Winter at DL

Seth Jones wrote: Cut your own! You can usually get the voile kits for around $100 on sale and I don't know if he's still around but there was a guy on splitboard.com that was making bindings for a reasonable cost out of a standard aluminum binding. Or you can convert your own if you know someone who can weld aluminum. I've got a custom pair of Ride EX that work like a charm. I think my whole setup cost around $350-400 including the kit, the lightly used Hovercraft solid that I cut, and the bindings. I've even spent days on it at the resort and have been surprised at how well it rides.

Dammit, now I might do this now. I thought the voile kit doesn't need new bindings and you can use your own? Are you using standard snowboard boots too?

Terry Kieck wrote:I've climbed at the lake year round for a long time. Actually, I'm coming up on 20 years without missing a month at the lake. It all started on Super Bowl Sunday 1997. The coldest I've climbed was 4 degrees. Beautiful sunny day with no wind. I TR'ed with my soloist that day so I didn't ever have to stop and belay - that gets cold! I like winter climbing for reasons mentioned earlier; crisp sun soaked rock, no bugs, no crowds and the adventure the approach/descent can bring.

Sold. Will have to give it a shot on a nice sunny day!

Ted Pinson wrote:Winter is ski season. ;)

Love to ski,,and after seeing the pics above, I'm going to try and adjust my kayak sail for use on skis this winter. Doubt if any downhill ski area will allow me, so will have to find a nice snow covered farm field to give it a try when, if, the snow ever arrives here this year.

Looks like we'll all have to rendezvous to try some of this miraculous technology at a future date. I'm near Schaumburg and can travel anywhere within a few hrs.

As far as wind power I had always wanted to get a windsurf or kitesurf kit and from my limited past research and vague memory:

Kite:
You must learn to fly with a ~$800 "practice kite" then upgrade to a more expensive one that can lift you. They are apparently challenging to control and you could really 'clothesline' someone, or a tree, or a power line! You fly them in a figure 8 sort of pattern with the wind. Doing this on land and not water adds the added danger of being lifted up high in the air but dropping on land and not water.
I was at the lake (lake michigan) on a windier day riding my bike last winter / late fall and there were kite surfers there, one in the water in a wetsuit and one on a "mountainboard" in the park riding on land. Saw him take a decent air lift and quite a thud when he hit the ground.

Windsurf:
More about understanding sailing, then surfing. A lot of switching back and forth around the board's nose and boom to take advantage of wind direction and direction of travel intended, this is more difficult with a snowboard where you're strapped to the board

This all sounds esoteric but with the new ski lift prices, not far fetched. For instance, the newly renovated Wilmot is about $59 day pass this season I believe.

and then there's this kid, "droneboarding" haha:

Saw this on Climbing Magazine website and thought of this thread:

climbing.com/people/flowcha…

was 'droneboarding' on that flow chart?

Didn't quite make it. Think it was on some list along with:

-Paddleboard style "Snow stick"
-Gas powered tow rope
-Home snowmaking rig
-Raptor Gas powered rope ascension system

Some good suggestions for keeping warm while winter climbing earlier in this thread, i.e. warm drink, puffy jacket and hand warmers (although I prefer Jay's method of letting my hands get cold then warming them up - works great).

Here are some things I do to keep my feet warm.
1) Warm boots for approach and belays
2) bring a small rug to place at the base of a climb so you don't have to step in cold wet snow
2) Keep your climbing shoes warm all day!
- on the drive to the lake I put my climbing shoes in the dash of my truck and blast the heat to get them warm. (Warning - your vehicle may smell like your climbing shoes!)
- On the approach I put my shoes inside my coat to keep them warm.
- When ready, pull out the warm shoes and climb. Put them back in your coat against your body between routes

Nothing worse than putting your feet in a pair of frozen shoes!

Terry Kieck wrote:Some good suggestions for keeping warm while winter climbing earlier in this thread, i.e. warm drink, puffy jacket and hand warmers (although I prefer Jay's method of letting my hands get cold then warming them up - works great). Here are some things I do to keep my feet warm. 1) Warm boots for approach and belays 2) bring a small rug to place at the base of a climb so you don't have to step in cold wet snow 2) Keep your climbing shoes warm all day! - on the drive to the lake I put my climbing shoes in the dash of my truck and blast the heat to get them warm. (Warning - your vehicle may smell like your climbing shoes!) - On the approach I put my shoes inside my coat to keep them warm. - When ready, pull out the warm shoes and climb. Put them back in your coat against your body between routes Nothing worse than putting your feet in a pair of frozen shoes!

Yup...agree above. I take a small rug for any climbing day to wipe off feet/shoes of any dirt, crud, etc. Most shoes today come with a nice little carry bag, so you can attach that inside your jacket with a mini-biner to carry those shoes to keep warm between climbs. Dont' forget extra socks too, that is if you have sized your 'winter climbing shoes' for sock wearing. Swap out when damp, keep the feet, shoes dry and warm.