Zwarte Pieten in Utrecht

This week has been pretty busy. Last week of the month, although there is still Monday as the last day, but most of the work was done. What can I say—STRESS. I’m gonna need some spa weekenders.

Anyway, I was in Rotterdam meeting an old friend. Rotterdam isn’t really my cup of tea but I’ll reserve this as a separate topic, soon. Another weekend highlight is the birthday of my nichtje, and we are not over yet with the Dutch family birthday season. This is going strong until mid January! lol

And today Sunday, I initially planned on going to the Fluweelengrot Christmas market in Valkenburg, Limburg but thought I’ll pass for now so spent the afternoon shopping in Utrecht instead for Sinterklaas, which is already next weekend. Time fly so fast, I’m still in the November mode.


I came across a band of Zwarte Pieten in Hoog Catharijne (ugly mall which I believe will soon be renovated or demolished as part of a bigger plan, I prefer to shop along the Oudegracht and surroundings anyway). As per Dutch tradition these zwarte pieten are elves, Sinterklaas avid helpers and they are black from the soot, from crawling in and out of chimneys.


Check out the cute little kids enjoying the zwarte pieten... I think kids enjoy Sinterklaas because of Zwarte Piet, toch?

I know there is a mad vicious cycle *ad nauseam* (yawn) debate amongst foreigners here in the Netherlands that happens yearly around November until 5 December on the subject of Zwarte Piet (Black Piet): Racism or Not? Honestly, I think some people are just damn too sensitive. We are in Holland for Christ's sake, traditions practiced here are obviously not the same from where we are from. The key here is placing things and in this case—events and places, in proper perspective.

Personally, I don’t see any issue on the rambunctious Zwarte Piet. He is fun actually and the kids adore him to pieces, more than Sinterklaas.
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Blue Flower

This photo is one that my email friend Cindy took in her yard in England. It is so nice I had to share it. I just love the blue color and the composition and lighting. You can see more of Cindy's photos on her blog at http//cindyssnaps.blogspot.com or go right to them on my links list.

More Balloons

Nomic, Quark and Ergo low profile Hammers?

"Colin Haley photo of Bjørn-Eivind Årtun on their new route, Dracula, Mt Foraker, June ."



Finally!



At Bjørn-Eivind Årtun's suggestion afterhissuccessful '10 Alaskan season, we have redesigned the C-T Nomic hammer to make it even lighter with a 4mm hammer face instead of the previous 7mm face. The new hammer will also fit the newest Petzl Nomic, Quark or Ero tool heads and the newest picks cut for a hammer or adze. The hammer face is thinner to shave some weight andbalance betterbut the hammer still gives complete coverage to the back of the Nomic.



We areFINALLY shipping them AGAIN!



























This hamemr will fit the previous and current production Nomic, the new Quark and the new Ergo.

With the 7mm hammer Ipreferred aone hammer set up. The newest 4mm hammers have changed that. The balance is betterwith the 4mm hammers.A technical tool like the Nomic will never be ideal for pounding pins (that won't change) because of their large clearance of the handle shape, but our smaller profile hammers certainly make it a lot easier and save the head of the tools from damage. They are easy to attach with perfect fit and finish.



The C-T makes the newstQuark an even better (sweet!) tool for all technical climbing.



For long committing alpine climbs they are a minimalistic option that works. On the scrappy mixed route where you need to pound the occasional pin or your own tool, they work.



Our current 4mm hammers *easily* fit the newest picks from Petzl. They are CNC machined from bar stock chromoly steel and then heat treated to hammer hardness and hand finished in our shop.



Not all Petzl heads are created equally. I have found a few that require very minor hand fitting the pick and hammer with a file. It won't take much and is easy to do. If you can sharpen a pick any fitting required will be easy. The new Petzl picks require cutting the back off the hammer interface from .15" to .04" on the bolt hole. Again easily done with a hand file. Just cut enough material to line up the bolt hole on hammer and pick. You want to be just shy of the bolt hole when done. Way easier than it looks or sounds.









Hammers are$60 ea. These willfit the current production picks and is now even lighter with a 4mm hammer face...@30g per hammer and much easier to fit than the Petzl offering



Buy them now while I have them in stock and ready to ship. We do fourproduction runs a year and generally sell every run out before the next.



More here:



http://coldthistletools.blogspot.com//08/ice-climbing-gear.html

The Russell Moccasin Co. and minimalist running shoes?

