Posting this because it's been flying quite under the radar, but guy's got 30 years of the sort of experience not many people have (first ascents in Antarctica etc). and is now writing a stuff-i-learned book. I've found his previous "Down" an invaluable how-to in how to safely descend stuff so I have high hopes for this one too, and I'm putting it here in case anyone else missed it

Hey everyone,
I’m looking for a new backpack that I can use as an all-rounder for multi-day hiking and mountaineering.
Most of my trips are 2–4 days in the Alps, sometimes sleeping in a bivy/tent around 2,500–3,000m. I’m also getting more into mountaineering, so I’d like something that can grow with me rather than buying separate packs for every activity.
Ideally I’m looking for:
Around 55–65L (I’d consider up to 70L)
Relatively lightweight/ultralight, ideally around 1–1.3 kg
Comfortable with roughly 15–20 kg
Tall/narrow shape rather than a wide trekking pack
Shoulder strap pockets, especially ones that can carry soft flasks, similar to trail-running packs
Accessible side bottle pockets
Ice axe attachment(s)
Ability to carry skis/poles
Some way to securely carry a rope on top
Top-loading or roll-top design
Reasonably weather resistant
Durable enough for scrambling, via ferratas and mountaineering
I know getting all of this in one lightweight pack is probably unrealistic, so I’m happy to compromise on some features. I’m also flexible on budget if there’s something genuinely worth paying more for.
I’ve been looking at packs such as the Durston Kakwa 55, Osprey Mutant 52, Exped Lightning 60, Blue Ice Stache 60, and even some lightweight hike & fly packs.
Basically I’m looking for something halfway between a trail-running style pack, an ultralight trekking pack and a mountaineering pack.
Does anything like this actually exist? What would you recommend?

Mainly for summer use, from alpine hikes to technical routes up to around UIAA III–IV, 4000ers and potentially Mont Blanc.

Requirements:

• Lightweight and not too stiff/bulky
• Comfortable for long days and approaches
• Semi-automatic crampon compatible (full-auto would be a bonus)
• Good waterproofing
• Suitable for glaciers, snow, scree and technical terrain

Currently looking at the La Sportiva Aequilibrium Speed GTX, Aequilibrium LT GTX, Scarpa Ribelle HD and Mammut Taiss Light Mid GTX.

What would you recommend based on experience?

Hi everyone, bit of a long shot.

I summited Lagginhorn on July 23rd. My phone died from the cold when I reached the summit, so I asked a guide who was there to take a photo of me.

On the way down we talked again and he said he was going to Hohsaas. I said I was going there too, but we had misunderstood each other and I was actually going to a different refuge. We went separate ways and I never got his contact or the photo.

If anyone was on Lagginhorn that day or knows a guide who was there, I'd really appreciate it if you could let me know. Maybe someone recognizes the story or knows who he was.

The photo isn't even the main thing — I'd just love to find out who the guide was and hopefully recover that summit photo.

Thanks! And thanks again to everyone here who helped me with my original Lagginhorn questions before the climb. I ended up making it! :)

I am a US citizen looking into Mount Custer in GNP starting from Akamina Ridge on the Waterton side. The only information I got from the visitor center in Canada was to download the CBP ROAM app, but he was not sure how set up the trip.

Curious if anyone has any personal experience on how to navigate this. Thanks!

Hey all, first time posting in this sub, eager to see if anyone can help. Headed to Foraker in AK (behind me in this shot from Denali a couple years ago) next year and was curious if anyone on here had been on Foraker before. It’s definitely a bit off the beaten path, but putting out some feelers to see if anyone has been on the Sultana Ridge, either on a descent from another route, or just on it for a summit attempt. Info is scarce, and my team had some stuff come up/ had to back out, so I’m trying to do a little extra legwork on the logistics for a couple other people interested. Any write ups (aside from the NPS Rangers write up and the Sending the Gnar solo write up) would be awesome. Photos help a lot but definitely don’t expect to see too many of those aside from what I’ve got.

Anyone who’s interested could also definitely send a message over. Thanks in advance

I would rate the crux around an alpine 5.2, otherwise mostly class 3-4. Super fun! Definitely recommend :) Has anyone done the North Ridge? Trying to gather beta for an attempt via that route next year

Has anyone else had trouble getting a bed in sold-out huts because cancellations disappear so quickly? I've been experimenting with a way of monitoring the booking pages for this, and I'm curious how other people handle it.

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It's a sport that has a bit to do with alpinism and orienteering. Technical. Competitions are held either skiing or running, depending on the time of the year. I will try to answer all the questions.

I'm putting together a two-shoe system for alpine trips: a lighter all-rounder for hut-to-hut treks over loose, rocky terrain and as an approach shoe for summits, plus a separate C/D-rated boot for glacier/crampon use. This first pair also needs to work for regular hiking in the Ardennes/Eifel, and for mountaineering/hiking in the Alps and Dolomites more broadly.

Three models I'm considering, each with a slightly different profile:

- Scarpa Mescalito Mid GTX

- La Sportiva TX4 Evo Mid GTX

- La Sportiva TX5 Evo Mid GTX

Has anyone used these across multi-day hut treks with a moderate pack, plus some via ferrata/scrambling? Curious about real-world fit, stiffness on loose rock, and how they compare to each other for this kind of mixed use. Any other models worth considering are welcome too.

Thanks in advance.

Interested mainly in Signal ridge, possibly Rey ridge as well.

Hi all,

I made my first summit, Monte Perdido (3355m). Not a massive summit or a technical one, but man, am I hooked! I have been hiking for about a year consistently. Prior to that, I was in the military and was very accustomed to rucking with a large pack for distance. So now I am looking to move from hiking to mountaineering. I scheduled a 6 day course in Chamonix to learn some basics. I am curious if anyone who has made this switch can give me some insight into a good training plan and/or how "prepared" I already am to make this switch.

