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Winter Climbing Gear Update: Petzl and Salewa Ice Screws
Ice Screws: Salewa Quick Screw and Petzl Laser Speed Light The winter of 2014-15 was something of a disappointment for those of us living in the Mountain West. Temperatures were warm. Precipitation was scarce, and often fell in the form of rain instead of snow. Here in Utah, the ice climbing season was short and […]
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Mammut Smart Alpine Belay/Rappel Device
Mammut Smart Alpine Belay/Rappel Device 4.4 ounces I’ve been using the Mammut Smart Alpine device for several months now. It has become my favorite belay/rappel device. Its primary defining feature is that it is an autoblocking device, much like the well-known Gri Gri. It isn’t guaranteed to hold a fall without help from the […]
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Sleeping Pads
This blog entry focuses on various sleeping pads I’ve used over the years. Left hand column, top to bottom: Prolite Plus; Prolite3; Ortik; Karrimat Evazote; MEC Winter Evazote; MEC bivi thin evazote; Ridgerest Right hand column, top to bottom: NeoAir; Exped Synmat; NeoAir AllSeason; NeoAir XTherm; Klymit X-Frame; Klymit X-Lite Closed Cell Foam Sleeping Pads […]