UKH

Hi guys,

 

I'm putting together an Ice Climbing expedition to Alaska next year, and it's all coming together nicely. It's a students expedition, so is a fairly shoestring budget, and we're therefore hoping to rent most specialist ice kit (crampons, ice screws, adzes etc). I've managed to source everything except for ice screws so far - seems there just aren't any places that you can hire them from. 

 

Does anyone know a place we can rent them from, or have any advice or suggestions on how we could get enough ice screws for four people to make a 2000ft ascent, all on a fairly shoestring busget?

In reply to regangriffin100:

I would email some companies and see if they will give you some or if not a discount on some. No harm in asking!

In reply to regangriffin100:

I suspect the mere fact that members of you're expedition, don't possess any of this specialist equipment? Perhaps you shouldn't be attempting any 2000ft waterfall!

Sorry

Stuart

In reply to Stuart the postie:

Yeh, probably what he said. I was just thinking how I would do it

In reply to Stuart the postie:

I can't understand the concern - we're all experienced climbers, but being (completely broke) students we've always borrowed kit from our local climbing centre when we've been messing about Scandinavia and the like

only problem with doing that this time is someone else has nabbed it first! Selfish or what  

In reply to regangriffin100:

I can’t help feeling Stuart The Postie is into something, it seems a little odd that a team of experienced ice climbers don’t have *any* of their own kit.  

 

What are your objectives?  Depending on what they are a team of four could need anything from about 4 (for a snowy mountaineering peak) to 16 ice screws (for a steep ice/mixed route).  More if you are climbing as two teams. 

 

you can get budget screws for about £40 each, if you need a lot of them why don’t you each commit £150 to buying four each.  That’s not exactly a huge amount when you’re already traveling to Alaska and they will be sharp, and much easier to use than anything you can rent.   It’s also be worth trying a few climbing shops to see if they’ll give you a discount or cost at trade in return for some publicity.

 

I’ve not heard of anywhere that rents ice screws out, probably because they’d just get abused.  Have you tried the local climbing shops where you’re going to be?  REI and AMH (Alaska Mountaineering & Hiking) would be the ones to try in Anchorage. 

In reply to regangriffin100:

Cant help you with renting but there certainly used to be cheap ice screws to be had around Chamonix - usually being flogged at campsites by Eastern Europeans  / Russians - perhaps ask if this practice still goes on and ask someone to buy them for you.

 

Of course they weren't exactly certified by any body so cant advise what they are like if someone fell on them.

 

In reply to regangriffin100:

Don't disregard what Stuart the Postie said.  I can't think of any winter climbers in my pool of partners who i'd class as experienced who don't at least own their own crampons.  But then we are a bit older so maybe not a fair comparison.

This kit tends to hold it's value so you could look at getting it second hand and then selling it later to get your cash back.  Doesn't help with getting the things in the first place though...

In reply to Aly:

 

 

Exactly! 

On a different note, I've just booked a 2 week holiday to Cancun, can anyone lend me some second hand Speedos as I'm broke and can't afford to swim in the pool. 

 

In reply to regangriffin100:

How much does it cost to rent crampons vs buying?

In reply to regangriffin100:

Just set a fund raising page and claim that you're doing it for charity.

In reply to humptydumpty: It appears that £18 gets you a fortnights crampon hire or  £50 per fortnight gets you a 'Winter skills package' - Snow Helmet Hire, Ice Axe Hire, Avalanche Probe Hire, Snow Shovel Hire and Ice Crampons Hire. (Their descriptions not mine) http://www.expeditionkithire.co.uk/index.html

But really, Alaska without owning any of your own kit ??

Still waiting to hear what the objective is though

 

 

 

In reply to regangriffin100:

Ask Father Christmas nicely    One ice screw each from a select few friends and family should build up a good starting point.  

In reply to regangriffin100:

I once hired a pair of technical climbing crampons in the Alps, I was using my own pair of G12's on that trip but rented a pair of Petzl Lynx crampons for a more serious objective. 

