I recently tumbled on an article and few net discussions regarding ice protection. Most seemed to consider BD Turbo Express and Grivel Helix as top of the range ice screws. Most didn't even mention Grivel 360, still the undisputed king of ice screws in my book. People tend to rant about them being difficult to rack. And sure enough, they are more cumbersome to rack than most, perhaps even any, other screws. But then again, I tend to select my gear based on how they perform in their main duty. For me, ice screws exist to be used as protection, not mainly to for being nice and shiny things to carry around hanging from your harness. Try to place one in featured ice and you soon realise that 360 delivers when anything else doesn't work at all. On more or less even surfaces there's not too great a difference to other top screws, although I still feel 360 is best of the bunch.

Somewhat similarly, I fail to understand the why everyone insists on having full length zippers on hard shell pants, yet, the very same people use soft shells without them. Granted, softshell breathes better than hard shell, so there's some validity in that point. However, zippers running from top to about mid thigh or just above the knee would be almost as good for ventilation purposes (You cant often really have them fully opened anyway and if you could, you would probably be better off by not wearing them). Not having full-length zippers would allow the pants to be closer cut, lower bulk, more supple and lighter. All this with one thing less to break. Another point I've seen for full-length zips is the ease of putting them on and taking them off. True enough, with zips it is possible to put the pants on without taking the boots of. That being said, I can't remember having ever either put on or taken off the pants en route. Therefore, I see no reason whatsoever to give this any sort of emphasis. If any pants need such zips, I feel that they are insulation pants (should one use such), not shell ones.

Speed is important on long routes. many alpine routes are so big, that unless you are fast, you are going to get benighted. Trust me, there's a huge difference being six beers down in the pub after finishing the climb and suffering a cold night somewhere high on the route. The easiest way of shaving minutes and hours from the ascent time is to be efficient. There are few recent blogposts giving excellent tips regarding the speed on big routes. Be sure to check also my earlier entry on the same thing: Multi-pitch efficiency.

• Notes on Simple Tricks for Speed. There's been a bunch of discussion over on rockclimbing.com about the last speed post, thought I'd post a few things that answered good questions on there. By Will Gadd at Gravsports on 2010-03-03.
• Simple Tricks for Speed on Multi-Pitch Ice Routes. After a week with my friend Andreas Spak in Norway I've got some things to say about speed on big routes. Andreas climbs faster than most, is always up for a big route, and is tough enough to get the job done, but I always seem to learn or re-learn some stuff when doing big new routes with him in Norway. Here are a few "speed" tricks for big routes that are primarily multi-pitch without walking steps (those steps call for T Bloks etc., not covered here). By Will Gadd at Gravsports on 2010-02-24.
• Speed on big routes. Follow up on speed article by Will Gadd. By Doug Shepherd at Dougie Fresh on 2010-02-24.

All that said, it doesn't hurt to train. Hmm, bad choice of words; actually, if it doesn't you aren't doing enough of it. One of the more effective ways of training more is to make it so easy that you run out of excuses of not to. In this regard, home wall is a great. No I don't have one, but I probably should. Due to housing arrangements, it may be a challenge to build a wall anchored to walls. However, there's no reason why it would have to bolted on, it could just as well be free-standing.

• Building A Home Climbing Wall. At Chockstone.
• Climbing wall (single panel). At Climerware.

Finding a glove system that works is anything but straight-forward. Kelly Cordes has a good article regarding to this, which might give you good ideas.

• Chasing the Holy Grail: Winter Climbing's Glove Problem. For all the advances in gear, one clear, “last great problem” remains for the serious winter climber: gloves. What does everyone want? The holy grail, of course: Warmth, waterproofness, and dexterity. Just like we want gear that’s lightweight and durable, low-fat ice cream that tastes like real ice cream, and parties without hangovers. Be sure to read also additional info in his blog. At Spadout.

Even if it looks like the Everest movies isn't going to come to theaters near you anytime soon, there's still others. More specifically movie Nanga Parbat Joseph Vilsmaier covering the tragic Nanga Parbat Rupal Face expedition by the two Messner brothers in 1970, on which Reinhold Messners younger brother Günther died.

• Mountain gives up its tragic secret. Discovery of remains dashes claims brother was left to die 35 years ago. By Barbara McMahon at Guardian.
• Nanga Parbat film restarts row over Messner brothers' fatal climb. Movie tells of 70s ascent of treacherous Pakistan peak. Portrayal of sibling's death false, say team members. By Kate Connolly at Guardian.
• Trailer. At Kulthit.de.
• Watch free online Nanga Parbat German movie Trailer Germany Superhit Nanga Parbat Film. Contains full film in low quality webstream. At Hollywood Movie Watch Online,Review and Full Cast,.

There seem to be few interesting items just out or coming in the near future. Without further ado, here goes:

• DMM Dragon Looks a lot like lighter and somewhat improved version of awesome Black Diamond Camalot C4. Looks like the final production design is different from the prototypes so that final model does not have a thumb loop. Before actually trying it out this feels disappointing.
• Scarpa Phantom Guide This one looks like a no-brainer to me. I've been using excellent Phantom Lite's for years. However they are starting to leak due to wear and tear, so I need to replace them anyway in the near future. Phantom Guide seems like a new and improved version. The only question that remains is whether to get them half a number larger than my Phantom Lite's; they are very snug, climb excellently but walking downhill would be more comfortable if there was more room for toes. See also introduction/review.
• Petzl ice tools for season 2010-2011 Petzl are revamping their ice weaponry for the next season. Once again, they have changed the pick system. This time around it actually makes sense though, as now their technical line-up (Quark, Nimic and new Ergo) use the same picks and modular head. This same system also fixes (one of) the biggest drawbacks of their excellent Nomic, the lack of hammer. Other revamps include clever-looking slider/trigger system for all of the tools and improved trigrest. For Nomic and Ergo this means studs added to the bottom of trigrest. This is not ideal in my book, as there's still no good solution for using umbilical cord-type system should that strike your fancy and such studs are most likely not as good for support as real spike (like used in Black Diamond Fusion 2nd gen). However, improvement still compared to current Nomic. Since I don't use Nomics for alpine climbing anyway (I use somewhat tricked Quarks for that) I can easily live with that drawback though. The hole in the handle works for attaching yourself to tool in case of emergency, especially if you expand it somewhat with a file. For the Quark Petzl did exactly what I wished though, by making the spike clippable. They seem to have some new ideas regarding to wiregate carabiners up their sleeve as well. New Ergos look funky, interesting to hear how they perform.
• Hagan Nanook There are situations where some form of flotation aid is unavoidable in order to get to the climb. While full-on ski touring kit can get you to the bottom of the climb as effortlessly as possible (not to mention the joy it provides while descending), it is also very heavy unless you can leave it below the actual climb. Furthermore, climbing shoes are much better to climb with than skiing shoes, but they really such in skiing even if you could use them (with Silvretta 404 binding you can). Howeverer, this effectively means that even if your skis would be great for downhill skiing, the shoes aren't up to the job. The other option would be to climb with your skiing boots, but they are big, bulky, heavy etc. Basically everything that makes a bad climbing boot. This solution is very much workable, if the climbing isn't too difficult (especially not on rock). Not being much of a skier myself, I figure the ideal solution for me though would be a very light and compact skis that can get me to the climb using my climbing boots and that I can strap to my backpack for the climb if I need to descent to different side of the mountain. The fact that they aren't too great to ski downhill is negated by the fact that I couldn't ski down anything difficulty anyway, especially not when wearing my climbing boots and a backpack containing the climbing kit. it seems that Andy Kirkpatricks reasoning is very similar in this matter.

I tumbled on two very informative videos featuring the gear tips and tricks of Steve House.

