What's in my pack: Gear obsession by Colin Haley
Premium Members can read the entire article here:
I have another “What's in my pack” article featuring Colin, about his clothing systems. You can check that out here.
Check out this great interview with American alpinist Colin Haley, as he takes a deep dive into his obsession with climbing gear.
The link to the YouTube video is below.
Here are a few quotes and highlights I thought were especially interesting.
I added a time stamp for the video so you can find that part fast.
“I personally tweak out about climbing gear to a very small level of detail." =^)
“There are trade-offs to everything. Every gear choice is maximizing some quality at the expense of some other quality.”
What piece of alpine climbing clothing did Colin have a big role in designing for Patagonia? (M10 pant, 18:00)
Colin often wears a hard shell pant and a soft shell jacket on his climbs, which is the exact opposite of most people. Why is that? (Because it's more common for your butt to be in the snow than your torso. 19:50)
What’s the small Slovenian company that makes some of Colin's favorite functional and low-cost pitons? (climbready.eu, 20:15)
What's Colin's favorite old-school bit of tech for listening to “mountain motivator” music on a route? (Ipod Shuffle, 23:50)
Why is a top quality headlamp such a crucial piece of gear? (Colin calls is the “1 essential,” because it lets you keep pushing on when it gets dark, to maybe find a much better place to bivy. If you don't have a good headlamp, you’re stuck as soon as it gets dark. 51:30)
The complete article has answers and time stamps to these questions:
What are the pros and cons of internal tent sleeves versus external?
What are some considerations for choosing the correct crampons?
What’s a simple way you can keep your tent from blowing away when you're out climbing?
What's the one type of climbing gear that Colin thinks has the most potential for improvement?
What’s a clever modification Colin did to his helmet to make it more suitable for cold weather climbing?
What modification did Colin make to his crampons that he really likes?
What's Colin's favorite water bottle?
Which climb did Colin learn the most from?
Get the answers to all these, and the time stamps to the video for each one . . . and the link to the video itself at the Premium Member article.
Join my Premium Membership to read the complete article.
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