The Rab Infinity Down Jacket

Mr. Rab Carrington himself, at a crag in Osp, Slovenia. photo couresty of Veronika






The "RAB" stands for Rab Carrington. For guys like me of a similar generation Rab Carrington was one of the hard Brits running around the Alps and later the greater ranges knocking off the plums.



"In the 70’s, you weren’t a rock climber, you were a mountaineer. In winter you ice climbed, in spring you tried to get rid of the winter fat, in the summer you went to the Alps, then you did a bit in the autumn before it closed in for the winter - the drinking season.





In 73/74 we started going to the Alps in winter. We went out, a team of Brits, not knowing much, doing our own thing. We were aiming for a speedy style, but the first route took Al and me two days, and we later found out that Patrick Vallençant had skied down it in about 15 seconds.



The whole team of us shared an apartment. That was a wild time, totally drunken and debauched. We didn’t get our deposit back at the end of the season, that’s for sure.



I learned how to make sleeping bags by accident. Al Rouse and I had a completely abortive trip to Patagonia in 1973, when we travelled overland from the USA. We got to Buenos Aires to pick up our climbing gear - which was being shipped out from Liverpool - only to find the gear hadn’t even left the port thanks to a dock strike. We partied instead, but I also ended up working for Hector Vieytes, a friend of mine, for six months in Argentina, and that’s were I learnt the basics.



I fell out with Al Rouse in Kangtega. We were very successful, Al and I, and had gone on lots of great trips together over the years. We’d just done Jannu in 1978, were going to Kangtega in 1979, then on to meet Doug Scott and go to Nuptse, then Makalu the year after, then we’d a chance at Everest. But we’d grown apart, we had a different emphasis. He was more into publicity and success à la Bonington, I was less in to that - we separated.



I started my business when Liz, my daughter came along in 1981. It was the only thing I knew how to do. I worked on a building site in the day and in the evenings I sat upstairs in the attic and sewed sleeping bags."



More here:

http://www.thebmc.co.uk/Feature.aspx?id=1685



The reason I mention Rab's history is I am convinced a basis in hard alpinism is the design genius behind a lot of innovative and quality gear. Problem is there are a lot of pretenders out there with neither design genius or building quality gear. And the climbing public seldom knows the difference. Give enough shit away and sponsor the right people with a slick multimillion dollar catalog campaign and all is "right" with the world. Right of course till the "shit" fails by design or by lack of quality.



I am a huge fan of down as insulation. Sadly I don't generally climb where is it dry enough to use it a lot these days.



Alaska sure. In the Alps? Not so much for what I have been doing recently. May be this spring that will change. My buddy Jon Griffith thinks down is the sheet for climbing jackets.Here in the Cascades..you are a dead duck. In Canada...on the ice fields, or the big faces? Sometimes. Around town? Sure.



Jon's hard won suggestions:



http://www.ukclimbing.com/gear/review.php?id=3533



There are a few down garments I have no problem recommneding if used i nthe rght conditions.



Theexcellent Norrona Lyngen and Eddie Bauer Peak XV jackets are two. More here:



http://coldthistle.blogspot.com//03/design-triumphsthe-norrna-lyngen-down.html



http://coldthistle.blogspot.com//02/belay-jacketsthe-heavy-weights.html



As slick as the Norrona is it is a bit heavy for somethings as is the XV when you start adding them to your pack.



I have a bunch of down sweaters, the previous Eddie Bauer pullover Hoody being one of the best and most used. But is is a pullover which limits the garment's use I find. And most of the time if I want down I want more than a sweater weight garment.









Enter theRab "Infinity:". It has a little more loft than a sweater, packs smaller and wasobviously designed by a team that knows about "fast, light and warm". The down is 850 fill.



