From what I’ve seen over the past few seasons, I’d be willing to bet 60% of climbers on the East Coast are using Quarks or Nomics. 30% probably use BD tools, and the other 10% are spread out among Camp and Grivel. I’ve used both Petzl and Black Diamond tools pretty extensively and find that both work extremely well. Choosing a tool nowadays is like choosing a car – many brands perform well and last a long time. It all boils down to one’s own preferences.

I suppose this is as much a review and endorsement of BD’s more conventional ice tools as it is a Fusion pick review. Over the past three or four seasons I’ve used a pair of BD Vipers or Cobras for all of my guiding and most of my personal ice climbing. When the climbing gets harder or turns to steep mixed terrain I use a pair of Nomics. It’s funny, I want to love the Nomics. They swing easily, climb ice and rock well, and have almost no learning curve. I’ve climbed many new mixed routes in the Catskills with them.

Fusion Picks on the BD Cobra

However, most days over the past two seasons I’ve left my Nomics at home in favor of my Cobras. I know, some of you are thinking I’m crazy. I’ve come to appreciate the stiffness and simplicity of the Cobras. The pick angle is less steep, meaning you need to use more caution on cauliflower ice but once they’re placed they feel very solid and secure. They seem to work better on low angle ice and stick easily on the first swing too, once you know where and how to swing them.

The stock pick for the Cobra is the Laser pick. It’s thin, sharp and displaces very little ice, making it good for really steep pure ice routes. In fact, the Laser pick is so thin and sharp that it can get stuck easily. One needs to be careful not to overdrive the top-heavy Cobra on steep ice.

The Laser pick isn’t durable though. I replaced my Laser picks with Titan picks immediately last season. I was, and still am, puzzled by the shape of the Titan pick. It’s nearly identical to the Laser, but with a chiseled front edge and a thicker profile. Initially, placing the Titan felt like trying to stuff a square block into a round hole. After a bit of filing, to make the Titan look like the Laser, it climbed well. It’s like a Laser pick that displaces a little bit more ice. This all makes sense, right?

A close up of the serrated top

A very similar shape to the Laser pick

This season I purchased a pair of Fusion picks to use on the Cobras. The Fusion pick is nearly identical in shape to the Laser, with the exception of a thicker profile (like the Titan), serrated top (similar to the Petzl Astro/Rock pick), and a slightly longer front tooth. You’d think, with the near-identical shape to the Laser that they would climb well right away, wouldn’t you?

Nope. For the first day they were the bounciest picks I’ve ever used (kind of like the Fusion tool on ice). I was a bit irked. What gives? However, after a few days of mixed climbing the front tooth gradually began to shorten. As this occurred they began working better. Honestly, I’m not sure if they’re working better or if I’ve learned to swing them differently, but I’m loving the Fusion pick. It’s the pick I’ll be using for most of my climbing from now on.

So, if you’re using BD tools and feel like your Laser picks are wearing out quickly because you accidentally strike rock once in a while give the Fusion picks a whirl. After a bit of playing you’ll barely notice a difference between the two.

Finding well-fitting, durable handwear is a challenge most winter climbers face each season. Gloves are expensive, easy to lose, and usually don’t last very long. Additionally, it’s good to have a quiver of gloves for warmer and colder conditions, a set of gloves that work really well for harder ice pitches and a thin, sticky pair for hard mixed climbing.

Back when climbers used leashes glove selection seemed less important. If your hands were getting tired you could tighten down your leashes and keep moving. With leashless tools, thin gloves with a good grip are mandatory.

I have tons of gloves in my closet at home, but only a few pairs get used regularly. The gloves that I do use regularly can be divided into two groups – work gloves and sending gloves. Work gloves are used for belaying, rappelling, climbing easy pitches and for approaching. They get trashed. These gloves need to be durable, waterproof, relatively warm and not too expensive. I will frequently wear out 2-3 pairs of “work gloves” each season.

Black Diamond Glissade Glove

My work glove of choice over the last two seasons has been the Black Diamond Glissade. At $59 a pair of Glissade gloves costs far less than most other waterproof gloves. With a leather palm, Thinsulate insulation, a gauntlet shaped wrist, and a BDry insert these gloves get the job done and won’t break your bank.

How does Black Diamond make a fully waterproof, full-conditions glove for $59? Well, for starters, they’re made outside of the US. However, the real alchemy here involves the BDry insert. Black Diamond started using BDry four or five seasons ago as a substitute for Gore Tex in their less expensive gloves.

