Exploring by Bike: Alternative to Touring

While I both travel and cycle a great deal, I have come to the conclusion that bicycle touring is not for me. This is not to say that I have anything against bicycle touring at all; it sounds like fun for those who enjoy it, and I love reading others' accounts of it. But it does not appeal to me personally for the same reason I've never liked touring in general: I am not satisfied passing through places. For instance, the idea of touring Ireland - that is, trying to see as much of the island as possible by going from town to town - would leave me feeling disoriented and empty. I enjoy getting to know a place, connecting to it in some way. And I don't feel that I can do that via sight seeing and moving on.






The way I see bicycle touring, is that it is first and foremost about traveling by bike. But what if we want to delve deeper rather than go further? Exploring by bicycle could be a rewarding alternative.






My idea of exploring involves choosing a location of significance, and committing to staying there for whatever length of time is sufficient in order to feel settled. For me that means a minimum of a week. The key is then to have something to do there other than sightseeing in of itself. A work-related project. An artistic, literary or research pursuit. Relatives or friends to visit. Something that anchors me to the place and provides an occupation.






Long ago I've noticed that when we approach a trip as a vacation, we expect the place we are visiting to entertain us. But that approach cannot possibly reveal what this place is truly like. For that we need to actually experience it in a real-life setting, as a temporary resident with a purpose rather than as a tourist. We will still get to see all the sights while there, but everything we see will attain a far greater sense of context and personal meaning.





We will also be much more likely to notice nuances that might have otherwise evaded us.







So where does the bicycle come into all of this? Well, to me the bicycle makes an ideal tool for exploring, in that it allows me to set my own pace and to vary that pace spontaneously. I can go as fast or as slow as I like. I can cover long distances or I can ride around in circles. I can carry all that I need with me for the day, transitioning easily between cycling for the sake of cycling, exploring, and transportation. On my first day on the Antrim coast my travel radius was tiny, but I rode quite a bit. Another day I might find myself 50 miles from my home base.





On my bike, I can feel the landscape open up and reveal itself to me as it never does with any other mode of transportation. I can also ride to the grocery store - or to the pub, or to the library, or to a meeting, or to a friend's house.







The bike allows me to feel at home, comfortable, and entirely independent in the place I am exploring and I couldn't ask for more. Maybe I will tour some day. But for now I prefer to stay put and go deep. The bicycle is as perfect of a companion for this kind of travel as it is for touring. The possibilities are endless.

Father of Eva Rupert :: Is it John or Adam?

Online trees are certainly a “mixed bag” when it comes to reliable information but sometimes you find a gem that provides a clue or lead to follow-up on. Such was the case with the WorldConnect database of another descendant of Conrad and Eva/Eve (Rupert) Yarian. Her parents were given as John and Barbara Rupert and it had a source for her baptism - the Lower Bermudian Church in Adams County, Pennsylvania.



From her modern gravemarker in Unity Brick Church Cemetery, Columbiana County, Ohio we know that Eve was born on December 21, 1786. In addition, the 1850 census gives her age as 64, and in 1860 she is 75 years old. In both census records (Unity Township, Columbiana County) her birthplace is given as Pennsylvania.





Photo taken September 19, .. by Becky Wiseman

A resource I had found in the early days of my research (forgotten but recently reviewed) was a short typewritten manuscript titled “Some Descendants of Mathais Jurian” (compiled by Miss Cecil M. Smith, Hollis, New York, no date) It has two slightly conflicting dates for Eve's birth. On page 6 her birth is given as December 24, 1786 while on the next page it is given as December 21, 1786. It also states that Eve was born in born York County, Pennsylvania. (Keep in mind that in 1800, Adams County was formed from part of York.)



A search of the Library Catalog showed that the 1943 typescript “Church record of the Reformed & Lutheran congregation at Bermudian, Latimore Township, Adams County, Pennsylvania, 1745-1864” by William John Hinke was available on microfilm.





The last entry on page 21 shows [Infantes] Eva b. Dec 21, 1786 bapt. --------, 1787[Parents] Hannes Rubbert and Barbara, [Testes] John Adam Rubbert and Margaret



Having looked for these people “out there” on the internet recently, I've found a lot of conflicting information. It seems some researchers think that John Adam Rupert and John Rupert are one and the same person. Of course, without further research into Pennsylvania records I can't say conclusively that this Hannes Rubbert (John) with wife Barbara and John Adam Ruppert with wife Margaret shown here in Adams County, Pennsylvania are the same individuals who lived in Columbiana County, Ohio. But I can say that Hannes and John Adam are definitely two separate individuals!





