Via Ferrata in the Dolomites: what’s not to love?

With a little something for everyone - from the unencumbered and continual flow of movement over technical rock, to a feast of caffé, hefeweizens, and local cuisine at a rifúgio atop the climb, to the chance to follow in the historic footsteps of not only alpininsts but WWI troops through caves, bunkers, outposts, and trenches, to grand sweeping landscapes - via ferrata in the Dolomites will not disappoint. 

 

As luck would have it, we had the opportunity to experience the Dolomites through a handful of vie ferrate, and found ourselves giddy from the continual flow and movement over enjoyable limestone climbing (and one volcanic via ferrata) pushing into the 5.5 technical rock range.  Via ferrata may be a perfect way to learn to move through rock terrain quickly and efficiently if you sustain from hauling yourself up the cable (unless you feel it absolutely necessary). 

 

But get there early or plan to bail, otherwise you might experience a “Space Mountain” like line up 200+m of via ferrata.  It’s popular and for good reason.

 

 

 

 

 

Traveling past the many historic ruins of WWI outposts 

Many man made caves were cut through the mountains to move troops;

the access window above provides a bird's eye view of the surrounding terrain

Delicious food, beer, and coffee can be found at the

many rifúgios found near the top of climbs

Saggy Bottom Packs

I've noticed a recent trend in packs, the "Saggy Bottom Pack" phenomena.  Next time you are at the local crag, check out all the packs that sag way past the wearer's butt.  At first it's hard to see, but once you notice it, you can't help but see it.  Of course it's much easier to make a pack that way; a pack that as your shoulders move right the pack "tail" wags left; a pack that has a pivot point at the hip belt that does not suck the load into your back for climbing efficiency.

One of the most frustrating, and eventually most rewarding, things we did was design for two detailed oriented ladies that hated the "saggy bottom" packs.  After much design work, we have one of the few pack lines that support the load with a sound structure.  Our Omega Pack's hip belt directly supports the vertical load through the pack frame, and our Tau and Delta series packs' hip belts directly connect into the sides of the packs, pulling all of the contents into your back.  This is much different than other manufacturer's hip belts that run between the back panel and a small piece of fabric.  It is improbable that the hip belt can effectively support a load transferred from the pack's main compartment to the flexible back panel/attached layer of fabric and then to the hip belt (unless the pack is stuffed with gear until it's bursting at the seams, and even then it's unlikely to effectively support the load).
Years of hard work pay off to provide an efficient, load carrying Figure Four pack that connects the load to all of your movements, both climbing and hiking.

Skis on a Delta Pack

We headed out to the Tatoosh Range in Rainier National Park to enjoy the recently bad PNW weather and fortunately had nice cool temperatures and snow rather than the predicted rain.  For those that plan on lashing skis to a Figure Four pack, our tester Dustin had some recommendations that he used on this outing:

1. If possible, jam the tails of the skis into the snow vertically with bases facing each other and approximately the width of the pack apart.
2. Put the Delta Pack vertically in between the skis.  Pull one ski up and place the tail of the ski through the bottom compression strap.
3. Do the same for the other ski.
4. Secure the upper compression straps around the skis and buckle them (to limit the movement of the skis, the top compression strap can be fed through the Daisy Chain before buckling).

By doing this you don't have to lie the pack flat to secure skis to it.

Dustin reported that the skis carried extremely well with the Delta Pack.

Annual ice trip

Figure Four took our annual ice trip last week.  This year we explored Hyalite Canyon, letting our good buddy DF be our ice guide.  The ice was great, the hospitality and friendliness of the locals was incredible, and we lucked out with beautiful weather, including during our multi-pitch climb of The Dribbles, where we had the chance to continually test the Delta Pack.  Aside from the shoulder strap gear loops, I had totally forgotten that I wore a pack on the climb, making the climb a very pleasant experience.

Thanks to all for such a great trip.

Gorge Ice??

After too, too many days remodeling a bathroom, I was itching to get out for a pre-Thanksgiving climb, which led to scratching up some "Gorge Ice" in pseudo-desperate conditions.  But hey, not all good ideas can be fun, and in this case, not all fun ideas can be good (but still worth it).  Props to my buddy for pushing the impossible idea of November Portland ice; it was a blast!

Photo Contest

Do you want to win our brand new Delta Pack?

If so, enter our very first Photo Contest on Saturday, Nov 20, 2010 that lasts till Dec 20, 2010 where any US resident 18 years of age and older can enter one photo.  The winner will be decided by votes from visitors to the website where they can vote a maximum of 3 times.  The winner will be announced no later than Dec 30, 2010.

You can find more information on our Photo Contest Info page.

Good luck!!

Figure Four's Delta Pack

Our large δ (Delta) Packs are now available on our website.  The alpine designed pack incorporates anatomically cut panels for a mobile, technical fit.  It blends a light alpine pack with just the right amount of useful features. 

Check it out.