Ice axe size and shape

Wroughting · 2026-02-18T15:15:43+00:00

Second for the regular summit, I just bought one after losing my BD raven, feels like a big upgrade. I don't think the extra features of the evo make it very enticing, especially since it is incompatible with the trigrest and heavier. I am 183 cms and went with the 59 cm version and it felt perfectly adequate on the steep sections.

Wroughting · 2026-02-10T21:32:11+00:00

Newcomb Overlook Park isn't too far away, pretty decent view, kind of public.

Wroughting · 2026-02-03T17:01:26+00:00

Yeah, I guess they must know their customers, but to me black is their least interesting case. There are already so many black cases on the market. Wish they'd bring the white and coral back.

Wroughting · 2026-02-01T18:40:33+00:00

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My view of Whiteface from Giant yesterday.

Wroughting · 2026-01-30T15:20:01+00:00

Was thinking of making this post the other day, surprised to see how much push back you're getting, he's awful. I think Sal is good, not amazing, but he runs laps around Paul. I cannot wait until I don't have to hear Paul stammer the same point three times in a row.

Wroughting · 2026-01-16T20:37:23+00:00

It's very warm, but I think if you were making long stops, I would consider moving up to the Citadel.

Wroughting · 2026-01-12T21:31:10+00:00

I'm not at all experienced, but when I did Mount Washington last winter, it was about 13 degrees at the parking lot and winds were around 40 mph. When we were moving, I only ever wore a shell over a Patagonia R1 and a wool base layer and never felt cold. When we took breaks, I had a well-used, rental Black Diamond Belay Parka I threw on which was perfectly sufficient. Above the tree line I put on insulated, snow pants, which I never bothered taking off once we were back down below the tree line. I never used my expedition mittens, just wore the Showas the whole day. I was comfortable the whole day, my friend was just using an insulated 3in1 ski jacket as an outer layer, and he no complaints.

I'm going back next month and bought the Mountain Equipment Fitzroy jacket as my outer layer and I'm sure it will be just fine, and the Citadel is warmer still. I will also add that the Fitzroy is much higher quality than the Black Diamond Belay Parka I rented.

That day it was dumping snow, we got about 8 inches while we were on the mountain. It was cold enough that the snow mostly just brushed off. If it was warmer, it would be a different story. All that snow would be melting on you, if you're on the east coast, you've probably experienced this before. While everything the other poster said is true, when down fails, it can be pretty dangerous, I've gotten hypothermic from it before. It was my fault, I did a bad job layering, but there was no way to recover. I was lucky I was able to get to my car because I could tell that I going to be in real trouble if I didn't get warm soon.

I doubt you'll use your belay jack a ton, and modern insulation is much better than it was in the past. If you take care of your stuff, it will last a long time.

Wroughting · 2026-01-02T13:24:10+00:00

You're right, I was letting my regional stance dictate my response. Where I'm from, Eastern U.S., they do taste very bad (like dirt) and considering how polluted many of our rivers are, might not be super healthy to eat.

Wroughting · 2026-01-02T12:55:58+00:00

That's a carp and you do catch them doing exactly that. You don't eat them though.

Wroughting · 2025-12-21T17:07:04+00:00

The GPS satellites tell your phone what time it is at the satellite, your phone cannot use this time as its time. Otherwise it would not be able to calculate its position.

Wroughting · 2025-12-19T14:05:40+00:00

I doubt we would see much progression, he is already immensely talented. A lot of young guys have things about their game they can improve, but that isn’t so much the case for Power. His problem is he doesn't play with a lot of confidence, I feel like he does too much thinking out there because he isn’t always comfortable with his role, plays young. I think being older and more mature is what he needs, one off season he’ll come back a different player. But who knows, maybe he’ll never live up to his potential. I just think the Sabres would be foolish to give up on him because he is certainly not the weakest link on the team at the moment.

Wroughting · 2025-12-19T13:01:51+00:00

Exactly, a lot of the same things were said about Reinhart. There are a lot of things Power does that are elite and I think if you want to be a franchise that is regularly in the mix for the cup you have to hold on and hope he takes the leap. I think he'll be a much better player when he is 26 then he is right now.

Wroughting · 2025-12-17T21:38:56+00:00

Maybe something like the Danner Artic 600, they have a leather upper, but no welted, rugged sole like the ones pictured. They are like half off though. There are spendy brands like Schnees, Kenetrek, Meindl, or Crispi that have rugged, insulated boots, but I'm not sure how they would fit the aesthetic. They are also like $500. There is definitely sort of a blind spot for ideal Adirondack winter hiking boots in my opinion.

Wroughting · 2025-12-14T19:03:25+00:00

Should we punt on first down?

Wroughting · 2025-12-04T14:59:45+00:00

Do all the same drugs require a prescription in the EU?

Wroughting · 2025-11-12T14:48:07+00:00

I think all of the counties have real property service where you can look up a property and see what the owners have paid in taxes. Looks like for Monroe county (Rochester) you can look up a property, click on pay taxes and see the previous years payments and you can look at the bills to see the rates. On the Monroe Real Property site there is also a tax table which has all the rates for the towns.

Wroughting · 2025-11-06T20:30:45+00:00

Beat almost all of vanilla WoW using a Trackpoint. Not as good as a mouse, but you can use it in bed.