The first entry on page 22 is the birth of Johannes born Nov. 9, 1786 to Johannes Adam Ruppert and Margaretha with witnesses Hannes Ruppert and Barbara.



The fifth entry on that page (the last entry on the scan) is the birth of Anna Catharina born Febr. 23, 1789, bap. Apr. 13, 1789 with parents Adam Rubbert and Margaretha and witnesses Henrich Flliker and Christina.



Other family trees on the net (from some of the researchers who don't subscribe to the premise that John and Adam are the same person) show four brothers - Adam, John, Martin and Michael Rupert - with unknown parents. The first three reportedly all ended up in Columbiana County, Ohio at the about the same time.





This record is from page 71 of the Bermudian Church Records showing the birth of a son Johannes on Jan. 29, 1780 bapt. on May 14, 1780 to Martin Rupert and Elisabeth with witnesses being Peter Arnold and Margret. Is Martin one of the four brothers?





On page 73 we have the birth of Jacob on June 1, 1782 bapt. June 23, 1782 with parents Johannes Ruppert and Barbara and witnesses Georg Hermann and Apollonia.





On page 74 of the Bermudian Church Records is the birth of Salome on Nov. 5, 1782 and bapt. in 1783. Her parents were Johannes Ruppert and Barbara with witnesses being Felix Thiel and Elisabeth. As a side note, this record was on a page with births for both 1782 and 1783. It is highly unlikely that Salome was born in November 1782 if Jacob was born in June of the same year. This is a transcription of the church book so the record could have been copied incorrectly or the church cleric could have inadvertently written the wrong year.





As a final “exhibit” from the Bermudian Church Records is page 101 listing the “Communicants, 18th Sunday after Trinity, 1787.” In the first column at number 23 is Johannes Rubbert, number 24 is Barbara, wf. In the second column is number 30, Adam Rubbert.



Among other sources that I reviewed on microfilm (No. 317346) at the Family History Library was “Wills of Columbiana, Mahoning and Trumbull counties” compiled by Henry R. Baldwin, no publication date. I didn't find a will listed for John Rupert but did find an abstract for that of Adam Rupert.





This is a snapshot taken with the camera. The record refers to Book 10 page 376 with a year of 1838. Heirs of Adam Rupert were his wife Margaret, sons John and Adam, daughters Catherine married John Sheets, Margaret married Adolph Saschtebergen, Mary married John Snoke (Snook), Elizabeth married Henry Sentzenisen. Grandchildren (Sentzenhisen) May, John, Daniel, Adam, Jacob, Samuel, Benjamin, Margaret, Sitter, Eliza, Ester, Henry, Lewis. Executors were John Sheets and Adam Rupert. Witnesses were William Chain and Solomon Greenamyer.



Note that Adam's wife is Margaret and there is a son John and daughter Catherine, corresponding with the Bermudian Church records.



Armed with this information and hoping to find something to help verify that John Rupert was the father of Eve, I began looking at land records for Columbiana County, Ohio.

West Quoddy Head Lighthouse

Wednesday, September 19th - - The weather forecast for today was rain and gusty winds. In anticipation, I had gotten the laptop charged up yesterday and had plenty of 'work' to keep me occupied until the storm was over. It began sometime in the early morning hours. Alternating between a drizzle and a downpour. The wind whipped through the campsite and I wondered if I should have taken the tent down last night. But it held up throughout the day. The rain eased up in early afternoon and had stopped by 2 p.m. but it was still very cloudy.



I ventured out and visited the West Quoddy Head Lighthouse on the eastern-most point in the United States. It is reportedly one of the most photographed lighthouses, explained perhaps by the fact that it is easily accessible, unlike many that are located on offshore islands.

Mountain Photos

Arm Coolers for Summer Cycling: A Look at Rapha and DeFeet

It is probably safe to say that most cyclists are not strangers to arm warmers. But what of their hot-weather cousins, the arm coolers? Those are a rarer beast. Worn with short sleeve jerseys, arm coolers are lightweight sleeves designed to protect from heat and sun. In intensely hot weather, wearing them is supposed to keep you cooler than cycling with bare arms or in a long sleeve jersey. So, do arm coolers work? Having tried the versions from DeFeet and Rapha, I believe they do. Here is more about them.