Here are the factory specs:



◦NEW Pertex® Quantum 10D ultra light rip stop nylon outer and lining



◦Stitch-through baffle construction

◦210g/7oz of down fill. (L) of 850 fill power superior quality European white goose down

◦Lycra edged fixed down filled hood

◦2 hand warmer pockets with YKK zips

◦1-way YKK front zip and mini internal insulated zip baffle with chin guard

◦Elasticated cuffs

◦Double exit hem drawcord

◦Short cut



I got my XLa month or so ago. It weighs 17.5 oz on my scale...close enough to the advertised over all weight of16oz/460g for a large. I spent a day in a light rain with it and the material was still shedding water when I finally added a shell. I like the cut and the amount of insulation you get for the weight involved. Like many really good pieces of kit, it is a simple product with a very complicated design.

And imo this one is done right.



Of all my down gear, the Infinityis a piece that finally fits in where I thought a good piece of kit was needed. It is a small niche market for climbers but the RAB Infinityis one well worth looking at. if you have similar needs.






The Eddie BauerSweater pictured aboveat -30C. The RAB "Infinity" bumpedit inmy line up because of the better design and materials used for cold alpine climbing by RAB.




Credit where it is due? Eddie Bauer has a price point that is difficult to ignore forhigh quality down garments. The original Down Hoody is an excellent bit of kit.




RAB Infinity Jacket is $280 retail. The Eddie Bauer Hooded Down Sweater is $200. The $80 difference? While both are sewn through, The RABis a "jacket" and the EB a "sweater" in my opinion both with appropriate levels of insulation.

First Backcountry Ski

On Sunday, Dan and I headed down to Mount Rainier with the goal of skiing the Pinnacle/Castle saddle area. I took a look at the initial slope and didn't like the thought of coming down it. So we drove up to Paradise and started skinning up to the Muir Snowfield. The snow was pretty scoured above Panorama Point, so we stopped there to go downhill. The snow was thick sticky mush. We decided to not do laps and to hit the Copper Creek for some burgers and shakes. At least the weather was nice.

Dan taking a rest from skinning. Note all the tracks.

The Tatoosh and Adams.

Dan boarding in the crud.

Me, pretending to ski. (photo by Dan Engel)

Another Balloon

Follow-Ups, Friends & Neighbors

This post "Follow-Ups, Friends & Neighbors" was written for my Blogspot blog, The Transplantable Rose, by Annie in Austin.

A floral follow-up: The photo-defying shadows made this flower late for blooming day. The little bulbs, labeled Ixia/Corn Lilies, were on sale last fall so I stuck them in the temporary front bed. The package showed all kinds of pastel colors but mine are the colors of ears of corn. Has anyone else tried Ixia? Did it return for you the following spring?

Maybe this follow-up can count for Earth Day. Blackswamp Kim requested a photo of the Passionvine trellis - it's a recycled coatrack, once brass-colored plastic and aluminum, now painted antique white like the repurposed old iron fencework. Philo and I were at the semi-annual Settlement Home Garage Sale last fall and the second I saw it this idea popped into my head. The passionvine likes it, too.

One of the things I miss most about Illinois are Lilacs - when my Pacific Northwest daughter told me about her budding lilacs I was happy for her... but when Lily emailed this photo of what happened last weekend she didn't sound like a happy gardener! With any luck they'll still bloom - lilacs are pretty tough.

Last weekend my friend Pam/Digging and her lovely garden were featured on PBS-TV for the Central Texas Gardener. If you didn't get to see the show, go to the Central Texas Gardener website this week to see the clip - soon it will be available on YouTube.

I didn't take the camera when Rachel/In Bloom and I got to see the new rainwater collection system put in by Vicki/Playin' Outside. Here's her first post about the installation saga. Not only is the system impressive - the way she and her husband have integrated the huge tank into their garden is even more impressive - and the garden is filled with roses, herbs and frog songs.

