Moon Ring

There's a fantastic ring around the moon right now! Taken from my back yard at 10:30 p.m. on February 16, .

Take Me to the River!

Just about the only thing saving my sanity during the awful heatwave we are having in Vienna, is the splendid and beautiful Danube. The Danube River and the Danube Canal run through the length of the city, and the bicycle paths along them are extremely useful for travel from one neighborhood to another. The streets of Vienna may be choking with exhaust fumes and the asphalt may be melting from the heat, but the cycle paths by the river are leafy and breezy. And they can take you from the center of town to the serene countryside in as little as 30 minutes!

A couple of days ago, Anna (from Cycling is Good for You) and I escaped Vienna for a trip to the country, swapping bicycles while we were at it. But I will have to postpone writing about that, because I am off to a conference in Romania (which, incidentally, is accessible via the very Danube bicycle path that runs through Vienna). I enjoy knowing that I can get on the river path around the corner from my house, and just keep going for days until I reach either the Black Forest in Germany, or the Black Sea in Romania. And this is the same bike path on which I commute to work! Magical.

Scarpa's Phantom Ultra lwt boot...again.

The Phantom Ultra, on uber classic, Canadian WI5, Carlsberg.




Editor's note:

The Scarpa Phantom Ultra is by far my favorite lwt mtn boot. It isn't perfect but climbs well, is warm enough and best of all, fits my feet exceptionally well. I've commented on this boot many times in the past here at Cold Thistle. And like Dave I am looking to climb in the new Rebels Ultras asap to make a side by side comparison.



Our British contributor in Chamonix, Dave Searle,offers his review. Hope you enjoy!






Dave chipping away in hisUltras, highon the Colton/Brooks, N. Face of le Droites.



Scarpa Phantom Ultra Review

By Dave Searle




I’ve had my pair of Scarpa Phantom Ultra’s
for about a year and a half now and they are overdue a resole. They defiantly got “finished off” on my
latest trip out to the Kangchenjunga region of Nepal this past autumn where the
endless moraine bashing on the Yalung glacier saw the rubber on the toe wearing
back to the plastic which also started to get rounded off leaving me very
little in the way of a toe welt to strap my poons to. Gutted. Lesson learnt for sure (resole them sooner
rather than later) but this is besides the point and only a small part of the
story my Ultras have to tell.



Drytooling an M10 at the Zoo




These are without a doubt the most
versatile mountain boots I have ever owned.
I was originally on the market for a new summer alpine boot to replace
my Scarpa Charmoz. I ummmed and arrrrred
over the baffling array of different boots on the market before settling on the
Ultras. Why did I choose them over a
Charmoz or Trango for my summer boot I hear you say. Quite simply it all came down to weight. I stuck my size (42) on the scales and they
only came up 200g per pair heavier than a non gaitered, B2 summer boot. Now why would I buy a boot which I couldn’t
take mixed or ice climbing or even dry tooling just because they were 200g
lighter. It’s a no brainer really. I haven’t regretted my decision once and they
have served me very well over the past 18 or so months. Only 18 months I hear you say. Yeah probably not ideal but hear me out. For a start they aren’t finished yet and I’m
pretty sure with a descent resole job they would last me another hard
year. I’m also not the friendliest
person to my boots and believe me when I tell you these have seem some
action. I’ve used them on countless
drytooling sessions, toe hooking and wandering around at the base of my local
crag on sharp dusty rocks. I’ve used
them of the 1000m north face of the Droites in autumn where I was impressed
with their warmth (just about warm enough for this I might add, which isn’t too
bad considering I would ordinarily be using a pair of 6000s at this time of
year) and their support for climbing long ice fields. I’ve used them on the Chamonix Uber classic
the Frendo spur where they climbed rock extremely well and were light enough
for a speedy ascent. I’ve used them for
countless short ice and mixed routes in the massif and in Scotland where they
performed exceptionally well due to their nimbleness, dexterity and
support.









