for example on repairs or a warranty issus? My experiences there have been bleak. The Patagonia Northwall pant was truly an eye opener for the potentialperformance of Polartec Power Shield Pro with theRegulator high-loft grid fleece interior.





Men's and woman's versions of the Northwall jacket. The Northwall is a very warm soft shell. If you run cold this jacket may offer the option of a a warmer,and still very durable soft shell.





The 2nd color choice on the Mixed Guide...hard to be bashful in either of these.





And the same jacket I'm usingin the mast head photo on Carlsberg. Now one of my all time favorite climbing shells, the Patagonia Knifeblade, made froman uninsulatedversion of Polartec Power Shield Pro.

Skeleton Dolls

Sarah, my sister, makes skeleton dolls. She calls the Dolls From the Bone Yard. The skeleton is plastic but the rest is all handmade. She sells them at farmers markets and craft events in and around Las Cruces. If anyone is interested leave me a comment with an email and I will get back to you. Shown here are cowboys, Mexicans, witches, Cap'em Jack from the movie Pirates of the Caribbean, nurses, and fancy ladies. She also does Doctors, angels, brides and grooms, hippies, solders, and fisherman. I couldn't get over how cute they were. She sells a lot for the Mexican holiday Day of the Dead which is about the same time as our Halloween.