• Steve House and Vince Anderson: Gear for Nanga Parbat Ascent (Alpine Climb). Patagonia Alpine Ambassador Steve House goes through the gear he and partner Vince Anderson used on their alpine-style first ascent of the Rupal Face of Nanga Parbat in September, 2005. They were awarded the 2005 Piolet d’Or Award, recognizing the significance of this innovative route climbed in a clean and committed style. Patagonia ambassador Steve House first laid eyes on the Rupal Face as a 19-year-old member of a Slovenian mountaineering expedition to the Schell Route, then considered the standard route to Nanga Parbat’s summit. Since then he’s been working to return and attempt the line up the central pillar of the Rupal Face. In 2004, Steve and partner, Bruce Miller, made that attempt, reaching 25,000 feet before Steve’s altitude sickness forced them back. Colorado native Vince Anderson climbed his first mountain at age five and has only looked skyward since. Equally at home on rock, ice or mixed routes, he’s led expeditions in North and South America, Europe and Asia, and has summited 8,000-meter peaks in the Tibetan and Pakistani Himalaya. He has full IFMGA certification and is the owner and lead guide of Skyward Mountaineering.
• Steve House: Patagonia Clothing System for Nanga Parbat Ascent (Alpine Climb). Patagonia Alpine Ambassador Steve House goes through the clothing he wore on his and Vince Anderson’s alpine-style first ascent of the Rupal Face of Nanga Parbat in September, 2005. They were awarded the 2005 Piolet d’Or Award, recognizing the significance of this innovative route climbed in a clean and committed style. Patagonia ambassador Steve House first laid eyes on the Rupal Face as a 19-year-old member of a Slovenian mountaineering expedition to the Schell Route, then considered the standard route to Nanga Parbat’s summit. Since then he’s been working to return and attempt the line up the central pillar of the Rupal Face. In 2004, Steve and partner, Bruce Miller, made that attempt, reaching 25,000 feet before Steve’s altitude sickness forced them back. Colorado native Vince Anderson climbed his first mountain at age five and has only looked skyward since. Equally at home on rock, ice or mixed routes, he’s led expeditions in North and South America, Europe and Asia, and has summited 8,000-meter peaks in the Tibetan and Pakistani Himalaya. He has full IFMGA certification and is the owner and lead guide of Skyward Mountaineering.

Some months back it seemed like the Everest movie based on 1996-events was actually going to get made when the reigns were passed over from Stephen Daldry to David Fincher. In recent months things seem to have gone pear-shaped again for the project. Now the holdup being mr Fincher being tied up with a Facebook-movie.

I need to find a alpine climbing pack for trips where I need to carry a tent, sleeping bag, pad and few days worth of food on top of all the gear needed for technical climbing in mixed alpine terrain. My approach is to take as small a pack as possible so that it will be easy to carry while on the climb as possible. For this goal, I am willing to compromise during the approach by overpacking and attaching gear outside if necessary. I figure the size that is just large enough would be around 40 liters.

Other than the correct size, the features I am looking for are:

• Lean-and-mean single compartment design
• Reasonably durable fabrics
• Low weight
• Side attachments for ice tools
• strap for rope
• floating lid for overpacking

Some models worth consideration:

• Arc'teryx NAOS 45 (ridiculously expensive)
• Berghaus Arete Pro 45l (too large?)
• Black Diamond Sphynx 42l (Very narrow design, seems fine. Doesn't have fully floatable lid. Much more durable than Speed.)
• CiloGear Dyneema 45 or CiloGear Worksack 45l (looks very interesting, expensive)
• Cold Cold World Backpacks made by Randy Rackliff. Very nice looking line of backpacks with realistically priced possibility to order custom made. Should be great for climbing, as Randy's personal experience actually out using the gear as intendeded is pretty much second to none (including stuff like 3rd ascent of of Moonflower and 1st ascent of Reality Bath come to mind...early solos of Slipstream..Tear Drop etc.). For us Euros the ordering though the company website means that the price gets bumbed up through shipping, customs and VAT though. See also introduction/review)
• Crux AK47 X (Lean and mean design, light for the size.)
• Haglöfs Ascent 38l (too gimmicky, heavy)
• Lowe Alpine Mountain Attack Pro 45+10 .
• Mammut Granit 40l (no floating lid, crap chest strap)
• Mammut Ice Pack 45l (Alpinist Mountain Standard. Looks like it has the same crappy chest strap as Granit though.)
• Millet Prolight 45l .
• Mountain Hardwear Dihedral 40l .
• PODsacs Alpine 40 (Looks good, probably the closest thing to my wishlist so far. Not perfect though. I don't particularly like the classic ice tool loops, IMO Black Diamond PickPocket type of attachment is far superior. Even bigger downer is that they seem to be using same crappy chest strap fastening system (plastic clamp sliding on plastic rail) that I positively hate after breaking that same system in two previous packs.)
• PODsacs Cragsac (looks good, but unnecessarily large in sizes suitable for taller person (47+10l))
• PODsacs Black Ice (looks good, but unnecessarily large in size suitable for taller person (53+12l))

In his book "Extreme Alpinism" (0898866545) Mark Twight pushes forward the idea of layering on top, which contrasts with traditional layered clothing approach. While layering under works very well in theory (and in some activities in practice as well), it isn't at home on climbing. Hanging belay is hardly a place to start removing your jacked to be able to add extra insulation layers. This layering on top works very well, as long as the kit used for it are appropriate. For example, layering belay insulation on top of shell jacket means that the shell jacket doesn't have to (in fact, it must not) be very loose. Furthermore, as the insulation jacket is bound to get wet, synthetic may be a better option than down.

Buying new gear may sometimes be highly frustrating. It is quite possible that despite the numerous offerings on the market, no one is making exactly the kind of gear one would need. I have found the following items most bitterly frustrating.