Long story short, my head didn't play ball and we ended up on a less serious route, on the descent the toe bail was damaged and the crampon kept falling off my boot. Luckily, for most of the descent it was possible to abseil sections and we reached the glacier fairly drama free. 

On the walk back across the glacier, the damaged crampon came off a number of times despite my best efforts to fix it/secure it to my foot. A happy ending but if we'd been on our more committing objective it would have been a very different story. 

The moral of the story is, if you're planning to go do big, committing routes in remote areas, make sure you have your own kit you trust and know its usage history. 

 

 

 

In reply to regangriffin100:

Completely broke but messing about in Scandinavia and planning trips to Alaska???

In reply to andyd1970:

Climbers are weird that way, though. Who else owns multiple pairs of virtually identical £100+ shoes and then quibbles over paying to park their fully kitted out campervans?

In reply to Harrison_Connie:

I can't actually imagine anything that you could climb in Lynxs that you couldn't climb in G12s anyway, so all round that seems like a bad decision! Nevermind, you live and learn etc.

In reply to Dell:

I’ve got some you can have, but me budgie is more of a parrot so they’re a bit stretched in the Linford department.

In reply to TobyA:

I think it was more psychological than anything.

The lynx is still a step up from the G12’s, more aggressive and slightly more rigid, I also fancied trying them in mono mode. 

I don’t think it was necessarily a bad decision, most folk would take a nice sharp pair of lynx’s over a blunt pair of G12’s on an ice route any day! 

In reply to Harrison_Connie:

It's not hard to sharpen ice tools

 

In reply to nacnud:

No, it’s not.

Although, it is much harder to get flat crampon points sharp enough without losing the overall length of the point over time. I’d been sharpening them all winter season leaving them fairly stubby, hence why I hired the Lynx’s. 

The point I was making was relative to my situation and the condition of my G12’s at the time - I have since upgraded. 

In reply to Harrison_Connie:

Yep, until you climb the ice and realise the G12s work just as well as your fancy crampons. I've climbed ice in mono Terminators for years but when I snapped my first pair, I had to use my G12s in the middle of ice season until DMM replaced the Terminators, that's when I realized it really made very little difference! Ok, may be on WI6 and up perhaps, but 4 and 5 not really. I doubt Lynx are more stiff than G12s.

In reply to subtle:

Years ago we bought some of them off a Russian guy in Cham and took them to a friend who worked in the gear testing lab at ENSA. One folded and the hanger ripped off at 200kg load and the other snapped at 700kg.

We took them back to him and he went white as a sheet as not only had he been selling them for years, he also used them himself.

Maybe they've improved since then but how would you know?!

In reply to regangriffin100:

So they have all their own clothing too?

 

In reply to TobyA:

I guess it comes down to personal preference and how confident you are climbing ice in G12's - I've climbing Scottish IV ice using the G12's and yea they are fine but they have their limitations for sure, and don't feel as bomber as more aggressive crampons like the Lynx or G14's do (for me anyways). 

As I said above, its more psychological than anything. The G12's are the crampons I grew up winter walking with and I have never seen them as a technical climbing crampon, I've still done some class routes in them though.  

Anyways, lets stop hijacking this lad's threat - G12's vs any other crampon can wait for another time!  

In reply to DaveHK:

Hence my disclaimer  

I must admit I bought some, in my youth, wouldn't like to have taken a fall on them (or any ice screw really), thankfully these screws have been phased out of my rack and are no longer in use.

In reply to regangriffin100:

You won't find anywhere to hire ice screws, or any sort of runner protection. Either buy some second hands screws and sell them on afterwards, or if you don't have the cashflow and are genuinely 'completely broke' then maybe Alaska isn't the best option??

In reply to regangriffin100:

If you can't solve the screws for cash problem, could you buy a single screw, and then v-thread every runner?  Granted it would take a bit more time, and you'd need to buy some tat as well, but should do the job.