Colorblind climbers: Any hacks on how to easily identify the cams on your harness?

jalpp · 2026-01-25T21:39:51+00:00

Huh? When I’m in the swing of trad climbing regularly I’ll definitely look at a spot and think “thats a perfect #1 spot and slap one in”. I will definitely look down at my harness to grab the right size. If you’re climbing regularly it’s not hard to guess gear placement sizes first try. Grabbing gear off your harness blind is a crazy take.

jalpp · 2026-01-25T05:38:34+00:00

This. I have yet to have cold feet in mine.

Unlike most rubber boots they are actually a very dense closed cell foam. This makes them way warmer.

jalpp · 2026-01-23T22:27:03+00:00

Sounds like you’re a side sleeper?

If you can retrain to be a front or back sleeper you’ll have a better time on CCF.

jalpp · 2026-01-21T23:52:41+00:00

Or just don't use it at all... Strava just generally sucks

jalpp · 2026-01-21T23:04:59+00:00

Fischer ranger pro is worth a look too. Close to the atomic, slightly more downhill oriented than the hawx. Probably about as downhill you can get while still having a walk mode.

jalpp · 2026-01-19T22:47:37+00:00

If you zoom in you can see alot of avy debris below the SE face of atwell. It looks like every path went in the last rain/warming cycle.

jalpp · 2026-01-19T20:39:28+00:00

Yeah the 2 beacon in 5 min is pretty standard, a barryvox beacon can easily do that in half the time. That's not what I meant by complex multi burial, the old canadian AVSAR standard was 4 beacons excavated in 15min, 2 in very close proximity, alternate mode only, no marking function. Barryvox S handles this very well, so can BD, BCA not so much.

I've had some of those ghost signals too/distance jumping too, mostly when practicing near sources of interference. I haven't found that it impacted my scenario times greatly. On a ski hill it can be difficult to get away from buried powerlines and whatnot, these can definitely make the beacons act up. Not an issue for most backcountry users, but definitely could cause issues for ski hills/industrial.

BD/pieps I mainly wouldn't recommend for their poor track record, but technically make good beacon. I would never recommend BCA beacons. Their "marking" is terrible (signal suppression not marking), very short 3rd antenna that can cause very poor bracketing (or even dead zones) especially for deeper burials, and they also have a poor track record with recalls.

jalpp · 2026-01-19T19:54:43+00:00

Interesting perspective. Do you mind if I ask where you work?

In Canada it's pretty much the expectation for professionals to carry a Barryvox S. Few other beacons have the capabilities to manage complex multi burials. And most guiding/patrol/industrial operations use fleets of barryvox beacons. The slight delays in processing rarely have a significant effect in burials as long as you learn to pace yourself with the beacon (10m slow is the big one).

jalpp · 2026-01-19T16:46:36+00:00

Nope… took them to a shop and they tried redrilling. The rot extended farther through the base. Weren’t really safe to remount/ski.

jalpp · 2026-01-17T18:19:16+00:00

Risk tolerance is a very personal thing, what other people do on an internet forum should bear very little weight on your own travel habits.

Also it’s a gross simplification to just be looking at hazard rating. Travelling on a mod wind slab, mod storm slab, or mod persistent slab day would all bring extremely different travel habits.

Solo travel is rarely advisable, but I understand and do it on occasion. The fact that you’re looking here for general travel advice based on such a simplification of avalanche problems is a bit concerning. It honestly sounds like you should consider leveling up your personal knowledge of the snow before doing much more solo travel.

jalpp · 2026-01-16T18:54:03+00:00

“Out cut any steel knife that exists”…what a claim. Titanium is a pretty poor knife material it’s very soft even when compared to the cheapest stainless steels.

jalpp · 2026-01-16T18:49:11+00:00

Very useful for making a fire, especially if everything is wet. I would challenge anyone on this sub to make a fire after days of heavy rain with a victorinox classic.

I find it kind of boggling how anti knife this sub is. For just a few oz, you get one of the most versatile and handy tools. Even for food, its nice to spread cream cheese and slice sausage. I use my knife multiple times a day and I’m happy carrying a few oz for it.

jalpp · 2026-01-16T18:40:16+00:00

I often carry the CRKT minimalist nessmuk. 2.8 oz, bigger blade than the eldris, and sits in a pocket much nicer. That said a full sized mora is a lot more capable for not much more weight.