DeFeet ArmSkins ICE

Sun Protection: SPF 50

Fabric: olefin/nylon/spandex blend

Country of Manufacture: USA

Price: $45




The DeFeet ArmSkins Ice are designed for both sun protection and abrasion protection. They are made of a rather thick, densely woven fabric that evokes medical compression wear. The texture has a striking silky sheen to it when new, though it subdues after some use.






The ArmSkins Ice come in two sizes: S/M and L/XL. I fit the former. Pulling these on for the first time, the fabric is so dense it feels almost reluctant to stretch. But once in place, having these on is comfortable and non-constricting. For me the length is sufficient to overlap with cycling gloves.




The ArmSkins are constructed as seamless tubes. To stay up, they use a roll-top design instead of elastic or silicone grippers. The roll tops work fairly well to keep the sleeves in place, though on long rides I do adjust them occasionally. Personally I like the roll-top: Unlike silicone grippers - it does not pinch, squeeze or chafe the skin on my upper arms, especially on long rides in hot weather.






Developed for temperatures over 80F and well into the 100s, the fabric of the ArmSkins Ice is described as being activated by air-flow, the "densely packed fiber molecules" causing "rapid heat exchange. If I understand correctly, the claim is that the material does not just protect the skin from outside heat, but actually sucks and expels heat from the body. According to DeFeet, the dense weave also offers abrasion protection in case of a fall or scrape - more so than a leather jacket. A technical discussion in this review describes how all of this works in greater detail.




In use, the ArmSkins Ice feel cool to the touch, even in intense heat and sunshine. But moreover, once in a while I get the sensation of cold flashes along my arms. This happens in the absence of any breeze, but it does happen more when I ride fast, which probably means it is caused by increased air flow. To feel a chill on my arms in 90F heat and direct sun is quite something. I cannot comment on the abrasion protection, but the cooling properties of this garment are impressive. Wearing the DeFeet ArmSkins Ice feels like having an air conditioning system wrapped around my arms.






Rapha Arm Screens

Sun Protection: SPF 50

Fabric: polyester/elastane blend

Country of Manufacture: Turkey

Price: $45




The Rapha Arm Screens are made of a stocking-thin fabric. They weigh next to nothing and, crumpled-up, will easily fit into the meagerest of jersey pockets. Pulling them on, the material hardly registers between the fingertips.






The Arm Screens are shaped, with bonded seams running along the inside of the arm and articulated elbows. Reflective logos sit just above the wrists.




The sizing (XS-L) is similar to Rapha's arm warmers - which is to say, they run small. However, they are also very stretchy, so there is some leeway. I am a US woman's size 4 with arms of average thickness and below-average muscle tone. I can fit into the Small, but the Medium feels more comfortable - with no sausaging effects and with length to spare. For those unsure about their size, I would suggest erring on the larger side: The longer length will ensure there is no gap between the Screens and your cycling gloves.






The Screens stay up with the help of elasticised bands, which are as thin as the rest of the fabric. There is no silicone gripper and, compared to other designs, the hold is gentle - not pinching or squeezing the skin at the top. But the bands have worked well for me so far. For example, they kept the Arm Screens in place for over 15 hours straight on a recent long ride. The fabric feels delicate, though after some weeks of rough handling I have not snagged it yet.




The "proprietary stretch Swiss fabric" used to make these is a polyester/elastane blend with "coldblack technology to keep the fabric cool against the skin." It has also been subjected to "anti-microbial/anti-bacterial treatment." Beyond this, Rapha does not elaborate. But whatever the technology is, it works. Wearing the Arm Screens pretty much feels like not wearing anything at all. I do not notice them on, other than that my arms feel cooler. Compared to riding bare-armed, I do not feel the heat or the burn of the sun's rays against my skin. Perspiration does not gather on any parts of my arms and removing these after a long ride, they are dry. The Rapha Arm Screens protect from sun and heat, while feeling weightless and comfortable on all-day rides.






Identical in price point and SPF rating, the arm coolers from DeFeet and Rapha offer different technologies to deal with intense summer weather. A benefit specific to the DeFeet ArmSkins ICE is their added abrasion protection. A benefit specific to the Rapha Arm Screens is their weightlessness. Perhaps an obvious caveat - but both tend to get dirty in use, so do not expect them to remain bright-white for long.