• Hardshell pants. Manufacturer's just don't seem to get this right. First and foremost, almost all hardshell pants are way too wide. Because of this, they are heavy and constantly get stuck to rock and crampons. There's no need for hardshell pants to be any wider than soft shell pants, most of which are too wide as well. Furthermore, I find full-length side zippers to be both unnecessary and harmful. Not having them would make it easier to have proper fit, as well as making the pants lighter, more supple, more waterproof and cheaper. There are few models with half-length zippers on the market, but they have the zippers backwards. For taking a dump, the zippers would have to be from waist to somewhat above knee. Stretch fabric panels in seat and knees would be useful, although not mandatory. And finally, I don't like bib-pants one bit, especially ones with same fabric used above the waist, which just makes the pants heavier and also seriously impair the breathability. There seems to be no pants on the market fulfilling the criteria. Possibly the best option is to buy ones that suck least, then have them made narrower. Some paclite models might be good fit and featurewise, however, Paclite can't take the abuse of alpine climbing.
• Tools for steep ice and mixed. Petzl Nomics are mostly excellent. However, they have two major faults: missing hammer and clippable spike. Because of these shortcomings, they suck whenever you need to pound pitons, on very low angle terrain often found during approach or descent and whenever you'd need to either secure your tools to yourself with lanyard or if you'd need to clip yourself to tool for resting. BD's new Fusion seem to have these areas covered, though. Whether they can deliver remains to be seen. If they do, hopefully Petzl will come back with Nomic 2.0.
• Carabiners for racking. No matter how hard I've looked, no one seems to be making carabiners which would be optimal for racking gear. Plastic ice clippers are form-wise the best bet (large and deep enough), they are however too easily broken (I know several occasions where general portion of the rack was dropped because of this). If someone where to copy the form to aluminum carabiner and throw into it noseless design ala DMM Shield or Wild Country Helium, I'd buy them in a heartbeat.
• Climbing gloves. Frankly, most ice climbing gloves have one fault in common: they are unsuitable for climbing. Which in my book is rather bad given their intended purpose. In order to be able to actually climb with a glove, they can't be too thick. furthermore, while all sorts of knuckle paddings would certainly have been welcome ten years ago when shafts were more or less straight and fangs didn't exist, with modern tools they are utterly useless and only serve to make the gloves too cumbersome and stiff. Suppleness-wise dry-tooling gloves are great. Also several softshell models, such as Mountain Equipment G2 Alpine glove are great if the temperature is high enough. However, whenever the temperature is significantly below zero, one does need some insulation. There needs to be a balance somewhere between very thick and uninsulated which most manufacturers seem to ignore. Gore-Tex lining is not mandatory, IMO. Come to think of it, despite having owned countless pair of Gore-tex gloves, I'm yet to own a pair which would be actually waterproof. Outdoor Design Diablo is good though, as well as BD Impulse. That's about it though, everything else seem to be either uninsulated or too thick. If the weather is too cold for such a gloves, I doubt any glove will work. Then probably the best pick is to use thin liner glove in combination with mitten. Mittens are warmer than gloves and because of way fewer seams, seem to be more supple. Unfortunately mittens are crap when dealing with screws, so you need to take them off for that. Not quite as cumbersome as one might think, as mittens are easy to put back on. Unfortunately spindrift tends to find its way into the mittens when they are dangling from your wrists, thus making the mittens wet, which will render them cold shortly.
• Alpine climbing pack. For shortish alpine endeavours (like 2-3 days) I find that size around 30 liters is just right to fit climbing gear for technical ice, rock and mixed, stove, food, bivouac bag and just enough of clothing. Yet the size is small enough so that there's no room anything unnecessary (obviously this size doesn't really fit for longer trips or for cases where tent, pad and sleeping bag need to be carried). Given the size, the pack doesn't need to have very stiff hip belt, which wouldn't really work with harness anyway. It doesn't have to have all sorts of bells and whistles which only add weight and impair the functionality. It has to be relatively sturdy fabric though, especially if there might be the need to haul it. Mammut seemed to have got this quite right with their Granit. Unfortunately they have felt the need to spoil otherwise great design with two mistakes: non-extendable lid and down-right gimmicky (not to mention stupid) chest strap (I think mine broke during the first day out). Black Diamond Speed seemed like a great candidate as well. However, I soon enough found out that there's such a thing as too light a fabric. I don't expect my gear to last forever in alpine use, but it shouldn't tear on the first touch against the rock either.
• Helmet. Hardshell helmet with proper ventilation seems to be impossible to find. Well, time-tested Petzl Ecrin Roc or newer Vertex might fit the bill, but they are so very heavy and sit on too high. Black Diamond had this down with first generation of their Half Dome; however, they had to go on and ruin the perfect design by changing the inner completely thus severely impairing the ventilation and adding all sorts of useless gimmicks.
• Camera for climbers. Small and light, with manual controls, sensitive wide-angle lens and ability to shoot raw. Almost as elusive a combination as yeti. There seems to be some models coming to market though, that might hit the mark spot-on (Sony CyberShot DSC-WX1, Canon Powershot S90).
• Approach/trekking shoes. I am looking for a show with no shaft. I find the shaft useful only if it was high and sturdy enough to actually support the ankle. So far none of the boots (including full-on trekking shoes) are stiff enough for that. And if they were, they wouldn't be good to walk in. As it is, the shaft only adds warmth, bulk, weight and price, none of which is beneficial. However, the shoes must have stiff sole (especially torsionally) for walking in rocky terrain carrying a pack. And of course they must be durable and shouldn't soak too easily, the features which are badly impaired with countless seems. Why can't anyone make a classic trekking show without the shaft is beyond me.
• Grivel Rambo IV antibot. The antibot is made of hard plastic and elastic rubber with the big idea being that the elastic rubber reduces snow buildup and boosts longevity. In reality this doesn't really work, as the rubbery parts come off way too easily. I am yet to meet owner of Rambo IV's who have taken few approaches/descents wit their antibots intact. Once they come off, they start to do so very readily and they are virtually impossible to fix with super glue (even proactive treatment doesn't work).

• Modified Ice Climbing Tools. Attaching Quark Hammers to Nomics. At Ascent Design Inc.

Steve House, one of the foremost alpinist at the moment, seem to have published hist first book "Beyond the Mountain" (9780979065958). It appears to be short-listed as one of the candidates for The Boardman Tasker Prize. I've previously written about Andy Kirkpatrick, Andy Cave and Joe Simpson, all of whom are among the previous winners.

• Beyond the Mountain. House's storytelling didn't always work for me (particularly in the chronological back-and-forth of the final Nanga Parbat tale), and the book could have used another proofreading. But on the whole Beyond the Mountain is a richly rewarding work. Above all, House succeeds in humanizing an activity—an extreme—that few humans will ever experience. By Dougald MacDonald at The Mountain World on 2009-08-24.
• Beyond the Mountain. Denver mountaineers have a chance to spend an evening with alpinist Steve House as he reads excerpts from his new book Beyond the Mountain and presents an adventure slide show. By Jilly Salva at Examiner.com on 2009-09-01.
• Book Review: David Falt on Steve House's "Beyond the Mountain" . Highly skilled sport climber but 8000+ newbie, Swedish David Falt is moved by Steve House’s recently published book Beyond the mountain. By David Falt at MountEverest.net on 2009-08-07.

Few years back there was some buzz going on about Stephen Daldry making a Hollywood movie about the 1996 Everest disaster. Back then Nicole Kidman was rumored to play Jan Arnold, the wife of Rob Hall. The movie them send a group of renowed mountaineers (including Ed Viesturs, Veikka Gustafsson and David Breashers) to climb Everest and shoot action shots. Then not much was heard about the project, it seemed to have been lost in development hell. It seems that Daldry has stepped aside but the project has dug itself out of the said hell. And here's good news, the torch has been passed over to David Fincher. Mr. Fincher has some relatively well knows movies to his name, including "Alien", "Fight Club", "The Game" and "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button". Talk about the High Expectations. I am yet to tumble on any rumors about the schedule or casting though.

Meanwhile, documentary directed by David Breashers carrying the name of movie Storm over Everest David Breashears is out and available in DVD.

• Erich Waschak & Leo Forstenlechner. The pair, who may very well be unknown for even the climbers familiar with climbing history (I certainly had never heard of them before I read "The White Spider") put up a first one-day ascent of Eiger North face as early as July 26 in 1950 in astonishing 18 hours. The ascent was way ahead of its time, the next single day ascent was pulled of 24 years later, when slightly more well-known rope team of Reinhold Messner - Peter Habeler climbed the face in ten hours.
• Michel Darbellay. First solo ascent as early as 1963.

movie Cerro Torre: Schrei aus Stein Scream of Stone Werner Herzog .

• In this battle, there can be no winners.... "Nice climbing at Arapiles, ludicrous plot, clunky acting. And Herzog is supposed to be one of the great film makers. Glowacz was embarrassed by the film, but said it got him 6 months of paid climbing." By Chockstone forum users at Chockstone.
• Scream of Stone. Scream of Stone, on the other hand, seems torn by compromises, split awkwardly between a romantic drama and a Herzogian inquiry into extreme existential states. In its final ten minutes, during a bracing dual climb with Roccia and Martin racing one another to the top, the film at last settles into the latter mode for good, working its way towards a breathtaking final few moments, along with a clever little touch that resonates back through the rest of the film. It's an interesting but badly flawed film, an expression of frustration that is itself marked by the sources of that frustration. By Ed Howard at Only the Cinema on 2009-04-16.

