Discussion Topic |
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Roots
Mountain climber
Redmond, Oregon
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Apr 12, 2019 - 09:36am PT
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TFPU
LOL it's much higher now!
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RDB
Social climber
Great Basin
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 12, 2019 - 09:46am PT
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I still have this 55cm bamboo. Photo was 45 years ago!
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Apr 12, 2019 - 09:48am PT
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Absolute peanuts...a year ago a Mickey Mantle 1952 rookie baseball card in mint condition sold for $2.88 million...and just about as useful.
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RDB
Social climber
Great Basin
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 12, 2019 - 09:49am PT
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I was thinking 2.8 million might be useful.
$600.+ not so much.
$1400? That got my attention :)
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Nick Danger
Ice climber
Arvada, CO
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Apr 12, 2019 - 11:42am PT
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I broke the point off a Chouinard piolet and an alpine hammer, each about half way up a pitch of ice, so I have no love for these things at all. However, my 1970 BMW R75/5 is still going as strong and as reliable as ever. Some old tech is better than other old tech.
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Roots
Mountain climber
Redmond, Oregon
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Apr 12, 2019 - 12:27pm PT
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$1,400!! Yikes...but Donini is correct; it's just peanuts compared to what other collectibles go for.
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Fritz
Social climber
Choss Creek, ID
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Apr 12, 2019 - 12:41pm PT
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T Hocking! Per your question: Hey Fritz is that you selling it off?
Nope, but RDB has a collection that makes mine look pathetic. We did some climbing together back in the mid-70's, but he kept doing ice-climbing & big peaks, after I had a revelation that I was "gunna-die" if I kept doing alpinism.
My photo of RDB at a Mt. Deborah bivy back in 1976. Note the Chouinard Piolet in the background.
I've sold a couple of my wood piolets in the last two years & now I'm down to only 7, including my original, which I did a little refinishing on last year. Here's my beat to schist 1974 vintage 60 cm piolet & my bought in 1969 Stubai Nanga Parbat, my first ice axe.
Wow! $1400 for a Chouinard axe. Perfect & Mint unused, command a "Gud" price.
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SteveW
Trad climber
The state of confusion
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Apr 12, 2019 - 03:23pm PT
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Still got mine. Never give it up!!!!
I want it buried with me. . . oops, I'm gonna be smoked. What shud I do????
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Apr 12, 2019 - 03:26pm PT
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Hickory smoked will work nicely.
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AP
Trad climber
Calgary
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Apr 12, 2019 - 04:17pm PT
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So what was the first useful axe? I can remember owning a Forrest Lifetime in 1980(?) that was OK with the drooped pick.
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Lorenzo
Trad climber
Portland Oregon
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Apr 12, 2019 - 04:50pm PT
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If someone wants to buy my 70 cm Chouinard-Frost Piolet for$1,400 I’ll ship it free next day delivery.
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RDB
Social climber
Great Basin
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 12, 2019 - 06:41pm PT
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seemed useful at the time.. 1975?
http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.php?topic_id=2223904&tn=0&mr=0
"So what was the first useful axe?"
If you are talking water fall ice "as useful". Have to be Chouinard's piolet. Lowe and Weiss did Bridalveil with piolets and a north wall hammer in '73. Solid WI5+ / 6 even today. I think it is Will Gadd who says ice doesn't get any harder technically than 5+.
Nomic is just a very refined Terro if you are talking picks. Rooster was ahead of its time with knuckle protection and a "rest". Forrest Lifetime was just a copy of the Simond Chacal. Chacal was in many ways just an over grown Terro with a revered drop pick off a Chouinard Piolet.
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tradmanclimbs
Ice climber
Pomfert VT
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Apr 13, 2019 - 05:50am PT
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Simond Chakal 45cm with hammer was the best climbing ice tool of the early to late mid 80's
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Apr 13, 2019 - 07:12am PT
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^^^^^Footfangs too!
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RDB
Social climber
Great Basin
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 13, 2019 - 08:27am PT
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Simond Chacal was innovative in that the pick was a reverse curve and easier to clean. But in reality it was just an over grown version of the earlier McInnes-Peck Terrodactyl.
The Chacal and the latter adze version, the Barracuda, offered as technical advancement over earlier tools with replaceable, reverse curved picks, which all modern tools now use and the better durability. Improved shaft coverings for a better grip were also a step forward.