The Munson Army Last has been around since 1912. -Named after its inventor, Edward Luman Munson, A.M., -M.D., Lt. Col. Medial Corps, United States Army, the Munson Army Last was adopted by the U.S. Army to enhance the fit and comfort of military boots issued to soldiers. The Munson Army Last was and is one of the few lasts that ever approached normal feet shape and contour.





It was the view and understanding of Dr. Munson, way back then, that “Weakening of the foot muscles is one of the penalties of civilization, as walking is less and less a factor in locomotion....the introduction of railroads, street cars and automobiles, has materially interfered with foot development.”



http://www.russellmoccasin.com/munson_last.html











"I did an hour hike up and down a back-country ski trail the other day in a custom pair of minimalist shoes. Packed snow, nine degrees Fahrenheit, and my feet were toasty the whole way. They have no heel lift, no cushioning, an anatomically correct design, and are the only shoes I've found other than FiveFingers where I can actually splay my toes; they have excellent traction. No need for snow shoes, or Yaktrax.





A new start-up minimalist shoe company? Nope, this company has been making minimalist footwear for over 100 years. It's the Russell Moccasin Co. of Berlin, Wisconsin, and the shoe in question was produced for me as a prototype after a conversation with the 80-year old owner.



Like many of us, after starting to wear Vibrams on a regular basis, I realized that traditional shoes were no longer going to cut it. I'd been able to find decent, but not great, alternatives for office wear, but the one problem remaining was cold weather. How to get a boot that would be suitable for hiking in the winter in snow and on ice? After a good deal of research, I found that the Russell Moccasin Co. makes custom boots, and some of them sounded close to what I was looking for."



More here:



http://www.russellmoccasin.com/product_reviews/minimalist_footwear.html



I suspect a few are now beginning to think I have lost my mind :)



I and my family have a long history with the Russel Moccasin Co. So if you have ever wondered where my shoe fetish started, it was here while in the 2nd grade.



I could go on but I'll leave that for the Q&A session in the comments that are sure to follow. If you are a minimalist runner I suspect you'll like what Russel has been doing with shoes and boots for years. For the rest of your it might take a bit of wrangling to wrap your head around the need let alone the actual shoes/boots Russel offersand their cost.



There isn't much footwear that gives Dane "happy feet". A custom pair of Russels is one of my definitions of the term. But until just the last few days I had never thought about actually just running in them. I have used them for everything else and in conditions that would never makes sense if you didn't know more about the construction of Russel's entire line of footwear.



But "just running" in them makes a lot of sense if you are into a minimalist running shoe. Which Ihave been, long before the Nike Free or Vibram 5 Finger.







If you ever wondered what tight rock shoes or rigid soled mountaineering boots were doing to your feet this is a good read. Dr. Edward Luman Munson's observations from 100 years ago:http://www.archive.org/details/soldiersfootmili00munsrich

Aspen Meadows

Ice tool umbilicals

The Joke Slinger, on the BD Spinner leash, Jan. , the Cascades.



With the invention and popularity of leashless climbing, a once condemmed and decades old climbing tool has come back. While they are not mandatory, they are in vogue. It has been over 35 years since I saw the first pair of umbilicals in use.







Author's umbilicals of 9/16" webbing being used on a quick ascent of Polar Circus in the winter of 1979.

Gregg Cronn photo



Back in the late '70s and into the early '80s umbilicals were looked upon as a weak man's crutch. Mostly thought of as something the Canadians used (but never really did much) to aid sections of rotten, cold and really steep ice. We can blame all that on Bugs McKeith inventing the idea of ice aid while putting up some of today's modern classics, like Nemisis and Polar Circus. Just two among his many, many difficult ice climbs. Most visiting American climbers thought they were way ahead of the game by not using umbilicals while running up the first "free" ascents of the Canadian test pieces. Few outside Canada really made the "first free" ascents many claimed. Canadians had already been there on most of them and didn't fight back the cat calls.



No Internet back in the day so info was often sketchy and incomplete or just a fubar rumor. It was hard to keep track. Of course not every one used umbilicals even back then. But a few did. 1st and 2nd ascents of Slipstream did.



Jim Elzinga photo of John Lauchlan on the 1st ascent of Slipstream



They were not used for aid or for hanging to place screws. Although when required you could do either. The real use was to save your ass if you happen to fall. Hopefully an umbilical would keep you on the ice. BITD leads were long and run out. Ice screws could be hard, difficult or just plain impossible to get in, depending on the ice and out side temps. Weighting your umbilicals is a way to save the 2nd's strength while pulling screws if you can deal with that idea ethically today.No one sane thought the idea of falling with tools and crampons OK. Falling on the old gear generally required a hospital stay or worse.



