Gear Pass or Fail

Info on gear, conditioning, and preparation for hiking/climbing.
Forum rules
  • This is a mountaineering forum, so please keep your posts on-topic. Posts do not all have to be related to the 14ers but should at least be mountaineering-related.
  • Personal attacks and confrontational behavior will result in removal from the forum at the discretion of the administrators.
  • Do not use this forum to advertise, sell photos or other products or promote a commercial website.
  • Posts will be removed at the discretion of the site administrator or moderator(s), including: Troll posts, posts pushing political views or religious beliefs, and posts with the purpose of instigating conflict within the forum.
For more details, please see the Terms of Use you agreed to when joining the forum.
Post Reply
User avatar
yaktoleft13
Posts: 426
Joined: 4/17/2017
14ers: 58  15 
13ers: 262 22
Trip Reports (21)
 

Re: Gear Pass or Fail

Post by yaktoleft13 »

Salewa Alps Trainer - FAIL

I had big expectations for these boots. They were insanely comfortable right out of the box. However, less than 60 miles and a couple short scrambles later, the fabric upper was separating from the toe box area. They made the mistake of having exposed stitching, so the thread holding the two parts of the shoe ripped and the shoe started falling apart. To their credit, they provided a warranty replacement. I swore I'd only use that shoe on class 1-2 trails. I have done 0 scrambling in the new pair, but for some reason, the sole cannot grip sandpaper. There's no serious visible wear on them, but if I step on angles talus, my foot slides right off. For as pricey as these boots are, I expected performance and durability, and I got neither.

La Sportiva TXS GTX boots - PASS

I bought these because the first set of Salewas went I'm for warranty replacement and I had a couple big trips scheduled. They're very light for a boot, almost more of a crossover between a boot and an approach shoe. I first (I think) went up Hagerman's ridge in the rain, and despite being soaked the whole time, I had no blisters and no traction issues. Next was a backpack into Ruby from Purgatory, and again no blisters and incredible grip scrambling (although a sharp piece of talus near little finger cut the upper, which REI replaced for free). I've had the warranty replacements for a year and they perform good as new. Hands down the best boot I've had.
timisimaginary
Posts: 777
Joined: 11/19/2017
14ers: 3 
13ers: 1
Trip Reports (2)
 

Re: Gear Pass or Fail

Post by timisimaginary »

blazintoes wrote: Mon Aug 23, 2021 10:03 am Leki's are as expensive as BD. Agree on the Z pole consensus here. If you collapse and pack them for scrambling etc., the speed cone mechanism gets stuck especially in winter rendering them inoperable. Lame.

Poles were my biggest casualty over winter and I chose this brand https://www.amazon.com/Cascade-Mountain ... 17&sr=8-13

Ironically my first pair were carbon and on their second outing they snapped while getting stuck between talus/rocks/snow. The second pair were aluminum and on a similar occurrence never snapped like the carbon poles. I thought carbon was tougher?

One good thing about BD is even without a receipt if you voice your concern/disappointment they will send a 20% off coupon for future purchases.
i have BD carbon Z-poles as well as aluminum poles. if i'm going on roughter terrain where durability is most important, i'll take the aluminum poles. the z-poles are great for trail running where every ounce counts and you may only need to deploy them for a few select sections. i've had my z-poles for over 4 years now and they're still going strong.

carbon or aluminum, i never expect any pole to take my full weight. they're assistive devices, if they transfer 20% of your weight to your arms ascending or descending, or help your balance when crossing streams or with uneven footing, then they're doing their job. i'd never depend on a pole to prevent a fall or catch my full weight. carbon shatters, aluminum bends... either way, you're left with a useless pole. you might be able to bend an aluminum pole back temporarily, but then it'll only be able to sustain a fraction of the load before bending again, so it's still pretty useless by that point.
"The decay and disintegration of this culture is astonishingly amusing if you're emotionally detached from it." - George Carlin
Ptglhs
Posts: 1478
Joined: 1/6/2016
14ers: 58  8 
13ers: 86 3
Trip Reports (4)
 

Re: Gear Pass or Fail

Post by Ptglhs »

All trelking poles I've ever tried fail, too short.
User avatar
greenonion
Posts: 1892
Joined: 10/3/2012
14ers: 50  1 
13ers: 2
Trip Reports (0)
 

Re: Gear Pass or Fail

Post by greenonion »

I just want to give Black Diamond some great credit for how they recently handled the replacement of my Carbon Distance Z poles. I am in SLC, UT, and the BD store is roughly 10-15 mins from my house. I've had these poles for several years and they have held up until recently when the connecting tendon in one pole came apart. I took the pole to the BD store where they had me fill out an online warranty claim, and then left the pole with them to ship to their warranty department (wherever that is).