1st ascent of Bridalveil. Jeff Lowe and Mike Weiss did the first ascent (and FFA) of Bridalveil (WI6) with 70cm bamboo Piolets and a short, curved pick, north wall hammer in 1973.
Footfangs? I don't think Footfangs offered any advantage over Chouinard or SMC rigid crampons if you used a rigid soled boot. The advantage of a Footfang was you could use them with a shitty boot and still climb ice easy enough.
The advantage or disadvantage of vertical front point (Footfang) over horizontal front points is still argued today. Reality is, depends on the quality and temp of the ice which front point design works better at the moment.
If nothing else we have learned in the last 50 years that how well crampons are attached to the boot makes as much or more difference in crampon performance as nuances in the design.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Apr 13, 2019 - 10:02am PT
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Footfangs? I don't think Footfangs offered any advantage over Chouinard or SMC rigid crampons if you used a rigid soled boot. The advantage of a Footfang was you could use them with a shitty boot and still climb ice easy enough.
The advantage or disadvantage of vertical front point (Footfang) over horizontal front points is still argued today. Reality is, depends on the quality and temp of the ice which front point design works better at the moment.
If nothing else we have learned in the last 50 years that how well crampons are attached to the boot makes as much or more difference in crampon performance as nuances in the design.
THIS IS ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW! I love me some succinctness!
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tradmanclimbs
Ice climber
Pomfert VT
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Apr 13, 2019 - 11:50am PT
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INMOP foot fangs climbed about 50% better than my Chiounard rigids. I take it RDB perhaps has not been on the ice in awhile... New Cyborgs and the cassins that I have climb about twice as good as my Foot fangs did.....
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RDB
Social climber
Great Basin
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 13, 2019 - 01:35pm PT
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TMC sez I take it RDB perhaps has not been on the ice in awhile...
Au contraire laddy. I prefer Petzl (not the Lynx) or Grivel myself over BD shite. You might have noticed that Stinger failing at an inopportune moment :) But the Camp version is OK. Never liked the Footfang as it was too heavy and sucked on rotten Canadian ice. Anything current climbs better than those POS. Breaking is still a problem for stainless and BD in particular however. Stainless is a gimic...simply because it is the most recycled and cheap steel to source. Good boots back in the day like a Haderer or Koflach would help most crampons, and when fit correctly, climb better.
Been lucky enough to have climbed with most every brand name crampon, tool and decent ice boot in the last 10 years including all the current versions. Benefit of reviewing and designing ice gear.
But lots of choices today. Better crampon and tool designs. Most all of them will climb circles around our original gear from 40 years ago. Everyone gets an opinion on what works for them. Better gear and clothing is the major reason many of us old silver backs can still pull hard ice and mixed.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Apr 13, 2019 - 04:07pm PT
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Most all of them will climb circles around our original gear from 40 years ago.
After not climbing ice between 1995 and 2012 the most dramatic change was from my old Chouinard X-tools to any modern tool... and even though I climbed in modern crampons during the Ouray part of the trip, my old Footfangs did fine, as long as I had those modern axes.
My gut reaction was that ice climbing was more like climbing now... back then it was more like house construction.
If I actually lived near good ice I'd buy the best modern gear, but I climb rock most of the year at a very nice place to do that... and have to travel much farther (even in state) to get to ice.
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RDB
Social climber
Great Basin
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 13, 2019 - 05:28pm PT
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I get what you are saying Ed.
What I found interesting is the newest cold weather clothing in the last 20 years has made huge inroads as to what is possible on winter ice and mixed. More flexible, warmer, water/weather proof and drier. Add to that the drop in weight on boots, crampons (combined a big deal) and tools with the ability now to wear very light weight gloves in pretty cold temps because you can drop your hand and shake out when ever you please and still be very secure.
LWT boots with good ankle flexibility does make ice climbing more rock climbing like. It aint just about front points and strong calves these days.
Half of ice climbing and avoiding a pump is getting the tools out of a good placement and getting good screws in. Modern screws make that easy. Tools even more so for any one that remembers the bomber tool that you couldn't get out (or in on bad ice) or chopping out a Warthog or Snarg. The best of the modern screws are almost as easy to place and remove, as placing a mid size cam in a perfect crack.