At Spring Fling we met brother and sister Geoff and Anneliese of Cobrahead Blog. I was the lucky winner of a Cobrahead tool and took it for a test run. I'm used to my Cape Cod weeder, and still prefer that for picky weeding between the flowers in my crowded perennial beds, but the Cobrahead works much better in the vegetable garden, where weeds and grass sprouted overnight.

The action allows the head to go under weeds to get out more of the roots. It didn't take very long to do the tomato patch. [ and to you heirloom growers, yes - those potato-like leaves belong to 'Brandywine'.]

I took my prize Cobrahead along for the most recent Divas of the Dirt workday, and asked the other Divas to try it out and see if they liked it... the answer was a resounding 'yes' - it was especially good at getting weeds out of flowerbeds where they meet sidewalks & drives. It can mix soils and amendments, too.

The weather is warming up so these fragrant purple iris won't be around much longer. While I hope people on my block enjoy them, it's become more important that you enjoy them! What the heck has happened here?

It seems that in some way, the world of garden blogs has become the neighborhood of my heart and mind, so when the nominations for the Mouse & Trowel Awards were announced, it was overwhelming to be nominated a second time as the Garden Blogger You’d Most Like as a Neighbor. Last year the other nominees were May Dreams Carol, Blackswamp Kim and Pam/Digging and it amused me to imagine a neighborhood where we four could make horticultural waves. This year our imaginary neighborhood would let May Dreams Carol of Indianapolis, Jodi/Bloomingwriter of Nova Scotia, Canada, and myself from Austin, Texas have international fun with climate zones!

If you'd like to vote for this year's Mousies - please go here to the Mouse & Trowel website. You do not have to be a garden blogger to vote.

It's been a joy to meet so many of you in person during the past two years and with any luck those real life meetings will continue to happen...maybe someday you and I can sip a root beer float out on the veranda with our feet up on the iron rail and the fragrance of jasmine floating on the air.

This post "Follow-Ups, Friends & Neighbors" was written for my Blogspot blog, The Transplantable Rose, by Annie in Austin.

Cycling with a Backpack

After not having owned a backpack for nearly a decade, I recently bought one - mainly for nature walks, which I hope to do more of. The backpack is on the small side, lightweight, with lightly padded adjustable straps. I do not know much about backpacks, but this one is very comfortable for walking and it is waterproof.




Of course having gotten the bag, I was immediately tempted to wear it on bikes that have no provisions for carrying loads. It was fun at first, but now that the novelty has worn off here are some notes:




. I can feel the weight on my back. When I move around on the bike the weight inside the bag shifts and affects my balance.




. The straps rest a little too heavily on my shoulders and their width constrains movement. (Interestingly, I have tried a few cycling-specific backpacks in the store and their straps are even wider - I can hardly move my arms.)




.On an upright bike, it feels as if the weight of the bag pulls me backward a bit.




. On a roadbike, despite being small the bag obscures my vision as I check behind me for cars.




. Each time I have worn the backpack on a bike, my back was drenched in sweat afterward.




. These things notwithstanding,having tried riding with messenger-style bags when I first began cycling, I definitely prefer the backpack. It feels more secure and stable. I've never been able to get a messenger bag to really stay put on my back, even when it's a bicycle-specific design.




In a pinch having a backpack is great, because it makes it possible to carry a load on any bicycle without requiring the presence of racks, baskets or panniers. But if given a choice, I would rather attach things to the bike itself.




On a separate note, I wonder whether there have been attempts to make a backpack for road cyclists to run errands on their way home from a ride. It would fold up tiny, fitting into a jersey pocket like a musette bag but expanding into a large rucksack. It could then be filled with groceries on the way home and would be fine to wear for just the last mile or so. I sometimes wish I could stop by the store on my way home from a ride, without having to switch to my transport bike first. Of course, there is also the issue if locking up the bike...




What has been your experience cycling with a backpack?