• Degrees of Freedom. From dry tooling to figure fours, M-climbing in the mountains is redefining the vision of what’s a climbable line. First published in the American Alpine Journal. By Raphael Slawinski at Sport Climbing - Canadian Rockies - Mixed Climbing.
• Dry-Tooling - What's it all About?. The article below was published in issue 20 of The Scottish Mountaineer, and has proved to be extremely controversial. By Scott Muir at The Mountaineering Council of Scotland.

There seems to be quite a few movies and books popping out in last two years covering the historic, and in many cases tragic, events on the north face of Eiger. I've mentioned movie The Alps Stephen Judson already earlier. Now I finally got around ordering movie Nordwand Philipp Stölzl as it became available in Blu-ray. When searching the net to find out where to order it, I also tumbled on movie The Beckoning Silence Louise Osmond , based on a book by Joe Simpson (yes, the very same one who Touched the Void). Both movies deal with the same tragic event on 1936 when Adreas Hinterstoisser and Toni Kurz, who joined forces with Austrian party of Willy Angerer and Edi Rainer while on the face, were trying to put up a highly coveted first ascent. They failed and the entire party was killed at different times during their retreat attemp. Nordwand (aka The North Face) is a drama movie based on true story but with some fictional elements injected into it, while Beckoning the Silence appears to be documentary.

The same event, together with many other early attemps, the first ascent, and the ascents that followed are all described in "The White Spider" by Heinrich Harrer, himself a member of the first ascent party (and later famous for Hollywood movie "Seven Years in Tibet"), considered a classic piece of mountaineering literature.

• North Face Blu-ray . Expertly lensed and terrifically acted, Philipp Stölzl's North Face is very easy to recommend. The Blu-ray disc herein reviewed, courtesy of British distributors Metrodome Video, looks and sounds great. Fortunately for film aficionados residing outside of Region-B territories, it is also Region-Free. Highly Recommended. By Dr. Svet Atanasov at Blu-ray.com on 2009-06-07.
• The Beckoning Silence . In this fascinating documentary charting Joe Simpson's obsession with mountaineering, the beckoning silence is the long drop from the top of the mountain. By Louise Osmond at MovieMail on 2007.

"Just before the rocks separating the Second from the Third Ice-field, I looked back, down our endless ladder of steps. Up it I saw the New Era coming at express speed; there were two men running - and I mean running, not climbing - up it." With these words describes Heinrich Harrer the significance of the modern crampons during the first ascent of the North Face of the Eiger.

I recently tumbled on an interesting article about the Nut Museum, which contained quite a bit of information about the development of trad pro. As it was interesting read, I though to throw together some pointers to various articles describing the history and development of climbing gear.

• How crampons changed mountaineering. By Sam Roberts at eastern Mountain Sports.
• Ice axes. At Grivel.
• Nut Museum. "A long, long time ago, when God created our good old earth, He had already thought to throw various stones into the bowels of the mountains, but we are not sure that God had demonstrated some interest in rock-climbing. So the idea of deliberately placing stones in cracks to act as chocks and protect climbers was credited to Morley Wood during the ascent of Piggot's Climb on Clogwyn du'r Arddu (North Wales) in 1926. With this fundamental gesture the Nuts' Story began!" By Stéphane Pennequin.
• The Cam Book. Friends and other SLCD (spring loaded camming devices) have always been difficult to understand at the best of times - and to the uninitiated they can be a nightmare. Thats why in 2002 Wild Country published 'The Cam Book' - and in depth look at Friends and cams in all their forms and the principles that guided their development, and guides their operation and use. This book was immensely popular, combining a bit of science with a lot of common sense about using one of the most essential pieces of equipment ever made - the Friend. So click below to download your copy and learn a lot more about how to use (rather than abuse) these brilliant protection pieces.... At Wild Country.
• The Evolution of Crampons. By Sam Roberts at Spadout.
• The crampons. At Grivel.

No matter how finely sculpted the hindquarters of your climbing partners is, having their buttock have a central part in your climbing photos is bound to get old. So there are plenty of tips and trick of how to avoid the dreaded butt-shot.

• Better Mountain Photography. The reason behind the article, was a response to correspondents, both at UKClimbing.com, but also in various photographic magazines. Many continually expound the mantra that if you utilise the latest camera with all the prevailing technology, complete with plethora of lenses etc and apply the 'Rule of thirds' (rule for turds), and if the photograph is technically correct (i.e., in focus and exposed right), then a good photograph is the result. Wrong! By Sean Kelly at UKC Climbing on 2007-09.
• Branching out- Tips on expanding your mountain photography style. At Alpine Exposures.
• Photography Tips for the Mountains. At Alpine Exposures.
• The Ultimate Guide to Digital Photography in the Mountains. In my (very biased) opinion, mountains are the most beautiful environment on the planet, and certainly a very important source of great photography. But besides their intrinsic beauty, those big stacks of rock have another attribute that makes them of special interest to imagemakers: they are inaccessible. Or rather, very difficult to access, requiring special knowledge, equipment, and physical abilities. Which means that the perspective from mountains is likely to be very unique, only having ever been seen by a very select few. By Alexandre Buisse at Climbing Magazine.

I've been frustrated with the driving instructions of quite a few climbing topos. No matter how good the verbal instructions, you just can't beat the map. However, if the map is rough, it can be even more frustrating than the verbal description. If you have schematic map and not all of the roads are marked, figuring out which ones are marked is nearly impossible unless the map clearly identifies which roads are marked using either (or both) the road name and/or number.

Don't even consider drawing any map as a raster image. Vector is the only way to go for scalability and editability. If you need it as a raster image, fine, export it into a raster format of your choice, but don't ever consider drawing the map as a raster image.

My take on the best way of drawing maps is to draw them in scale. By far the easiest way of doing this is to use real geographic map as a guideline, then draw a vector map over it. Very easy to create scale-accurate maps this way. Using layers available in all remotely good illustration apps, it's even possible to easily create different versions of the same map within same image. This is very handy e.g. for different language versions and for different scale versions. Granted, vectors scale nicely but if you downsize a large map to very small size, there's often so much detail, that you just can't read the map any more. Not to mention that text needs to be certain size in order to be readable.

Furthermore, in the current era of GPS navigators the GPS coordinates are valuable help as well.

To ease the pain of drawing multiple maps, use symbol sets for common symbols.

• Cartographic Symbolset for Illustrator CS
• Creating Road Maps in Adobe Illustrator. At blog.spoongraphics.
• Map Font Basics (Article 1): Typography. At Professional Geographer on 2009-01-02.
• Map Symbols & Patterns for NPS Maps

I've tumbled on few interesting articles recently, mainly on trad climbing:

• Handjams Are Your Friends: Crack Technique. "The key to pure crack climbing, as with every type of climbing, is the feet. I like to start from the basics, which with cracks, is the hand crack. Hand cracks are the nicest, easiest thing you can climb, so you can focus on body position and movement technique, rather than the more precise jamming. If you have never done a handjam, it will feel alien and bizarre at first, but just slide your hand straight into the crack, and flex it, especially the meaty area under your thumb. It will stick, and that’s a handjam. I always say, if I fall out of a handjam, I deserve it :-) , so I tend to run it out if I’m in solid handjams." By Steph Davis at High Places.
• Rock Secrets: Tricks For Advanced Trad Climbing. Trad climbing is different to sport climbing in a number of fundamental respects: you will not generally be climbing as physically hard as you would be when sport climbing, although the total amount of energy you expend during the day could be far greater (particularly if you’re climbing on a mountain crag or sea cliff with long approaches). A large number of skills are required for advanced trad climbing that are either not required - or very seldom required - for sport climbing. By Dave Pickford at Planet-Climbing.com on 2009-06-08.
• The PlanetFear Guide To Extending Gear. Extending protection correctly on the lead is an absolutely vital skill to both trad and sport climbing. In this article we explain why, where, and how gear should bve extended. By planetFear at Planet-Climbing.com on 2009-06-22.
• The PlanetFear Guide To Route Reading. Perhaps the most important non-physical technique that will improve your onsight climbing is route reading skill. Practicing it doesn’t require an exhausting training programme. In fact, it requires no physical effort whatsoever. And nor will you need any equipment other than your own eyes – and maybe a note pad and pencil, or a pair of binoculars if you’re feeling keen. By planetFear at Planet-Climbing.com on 2009-07-13.
• Trad climbing techniques, tricks, & tips. Rick from Cremnomaniac has complied a nice list of trad climbing techniques, tricks, and tips. By Rick at Cremnomaniacs on 2009-06-12.