No hammer required on ice these days. As TMC mentioned no third tools required. I've soloed climbs where I carried 2 full size spare tools. Haven't carried a spare in over a decade. Seen lots of broken crampons with some brand are worse than others. But they all break. Seen very few modern broken tools or picks world wide when I was still keeping track.
Moderate climbs like Polar Circus even in -20C temps today take 4 or 5 hrs. by moderately skilled climbers. While "the best" still struggled at a long 1 day ascent into the early '80s.
One only need to carry a small fraction of gear and clothing weight today, while being faster, warmer and safer while working less than you were obliged to carry/do on Polar Circus in '79.
Leashless tools are a huge part of that equation. Less pump, allows lighter clothing with even more warmth. Better boots, lower profile crampons, better screws, skinny ropes, all with better technology, add up to a truly amazing level of saved energy over all on ice/mixed and winter climbing these days.
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tradmanclimbs
Ice climber
Pomfert VT
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Apr 14, 2019 - 04:00am PT
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Sorry for doubting you. Your statement that new crampons wernt much better than the Chiounard rigids made me assume you had not tried the modern stuff.
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tradmanclimbs
Ice climber
Pomfert VT
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Apr 14, 2019 - 04:03am PT
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Ok. I re read that post and obviously i interpreted it as a statement that modern design was not that important or better...
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mastadon
Trad climber
crack addict
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Apr 14, 2019 - 06:44am PT
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It’s amazing what we could do with those things. Montana ice 1972.
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norm larson
climber
wilson, wyoming
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Apr 14, 2019 - 07:19am PT
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True. Here is apicture of me at 19,000 feet in South America in 1979. New Zero north wall, SMC crampons, Terray boot, Whillans harness, Alaskan wool shirt, wool knickers, no helmet, Lowe pack...all sate of the art back then.
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RDB
Social climber
Great Basin
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 14, 2019 - 09:16am PT
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It’s amazing what we could do with those things.
all state of the art back then
Great photos guys! Thanks for adding them. Still amazes me how true both statements are.
Early on while working a crampon design project I took everything from SMC rigids and Chouinard Salewa clip-ons (not foot fangs because I thought the design premise dead), Chouinard/Salewa flexiable, and current versions of the Grivels (G12 and something I don't recall off hand), Petzl Darts/Dart twins and several older Black Diamonds (pre stainless) to Professors in Banff and ran laps on the first 5 pitches. Boots I used were a pair of old white Kolfachs first and then in a pair of the then new Batura. A lot of climbing, done quickly just as a comparison. Quarks were the hand tools.
I've since written a lot about how crampons should fit. Likely the most important thing I leaned about crampons from that effort. The toe bales and levers were literally the only thing that really needed improving. Rigid soled boots make a big difference on how a crampon climbs. As does the crampon design to make it "rigid" on the boot sole. But everyone making crampons had most of that figured out a while back.
It has taken decades to get back to the support of a Kolfach and a SMC rigid when fit right. But in other ways there was too much support in a plastic boot...like limited ankle flex. But as hard as it might be to believe the most recent Scarpa and La Sportiva boots (and other brands as well) with carbon fiber mid soles can climb as well or better. Many of the hinged crampons will act just like a rigid crampon climbing but way less likely to break all at the same time, if the steel construction is equal. Garbage in means garbage out on the quality of steel.
When it comes to ice climbing gear I don' always think the "new" version is better. I once had a long chat with a design engineer on how and why he was makin the prototypes I was climbing on. Much to my surprise and chagrin the engineer didn't climb. His connection to the climbing world was an string of email conversations with a very talented and "young" ice climber. So the tools they were developing were very specific to the tastes of that particular climber and the types of climbing he enjoyed. Nice tool, just didn't work for the majority of the buying market.
That tool was a commercial failure and eventually went through a major redesign.
Donini mentioned early "just about as useful" on the Chouinard piolet design.
Interesting comment only because of the source. The Piolet's design was proven capable from day one. Only the materials were lacking. But anyone who climbed with a bamboo tool surely found them very natural and secure to climb on anything but the steepest ice with.
Sure there are easier tools to climb with now. A Nomic or X Dream are faster, safer and stronger. But they are also limited by design as to use. A decent piolet will get you up most things in the mountains.
Rock climbing in general has gotten safer, less bold (Honnold being the rare exception). Cams, bolts, sticky rubber, helmets.