Shortly thereafter I received an email from the warranty folks asking me to describe the problem with the pole and informing me that they were still waiting to get the broken pole. Another email from them a few days later informed me that they still hadn't received the pole but that they would ship a new pair to me. I was a bit bewildered and bet that I would receive a cheaper replacement pair. To my surprise, today I received the exact same Carbon Distance Z pole brand new in the mail. No other questions asked. I can only guess at why they took this action (truly lost, unfixable, poles now on clearance...??). Receiving an exact brand new replacement pair was not expected, but is very much appreciated. Great credit to BD for how they handled this!
User avatar
austinpavlas
Posts: 36
Joined: 1/8/2019
14ers: 58  2 
13ers: 34
Trip Reports (0)
 

Re: Gear Pass or Fail

Post by austinpavlas »

nyker wrote: Sun Aug 22, 2021 9:49 pm Leki collapsible poles: PASS

Have to reiterate how good Leki collapsible poles are: Did another pair of peaks this week locally, both of which had numerous scrambling sections where I needed to take them down and reassemble and strap to my pack to free up my hands on both ascent and descent.
I also note another climber I ran into had Black Diamond Z poles and one of his broke also and was tied to his pack. I know some folks love the BDs but I never found them that durable.
I will +1 this recommendation. I have used my Leki collapsible poles over several hundred miles and all of my peaks thus far without any issues. I have the alloy ones and they have held up fantastically for 2+ years now.
hotrod
Posts: 468
Joined: 2/25/2008
Trip Reports (0)
 

Re: Gear Pass or Fail

Post by hotrod »

Going back to the topic of how to wash wool. The idea of using Dr. Bronner's soap (oily) sounds like a good one. However, just to throw something out here, I think the best "variety" to use would be the Baby Unscented version, rather than a highly scented one like the Almond or Peppermint. Maybe it's a stretch, but if I were wearing wool washed with the scented ones in bear country, I might smell like a tasty snack. Too far fetched?
Growing older is inevitable, but getting old is not.
a forest
Posts: 88
Joined: 6/3/2005
Trip Reports (0)
 

Re: Gear Pass or Fail

Post by a forest »

hotrod wrote: Mon Sep 06, 2021 10:53 am Going back to the topic of how to wash wool. The idea of using Dr. Bronner's soap (oily) sounds like a good one. However, just to throw something out here, I think the best "variety" to use would be the Baby Unscented version, rather than a highly scented one like the Almond or Peppermint. Maybe it's a stretch, but if I were wearing wool washed with the scented ones in bear country, I might smell like a tasty snack. Too far fetched?
not at all far fetched

depends on which 'bear country' a bit. and are you sleeping in it. who wants their sweater to smell like almonds anyway
User avatar
nyker
Posts: 3231
Joined: 12/5/2007
14ers: 58 
13ers: 25
Trip Reports (69)
 

Re: Gear Pass or Fail

Post by nyker »

I tried a new PowerBar this week after not having one for ages - they seemed to change the formula, making it more cripsy and less sugar (and unfortunately following many other foods in the age of pandemic/supply chain shortage/stimulus driven inflation, the bar is smaller/less calories but more expensive #-o With the myriad of energy bars out there mpwadays, the original PowerBar and to a lesser extent the more plain Clif bars are the only ones I can eat while actively exercising without any GI issues.
PASS to the new improved PowerBar.
User avatar
JChitwood
Posts: 622
Joined: 8/29/2011
14ers: 58 
13ers: 51
Trip Reports (0)
 

Re: Gear Pass or Fail

Post by JChitwood »

I haven’t had a PowerBar since my triathlon days in the mid-90’s when we used to smash them on the top tube for long races. They were absolutely terrible but easy to digest calories. I moved on to Clif Bars a few years ago. Not great but way better.
"I'll make it." - Jimmy Chitwood
User avatar
nyker
Posts: 3231
Joined: 12/5/2007
14ers: 58 
13ers: 25
Trip Reports (69)
 

Re: Gear Pass or Fail

Post by nyker »

Yea, those early one-flavor-only PowerBars were not the greatest tasting...
timisimaginary
Posts: 777
Joined: 11/19/2017
14ers: 3 
13ers: 1
Trip Reports (2)
 

Re: Gear Pass or Fail

Post by timisimaginary »

M&M's are the most overlooked trail food, plenty of calories, don't melt or get crushed for the most part, and plenty tasty. some good varieties too to mix it up, i like the pretzel ones for hot/humid conditions for the extra sodium, or almond ones in the winter for the extra fat calories.
"The decay and disintegration of this culture is astonishingly amusing if you're emotionally detached from it." - George Carlin
User avatar
nyker
Posts: 3231
Joined: 12/5/2007
14ers: 58 
13ers: 25
Trip Reports (69)
 

Re: Gear Pass or Fail

Post by nyker »

and don't forget the summit Snickers...
Post Reply