Web can be treasure chest for climbers searching for maps and information about the climbing destinations. Google maps is a good resource in planning. However, their maps don't offer sufficient details for mountain areas. Furthermore, when zoomed in into greatest detail, their maps cover only small area. Google doesn't allow users to save a map for offline use either. This is easy enough to circumvent by taking a screen capture though. However, if you need a larger area than what fits into screen (or viewport if viewing embedded map), then you are out of luck. Well, sort of. This can be circumvented just as well, simply by:

1. Taking multiple screen captures
2. Stitching them together in image editing application

Depending on the number of screen captures required, this can be a very painful process. There are some tools to automate the process when working with Google Maps though, search and you'll find.

Very well, I found out that Map+ has maps about Switzerland available online, that zoom in all the way to great detail (looks a lot like 1:25.000 at least for mountain areas). The downside is that their maps are available only through small vieport, therefore, tens, if not hunderds of screen caps are required to cover larger areas. Which makes the manual stitching process rather time consuming and very boring indeed. So I thought there needs to be a better way. The best I've found so far (best and good are very different things, though) consists of

1. using screen capture application/add-on, that allows capturing of selection only to a file. For Firefox, e.g. Screengrab add-on is such a tool
2. Import the files into image editing application of your choice as layers.
3. Carefully align the layers. Some image manipulation tools have features to auto-align the layers or separate images. Such a features are designed for building panoramas and can be a great help in stitching maps as well. Unfortunately I had rather poor results with such features though, as they tend to crash when you throw tens of images their way. Furthermore, they tended to rotate and/or distort base images thus producing inaccurate results. If such a automation works, it would be a time saver though.

Another nifty Google service is Google Earth. It can be a great help as well in planning the trip as it makes it easier to visualize the area, therefore it can assist in trying to figure out whether it is feasible to get from place A to B. And playing with it is great fun too.

I regularly read Lifehacker which often has a great tips and tricks. I noticed they had an article about CHDK firmware for Canon point and shoot cameras, which lead me to another article about the same firmware. I had heard about that earlier, but back then it didn't support my Ixus 850IS. This has apparently changed. CHDK is a firmware hack for Canon point and shoot cameras that bring quite a few new features to those cameras. Most interesting of those to me are the ability to shoot RAW and bracketing options for shooting images to be used as ingredients of HDR images. So clearly I needed to give it a go.

After uploading the CHDK, I managed to get my Ixus 850IS (aka SD800IS with Digic III processor) to shoot RAW images (CRW), but none of the apps I normally use seemed to be able to read those. Apparently the RAW files produced by CHDK are not compatible with Canon official RAW files, so conversion is required. This was a kicker. dng4ps2 is able to convert Canon cameras RAW files into Digital Negative (DNG) format, which is ideal for this purpose. As it supports Powershot SD800 IS, which is American for Ixus 850 IS, one might thinks that all that is required is to simply select that as a camera from Settings - Camera options and be done with that. One would be wrong. This produces the error message "Can't find camera profile for this file". After some digging out, I found the solution:

• Do NOT select anything under Settings - Camera types
• Under Settings - Camera options, choose "Powershot SD800 IS" and press "copy". Type "Canon DIGITAL IXUS 850 IS" as camera name and "IXUS 850 IS" as short name.

Unfortunately, dng4ps2 loses your camera profile when you close the app, so this step has to be done every time you start the app. Interestingly enough, the created profile seems to be stored in Windows register but it doesn't seem to have any effect whatsoever. Anyway, I can live with that.

XnView, RawTherapee and Gimp armed with Ufraw plugin are also able to read the files and export the files as tiff, however not to DNG. The same goes for Google Picasa, except that it can't create TIFF either.

I did some experiments with bracketing as well. I am using Allbest build of CHDK which has several extra photo oprations, one of them being Bracketing in Continuous Mode. Following the guide Bracketing I managed to get it to work. Well, sort of. I couldn't figure out the way to get to the sub menu where I am supposed to be able to adjust the number of bracketed shots. Other than that it seemed fine. There are more advanced options for bracketing involving the use of scripts. To use scripts for creating ingredients of HDR images, see Make ANY Single-Shot Intervalometer into an HDR-Bracketing Script.

As RAW files always, and uncompressed ones in particular, are much larger than jpeg images, I went on bought new SDHC memory card. Only to find out that my memory card reader doesn't want to co-operate with such cards.

• CHDK. A wiki dedicated to the CHDK firmware add-on for Canon's Digic II, Digic III and now the Digic IVcameras!
• How-To: Expand your camera with CHDK. By anwilliams at Hack a Day.
• Turn Your Point-and-Shoot into a Super-Camera. By Adam Pash at Lifehacker.
• dng4ps2. DNG for PowerShot-2 (DNG4PS-2) is free software for conversion of Canon cameras RAW files into Digital Negative (DNG) format.

While I am at it, I though to throw min few links to articles about climbing photography:

• Climbing Photography. At Spadout.
• Climbing photography tips'n'tricks. At What do you want to climb today?.
• Climbing photography: some tips. By Quang-Tuan Luong at Terra galleria on 1997.

One of the issues of climbing photography is that especially in the mountain environment, cameras in general and compact cameras in particular do a rather pathetic job of capturing the full dynamic range of the nature. Luckily, this shortcoming can be remedied with HDR images. the big idea of HDR images is to shoot multiple shots of the same image with different settings, then combine the images into a single image that utilizes color information from the multiple shots.

• How To: Create Stunningly Realistic High Dynamic Range Photographs. Gizmodo's John Mahoney explains how to take high dynamic range (HDR) photos so that the results of your photograph more accurately recreate what you were seeing when you snapped the shutter. By John Mahoney at Gizmodo on 2009-03-14.
• How to Create Professional HDR Images. The Backing Winds weblog details how to create high dynamic range (HDR) photos using Photoshop. By Ryan McGinnis at Backing Winds on 2006-10-10.

Often there's only need to combine multiple shots into a single panorama photo.

• Create a perfect panorama. By Mark Galer & Philip Andrews at Adobe Design Center Tutorials.
• How to Create a Panorama with Photoshop and Photomerge. By Darren Rowse at Digital Photography School on 2009-03-14.