They are comfy on the walk in
due to the small amount off flex you get from the sole unit and remained comfy
after wearing them for an entire month whilst at 4800m and above on the Yalung
glacier in Nepal. All in all these boots
have impressed at all turns and have kept my feet comfortable through all kinds
of weather and conditions.



Dave's well worn Ultras







Now for the down sides, and yes there has
to be some to authenticate a write up of a piece of gear otherwise you can be
sure that the wool is being pulled over your eyes by someone on the
payroll. Might I also add that I was not
given these boots, I went into a shop in Chamonix, none the less, and slapped
down 370euros of my hard earned cash on these.






Typical Chamonix choss @ M7 while sportingworn out Ultras.



First off I must admit I’m not a great fan
of the lacing system that is provided.
The laces are pretty slick so anything short of a reef knot and you can
be sure your boots will come undone over the course of a few hours, which is
slightly frustrating. I’ve also been
slightly let down by the waterproofness on a couple of occasions, mostly in
Scotland where it is pretty wet, to say the very least. I’ve taken to waterproofing them with some
silicone based proofing gel which works well, for a route or two but it would
be nice for them to stand up to wetness a bit better. Some friends of mine have also hinted that
the lack of ankle support in these boots isn’t a good thing but I hold a
different feeling on this, horses for courses I guess.

(editors note: I too have been really impressed with the ankle support and flexible mid solethis boot offers compared to more than a few that look similar and should be better performers,but don't climb as well. Or offer the comfort of the Ultra)

All in all I have been very happy with my Ultra’s. I’d recommend them to anyone looking for all
round mountaineering boot that covers you for most things in the Alps apart
from when it’s genuinely cold or if you get cold feet easily. They really are one boot does it all from
running up north faces to climbing M10 at your local crag or jittering your way
up your latest super thin mixed project.
What for me next? I’d like to
have a whirl on the new Rebels Ultras which look super nice. If it came down to it
though I’d defiantly settle for another pair of Ultra’s or perhaps just a
resole on my current ones.

Monahans Sandhills State Park

Wednesday, April 5th - - Just off of I-20, about 30 miles west of Odessa, Texas lies the Monahans Sandhills State Park. When I arrived here early this afternoon the temperature was in the upper 80s and the sun was shining. There was a little wind, but nothing like it had been the previous three days. Although the campground is just a mile and a half off of the Interstate, the traffic could not be heard. It was peaceful and quiet with only four other campers present.











It never ceases to amaze me how life can get a foothold in such arid conditions. There were signs of several different critters in the sand along with these small trees.

Owl's Clover

An owl's clover flower, Castilleja exserta, growing alongside a trail.

California: Morro Bay

When I was stationed at Point Mugu, California in the mid-1970s, one of my favorite getaway destinations was Morro Bay. After 33 years, I was able to return there on March 28th. Of course it had changed, but much of it was as I remembered it – beautiful.

Reflected in the receding waves, Morro Rock is the landmark and iconic image of the area.

An hour or so later, the fog started rolling in.

Nearly hidden by the fog.

The sun is about ready to disappear behind the bank of fog, which could be seen for miles along the shoreline. There was no colorful sunset on this night!

Crystal Cavern

This is another image from yesterday morning's amazing time spent photographing the Lake Superior shoreline at Hollow Rock Resort in Grand Portage, MN. There were a couple of small ice caves in the area which were very beautiful but difficult to photograph because of their location and their small size. To get this image I had to crawl down along the rocks, lay on my side on the rocks and configure my tripod so it was as low to the ground as possible, then look sideways through the viewfinder to compose the image (remember, I was laying on my side to compose this image!). The distance from the ground to the top of this little ice cave was two feet at the very most. It was probably more likely about a foot and a half tall. I was only on the edge of the cave, I didn't want to risk crawling into it in case it chose that moment to collapse. The result was worth the effort!