Ice climbing as well, with modern tools, modern screws, thin ropes, helmets.
Both types of climbing get laced with pro these days. Hanging on gear precludes needing the skill and strength to actually climb a pitch. Different games than the '70s for sure. Not better or worse, just different, as are the players for the most part.
One of the ice climbing pioneers, from the 1930's I think, said, "where there is snow one can go"
That has not changed and is even more true today. But something to be admired IMO of your only gear being a good pair of boots and a decent piolet (or pair of modern tools) to get things done in the mtns.
Gear used on the 2nd and 1st one day ascent of Slip Stream.
Slipstream on Snow Dome courtesy of Chris Scharf Photography. There is a team on the last step.
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norm larson
climber
wilson, wyoming
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Apr 14, 2019 - 10:04am PT
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Of all the changes in ice gear the one I appreciate the most are the screws. That changed the game instantly.
We all thought snargs were the greatest when they first appeared, anything was better than the screws of the day, then we quickly found all their limitations in the real world. Imagine climbers of today still having to twist in a screw with their ice tool whenever they wanted pro. No wonder so many thought ice climbing was to hard back then. Remember having to put Salewa screws inside your shirt to melt them out so you could use them on the next pitch?
Nice picture of Slipstream. Always wished I had done that one. So aesthetic.
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RDB
Social climber
Great Basin
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 14, 2019 - 10:26am PT
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Right on Norm. I remember using one of Fritz's wart hogs and not being able to get it in and then even harder to chop out. I think I broke the tip off finally. Re-sharpened it and we kept using it. Or the Salewa tubes that had to be pounded on enough to get them warm to just go into really cold Canadian. Inside the shirt? Remember the new "high tech" of a slotted screw that you could actually clean with the pick of your tool by cleaning the slot? Using a piolet as a screw driver or later the ratchet and the bigger tube screws?
I want to forget about using conduit for pro and rapping :)
On a trip to Canada we took one of every screw then on the market. The Grivel Helix changed my life :)
Thanks! Chris Scharf was nice enough to share them with me. Here is another.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Apr 14, 2019 - 10:30am PT
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Can’t wait for the new lithium powered screws that melt their way in and out and self-clean!
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RDB
Social climber
Great Basin
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 14, 2019 - 10:49am PT
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Can’t wait for the new lithium powered screws that melt their way in and out and self-clean!
Newest aluminum tubes and steel cutting tips, Ti coated aren't far off :)
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Apr 14, 2019 - 11:17am PT
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Looking at the image of Slipstream with the belayer in the shadows just evokes my warm feelings for modern clothing. I agree that this has been a game changer for ice climbing, an activity I describe to my non-climbing friends as "climbing by hugging an giant icicle all day."
The mantra "wool is warm even when wet" still circulates in my head, though nowadays I don't have a lot of that old wool to wear. Silk base layers were disappointing, more of a fashion statement in a place where survival was more important than fashion.
It struck me once on a long walk back to the car one New Hampshire night when we had waited for friends to finish up and return down the Lion's Head (that particular time they were so late we didn't know if they were returning, I was rehearsing what I'd be telling one friend's mother).
Lost in my angry little world (the other climber had never ice climbed, and apparently learned going up Pinnacle Gully for their first, something I thought was irresponsible at the time) I realized that as cold as it was outside, my single layer of expedition Capeline, less than a quarter inch thick, was at body temperature on one side and the sweat was freezing on the other, keeping me more than comfortably warm.
I was, in fact, overdressed with that one garment, which was a mind expanding.
The purple and white Koflachs were great for climbing, they weren't great to hike in though, except for the feature that you could shed the inner boot and use the outers for fording threaded rivers of icy cold glaciers in the wayback.
In fact, the only new things I bought for my recent outings into the cold steep were clothing and boots...
...but my ancient Patagonia down "sweater" was at my side, as usual for ice climbing, to keep the belays, like the one in the image above, a bit warmer than they would otherwise be, perhaps if I weren't old and slow I'd not have needed even that artifact.
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norm larson
climber
wilson, wyoming
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Apr 14, 2019 - 11:35am PT
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Conduit, I did forget about that. I told an electrian friend of mine what we used it for. He said “YOU WHAT!!”