I am considering buying new camera. As most of my photographing is done during the climbing trips, its suitability for climbing photography is the driving decision factor. Unfortunately, no one is producing s camera that would fulfill all my requirements, which are:

• Very small and light. Camera needs to fit in jacket pocked, otherwise it will see very little action. This rules out both SRL and larger compacts as well. We are talking about sub-200g range and as small as possible, especially depth is important.
• Robust and weatherproof.
• Lens. This is where it gets challenging. To be useful, the lens needs to have proper wide-angle. On the other hand, it needs to have reasonably long telezoom as well. Obviously the overall quality should be outstanding and it should not have any distortion to speak of. Tough order, I know. And it gets worse. As the lightening conditions are often difficult, large aperture is needed.
• Controls. On top of proper automatic and metering, the camera should have usable manual controls. The key here is usable, which pretty much requires manual focus ring (you can't really use menus when trying to focus, can you).
• Features. Ability to shoot RAW is probably on top of my list. GPS would be very handy for automatic geotagging.
• Video. To be useful, optical zoom needs to be available when shooting video and the camera needs to be able to shoot HD video with normal frame speed, otherwise the whole feature is useless to me.

During my research, the following models made it to the short list:

Panasonic DMC-TZ7

Followup model of successful TZ5 with improved video features. Looks possibly the best compromise. However, based on reviews there are some rather alarming shortcomings. First and foremost, it has very small censor. This is almost a necessity if you want to pack an impressive zoom into a very compact body. The downside of this is of course reverse impact of aperture, noisiness and dynamic range. And sure enough, e.g. Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3 and Fuji Finepix 200EXR reportedly boast vastly superior dynamic range. LX3 would shoot RAW as well, but unfortunately it has much shorter zoom, is quite a bit larger and its video features are far inferior to TZ7.

Fuji Finepix 200EXR

Reportedly very good dynamic range and boasts 5x zoom which would be acceptable I guess, but its video features are sorely lacking.

Ricoh CX1

Ricoh seems to have an interesting looking model in their offering as well, namely CX1 (only SD video, though). Very interesting features such as in-camera HDR.

Canon PowerShot SX200IS

Canon's entry into compact superzoom market. Sorely lacking in the video department (no zoom during recording, seriously?).

Nikon Coolpix S620, S610, S710

Nikon offering in its Coolpix S range sport both wide angle lens and reasonable zoom (up to 7x), however sadly not in the same camera. The video-side can't really keep up with the competition either.

Olympus μ9000

Samsung WB500

Interesting feature set but reportedly can't hold its own in image quality department.

• Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ7 / ZS3 review . "Ultimately while there’s now more options to compare, the Lumix TZ7 / ZS3 remains a great choice, updating the compelling pocket super-zoom concept with the latest features. In short, one of the best compacts on the market just got better, and as such we can easily award the Lumix TZ7 / ZS3 our Highly Recommended rating." By Gordon Laing at Camera labs on 2009-03.

If only Panasonic offered similar camera to TZ7 with larger censor (granted it would limit the zoom, but something like 6-8x would still be very good. Combine that with with lower pixel density (meaning that instead of 10MP, it would have "only", say 8MP) and it should sport greater dynamic range and shouldn't suffer from high noise as badly as it currently does. In my book, something like that would be very hard to beat in supercompact point and shoot market.

I went on and replaced the "web 2.0" links available on some of the pages with JavaScript menu, which I reckon is less obtrusive and ultimately better from the maintenance point of view as well, as it would not require changes in markup. The script used on the site is based on JavaScript Context Menu by Luke Breuer. The sample has been changed quite a bit though. Unfortunately my tweaking seemed to have broken compatibility with Internet Explorer 7, though. I tested the script with Firefox (3.0.7 and 3.1 beta), Internet Explorer 8, Chrome 2.0 beta and Safari 4 beta. Furthermore, it should work just fine with other browsers as well as long as they allow replacing right-click menu. The best part of this approach is that whenever the integrated services syntax requires changing or if I want to add new services, all I need to do is change the JavaScript. At this point, the integrated services are:

• Google Search
• Wikipedia
• SummitPost
• Flickr
• Picasa
• Google Maps

Essentially, the functionality pulled off with the JavaScript is rather similar to Accelerators, introduced in Internet Explorer 8. Those are pretty handy BTW; if you are using Firefox, IE8 Activities for Firefox comes highly recommended.

Recently some book recommendation came my way courtesy of Amazon's marketing ploy. I've picked a habit of checking their "customers who bought this also bought" recommendations. Which is where I noticed Andy Cave's "Learnign to Breathe" and "Thin White Line". As I had read Mick Fowler's books not too long ago, the name immediately sounded somewhat familiar given that Andy was part of the same tragic Changabang expedition featuring in one of Fowler's book. As I found out that both of Cave's books are highly acclaimed, I went on bought both of them. So far I am in the middle of "Learning to Breathe" but already it's safe to say that it was money well spent.

• 'I could do it at altitude - I had the gene'. By Tim Adams at The Guardian on 2005-05-08.
• Andy Cave
• Andy Cave - An interview and extract from Thin White Line. At UKC Climbing.
• From the pits to the peaks . Andy Cave writes movingly of his life as a miner and ace mountaineer in Learning to Breathe, says Alan White. By Alan White at The Guardian on 2005-06-05.
• Learning to Breathe by Andy Cave. By Mike Higgins at The Independent on 2005-07-24.
• Thin White Line by Andy Cave . By Giles Thurston at Mountaindays.net on 2008-06-03.

I recently noticed that Internet Explorer (including Internet Explorer 7) did a pathetic job of displaying this very site; (at least) all unordered (ul) and ordered lists (ol) were displayed incorrectly. This seems to be caused by IE:s inability to process such elements correctly whenever they are located within floated elements. Which is rather sad given that many pure-CSS layouts rely on floats to build the layout. Which is the case with this site as well. To make matter worse, there's no real solution to remedy this. Fortunately upcoming Internet Explorer 8 (currently available as beta 2) seems to finally fix this.

• Developing With Web Standards – Recommendations and best practices. This document attempts to explain how and why using web standards will let you build websites in a way that saves time and money for developers and provides a better experience for visitors. Also discussed are other methods, guidelines and best practices that will help produce high-quality websites that are accessible and usable to as many people and browsing devices as possible. By Roger Johansson at 456 Berea St. on 2008-11-01.
• My Web site is standard! And yours?. Here you will find easy, painless techniques and ideas to improve your Web site quality and make your Web site valid. This document is intended for HTML users, developers working on Web applications, and Web masters. Most of the Web sites on the Web are not valid. We may assume that this is the case for 99% of the Web pages, but there are no statistics to support this. It would be interesting to run a survey to prove that this case is indeed true. By Karl Dubost at W3C on 2002-04-08.
• Using Web Standards in your Web Pages. This article provides an overview of the process for upgrading the content of your web pages to conform to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) web standards. The first 2 sections address exclusively validation issues, benefits of validation, deprecated elements, deprecated attributes. How to upgrade a webpage markup code to pass validation and how to implement CSS are addressed by providing recommendations, tutorials and references. At Mozilla Developer Center.
• Web Standards 2008: Three Circles of Hell. By Molly E. Holzschlag at A List Apart on 2008-09-23.
• Web standards. At Wikipedia.
• Web standards checklist. The term web standards can mean different things to different people. For some, it is 'table-free sites', for others it is 'using valid code'. However, web standards are much broader than that. A site built to web standards should adhere to standards (HTML, XHTML, XML, CSS, XSLT, DOM, MathML, SVG etc) and pursue best practices (valid code, accessible code, semantically correct code, user-friendly URLs etc). In other words, a site built to web standards should ideally be lean, clean, CSS-based, accessible, usable and search engine friendly. By Russ Weakley at maxdesign on 2004-08-13.
• What are Web Standards? A comprehensive explanation of what is comprised in the term. The term Web Standards is featured prominently all over the web, in meetings with customers and amongst web developers in general. However, the problem is that people have different views on what it actually means and encompasses. By Robert Nyman at Robert's Talk on 2007-05-21.

However, since lists are heavily used on this site and lack of bullets and improper indents can seriously impair the readability of some of the pages, I added IE conditional comments along with CSS targeted to IE7 that fix this problem. At least up to the point where the layout is at least pretty close to what it should look like.