Similar products worth checking out includeVoler Sol Skins,Pearl Izumi Sun Sleeves, Novara Sun Sleeves,Sugoi Arm Coolers, Craft ProCool Compression Coolers and DeSoto Arm Coolers- though I have not tried any of these myself.

Morning in Cathedral Valley

We woke early to break camp before sunrise and head back down to the valley for the early morning light.Both of usslept very comfortably in the tent as it was probably the warmest night of the trip, with the temp not dropping below 45 degrees. At first the sky didn't look too promising, as it was still cloudy. The clouds were thinner than they were the previous night, though, and seemed to be breaking up. By the time we got to the valley floor there were patches of blue starting to show through the clouds. Before long the sun was peeking out from behind the clouds and illuminating the sandstone monoliths of Upper Cathedral Valley. We walked along the main row of cathedrals and enjoyed watching the changing light as it washed over the sandstone cliffs. It was a supremely beautiful morning, a fitting end to our last morning in the southwest before heading for home.

Wow! I've been nominated...

Thank you so much to everyone who nominated Kinexxions for the Family Tree Magazine 40 Best Genealogy Blogs (in the Personal/Family Category)! And congratulations go out to all of the other nominees.

The editorial staff of Family Tree Magazine will be selecting 40 blogs in the various categories for an article scheduled to be published in the May .. issue. Blogs were nominated by readers last month and the voting is now open (and will continue to November 5th) to determine the final 80 blogs that will make the cut.

Blogs were grouped into 10 different categories based on the purpose or intent of the blog: All-around, Personal/Family, Local/Regional, Cemetery, Photos/Heirlooms, Heritage, News/Resources, How-to, Genealogy Companies, and Genetic Genealogy. The Genealogy Insider has more information about the categories.


Caution, shameless plug coming. . . I realize that Kinexxions has been a bit preoccupied with some traveling and hasn't posted much content recently that is related to family history but if you'd care to vote for me I'm near the bottom of the list (hopefully that doesn't really mean anything ;-) in the Personal/Family category. And, hey, you can even vote more than once if you'd like to!

Update October 6th:
I've been informed by Bill West (thanks Bill!) that the list of blogs in each category changes each time you view the poll, so you'll just have to look for the blogs for which you want to vote. Also, the illustrious footnoteMaven (who has been nominated in two categories!) has created a list of links to each of the nominated blogs, which is quite helpful in reviewing the nominees prior to voting.

Yosemite Valley

Monday, April 29th - - It was 24 miles from the Hodgdon Meadow campground to "The Valley" area, which took about an hour to get there - and it wasn't because of the traffic either! It was simply the nature of the route going up and down and over and around and even through the mountains. Luckily the road into the valley was wider than the road to Hetch-Hetchy!






The late afternoon light was incredible.





Upper Yosemite Falls.





Bridalveil Falls.




Bridalveil Falls from one of the pull-outs along the road back to Hodgdon Meadow. As always, double-click on the image to view a larger version...





Same view, zoomed in a lot. This really shows the "hanging valley" created when the glaciers receded many eons ago leaving Bridalveil creek with nowhere to go except down!

Newspaper Rock

Along the access road to Canyonlands, thirty miles east of the entrance, Newspaper Rock is a little mystery that will likely never be solved. It is a large slab of rock covered with desert varnish (a blackish manganese-iron deposit that gradually forms on exposed sandstone cliff faces due to the action of rainfall and bacteria) into which have been inscribed numerous petroglyphs. The older images are becoming darker in color as new varnish slowly develops over them. The first carvings were made around 2,000 years ago, although a few are as recent as the early 20th century.

There has been a lot of speculation as to the meanings of the drawings but in fact no one really knows what they mean or why they are in this place. It is in the middle of nowhere. Was this a stopping-off point for native people? Does it have spiritual or religious significance? Is it simply graffiti from a time long past?

A critical look at crampon fit and design

There are many different crampon manufactures. I am not so much interested in manufacturer or style of crampon as I am in the actual boot to crampon interface, in other words the "fit" of the crampon.

If you have ever lost a crampon on technical ground you know the surprise and general helplessness that goes right along with it. That is if you live through the experience.

I've only done it once. For the sake of documentation I was attempting to show a novice climber what not to do and some how literally kicked my right crampon off. As I watched it tumble down the waterfall I too started to topple over and slide.

The only thing that caught me was the dumb luck of catching my tool's pick on his buried pick as I went buy. Thankfully his placement held and I didn't knock him off as well. Other wise? It would have been a 500'+ foot tumble and most likely death, certainly serious injury.

