Do you piton in the alpine?

I've been thinking about carrying a couple of pitons with me for alpine mixed routes. I figure at a minimum they might be great for cheap bail material, but also to protect those otherwise unprotectable seams and cracks.

I climb primarily in RMNP here in Colorado and have not encountered the need for them just yet. However, as I try harder and longer routes, I'm starting to wonder if I might eventually find myself in a situation where I'll damn sure wish I had them.

I was thinking a couple KBs and a couple lost arrows...???

Spectres???

Angles???

Sizes???

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

I use them on less traveled routes that feature terrible rock. Concerns about pin scars are minimized when you know the kitty litter rock you drove the pin into is just going to erode away in a year.

For this, some KBs and maybe a baby angle are what I usually carry. I have some weird half-angle pins by Lucky that are perfect because they're less than half the weight of LAs.

The Spectre is am important piece because it fits where your tool fits. You finally excavate a perfect tool placement in an iced up crack, good enough that you just want to clip your tool as pro. With the Spectre, you just slot it into the hole, give it a tap and climb on. Peace of mind with little extra effort or weight. Plus "bomber" grass and moss pro.

I rarely carry pins in RMNP for alpine routes, but when I do I'll take a #2 & #3 Pecker - they are way more versatile and less damaging than blades or arrows.

About the only place I take pitons any more is the Canadian Rockies. Last trip they came in handy when we needed to bail. That said having a blade on the rack is not a bad idea in some places.

Ben Beckerich wrote:Absolutely, for mixed climbing. A pin hammered into an iced crack works a lot better than a cam hammered into an iced crack.

Absolutely. . . and mostly for this exact reason.

Holy frijoles , you actually bash a cam in an iced up crack , cams don't work in iced up cracks , pins or tri cams do , Kbs are ok but you should really cary a couple z tons , way better IMHO , get a short and a long , 1 ea 1/2 & 5/8 baby angles maybe one or two med sized pecker type piton . Doing aid for years taught me that Kbs pull way more often than angles or zs, unles the kb is placed in a horizontal . If the crack is only Kb sized and vertical then use the pecker style pin they hold better .realize that a pin placed in a corner will more then likely become fixed pin .

If the rock is choss then don't count on pins or anything else

However I've climbed all over RMNP and never needed a piton once , tricams or a set of beater nuts that you don't give a crap about much better choice . So is a #8or 9 hex
Here is the one n only time I like wired hexes .

Anyway for RMNP I'd skip the pins .

I think once you're beating things in you've moved from active protection to passive protection. I was given a couple of knife blades that I'll start carrying in the mountains. Hope I don't need them, but it's nice assurance.

I carry a couple of pins.

Used to carry knifeblades, but just picked up a couple of tomahawks based on this:

http://andy-kirkpatrick.com/shop/product/moses_tomahawk

Yes. Definitely an accepted practice in RMNP and as stated above sometimes a pin is the best protection in cracks choked with ice. I carry knifeblades primarily and maybe some bugaboos periodically.

Kai Larson wrote:I carry a couple of pins. Used to carry knifeblades, but just picked up a couple of tomahawks based on this: andy-kirkpatrick.com/shop/p…

I love Hawks. Incredibly confidence inspiring.