• About Conditional Comments
• Conditional Comments
• Internet Explorer conditional comments
• Internet Explorer conditional comments
• Targeting IE Using Conditional Comments and Just One Stylesheet

I also changed the mime-type to application/xhtml+xml which is what is recommended for xhtml 1.1. I am well aware that this may cause issues with old browsers. Tough shit. Furthermore, references to xhtml 1.1 schema are now added to html-root element.

• Lead in blocks. Leading in blocks reduces the wait time, as it distributes leading and belaying more evenly (timewise, that is). This is very significant during the winter. It also often means less need to swap gear at belays if the pitch took less than half the rack.
• Limit the number of belays. On multi-pitch routes very easy way to save loads of time is to build as few belays as possible. Usually this means using the full length of the rope. Naturally this isn't always feasible, but aim to run full rope length before placing the belay. Sometimes simul-climbing or soloing may be called for for the easier sections.
• Get efficient on belays. By far the easiest way of shaving off time is at the belays. The key here is not so much to do things as fast as possible, it's more important to do the right things and nothing more. Stuff like building a belay so that no fumbling with it is necessary when continuing upwards, handling a rope when bringing up the second so that no recoiling is needed, efficient way of swapping gear, the second starting to clear the belay as soon as the leader is secured (in ice this means the first solid screw is placed) etc. make a lot of difference.
• Make do with a single pack (if at all possible). Leading with a pack is so not my favorite thing to do, especially if the climbing is anywhere close to my limit. If you can't get by with just one bag, use small leader's pack and large second's pack.

• 10 ways to speed up your climbing. 10 tips on how to climb faster. By Andy Kirkpatrick at PsychoVertical.com.
• Alpine efficiency. How to get efficient (as in fast) in alpine terrain. By Rich Cross at Alpine Guides.
• Simul-climbing. Charpter about simul-climbing in an online book. By Cameron McPherson-Smith at Technical Alpine Climbing for Two-Person Teams.
• Tech Tip - Aid - Block leading. Concept of block leading explained in aid climbing context. The same principles can very well be employed in other forms of climbing as well. By Mike Shore at Climbing Magazine.
• Tech Tips - Multi-Pitch Climbing. Tips and trick for multi-pitch rock climbs. By Jules Barrett at www.outdoorsmagic.com.
• The winter leader's pack. What is a leader's pack and why you should use it. By Andy Kirkpatrick at PsychoVertical.com.

I just noticed there is a newish climbing-related film available in Blu-Ray: movie The Alps Stephen Judson . It was originally shot as Imax, so the feature length is substantially less than the is the case with typical films. Furthermore, it is more of a document than a feature film. Just as one might expect from a HD transfer of a Imax film, quality of shooting as well as picture quality leave very little room for improvement.

• John Harlin III
• John Harlin Reaches The Summit Of The Eiger. John Harlin reaches the summit of the Eiger North Face forty years after the infamous mountain claimed the life of his legendary father.
• Son Conquers A Killer Mountain. John Harlin III Lived His Life In His Father's Shadow, But Finally Eclipsed It. At CBS News, 2007-03-04.
• The Alps (Blu-Ray) . The Alps tells the story of John Harlin III, a man born in Switzerland whose father died attempting to climb the great Eiger, an extraordinarily dangerous mountain. John has spent the majority of his life in America, but he has recently decided to go back to Switzerland. "As the editor of the American Alpine Journal, I love to write and to climb," he says. This film, of course, is primarily concerned with the latter of Mr. Harlin's two loves. John Harlin III has determined to conquer the very mountain that conquered his father. Will he succeed? By Judge Clark Douglas at DVD Verdict on 2008-09-29.
• The Alps (IMAX) Blu-ray Review . Featuring music & songs by Queen, from MacGillivray Freeman Films, producers of the blockbuster hit Everest, comes the giant screen story of THE ALPS: its breathtaking beauty, harmonious culture, perilous avalanches and irresistible allure to a mountaineer on a personal journey to make peace with the mountain that killed his father. By Sir Terrence at Blu-ray.com on 2008-09-29.
• The Eiger Obsession by John Harlin . John Harlin III was nine years old when his father made his fated attempt on a direct ascent of the Eiger. Harlin had put together a terrific team and, despite unending storms, he was poised for the moment he had long waited for - the summit dash. However, Harlin’s rope broke at 2,000 feet from the summit, and he plummeted 4,000 feet to his death. By Giles Thurston at Mountaindays.net on 2008-08-18.

Now that the winters isn't too far far away, I decided to pay homage to Abalakov thread (aka V-thread), ingenius, yet extremely simple ice anchor. Knowing how to build one efficiently is a necessary skill for anyone planning on doing multipitch ice climbs. It can be used to bail off a route without the need to leave expensive screws behind. However, it's greatest potential lies in a use as belay anchor. Whenever you can't descent by simply walking down, Abalakov thread is often a better way to rappel than to use trees. Of course, on alpine terrain trees are often not readily available either. But even if you had abundance of sturdy trees, using them usually involves criss-crossing across the fall to get from the tree to next. Meaning that you often can't use the full length off the rope. However, by far the biggest downside of using trees is rope's magical tendency to wrap around them and bushes, making a tedious, and often dangerous, process of retrieving a stuck rope a very real possibility. Using Abalakov's the risk of rope getting stuck is far diminished as you can follow a vegetation-free line.

• How's your Abalakov?
• Ice Belays: Abalakoff thread

Mountain Hardwear Transition Featherweight Zip T. Ari Paulin 2008-10-06 About a year ago I finally decided to dig my pockets deep enough to dish out cash to purchase "Mountain Hardwear Transition Featherweight Zip T", lightweight, yet windproof shirt made of Gore-tex Windstopper Next2Skin (N2S). After using it in rock climbing and trail running, I can't rave enough about it. Why more manufacturers don't make apparel like this, is beyond me. Windstopper N2S is typically far thinner than (most) softshell fabrics, thus it breathes better, packs smaller and is not too hot. In my book, you can't find a better clothing for summertime rock climbing in alpine surroundings or otherwise chillier days. Granted, these things don't come cheap, but they are worth every hard-earned cent.

Mountain Equipment Matrix. Ari Paulin 2008-10-06 Few year back I decided to replace my old and reliable bombproof Marmot Alpinist jacket with new hardshell. Finally I decided on Mountain Equipment Matrix, basically a Paclite shell with reinforcements of Gore-tex XCR. After experiencing its greatly enhanced breathability, reduced weight and bulk through simpler design, I doubt I'll ever go back to full-on armour-like shells. Granted, these things aren't as durable (which I experienced first hand by tearing mine with an ice axe pick during one less controlled slide during a walk-out). That being said, very few fabrics are particularly resistant against well-sharpened picks. Furthermore, light weight shells are also so much cheaper that I feel somewhat reduced longevity is justifiable for getting better function and added comfort.

I went to shopping spree after founding out that a film based on Joe Simpson's classic movie Touching the Void Kevin Macdonald is available on HD DVD as well. Clearly this was too good to pass, no matter that I already owned a copy on DVD. Although mountain footage would benefit greatly of High Definiton quality, there is very little climbing-related stuff available on HD. That being said, there is BBC's documentary movie Planet Earth , one episode of which contains beautiful mountain scenery. That being said, movie Vertical Limit is available in Blu-Ray. In it's unrealism it is either a very funny comedy (however unintended that is) or failed attemp at action/thriller.

There are several great articles by Andy Kirkpatrick available at his site PsychoVertical.com. It seems that book of the same name is in the works as well.