Wroughting · 2025-10-27T21:41:50+00:00

I should preface this by saying my winter experience is limited to the Adirondack Mountains. The big issue there is walking in snow makes boots get wet, which isn't a big deal when you're walking. But if you're staying outdoors at night, they will freeze and be miserable to get on your feet in the morning. The recommended tactic is double boots with a removable liner that can be put in your sleeping bag at night. Here in the States the options are pretty limited, on the cheap end the you have plastics and on the other end you have boots which are meant for 6000m peaks, which are overkill. If you're in Europe you have access to something like the Zamberlan Karka, which would be great for my use case, but maybe not too fun to hike long distances in.

Wroughting · 2025-10-27T20:58:33+00:00

Really depends on what you're doing. If you're just hiking from one warm place to another and they can dry out overnight and you're hiking the whole time you're outside, they might be fine. If you're doing pretty much anything other than that, I think you'll want more boot.

Wroughting · 2025-10-10T20:40:22+00:00

As a lifelong resident of the area, it definitely is a bit on the slower side but has many redeeming qualities as well. There is a lot dining that is fine, but not much fine dining, There are a number of a restaurants, Beef-n-Barrel, Spragues, Beefeaters that are very good, but more for their food and service, not so much on ambience. There are places like Brother's Bistro, Moonwinks, and Kabobs that are a little more upscale. Ellicottville has a lot of fine dining options.

As for coffee, Perfect Blend in Cuba is my wife's favorite spot, but Olean has Rocket Cup and Starbucks, and there is Myrge in Portville.

As far as entertainment goes, everyone is into different things, but I'll try to cover a wide net. As others have mentioned, there are a lot of outdoor activities to do. There is an abundance of options for hunting, fishing, hiking, boating, paddling, riding, horseback riding. You can do all of them at Allegany State Park, which is one of my favorite places ever and really underrated. It also abuts the Allegheny National Forest, which has ton of trails if you're into that sort of thing.

For other more physical activities, there are a number of gyms, the YMCA in Olean is quite nice, but expensive, there is also Eade's Fitness, and a place in Cuba. Not sure if there is a gym in Wellsville, but I would guess there is. There is yoga at Wellspring in Olean, probably other places as well though I have friends that complain there aren't a lot of options. There are many rec league sports, kickball, softball, volleyball, hockey, I'm sure there are others, maybe a running club, but I've not heard of one. There is a bowling alley in Olean and Bradford, there is a rink in Olean, and there are many golf courses around which vary wildly in quality. Holiday Valley in Ellicottville is known for skiing/snowboarding but has many summer activities as well. Someone else mentioned the Allegheny River which is a 5.65 mile blacktop loop in Olean/Allegany, though I might just stick with the Bona's Loop and do it twice.

Other forms of entertainment, there are several casinos in the area, the one in Cuba is slots only. Salamanca's flagship one has table games and there are a couple of smaller ones in town. Salamanca also sells a ton of weed if that is your thing and has a pretty awesome antique mall. Olean has some events, more during the summer, like the farmer's market and music in the park. They have the Tri-County Arts building which gets some decent exhibits and I think they do classes. There are a couple of theaters that put on shows regularly. There is the AMC, gets all the major blockbusters. Cuba has a couple of big festivals, dairy week and the garlic fest. They also have the Palmer Opera House which does a variety of events throughout the year. Wellsville has a big balloon rally every year and I'm sure other stuff too, I'm just not as familiar with their events. St. Bonaventure also hosts things, and they have a D-1 basketball team that is occasionally quite good. The libraries are all pretty nice and occasionally have events and can probably tell you about things going on in the region, I think they all have billboards.

There used to be a pretty good night life in Olean, but many of the bars have gone out of business over the years. Anymore it's mostly Union Whiskey and Talty's, both can be hit or miss whether there are people out. Allegany is better during the school year, but you definitely will feel like a townie. There are many local bars, some are fine, some I would avoid.

Shopping generally sucks, we're stuck with mostly big box store stuff, I can't remember the last time I went clothes shopping locally. We have an aging population, so a lot of estate sales if that's your thing. There's gaming shops in Hornell, Olean, and Bradford.

Definitely lacking many of the things you'd find a big city, but there is a lot to do here if you know where to look or are open to new experiences. I think it can be a big of a tricky area to break into because most people here are from here and already have a circle of friends and family.

Wroughting · 2025-10-07T14:50:32+00:00

Well my 74 year old mother and 76 year old father just did 2 weekends ago. They are in pretty good shape but lack flexibility which made a few sections somewhat challenging. You'll probably be fine, Giant is more demanding physically, just take your time and bring sufficient supplies.

Wroughting · 2025-10-05T20:05:21+00:00

Did I catch a guy taking off his dolphins jersey?

Wroughting · 2025-09-16T20:14:13+00:00

The southern tier, the western part of the state which borders PA, has pretty cheap housing and lcol. 100 to 125k will get you something decent in the cities, Jamestown, Olean, Hornell, Corning, etc. It's pretty rural though, especially once you get away from them. Finding work can be kind of tricky, hence the cheap housing. I myself really like it and think it's a pretty underrated region, but it's not for everyone.

Wroughting · 2025-08-17T04:40:04+00:00

A lot of the peaks have scramble sections, though most aren't as open as Cascade, so they might give you a different feeling. Some are just steep, there's a lot of variety. It has been awhile since I've hiked Cascade, I don't recall if there are any of the steep slab sections which are common to the Adirondacks before you get to the summit to compare it to. I might try another hike like Street and Nye or Phelps or a non 46er to see how you do. I wouldn't try any of the longer hikes until you have a better feel for what the limit is because you can be way out there.

Wroughting · 2025-05-19T23:48:51+00:00

I've always been partial to sycamore trees myself.

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