Tunnel Cliffs and Sunday School Crag conditions

Winter wonderland... for now

I woke up this morning feeling a little sore from my past several days efforts. Needing a rest day, I decided to go check ice conditions high up on the ridge at the coldest areas in the region as well as get in some winter hiking and views. I loaded a light pack with minimal gear. Tools, crampons, extra gloves a puffy and the normal lid contents. I brewed a pot of elixer for my thermos and set off up the mountain to Tunnel road. The road was maintained part of the way making the driving easy. From there on out to the top of NO DRIVE hill (parking area) the snowmobiles had it packed to reasonable passage. I parked there and hiked down the 1.25 miles to the climbing. It was looking pretty good, but I was surprised that the top outs were still looking very wet and boney. Here's a couple of shots...

Hard to believe this is Tunnel cliffs from the ice farming days circa 1999

I like the no maintenance of the new version...

but liked the natural non tiered version better

Here's the beta on the NEW Tunnel Cliffs. I would suggest only using this area on Sundays and keeping a low profile. Since this is the first year I've been back here in years and this one sucks, I'm not really sure of the potential here. Its basically short benches (30'?) that can be climbed in short "pitches" or linked all together. Its a great place that seeps continually from a natural spring and parts are in full shade. It is one of the highest crags as far as elevation goes and comes in quicker than most other areas. This should be a great location with lots of moderate climbing. I don't expect to be climbing here that often, so this is my effort to share with fellow ice climbers an area. I would expect that it will become a good asset for both local and visiting climbers. You can find Tunnel Cliffs in Griz's Ice climbing Pennsylvania guidebook. It'll help get you there, but the routes are obviously different. Unlike the old days of serious efforts required to "farm" ice and climb here, TC has now been transformed into an ice making machine that requires no maintenance. Climbing at Tunnel back in those years was not a problem and could be accessed at any time. Now given its current condition going on days other than Sunday may ruin it for all. Please don't be "that climber" and lets keep this place climbable. Thanks and enjoy! I snapped a couple pics and left quickly as not trying to be the person I just mentioned. I wanted to get a couple pics with it a little thicker than I've seen it thus far and to gauge what it takes for this place to come into shape to help y'all out. I've always enjoyed the walk down into and out of Tunnel cliffs. Its a long gradual hill that goes through some beautiful forest. Its quickly contrasted by the new climbing area as you will see if you visit (some Sunday). Keep this one on your hit list if leading WI3ish climbs is what your after. Keep in mind if not leading that there's not much in the way of anchors (trees, etc) for easy top roped climbing. In addition the ice may be hard to reach from the top and may not offer easy access for screw anchors either.



After my hike up out of Tunnel Cliffs I visited Sunday School Crag. The conditions there look promising. If the cold weather continues it'll be fat by next weekend. If it warms up its going to be very unstable. Unfortunately the forecast is calling for a warm up and rain. I spent a couple hours walking around checking out the climbs enjoying our brief winter experience. Here's what it looked like and a few random shots for your enjoyment.

60 meters of chossy alpine fun

South Park Wall

Near where New Years Revolution once stood.

Looks harder than WI4+ though.

It's waiting for us when you're ready Matt!

New Years Reunion WI?

Dumbfounded self portrait. It was a wonderful 13°

and felt good in the sun

Pennsylvania Alpine? Who remembers the approach?

Another 60meters of more strenuous fun.

Who's coming with me man?

There you have it the ice is looking better than it has yet, but has some building to be considered FAT. Lets hope for some mercy on the warm fronts and colder temps hit the area with fury. I know I'm ready to get some serious climbing done. Mother nature has a different plan. Hard to believe its 44° and raining now just hours later. What a bitch!

Sobering or it should be anyway...

By Angus M. Thuermer Jr., Jackson Hole, Wyo.



March 21,




The route two skiers chose during an excursion near Ranger Peak on March 7
was a key factor in them getting caught and killed in an avalanche, park rangers
said Tuesday.