How does BDry work? It’s simple really, they sandwich a glove-shaped plastic bag between the shell and the insulation in their gloves. This brilliant decision makes for the most waterproof gloves I’ve ever worn. Until the plastic lining breaks, no matter how worn the glove is, it will remain waterproof.This is more than I can say for many of the Gore-tex gloves I’ve used in the past.

Why is Gore-tex such a popular application in gloves? If I could venture to guess, I might say it’s because W.L. Gore is an industry giant that makes companies contractually “agree” to use their products regardless of whether it works well or not. Gore-tex, which really isn’t very breathable, relies on an effective DWR (durable water repellent) coating to be effective. A garment’s exterior fabric must remain dry, creating an air layer for the semi-permeable Gore-tex to allow moisture, in the form of water vapor, to pass through. As soon as “wet out” of the exterior fabric occurs Gore-tex stops being breathable.

On a pair of gloves, which get rubbed, brushed and pulled at constantly, the DWR coating might only last one day at wear points. What’s the point of having an “expensive” breathable membrane then? I’m not sure there is a point. It’s a gimmick.

The BD Glissade gloves have no Gore-tex, and they’ve never let me down. As long as I don’t sweat too much, these gloves will stay dry all day long. I’ve used them for backcountry skiing, ice climbing, working mixed routes, climbing Rainier and as a basecamp glove on the Ruth last spring. They are cheap and durable.

I’ve led plenty of WI 5 in them too. For really technical pitches something with a bit more dexterity is nice, but for pure slugging these gloves work very well. They’re good for moderate mixed climbing too.

The only drawback to the Glissade I’ve found so far is that the leather on the fingers doesn’t wrap around the edges. Like most less expensive gloves, there is only leather on the palm. I’m okay with this, for the price of one pair of Gore-tex gloves I can have two pairs of gloves that will comfortably last the entire season.

If you spend a lot of time outside during the winter you need good insulating layers. Really cold days with long belays become “two-puffy days”. On “two-puffy days” I typically wear one slim-fitting lightweight puffy and one heavier belay jacket.

Eddie Bauer First Ascent Downlight Sweater

The lighter slim-fitting puffy jacket is generally thin enough to wear while leading hard pitches and packable enough that it can fit in my pack as an emergency layer all the time. Over the past few years I’ve carried the Wild Things EP Jacket or the OR Fraction Hoody. Both of these garments were hooded lightweight Primaloft layers with a straight-sided, billowy fit. I still use them when I want a hood, or when the forecast calls for wet weather.

If the forecast is for colder or drier weather though, my insulating underlayer of choice right now is the Eddie Bauer First Ascent Downlight Sweater. How did I choose the Downlight Sweater? I didn’t, it was given to me.

Prior to my AMGA Advanced Alpine Guides Course all of the participants were given a big bag of First Ascent gear. Eddie Bauer First Ascent has partnered with the AMGA and provides alpine course candidates with clothing to use during the program. I was given a 30 Liter pack, a full 3-ply shell outfit, long underwear, a fleece hoody, and the Downlight Sweater.

First Ascent has only been producing technical outerwear for a few years. As you would expect, the fit of their garments is still hit-or-miss. Some of the garments were too generously cut to fit well for climbing. Others, like the Downlight Sweater and Hangfire Hoody, have become staples in my everyday outerwear wardrobe.

The Downlight Sweater has a Euro-style cut which makes it a great 3-season belay jacket and a perfect insulating underlayer on really cold winter days. So far I’ve led rock routes and mixed routes up to M7 wearing the jacket, and used it as an underlayer when the temperature dips below twenty degrees outside.

The Downlight Sweater stuffed, comparable in size to a hat

With a slim and flattering cut, this layer goes everywhere with me. The highly compressible 800-fill power Downlight packs really well into the empty space in my Cold Cold World Ozone, making it a perfect emergency layer. Little additions like the fleece lined pockets make this a great around town jacket too. The durable YKK zippers also feel like they’ll last through several seasons of use.

At $180, the Downlight Sweater is competitively priced. Still though, it isn’t cheap and one pitch of rough rock could trash it. If you’re careful this garment should last several seasons, and unlike Primaloft or Polarguard, the down won’t lose it’s loft as quickly. So, the next time you’re looking for a new puffy layer, don’t forget to consider the First Ascent Downlight Sweater and Hoody.