Once I switched from Chouinard curved tools to a set of Terrodactyls for technical ice I seldom climbed without at least one umbilical attached to my harness or swami. As the tools changed the old umbilicals generally went straight on the new tools. Big jumps from Terros, Clog, Chacal, Pulsar.Pretty simple change as mine were just a set of tied 9/16" nylon tube webbing.



The first manufactured umbilicals I saw..years later ('05) ... where done up by Grivel. The "Grivel, Double Sping Leash" with a mini wire gate "biner" specifically designed for the task. While leashless tools really hadn't caught up with the possibilities yet, Grivel umbilicals were seen on some pretty amazing climbs often used by climbers sponsored by competing tool companies. The umbilical had finally "arrived". But no one outside a tiny circle of hardcore alpine climbers really knew it yet. A quick Goggle Images search will get you photos of Steve House, Marko Prezelj, Raphael Slawinski and a host of others using both the Grivel and BD umbilicals on hard alpine climbs all through the new millenium.



I worry more about dropping a leashless tool, than I do falling off. But when you can protect yourself from both mistakes it makes sense to ante up and use that protection. More than one really good climber has poked fun at me because of my support of umbilicals. More climbs and climbers I admire used umbilicals and have been suggesting you do as well.



Ueli Steck, Grand Jorasses, record speed solo, Jan '09. Jon Griffin photos









Easiest way to get yourself a pair of umbilicals is by reading Dave's web site and making your own. Good stuff!!



http://www.alpinedave.com/leashless_rig.htm

Alpine Dave photo



The second way is buy a pair of the commercially made ones.



Grivel offers several versions and Black Diamond offers their "Spinner" unit.

For what it costs to make a "good" pair of umbilicals both Black Diamond and Grivel offer real value imo.









Here is some detail on what I use and my observations.



Grivel was my first commercial set. I was lucky enough to get the original Grivel 3KN mini biner version with a girth hitch atatchment. Not a big fan of the mini locking version out now. Or a biner attachment to the harness. Good elastic and webbing that attaches to the harness by a girth hitch (small loop is passed through harness belay loop and tails are feed back through and out the small loop cinching tight on the belay loop) Very simple. Length is shorter than some seem to like but if I sit down on the leashes (6'1 and normal ape index) at full extention for both tools the Grivel leash will allow my tools to be out of reach. Just barely so, but still out of reach. It is durable.







Black Diamond had dozens of Spinner Leash prototypes out the last couple of years for real world testing and feedback. Again I was lucky enough to get a pair of those and used them a lot. Better yet for good feedback, I let all my partners use them.







Only thing I can see that has changed in the Spinner leash is the over all length has been shortened on the current version. I've seen current reviews commenting that the BD Spinner leash set up is now too short. Trust me? The Spinner IS NOT too short for anyone under 6'8" and a huge ape index that I know! The "too short" comment doesn't make sense unless the reviewer is mistakenly writing about a short early prototype? Mine on full extention are a full 2 feet past what I can reach.

If you happen to fall on the Spinner you'll have some work cut out for you getting back to your tools. The Grivel set up is managable but only just. The Spinner will make you work for a living it you weight it unprepared. But if you are using the most modern ice climbing techniques you should be stacking your tools on top of each other which should help. You'll need the extra reach to accomplish that and still have only a short fall for your Spinner to catch. It is a tough balancing act to get the right umbilical length and still get it to do everything required of it.

If you need to weight your tools intentionally, you had better stack them or you'll not be able to reach a tool using either brand name.While I like simple and wasn't impressed with the swivel of the Spinner originally, everyone else that used mine was. I bought and had a chance to use a pair of the Blue Ice Boa leasheswhile I was here in Chamonix. Liked themenough I have set my old Grivel's aside and am using the Boa now full time.

I like they pull test @550 daN or 1236 lbf. No one else committing to over 800 lbs. BD says 800# but the UIAA test is 450# which is what theBD and Grivel is rated at, so why bother? Because in climbing gear, more weight, "more better" (strength wise)generally.



More info here:

http://www.blueice.com/en/products/boa-leash

Now available in NA here:



http://coldthistle.blogspot.com//04/blue-ice-again.html











I try to climb smart and if a technical ice tool goes in my pack so does a umbilical system. See ya out there!



Steve House on the top of the Italian Route, Taulliraju (5830m), first free ascent, three-day roundtrip, with Marko Prezel 2005 (Prezel photo)