I rember rapping down Alpamayo on all sorts of conduit and broken homemade pickets. Then the screw fell out of my crampon and the front points turned into out the side points.
Somehow I’m here to talk about it though.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Apr 14, 2019 - 11:44am PT
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^^^and camera gear!
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tradmanclimbs
Ice climber
Pomfert VT
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Apr 14, 2019 - 05:14pm PT
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Norm. that is a sick shot of you in South America. I also feel the screws were the game changer. the newest trend in crampons that I feel is very helpful is the extra long secondary points though Grivel had that at least as far back as the late 90's/ early 2000s? Rambocomps.
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norm larson
climber
wilson, wyoming
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Apr 14, 2019 - 06:16pm PT
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Thanks Tradman. Yeah screws and then crampon design. Automatic step in crampons sure made getting going in the morning much easier and quicker on an alpine stance.
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tradmanclimbs
Ice climber
Pomfert VT
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Apr 14, 2019 - 06:58pm PT
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the absolute biggest deal was the screws, then the comfy grips with knuckle protectors. foot fangs were good enough but heavy.
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RDB
Social climber
Great Basin
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 14, 2019 - 08:27pm PT
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Some serious history here :)
from:
http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.php?topic_id=382806&tn=380
by "Wee Jock" aka Gordon Smith
"Jan 30, 2009 - 04:50am PT
Hi chaps, Mr Accamazzo in particular. I started ice-climbing with a Chouinard Frost - 60cm with a very pale wood handle(hickory or ash??) and a dinky little Salewa ice hammer (T shaped cross section for the pick!) Climbed things like the Chancer and Devil's Delight and Point Five and Zero and they worked fine. For me, though, Terrors were the bees knees ... great except for the bashed knuckles. If you got the rather odd swing correct - a downward pull with the knuckles hammering the ice - they worked great. Did the 2nd ascent of Bridalveil with your Mr Shea using terrors - that was fat, steep ice, was it not? Pick was way too soft, mind, and wore out very quickly. They had a tendency to stick, so we sharpened the top edges of the picks to 'cut' up and out. The axe was brilliant for going over the top of a bulge into powder snow but too light for hard ice. Often we carried two hammers and an axe, or at least THEY did - the folk with any money (not me). In 1978 I got hold of THE prototype Chacal from Luger Simond - He was going to make a straight drooped pick but I held the shaft of the axe while he cut holes in an ordinary curved pick blank reversed. Then he cut teeth and changed the angle of the end of the pick to make a point to penetrate the ice and lo, the first reversed banana pick. Worked brilliantly!! I still have my Dachstein mitts from the mid seventies, though I had to fight off the wife when she wanted to wear them to paint the house walls! Best mitts ever!!
Gordon Smith"
Look up the "wee jock" user name. Stuff is a lot like Jello's, Bachar's and some of the others posting here for historical importance.
How did the Chacel make it around the world in short order...and was used by the very best from every country? In the summer of 1980 at the Rassemblement International, a bi-annual event held in Chamonix, France, Simond gave every climber in attendance a Chacal and a rather traditional axe. Done deal at that point :)
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tradmanclimbs
Ice climber
Pomfert VT
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Apr 15, 2019 - 03:36am PT
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I was still climbing with my Chakal and a cassin anteres knock off chakal in 99..
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steve shea
climber
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Apr 15, 2019 - 07:53am PT
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I used terrors as well in those days. Two hammers and carried a short axe for backup, adze work and descending. Some of us got connected with Charlet in our Chamonix days and got customized Gabbarou Cascade tools which worked pretty well. I ditched the Chouinards after breaking some; ditto with the useless Hummingbirds. Birds were especially bad if you hit even a pebble, too soft at the tip edge yet felt brittle imho.
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pacyew
Social climber
Fall City WA
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Apr 15, 2019 - 10:50am PT
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Sometime in ‘75 (‘76?) North Face opened a retail store in downtown Seattle. I dropped by as they were still organizing. In the pile of unorganized stock I spotted two NOS ‘72 version 80 cm hickory Chouinard Piolets, still in their plastic bags. I bought them (only were two) and sold them to a couple of my old school climbing partners. Upon request I cut one down to 70cm and the other to 75. The 70 went to Mt. St. Elias, Peru and beyond and last I saw it the pick was much shorter. The 75 is sitting in a living room in Bremerton in company with a bunch of other fine wooden axes of “the era”.