Andy collaborates with Climb Magazine, which currently offers host of articles for free divided in three sections:

• Articles
• Gear Reviews
• Mountain Info

To access those articles you have to registered though.

This winter has been extremely disappointing for us Finns willing to climb ice. Actually you pretty much need the calendar to know, that it, indeed, is mid winter, not early autumn as the weather has been plenty misleading. Should winters go on like this, retailers should probably forget about long screws and only stock 10 and 13 cm versions; there's not much use for the 16 or even 22 cm screws when your drink has more ice than local ice falls.

Lucky for me then, that since I happened to own a pair of recalled Petzl Sharken crampons, I decided to take single 10cm Petzl Laser Sonic ice screw as part of the compensation for returned crampons. I initially though that that screw wouldn't see much action. How wrong I was! This year I've placed it on most of my leads, to the point that I went on and bought another one, this time Black Diamond Express. Seems like American 10cm is more than 1cm shorter than the French one.

Although 10cm screws don't look like much, if you only have 10cm thick layer of ice, those certainly are the best options, much stronger than tied of 16 or 13 cm screws. Furthermore, fully sunk 10cm is way preferable to 13cm screw that made a little too close contact with underlaying rock. Saves plenty of money as well. Obviously quality of the ice is even more paramount to the strength of the placement than is the case with longer screws, though.

After reading some very interesting stories about the climbing life of Briton Mick Fowler, that can safely be described as eventful, not to mention hardcore, I decided it was time for me to buy his autobiography For brief foretaste, read the article The Secret Life of a Tax Collector: Climbing Mountains.

Turned out that buying that wasn't nearly as straight-forward as I expected. amazon.co.uk offered it for a bargain prize of £75.00. Most of my usual suspects don't seem to list that at all and those that do offer prices even higher than Amazon, culminating in thoroughly affordable $350.00 at Chessler Books. Surely it is supposed to be superb read according to reviews (eg. Vertical Pleasure), but $350 sure is steep. Finally I stumbled on Antiqbook, which offered it for much more reasonable € 29.50 + shipping. Not exactly affordable either, but not too astronomic.

Since I have recently employed quite a few web 2.0 techniques, I decided to continue the trend. This time around, I added mashup of sorts, namely I exported newly geo-tagged locations from Glockner Group page (Hohe Tauern) to Google Maps map and embedded that map to said Glockner group page.

While I was at it, I also implemented a couple more microformats, this time hCalendar and hAtom. This essentially forced me to employ tagging as well. Next time I feel the need to review something, its likely to mean the inclusion of hReview.

Finally, I fixed some bugs in RSS creation (change log), added tiles to index page entries, and changed the presentation of the said entries slightly.

I decided it was time to go more semantic by implementing microformats. In more exact terms, I implemented hCard (html vCard) to item list type, which I use to contain information about huts, hotels, lifts, tramways etc. The big idea behind hCard is to allow browser to recognize contact information on a web site so that it can be easily picked up and exported to vCard, common standard to store contact information that can be exported from and imported into common contact management applications, such as Microsoft Outlook or Google's gmail. Somewhat related, postal address works poorly in the mountains, therefore coordinates are much more usefull in locating huts etc. Especially if you use gps device. Luckily, there's microformat for that as well, namely geo. My own homebrew linking system seems to be not too far away from xfolk so I might change the site a bit so that it takes advantage of that as well.

• Microformats. The official microformats site. Contains the development wiki, mailing-list information and scripts to create the major microformats.
• Semantic web. At Wikipedia.

Forthcoming Firefox 3 and Internet Explorer 8 are likely the first browsers that can handle such microformats out-of-the-box. That being said, there are already plugins for current browsers, eg.

• Tails Export
• Operator

Parts of the site now has new layout based on the techniques and ideas behind 3 columns fluid layout by TJK design website relying on Faux Column technique and stylesheet branching to keep things compatible and manageable.

Being anal retentive tinker I am, I couldn't go with the solution as it was, of course. Instead I had to roll up my sleeves and incorporate some changes. As I get the rest of the kinks ironed out, the whole site will switch to new layout. After Ajax, RSS is the next web 2.0 technique employed by the site.

Pretty complete rework of info page. Most of the information is the same, but organization is improved and some more information is added. Also some of the dead links have been removed.

I added nice javascript code tablesort.js which uses Ajax technology to turn static tables into sortable ones. While I was at it, I also tweaked table css a bit to produce nicer looking table. Also, I couldn't resist adding title attribute to grade link to show link description as tooltip. All this is currently in action on 4000m peaks in the Alps.

On the climbing side, few Finnish climbers have been in Kunlun for a while, doing a couple of first ascents. Hats off! The expedition has a blog at: Kunlun2007.

I recently saw a document film called movie Farther Than the Eye Can See It’s a true story about blind climber summiting Everest. I have to say I was scared when watching him cross numerous crevasses using unstable ladders in Khumbu Icefall. Somebody once said that many of the most incredible feats were accomplished by people not smart enough to know they are impossible. After seeing the doc, I must admit there might be some truth to it.

Keeping to the theme, I was wondering whatever happened to Stephen Daldry’s film Everest. It’s filmatization of infamous 1996 incident on Everest (you know, that “Into Thin Air” deal)? The crew went to summit Everest few years back with several elite climbers acting as stuntmen (David Breashears, Ed Viesturs and Veikka Gustafsson among them). Gotta admire the strive for authentity.

book High Exposure It ranks very high on my list of best biographies, climbing related or otherwise. It’s full of interesting, and sometimes funny, anecdotes related to his previous filming projects. Best known of them being movie Everest (Imax) and movie Cliffhanger .

• High Exposure: An Enduring Passion for Unforgiving Places. The retelling of the 1996 Everest disaster, while not the focal point of the book, is indeed quite compelling and interesting, particularly if you have read any of the other first-hand accounts. However, it is almost a subplot and takes a back seat to the goal of Breashears's trip to film Everest for an IMAX movie. He succeeded in doing so, creating the highest grossing IMAX film in history. The story of how this was done, from both a technical and emotional viewpoint, is fascinating. The ability of his expedition to carry on in the face of so much death is quite moving. But, as Breashears himself said, I wanted to prove that Everest was in its grandeur an affirmation of life, and not a sentence to death. He succeeds in doing so, and in the process may move others to push themselves to their limits if not on Everest then perhaps in their daily lives. By Wes Breazeale at BookPage.

I did a pretty substantial change on a publishing side. Earlier details of books referenced in this page have been stored either directly in source document or in manually maintained xml-file that was used as central book database. While solving one of my requirements (reusable data), manually maintaining xml-file was not the most convenient of solutions to achieve this. I finally got bored to this and did something I had planned on doing for ages, namely switched over to real book collection management database. My choice of application for the need is Bookcat. It has neat features for data input, including internet lookup from various sources, nice lookup tables that help to standardize the way the data is stored, can store every piece of information I need and can export xml.

The latter makes it relatively easy to extract the data I need to be used on the site. Furthermore, it uses Microsoft Jet database engine (Access), which while not being too great a database fulfills one of my paramount requirements: it's open in a way that I can access the database directly to perform maintenance tasks using all sorts of SQL trickery should I need to. Furthermore, not being a big fan for doing the same tasks again, this makes it possible to transfer data to different database system should I want to do so at some point. Finally, this also makes it possible for me to write code that accesses data directly from the database rather than relying xml-export function.

Right now there is only one entry making use of Bookcat data, but now that I have all the code needed for this in place, it is just a matter of inputting the data in Bookcat, then replacing book data stored locally in source file with reference to books (I use isbn as key). Now, if only I could figure out a convenient way of reading xmp or iptc metadata from image files with xsl. Or failing that, creating xmp-sidecar files for images.