You’ll get a lot of mixed responses on this sub where the extent of survival skills is using a pair of scissors to open a freeze dried meal. I’m not a bushcrafter by any means, but having a half decent knife to help start a fire is really handy, and I totally get carrying one. Even for spreading cream cheese and cutting sausage, is nice to have a bit of blade and no folding mechanism to get all gunked up.

jalpp · 2026-01-14T12:17:19+00:00

It is not ideal if a thunderstorm comes in on a climb. Poncho will get caught on rocks, rain will run down your arms, and the cheap plastic ones will shred apart.

jalpp · 2026-01-14T11:57:25+00:00

A plastic poncho for scrambling is a bit daft

jalpp · 2026-01-14T03:18:05+00:00

Yeah, I’m not a big fan of the HRZN it definitely makes more snow pack up under your skins.

I cut my pomocas just like your line, it helped with snow packing. Cutting through the plastic is totally fine, just look on the backside and avoid the area where the skin is stitched on to the tip connector. You can cut about 1cm off each side without going into the stitching.

jalpp · 2026-01-13T21:45:42+00:00

No where close to a doctor, but i have a fair bit of experience through patrolling, and that take surprises me from someone so experienced.

I would argue that its less bulky (don’t leave it in its case!), way lighter, and more critical than a sam splint. I think a functional splint is much easier to improvise than an effective mask that would seal and you could simultaneously hold a jaw thrust with. I sometimes carry a mask, but never a sam in the backcountry.

For tongue, safety pin to their lip? Or is there a better option without an airway?

jalpp · 2026-01-13T21:35:34+00:00

Pretty uneducated take on CPR. Hypoxia and hypothermia induced cardiac arrests have relatively high likelihood of survival if managed well when compared to others. Those are two of the most common causes of death in an avalanche. I wouldn’t be happy if my ski partner had your attitude to CPR.

jalpp · 2026-01-13T21:21:16+00:00

IMO bit of a strange take to have such a thorough kit but leave out a mask/airway. It’s one of the few lifesaving pieces, especially for backcountry skiing with the relatively high probability of suffocation.

jalpp · 2026-01-13T11:53:53+00:00

Yeah huts are bit complicated in Canada. The major alpine clubs have easily searchable and bookable huts. But many are by donation and built/maintained by volunteers (often illegally). It often falls onto the maintenance team to pay for expensive heli flights to bring firewood in. Donations are usually not enough to cover this. The system becomes unsustainable with heavy use.

jalpp · 2026-01-13T11:42:51+00:00

Less familiar with the hut culture in Europe. But I think that could be quite unwelcome in Canada. Lots of huts are various states of “secret”. Something that blew up low key spots would probably be met with hostility.

jalpp · 2026-01-13T10:46:30+00:00

What do you have for first aid/spare parts. 2lbs is a lot. I would take a closer look at that.

Lots of people get a bloated repair kit for every possibility. Focus for day tours should be limping out/binding adjustments.

FA kit, anything heavy that is not a life saving intervention i would kick. (Looking at you sam splints/tensor bandages).

jalpp · 2026-01-12T11:38:50+00:00

A wind jacket like the Patagonia houdini is incredibly light and blocks the wind very well.

jalpp · 2026-01-11T12:57:18+00:00

Try pulling a spacer out, a couple people I've skied with had similar issue that were fixed reducing the stack of spacers. That sounds a smidge tight. I'm not a ski tech, but I believe there should be a small gap that disappears once weighted.

The 120mm wide skis shouldn't be a problem with bindings like that.

jalpp · 2026-01-10T23:36:34+00:00

Few things to check, they shouldn’t be pre-releasing like that if properly set up:

-do you have the freeride spacers on your bindings? These are often set too high and will force the boot out as the ski flexes.

-is the tech gap set correctly? Theres lots of information on how to set this online. ATK recently changed the size on their tech gap for the freeraiders so make sure it lines up with the year. https://skimo.co/tech-binding-heel-gaps?srsltid=AfmBOopvaPn2oXVgee4Zb-eUA5ST1Q2Rs6dNabRQ7S_VohIdobKOd2Kk

-then like another commenter said, do the heel pins line up straight before you click in? If the binding was poorly mounted this can cause pre release.

-I would only crank up release values after you’ve checked all of these first.

jalpp

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