Steve Romeo and Chris Onufer died after being swept nearly 3,000 vertical
feet. The two likely were headed to an unskied south-facing couloir above
Waterfalls Canyon in Grand Teton National Park that Romeo had eyed over the
years, rangers and a friend of Romeo’s said.



Romeo and Onufer’s ascending ski tracks led to that goal, rangers who
investigated the avalanche deaths said. The route they chose took them from the
edge of an avalanche path into its starting zone, which was the ideal steepness
for slides, rangers said.



“They chose to go up a known avalanche path ascending into an avalanche
starting zone,” Jenny Lake Ranger Rich Baerwald said.



The incident should spur backcountry skiers to learn about avalanches and
reassess the way they make decisions about taking risks, he said. Skilled skiers
and moderate danger can be a deadly combination, rangers said.



Many people who read Romeo’s popular TetonAT ski blog looked to him “as the
subject-matter expert,” Ranger Chris Harder said.



While Romeo skied radical terrain with elan, he also posted several videos
and wrote stories about getting caught in or nearly missed by avalanches.



“I don’t know if he was taking that to heart,” Harder said. “He had more
[encounters] in the last few years than I’ve had in my lifetime,” the 30-year
Teton veteran said.



“I feel pretty strongly a lot can be learned by this,” Harder said.



Neither skier told anybody of his exact plans, rangers believe.



“What their ultimate objective for the day was, we will never know,” Harder
said.



Piecing together information from the ascent track and from friends Romeo and
Onufer talked to before leaving, investigators put together a likely scenario
for the accident.



Romeo and his sometimes ski partner Reed Finlay had talked about skiing a
couloir west of the avalanche path — on a spur of 10,355-foot Ranger Peak.



“It’s a really nice line, a pencil-thin, straight shot.” Finlay said Tuesday.
He and Romeo last saw it together Feb. 4 while on Eagles Rest Peak.



Finlay couldn’t return to the area. His wife, Rebecca, gave birth to
firstborn Kershaw on Feb. 29.



The ill-fated skiers were scheduled to depart Colter Bay at 7 a.m., rangers
said. Across the lake, the slope the two ascended was “a big avalanche path,”
Baerwald said.



“It narrows down from a big basin to gullies chutes and rock bands — it’s
hourglass-shaped,” Baerwald said.



Climbing the avalanche path with skins on their skis, Romeo and Onufer
initially made the best of hostile country, Baerewald said.



They stuck to the climber’s right, near where cliffs form the edge of the
slope.



At an elevation of about 9,700 feet, they made a critical decision.



“They start making their way away from the edge of the avalanche path on into
the avalanche track and into the starting zone,” Baerwald said.



Added Harder, “If they were heading to that [pencil-thin] couloir, they
probably short-cut over to it.”



An alternative would have been to continue up the right side of the slope,
rangers said. This route was less steep and led to a ridge.



“The ridge would have been a safer route,” Baerwald said. Ridge safety is a
basic concept, he said.



“The message with regard to route-finding is, it’s super important terrain be
considered,” he said.



A rising traverse and switchback brought the pair to a slot between two
triangle-shaped cliffs in the middle of the basin. Here the slope steepened to
about 40 degrees, the classic angle for slab avalanches, rangers said.



It is likely this is where the two triggered the slide. The crown, up to 3
feet deep, indicated the avalanche entrained snow that had been falling and
drifting from five days of storms. In that period, 28 inches fell in parts of
the Tetons, the Bridger-Teton National Forest Avalanche Center reported.



Significant wind carried that snowfall to lee slopes, rangers said, including
the fateful basin on Ranger Peak’s spur. Southeast facing, its orientation
catches drifting snow carried by prevailing winds, they said.



Once the skiers provoked the slide, nothing could have saved them, rangers
said. The avalanche ran a linear mile over cliffs and rocks.

It likely
propelled them at speeds between 60 and 80 mph, rangers said. It ripped off one
skier’s pack, another’s boot, all four skis.