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RDB
Social climber
Great Basin
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 15, 2019 - 04:27pm PT
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When we went to the alps in late Sept '78 I took a terro adze and hammer and a bomb proof Forrest axe. Never much liked the Forest axe but the later lifetime tools were excellent. My partner took a 50 Zero and a Terro hammer.
First day out, just before sunrise and prior to the Hinterstoisser my partner dropped half our rack. I thought..that aint good but we should still be OK. Lots of old fixed gear where it is needed anyway. A few pitches later he chucks his beloved Zero off and away with a good screaming fit. Fumble fingers that morning I guess.
I'd left the Terro adze at the tent in the meadow. A dozen or so raps later and we escaped the wall through the Stollenloch window. Which was a trip all in itself.
Back at the tent and a night on flat ground, I dug out my adze, offered up my Forrest as a replacement and was ready to head back up prior first light. Then he broke a molar on a bit of Baguettes. I am beginning to wonder if the trip is doomed :)
A trip into town, the tooth gets fixed and we head back to Cham. I walk into to Snell's looking for another bamboo Zero. Only to find overly long (70 and 80cm) bamboo tools left in the sale bin. They were cheap. I brought three home. Spent literally my last cash on hand paying duty on them @ SEATAC. I eventually cut, what I didn't sell. But by '79 I wasn't using them on technical ice. They were fun to guide volcanos with. Gary Silver (rip) my partner for the 2nd Ascent of Slipstream in '80 did use a 55 bamboo piolet (basic single tooth model) and 1st Gen alpine hammer as his tools that day. Last I used a wooden shafted axe on steep ice was leading all of Takakkaw with a 50 Zero with a Chacal climbing with Kop.
Hard now to appreciate just how fragile those early tools were by comparison to how badly we beat up a modern tool mix climbing.
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Fritz
Social climber
Choss Creek, ID
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Apr 15, 2019 - 07:09pm PT
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RDB: After 6 years of occasional, but sometime abusive use, my 1974 Chouinard Piolet pick had nearly been filed to the first notch. Happily, I never broke a pick off, which did happen to others while climbing ice.
My axe vs a nearly unused Chouinard Piolet pick. Note how close the edge of the pick is, to the first notch.
My axe in the middle.
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RDB
Social climber
Great Basin
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 15, 2019 - 11:24pm PT
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Hey Fritz. That is a well used axe and a life well lived! I still have my original that went to Deborah with us.
I look at my Nomics now and hardly ever sharpen them. The mixed climbing on granite just grinds them down all on its own. I get to the first tooth and generally buy a new pick for ice and keep using the old ones until they are nubbins. But I don't take a file to them much. How things have changed!
Same axe a couple of months after Deborah on Liberty Cap with clients. Piolet and Terro and Jensen with the same "Alaskan" shirt :)
My Dad was a pretty good welder so he rebuilt my tip a few times at the end of the guiding season each year. After he passed away I used his rig and tried that trick myself. I'm not that good of welder. I need to find someone that actually knows what they are doing and have it rebuilt again. It is pretty messed up now :) I'd like it to at least look pretty hanging on the wall.
Rebuild, before I "fixed it". Worked good for the limited use it was getting.
Last time I used it guiding on Cascade (may be '78?) I heard a snap in the handle trying to get it out with too much force and I now have a small crack in the bamboo on the lower end on the tang. Not bad but pretty much retired the axe at that point unless it was just a snow slog.
I always liked the feel of the wood until a hot, sticky trip off Rainier where I needed to bang my crampons both sides every step. (can we say anti bots now?) Bad enough on the upper steep section from the crater down I was willing to offer up my favorite axe to keep my tired conga line from a long slide down the hill. It took a toll on the bamboo. I sanded it back down some to get rid of the worst of it, filled the holes with wood putty and sealed it all up again with linseed oil.
One of the last trips boot legging Rainier ('88?) I used a then new Chouinard carbon fiber version. With the same liberally wrapped cotton athletic take and glue to seal it up as I had always done to the bamboo.
Found this old photo of that trip yesterday. Made me laugh. My partner in crime there is the same fool that tried to sell you the delaminated axe recently. He had no clue, felt bad and owed me some. So I have it now. With our tights back in the day it is no wonder be became a comedian and moved to London :)
All good memories.
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