UKC

Have you got any?? And I don't want to hear about how you robbed someones crampons in the Hut because you forgot yours! lol

Personally would love to know how to wear a balaclava AND sunglasses without them fogging up.
Cheers

In reply to zimpara:



You've probably got them the wrong way round, glasses on your eyes, balaclava on your head

On a more serious note, maybe you are overheating because you are wearing a balaclava when you don't really need it. I generally find that if the glasses are fogging up it's time to shed a layer.

In reply to zimpara:

If moving quickly I would just wear a hat, not a balaclava which gets you hot in no time.

In reply to zimpara:

I've said it before I know but I find it useful to cross fasten my rucksack straps tightly over my axes when using buses, telepheriques etc as it keeps them tight and secure from poking people's eyes and noses.

Less necessary with curved tools of course as the effect is the same as the tools cross over.

In reply to zimpara:
Balaclava? And glasses In the alps?

Lie to hut guardians about your route, so you get the breakfast slot you want, not the one they tell you.

In reply to wercat:

On a similar note I found it quite useful that the lifties on the lifts in Chamonix insist you carry your axe. Rather than being attached to your rucksack in a way that's safe for everyone, it means that it's ready to hand for fending off or discouraging tourists who try to push past you or dawdle. Invaluable.

In reply to summo:



That is an amazing idea! UKC tip of the year! Well done

In reply to zimpara:


Hardly.

My biggest tip, even a million forum tips are not a substitute for actual alpine experience.

In reply to zimpara:

for me performance is mostly about managing dehydration. if you ever see running water fill your bottles and preferably yourself.

partners are everything and I've been amazingly fortunate playing chamonix roulette.

In reply to zimpara:

I heard something about ensuring your water bottle is dedicated to drinking water only.

In reply to Kevster:

You haven't lived until you've pissed in your drinking bottle...

In reply to summo:

...breakfast slots? Do they ration breakfasts?

In reply to TheFasting:
No, but there are normal start (and hence breakfast) times for certain routes. Normally these are pretty sensible and it is easiest to just go with them. If you want something different, just ask the warden - not sure why Summo suggests lying, but I guess that works too.

It is worth being ready to go, eat breakfast swiftly, not faff around and be among the first to leave. Even if you aren't the fastest, you won't be stuck behind people at bottlenecks.

In reply to MG:
Because if a route is popular with guided parties and has a known bottle neck or over taking is tough, you may find the guardian puts non guided parties in a slot one hour later.

30-60mins out the door earlier might mean a tiny bit darker, colder and no one to follow, but not queuing could equal 2-3hrs earlier back at the hut or valley bottom. Less wait, less soft afternoon snow...

In reply to summo:


Ive never come across but anyway, just ask for a different time. Most wardens are accommodating, with exceptions...

In reply to zimpara:

I once climbed the Super couloir in a pair of walking boots, long story, well not really i'm just hard..

In reply to TheFasting:


It's where the toast pops up from.

In reply to zimpara:

Top tip: Just make sure it is balaclava, not baclava, which tends to get messy when worn.

CB

In reply to zimpara:

You can use an axe pick to get into a bottle of merlot, but not an ice screw!

In reply to Samuel Wainwright:

A shoe and a solid surface will also open a bottle of wine. It's a great life skill to be able to pull out the bag when there is no cork puller.

In reply to zimpara:



Actually I would like to hear who robbed my crampons at the Hohaus Hut - and my head torch and ice screws at the Gnifetti Hut.

My top tip now is take everything essential to the route into the bedroom, regardless of the moaning and whinging of the elderly Italians you'll be sharing with. Annoying but better than losing the route you've gone up to do.

In reply to zimpara:
>Lie to hut guardians about your route, so you get the breakfast slot you want, not the one they tell you.

Yes, and it adds fun and excitement to search & rescue operations as well

In reply to James Jackson:


Or someone else's.

In reply to iknowfear:


not really, unless you've booked into that place the following night, so even if the hut guardian is minded to think the worst, rather than you are a no show, it will be at least 6 or 7pm before they know you are late. In which case I always call the hut if I was late for food etc.. don't want to lose my bed as much as the food. But, a large proportion of people stay in a hut, do a hill then head to valley, so the hut guardian won't know if you are sipping latte looking at Italian or French tourist totty, or stuck in a crevasse.

If you are on a very quiet route, where an accident might go un-noticed for some time, then perhaps telling more people than the hut guardian of your intentions is wise. In some places the rescue helicopter might do a customary mid morning cruise around the hills looking for work, but it can't be taken for granted.

In reply to zimpara:

Carrots make realistic ice-axe shaft point protectors.

In reply to zimpara:

If hut life is getting a bit dull in the evening, remember, banging two pistachio nut shells together gives the impression a very small horse is approaching.

In reply to zimpara:

we use thin transparant foils with anti-fog coatings on them in the lab... should be commercially available.

In reply to zimpara:

All the alpinists dirty little secrets are going to be melting out of the glaciers and polluting the water supply soon.