Searchers found the base layers of one ski ripped from its top plate, its
climbing skin still attached.



“The ski was completely delaminated, separated,” Harder said. “Speaking to
force, that says a lot right there.”



The chaos likely tore Romeo’s helmet off his pack, and it “sustained a lot of
damage,” Harder said.



Romeo had an Avalung pack — a device designed to allow avalanche victims to
breathe if buried. Its mouthpiece was deployed, but rangers couldn’t tell
whether he had it gripped in his teeth during the slide, they said.



Friends of the two have asked whether avalanche airbags could have saved
them, rangers said. Airbags are stowed in backpacks and deploy instantly with
the pull of a toggle. They help suspend a skier high in flowing snow and help
prevent burial.



But neither skier was really buried, rangers said.



“Chris probably could have sat up,” had he been alert or alive, Harder said.
“Steve probably could have wrestled an arm out.



The Teton County Coroner ruled the cause of death was blunt-force trauma.



Buffalo Fork Sub-District Ranger Rick Guerrieri said no gear could have
helped.



“One piece of equipment wasn’t going to have any effect on injuries,” he
said.



Added Harder, “The best tool they had with them, they weren’t using the most.
That was their brain.”



Rangers discounted other skiers’ sentiments about the pair being in “the
wrong place at the wrong time.” Such phrases are best reserved for victims of
meteorite strikes, they said.



“This [event] had factors in it that [include] decision-making,” Harder said
of the avalanche. Rangers are uncertain to what extent the pair took into
account the snow and winds.



Avalanche forecasts from the center called the chance of a slide moderate.
The predictions range only to 10,500 feet.



Search leader Guerrieri would not call the pair’s decisions a mistake.



“Different people are willing to accept different levels of risk,” he said.
“I hate second-guessing people.”



Backcountry travelers need to ask themselves what the consequences of taking
a risk might be, Harder said. In this instance, had the avalanche been witnessed
from across the lake and a rescue mounted within 10 minutes, the outcome would
have been the same.



“They died instantly, it’s pretty safe to say,” he said.



Even with working cellphones and helicopters at the ready, an injured skier
would be lucky to get from the Tetons to a hospital within three hours, Harder
said.



Decision-making is an increasing part of avalanche education, Baerwald said.
A study widely cited in recent years indicates that skiers and snowboarders
discard caution in the face of social considerations that range from the lure of
untracked slopes to a commitment to reach a goal or even familiarity with a
slope.



“Taking an avalanche course is critical, even late in the season,” Baerwald
said. Education can help skiers understand what an avalanche forecast means and
provide other lessons, he said.



“There was some decision making that factored into the accident,” Baerwald
said. “Route choice — that’s the one that stands out the most.”



Post script by the editor @ Cold Thistle:



This statement from the article above should stand out to everyone imo:



“I don’t know if he was taking that to heart,” Harder said. “He had more [encounters] in the last few years than I’ve had in my lifetime,” the 30-year Teton veteran said.



In my 40 years of back country,area skiing and winter alpinism the VAST majority of friends I have lost had been in avalanches previousand then eventually died in avalanches.



It is NOT a numbers game. It is a choice you make every time you venture into avi terrain. Start disregarding your fear and you will make the wrong decisions.

None of myfriends were total back country snowdummies. All knew the risks we take. But all made fatal errors...usually more than once and only survivedthe first few incidents because of pure, dumbluck. Harsh? Sure it is. But easier to tell you now than remind you at your own funeral.

How many funerals do youneed to attend before the point is drivenhome?



Snow safety is not rocket science.



The next time you ski or walk into dangerous terrain ask yourself, "is it reallyworth the risk today?""Overs" in this game are hard to come by. Gear will never replace the high tech shit between your ears. Everyone has the same gear there but you have to be willing to actually use it.



Double click to enlarge the terrainphotos of the accident area below.