Inflated, 2.5 inches thick and mummy shaped

I’ve spent a lot of nights snoozing on the ground this year. Between guided and recreational trips I’m edging towards the 60-night mark. For about 58 of those nights I’ve slept on a Big Agnes Air Core sleeping pad. If I was 7 again, I’d swear to you that I could catch waves at the Jersey shore with this funny looking raft-thing. Unfortunately, my 190lb body would probably sink that raft nowadays. You get the idea though, the Big Agnes Air Core sleeping pad is basically a simple air mattress with durable welded seams and full-length cylindrical chambers. At 2.5″ thick it’s easily the most comfortable sleeping pad I’ve ever owned, and I’ve slept many a sound night on it.

How did I settle on the Air Core, when there are lots of good lightweight sleeping pads on the market? Well, after several years of sleeping on thinner foam pads or 1′ thick Thermarest pads, I decided that I wanted to sleep well outside. Multiple nights on hard ground with thinner pads left my back and hips (I’m a side sleeper) feeling pretty sore. Try sleeping on bare bedrock with a 3/4″ thick sleeping pad for several nights in a row. The chiropractor will absolutely love you after your trip. Other new thicker, yet lightweight, mattress options were available to me, namely the Thermarest NeoAir and the Pacific Outdoor Equipment Ether Elite. The catch here is that I’m not made of money. The NeoAir is $120, the Ether Elite is $70, and the Air Core is only $50. I didn’t want to spend a ton, and the Ether Elite, which is 5 ounces lighter than the Air Core was backordered so I ended up with an Air Core before my trip to the Ruth Gorge this past April.

My deflated Aircore next to a 24 oz. waterbottle for scale

At first I was skeptical. After all, if you pop this puppy you’re screwed, and it seems like it would be easy to pop. The 70-denier nylon feels thin. 60 nights so far this year seem to indicate otherwise though. I’ve used the pad on glaciers in Alaska, snowfields on Mt. Rainier and in the North Cascades, and on dirt, gravel and grass throughout the Pacific Northwest and the Northeast all summer long. It seems durable to me so far, but I’ve been careful not to sleep on bare ground without some sort of layer underneath the Air Core.

Big Agnes suggests using a foam pad underneath when the temperatures dip below 35 degrees. This is sound advice, and I’d add that you should consider an additional piece of closed cell foam when you’re going to sleep on snow even if it’s 70 degrees outside. Air doesn’t insulated the way foam does. A 5mm thick piece of evazote does the trick and doesn’t weigh much either.  Evazote is hard to find in the states but can be ordered from the MEC website and has amazing insulative value. Look around at expedition pictures from the past and you’ll see people using those bright yellow evazote pads in cold climates on big mountains. A good option is to use a full-length 5mm evazote pad as the backpad in your pack and then add it to your sleeping system in camp. This option works especially well with some of the smaller overnight/alpine climbing packs that have a foam insert as their frame.

The Air Core, while not as light as the NeoAir or Ether Elite, is still small and easy to pack. When rolled tightly it’s about the size of a one liter water bottle. This is a major selling point; even if it doesn’t give you substantial weight savings over your current sleeping pad it will reduce the size of your kit. Having a smaller, tighter pack for alpine climbs makes the climbing feel easier and safer. That alone is reason enough to choose one of the new inflatable pads like the Air Core.

So, if you’re on a budget and in the market for a new pad, consider the Big Agnes Air Core. It’s lightweight, small in size, and will provide you with a good night’s sleep. What more could you ask for?

I’m a minimalist, climbing clutter drives me crazy. One of my recent attempts to unclutter my daily climbing routine began with a new daypack. I was so impressed with my new Chernobyl that I went ahead and ordered a cragging pack from CCW too. I ordered a stock Cold Cold World Ozone before I left for Washington.

Before we get any further I’d like to get a few things straight. Many packs are measured in liters. How many cubic inches are there in a liter anyways? Well, it turns out there are actually 61 cubic inches in each liter, so when you’re trying to guess at a pack’s volume and you hear someone say 30 liters you know it’s 1800 cubic inches. We can do simple math all day, but let’s get on with my real point. From my perspective it seems like most pack manufacturers use a volume measurement, like 30L, as a rough guideline to indicate how big their bag is. Unfortunately a lot of manufacturers also really seem to miss the mark when it comes to pack volume (and weight but that’s another issue for some other whine and cheese party). A good example of this was my old BD Sphynx 32. It was a lot bigger than my current Ozone but was called a 32L bag. If the Ozone is actually 2300 cubic inches, and I’m inclined to believe Randy Rackcliff on this one, that means it’s volume is 37L. If that’s true then my Sphynx 32 was easily in the 40-45L range, which is an entirely different size pack with an entirely different set of applications. Why don’t most pack manufacturers give exact volumes instead of being vague and potentially misleading?