Humbling and just as sobering. I had soloed some difficult terrain in those same boots and crampons. To this day I am not sure if my set up was bad or just my adjustments on the straps.
I was damn lucky and it cooled my jets for soloing (or just climbing) ice for awhile.

Either way it is not something I ever want to repeat.

Not everyone will recognize the crampons in the picture. But in 1980 they were one of the models that were putting up the first of the WI6 routes. They were a rigid model by SMC. Chouinard's rigid design while revolutionary always had a durability/reliability issue. The earliest clip on Salewa/Chouinards were the crampon of choice for many of us who disdained the weight of Lowe's Footfang. Foot Fangs were a quick glimpse into the future of crampon and not all of it was good news imo.

Back then we used Beck neoprene coated nylon straps (also sold by Chouinard) to hold the crampons on. Clip on crampon bindings were still new to climbing. While that turned out to be a great idea 10 years years later. (mid 1980s) I had seen two different brands of a single crampon with the early clip on binding still attached before we hit the first ice field on the Eiger in '78. Crampons sitting in the rumble mid way up a big north face gives one a moment to pause and consider the consequences of that gear choice.

Part of the fit process on the older crampons (not Foot Fangs however) was to adjust the crampon to the sole pattern of the boot. And most importantly it seemed to me was to make the fit tight enough that you were unlikely to loose a crampon is you broke a strap or a crampon post.

The more rigid the crampon and boot interface the better the combination will climb. Actually let me go farther in that comment, the more rigid the boot sole and the more rigid the crampon the better the combination will climb on pure ice given a solid interface between the boot and crampon.

Looking at currently available equipment with 7 pairs of La Sportive boots (Spantik, Baruntse, Batura, Nepal Evo, Trango Extreme Evo, Trango Ice Evo and the Nepal Evo GTX all size 45) and 4 different brands of crampons ( Camp, Black Diamond, Petzl and Grivel and 7 models) ) it is interesting the observations you can make on crampon fit and how the difference in boot construction even between models in the same brand affect that fit.

With the popularity of mixed climbing I am actually shocked at the sloppy interface between boot and crampons across the board. I don't claim to be a "M" climber but I understand how to hook a tool on rock and what it takes to climb at Hafner or on hard alpine mixed.

If you weigh in at 125 and have a size 7 foot not a lot is going to ruffle your gear if it is fit right. Hit 200# and have a size 12 foot and you can easily do things to a crampon that a 125# M12 climber has yet to dream of. An example is a front bail that turns into a shock absorber and can literally bounce off the lip of a boot. That might get anyone a little cranky. Add to a bad design, as a way to fix, the other bad design...with bail "laces" and you go from bad to worse.

I replace the Grivel "round" bails with something else and simply cut the additional retaining straps off the front bail of the BDs.

On the mixed terrain pictured below I noticed more than once I was climbing on the "ring" of a Grivel front bail. Not a comforting feeling. Just as bad I think is the large diameter wire and over size bails that BD uses. Bails hitting rock before your crampons do is a bad thing. Yes most every boot will fit BD crampons but precise they aren't. Of the three big manufactures only Petzl seems to have the front bails fit squared away. But then Petzl has the only front bails I know of that break. So may be "squared away" is a not really the right word. Crampons need to stay on the boot. Black Diamond has never had a breakage problem. I'll take reliability first, thank you! Everything is a trade off. And that is just a quick look at the front bails!

DT photo credit to DanielH and DaveB.

To be fair the crampon manufactures are hamstrung when it comes to boot fit. What is really needed is a DIN norm for rigid soled climbing boots. Then every crampon manufacturer would know exactly what they have to design to/with. After all the hard-goods guys are only half the real product on ice/mixed. You have to clamp a crampon to a boot sole to make a usable tool. I have 7 pairs of boots, all the same size and from the same manufacture. None of them fit the crampons I own exactly the same. Imagine the nightmare the crampons manufacturers go through every season as the boot technology and sole profiles change. Is it no wonder they build on the conservative side?

I'll repeat myself. We need a rigid sole mountain boot DIN norm.

I'll let you decide what is a good front bail/crampon fit for your style of climbing and what is not. My answer was to add Petzl bails to my BD crampons for a better fit and trust in the Petzl spiel that their bails are now reliable. It is a trim set up that fits all my boots well and drops a few oz. in the process.