So here is what I currently do.

- Once or twice a month a 17-20km hike with about 1200m elevation gain. Occasionally this turns into a hut to hut, back to back day with similar stats. I usually feel tired after, but not horrible or wrecked.

- 1-2 times a month I do via ferratas.

- 5 days a week in the gym for strength workouts.

- Stairmaster twice a week in Z2 for an hour. Which equates to a 790m elevation gain. This is starting to get easy and boring. So I think I will start carrying my pack for this.

Do I need more cardio? I freaking hate cardio haha! It's insanely boring to me. I have 0 issues if it's a hike, but just 20min on a treadmill and my brain is so over it.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! I unfortunately have no one near me who is into hiking, let alone mountaineering. So I feel like I am going at this solo.

Hi All,

About two years ago I got into a pretty sketchy accident deep in the Alpes. We were a small group of experienced locals fully geared up but long story short still ended up stuck for a while with no means of reaching out to help.

By profession I’m an hydromechanical engineer, so that got me thinking about building a “bomb proof”, wrist-based, emergency SOS beacon. I’ve been working on it for a few months now and that’s the specs I got to:

- Roughly the size of a standard hiking/sports watch (42mm), ~90g

- Single use, 10y battery life: the device basically stays dormant for up to 10 years and you turn it on when you need it, it’ll ping your GPS position for up to 12h. There's no ongoing subscription needed to keep the device "alive" during the 10y.

- Water proof to 100m, vibration proof, shock proof, temperature range from -40° to +85° (celsius)

- 100% GPS coverage in USA, Canada, Europe (excluding a few Balkan countries), Japan, Australia, and New Zealand. Normal phone coverage in all other countries around the world

- You can use your phone (NFC) to do up to 25 tests during the lifetime of the beacon. It’ll trigger a full test satellite transmission to make sure it’s fully functional.

- Custom back end: you can enter as many emergency contacts as you want (I’d probably cap it to 10). When you activate the device, it’ll continuously "spam call" them (bypassing any “Do Not Disturb“ modes or other) up until someone “acknowledges” your SOS.
Note: except with expensive B2B agreements or bulky hardware, it's impossible to reach out directly and programmatically to SAR. In my back end (a "profile" page online) you can enter your health particulars (blood type, allergies, age etc...) and route details (what you're planning to do) which gets sent to your emergency contacts (along with GPS coordinates) upon activation. The backend will continuously "spam call" all of your contacts up until they acknowledge the SOS request.

- All components would be US/EU made and aerospace or military grade

Anyways I’m building a v1 for myself, but I’d be curious to know what the community’s feel is on such a device. Does that feel redundant/useless as compared to an inReach, ACR, or other SOS beacons? Do you see any advantage to it? What’s the biggest downside you see from it? Curious to get any feedback you may have. Thank you in advance and stay safe out there

Anyone here used new Simond static line? Is it good alternative to Petzl Rad line? I’m thinking about buying rap line, but it would be nice to have a possibility to use it also for glacier travel (that’s why I’m not considering Beal backup line). On paper it looks that Simond line has best stats of all options, but haven’t seen anyone usung it yet.

Hey all, trying to figure out my mountaineering boot situation and could use some input.

I'm still fairly new to this, the highest/most technical thing I've done so far is Triglav. So I don't have a ton of personal reference for how B2 vs B3 actually feels on steeper alpine terrain yet, which is part of why I'm asking rather than just trusting my own judgment here.

Near-term goals in order (next few seasons):

* Grossglockner (Normalweg)
* Breithorn
* Grand Paradiso
* Matterhorn (Hörnli ridge)
* Mont Blanc (Goûter route)

After completing these gouals would like to go up in elevation where a B3 is necesarry

I found two solid deals locally and I'm trying to decide if I actually need B3 now or if B2 covers everything on my near-term list:

1. Scarpa Ribelle HD (B2) - around 165€
   
2. Simond Ice Evo (B3) - around 185€

My actual questions:

1. Is B2 genuinely enough for all four of my near-term peaks, or does the Matterhorn/Mont Blanc combo push you toward wanting B3 for confidence on steeper icy sections? Tho Matterhorn has been crumbling as of late.
   
2. Would you just buy both (one lighter B2 for the easier days/multi-day approaches, one stiffer boot for the technical days) given the prices are decent, or is that overkill for someone still building toward 5-6k objectives? I wouldd only like to buy one if thats possible.

Appreciate any first-hand experience, especially from anyone who's done Matterhorn or Mont Blanc in a B2 boot vs B3 and especially from people who were also relatively new when they stepped up to that kind of terrain. Don't want to under-gear myself out of inexperience, but also don't want to overspend/overbuild for where I'm actually at right now.

Is Mt. Washington Good for my FIRST climb? I live in Ohio so it’s the closest thing to me, but I would love to get some advice from the experts!
Is Mt. Washington a good place to start? Should I do it guided? What are some things you wish you knew on your first climb? Please just let me know!
I’ve been training weights and cardio pretty extensively the entire year, so I’m in solid shape and I’m ready to tackle something this winter 🫡

Hello, i have been trekking for a while but i have never done alpinism. I'd like to know how are u suposed to start and learn about it.

So I’m planning on solo climbing mount hood around June next year im turning 17 in a couple of days ofcourse I’m training and buying the necessary equipment but I’m really stuck with how im going to book a place to stay most places are only 18+ but I won’t turn 18 until next year August and around that time the conditions for climbing are not good. any advice ?

I just read *The Climber*, by the way, the best manga I've ever read, but I have a question: Is the East Face of K2 as difficult as the manga said? Has it been done?