This brings me to my next point – cragging packs don’t really need to be anything more than a functional durable sack with a nice set of shoulder straps. Most large gear companies feel the need to continually make fabric and design refinements to “improve” existing products. These improvements seem to come at the cost of pack durability. Rather than waste time refining already good designs with fancy crap that won’t last very long, why not charge the same price for a simple well-built bag made in the US or Canada by people who know our game intimately? If these companies could cut out the bullsh*t, save money on design and marketing and make a product that spoke for itself we’d probably be headed in the right direction.

I digress. Onwards.

The CCW Ozone is reminiscent of the timeless klettersac, a simple climbing bag meant to hold all your worldly possessions during a day in the mountains. I’m not that old, but I’d be willing to bet most climbers my age or younger have no idea what “klettersac” means, or that for generations they were the standard climber’s pack. Nowadays you see zip-open climbing suitcases, expedition size packs and bags made of airy disposable ripstop fabric everywhere at the crag. One is hard pressed to find simple klettersacs anywhere these days. It’s sort of a shame because klettersacs are, relatively speaking, cheap to produce, big on durability and functionality and small in size forcing one to actually think about what they’re bringing to the cliff. You can’t bring the kitchen sink along with you in a klettersac and you definitely won’t look like a frumpy version of the leaning tower of Pisa as you approach the crag with this type of bag.

The devil is in the details, and with the Ozone there aren’t many details, which was it’s most attractive selling point for me. There are four pockets total, and the whole pack is made of bright red ballistics cloth meaning it just might outlast all of my other gear twice over.  There are two small zipper pockets in the lid and one along the backpad for extra storage of smaller/seldom used items. The same foam backpad that adorns all the other CCW packs is built into the Ozone too. There are no ax attachments, no compression straps and there is no padding on the 1.5″ wide webbing waistbelt. It’s a looker too, believe me; I get comments on the pack every day.

The Ozone was clearly carefully designed to fit only what’s needed for a day at the cliffs and nothing extra. It will fit a full single rack, draws or runners, harness and chalkbag, shoes, helmet, 1 or 2 extra layers, 2 liters of water (in a dromedary for me), lunch and my emergency/med kit. The rope fits unbelievably well under the bonnet rounding out a really clean functional package. There isn’t a whole lot of extra space and you have to stuff things in carefully for it all to fit. I want to emphasize that this pack, despite it’s overtly simple design, is one of the most well-thought out pieces of gear I own. Elastic on the underside of the lid gives it the ability to stretch right over a coiled rope, keeping it comfortably in place, even when the pack is stuffed completely full.

The result of this careful, minimalist design is a pack that doesn’t need a padded waistbelt to carry well. Instead, the pack rides just above the waist with everything tightly packed against your back.

I see a lot of potential in this simple design, and knowing that Randy can custom build a pack like this in slightly bigger sizes, or with lighter fabrics makes me want to have him build a slightly larger, custom alpine/ice version of this same design for winter use in the northeast and for light overnight forays on bigger alpine objectives.

If you’re interested in the Ozone head over to the CCW site or give Randy a call, the customer service over at Cold Cold World rivals the quality of his designs and workmanship. All in all, the ordering experience is a breath of fresh air in our fully automated digital world, and his packs are the work of a true artisan.

For more information about the Ozone, or what the customization possibilities are with one of these packs have a look at these Coldthistle posts:

• Coldthistle custom Ozone
• Coldthistle custom Chaos

If you’ve read any of my other pack reviews, you’ll recall that I have had several Black Diamond packs over the past few years. My most recent heavily used pack was a Sphynx 32, a 35-ish liter bag that worked for nearly all of my daily and multiday climbing pursuits and was reasonably durable. I say “worked” because I don’t really feel like it excelled at all those things.

My beautiful new Chernobyl, overstuffed for a 4-day trip into Montana's Cowen Cirque

The Sphynx was the right size for cragging, alright for day length or overnight alpine climbs and a bit too small for full-on “bring the whole kitchen sink” winter endeavors. The non-reinforced bottom and fixed top lid were, in many ways, detrimental to the pack’s design as a day/multiday alpine load hauler. Whereas my older CCW Chernobyl had almost four years of devoted guiding and recreational climbing use on it before I retired it, the Sphynx was looking pretty knackered after only a year and a half. The lid and top load adjuster straps were ripping off, there were two dozen small holes in the non-reinforced bottom, the drawstring grommet had ripped out, and worst of all, the suspension design caused the pack to squeak like a dying duck all the way to the cliff.