There is nothing easy. cheap or guaranteed in all of this. I understand that. But I also get to point out the bad designs and ask that it be done better. More of us should! Speak up!







These are just shots of the front bails. While some front bails might not be the best set up, we should also be looking at the bottom of the crampons. To be specific just what the crampon covers on the bottom of the boot.




Most of us don't want to be climbing in "fruit boots" with no heel piece and only front pointing. It is a good direction for design to get lighter gear as long as we don't forget its real use. As important as the attachment system is and how much clearance the bails have from the boot, the real reason we use crampons is to "stick" us to ice and snow. How many points you have going down is even more important as those going forward if you want to climb with the least amount of effort on difficult terrain.




To my way of thinking the more down points the better. I'd rather have the weight and additional of traction that is the end result of skipping down points in a design. To lose weight, crampons have also lost "sole". By that I mean the crampons have lost surface area on the front half of the crampon generally. Less and less of your boot is being covered by the crampon. A quick look at the old Chouinard/Salewa rigid shows a crampon that almost perfectly covers the entire sole outline of the boot. Makes climbing on the crampon precisely, a lot easier.

More importantly we use a alpine/ice climbing crampon to "cut" steps when you want to rest from a front pointing position or help clear out a chopped ledge by kicking. How the down points are positioned and how many of them are on the crampon define how you can use your crampons to accomplish "cutting". Down points facing backward tend to skate your foot off when driving the foot forward with power to "cut" and don't allow you to kick efficiently to clear a step or a ledge.

The next selection of pictures is a grab bag of old and new crampons. Double click the photos and take a look at the difference in boot sole surface area coverage, the number and location of the down spikes and their obvious resulting traction or lack of traction.
























































The difference between lever lock heel bails is small but not without need for comment. Black Diamond and Grivel use a fairly large plastic lever. Both are comfortable on the back of a soft boot like the Trango Series from Sportiva. The Petzl lever? No so much. Painful in fact. Bad enough that I don't use the Petzl lever on anything but the heaviest boots. Nepal Evos and my dbl boots don't have an issue with the Petzl levers but I can't wear them on any of my Trango Series boots. It is just too painful.



Grivel and Black Diamond also use their retaining straps to give an extra safety feature by locking the levers in place with the added leverage and a tight strap. Not Petzl however. Hard to image a worse design for a crampon lever lock than what Petzl uses. Not only is the lever hard to get off when required but the retaining strap will only "retain" the crampon if you are extremely lucky and you pop a lever while climbing. The strap will not retain the lever against you boot. Take a look at the last picture in the next series. The lever down is with a TIGHT safety/retaining strap in place. Both Grivel's and Black Diamond's will retain the lever in the correct up position. It is a simple leverage issue. Petzl missed that. Black Diamond and Grivel did not. Weak......on Petzl's part. However you can fix the Petzl rear bail to be more reliable. You'll have to cut the adjustment ball on the top of the lever and then thread the safety strap through the top of the flip lever. Solves the problem but why are we required to fix it?

Easier and thankfully both Black Diamond and Grivel heel levers and locks will fit easily on the Petzl crampons. You can order up a pair from BD's customer service for a small fee and they snap right on.














With miles of ice climbing it is easy to look both backwards and forwards. The majority of pure ice lines were climbed with basic boots, ice tools and crampons. Some times I laugh at what we are using now and not in a good way. Most pure ice lines could be climbed with a club with a nail through it and hob nails.

What we have now for ice tools, boots and crampons makes ice climbing trivial in comparison to 30 years ago technology. The newest ice climbing gear is stellar in comparison so while I may sound like I am simply bitching, I am not. Ice tools are amazing these days. I am the perfect example of just how good they are. No question I am climbing harder ice now than I ever have because of the current hand tools. But boots and crampons have fallen behind the advances in ice tools. And in many ways boots and crampons have fallen behind some of the 30 year old technology! My 30 year old plastic boots and chromoly crampons will climb pure ice as good or better than anything available currently and they weight LESS!

Lucky for the manufactures that almost any crampon will work, as will almost any boot.

Call it a wake up call to the industry. And a invitation for you to join me in asking for better products. If nothing else take a critical look at your own gear and sort it out as required.

I'd like to see lighter weight boots and lighter weight crampons. Both with better over all traction all the while keeping the ability to front point with less effort. I'm not asking for much :)

To do that it is going to take a rethinking of basic designs and may be a critical look back to look forward.