It was time for a new pack. After a lot of searching I came to this conclusion – my hope for a more well-built and better designed all-around bag than the Chernobyl was an absolute pipe dream. Yes, there are times when it would be nice to have more suspension, and times when would be nice to have a pack that was superlight, but not at the cost of added weight, complexity and a lack of durability. I am a minimalist, and while I do have a lot of specialized gear, I like to have gear that serves many purposes whenever possible.

I looked at almost all of the available bags out there, including the Cilogear and BlueIce bags, and determined that having a local guy (Randy Rackliff) from NH make me a durable well fitting bag made the most sense. No other bags have the same build quality, value, or the lightweight/durable combination shown in CCW’s packs.

So, knowing that I wanted a new Chernobyl, I dropped Randy an email. I mentioned that my old Chernobyl felt too short in the torso. He suggested making the torso length 1″ longer which I liked, and offered it at no additional costs. Less than two weeks later I had the package at my doorstep. It took one day to ship from Jackson, NH and with shipping cost me a whopping $188.

After receiving the package, excitedly opening it up, and inspecting the pack I was impressed by the workmanship. No detail has been left unattended – there are no loose threads or missed stitches. The pack is flawlessly crafted, and despite the use of durable materials and large, fairly heavy-duty buckles, the pack is lightweight. There is nothing superfluous in the design – no modular suspensions, rotating ball joint hipbelts, squeaking framesheets or fancy straps and buckles. The design remains much the same: a straight-sided top loader with a floating lid that allows for maximum versatility in a year-round cragging/alpine climbing pack.

The simple suspension on the Chernobyl, no gimmicks here, just bombproof stitching and durable materials

Randy has made some simple design improvements to the CCW packs over the past few years. Some of these improvements include ice clipper attachments on the waistbelt, a layer of ballistics nylon reinforcing the bottom of the bag (as opposed to the older double layer of packcloth), and more durable fabric on the shoulder straps and waistbelt which make the straps feel stiffer. The 1″ longer torso is going to make a huge difference when carrying heavy loads. Everything else about the pack is pretty similar to my older Chernobyl, making this newer version about the best climbing bag I’ve ever owned.

My only addition is a thin stiff framesheet with a single aluminum stay from an older backpack. This helps the bag keep it’s shape during the constant unpacking and repacking associated with cragging. During multiday alpine trips I remove this framesheet and store my Big Agnes Aircore pad alongside the foam backpad. I remove the Aircore pad at camp. The softer foam suspension helps the pack climb well when it’s a bit more empty during summit attempts or day-length objectives on a multiday trip.

So, after using a Black Diamond Sphynx 32 and a Black Diamond Epic 45 (look for a review of this bag soon and perhaps a comparison with the Chernobyl) for a short while, how does the Chernobyl compare? Well, for one thing, it doesn’t squeak. I also noticed right away that the Chernobyl is very straight sided, meaning the bag is easier to cram your stuff into, and stays upright during packing more easily than the Sphynx. As far as carrying goes, the bag is comfortable and rests right up against your back. It moves with you like few other packs do, but is going to be hot to wear on long tedious approaches and may not carry as well with really heavy alpine loads. The Chernobyl carries well with moderate loads, but like many other “suspension-less” packs requires careful packing so that it doesn’t feel too top heavy when overstuffed.

I’m just now wrapping up a 17-day trip to Montana and Washington where I’ve been doing short (2-4 day) alpine climbing objectives. I brought the Chernobyl along for the trip and used it to haul a big load into Montana’s Cowen Cirque for 4 days, for a trip up and down the Fischer Chimneys on Mt. Shuksan, an overnight on Mt. Baker, and a 2-day trip up Forbidden Peak in Boston Basin where we carried our loads up to the col on the West Ridge. It worked brilliantly for all of these, demonstrating it’s versatility. It’s a functional and durable alpine pack that I plan on having along for most of my alpine and winter objectives.

In fact, I was so pleased with the Chernobyl that I’ve ordered a CCW Ozone as my cragging pack. When I return home to Massachusetts tomorrow it should be there waiting for me, so look for an Ozone review sometime down the line.

As climbers and consumers we seldom think long and hard about where our gear comes from. For me, the time to think about these things has come; I encourage others to do the same. I want gear that, as much as possible, supports fair labor practices and promotes a high standard of living for those involved in the production process. Over the next couple of years I’m planning on replacing my aging fleet of gear with products from companies like Cold Cold World (NH), Wild Things (NH),  Sterling Ropes (ME), Misty Mountain Threadworks (NC) and Metolius (OR). All of these companies make their products locally in their respective regions, consider durability and functionality as necessities, employ local climbers and receive feedback seriously when developing new designs.