What would be the best gift to give an avid climber/mountaineer for Christmas?

The Holidays are approaching and I am trying to find the perfect gift for my husband who loves climbing/mountaineering and the general outdoors so my question is:
If you could pick anything, what would you want for Christmas(related to these sports)?

Thanks for the help!

How much money are you going to spend?

Well he does in fact already have a tacoma :). I wanted to keep it $500 or less for ideas if I save up... or under $300 if I bought it right now...

why dont you go with him somewhere and be his belay slave for a weekend....

That is not a bad idea Spiro and thanks for the reply.... The only thing is that I am pretty much already his belay slave... Im a less advanced climber and tend to get stuck at the bottom more than I'd like already. I could make that work, but do you have any other ideas?

Check summitpost.com. There is a long recent thread on this subject.
If I knew how I would provide a link.

Things I would like: trango ballnutz for those real small cracks; a guidebook to an awesome out of state climbing area with airplane tickets tucked inside e.g., tetons, north cascades); a small, light battery powered weather radio; one of the new design stoves that boil water in less than 3 minutes, work in the cold and weigh very little; axes for ice climbing; a portagledge. Hope you settle on something cool that he really likes. Good luck.

I'd be stoked to get a new set of ice tools, awesome aid rack, or climbing destination. I think the tools could be the most meaningful though.

I'd say a set of Alpinist mag if he doesn't already have it... Or find someone selling a bunch of american alpine journals and buy them for him. Lots of great history.

I'd say the one item I use over and over again is the Houdini wind Jacket alaskamountaineering.com/Pr…

It's perfect for everything, and it's so small you never notice it clipped to your harness.

Or I'd vote for a set of C3's if he doesn't have a set already.
alaskamountaineering.com/Pr…

Cheers,
Aj

PS, Hell, save your dough. With someone who's nice enough to post here this far ahead of Cmas. He's already got the present!

EMT you are a charmer...

agreed: C3s, even a second set would be polar express

gas/food money and a weekend off.

Cash, or gift certificate so he can purchase what he wants....

OR if he is into ice climbing, a Feathered Friends Jacket....

The Caddilac of down jackets.....

EMT wrote:With someone who's nice enough to post here this far ahead of Cmas. He's already got the present!

Avid mountaineers sometimes neglect to get a good GPS unit, which is really handy if it has the built in maps. If he is more into alpine, this will help him with descents and in white-out conditions. They are always loosing their sun glasses, which need to be the full wrap around kind for snow travel. And who wouldn't love a new, awesome soft shell jacket and pants? Atsa nice.

If he rock climbs, go look at his gear and either buy some doubles of the cams he has or get him better ones. If something he has is worn out, get a nice new one. A spiffy, 9.8mm 70m bi-color rope? These are luxuries we wouldn't buy ourselves, but love as gifts.

Jim Amidon wrote:Cash, or gift certificate so he can purchase what he wants.

I just like that rope so much, I can't stop with the "mmmmmms."

Are there tent attachments for Tacomas? True car camping seems to be catching on.

Like someone else said sunglasses....I love my Julbo's and another great climbing gift I got was my Suunto Vector... Great watch, very accurate and you can pick them up on sale now for under 180 if you look around.

a surf board.

no, kidding.
Here is something that everyone loves once they get it but often does not want to splurge for. Alveolite liners for his plastic boots. Intuition makes the best ones, as far as I know, for climbing. You just get them in the generic size and then he or a boot shop can fit them to him... and honestly, they really are better.
Go see what kind of boots he has and we can tell you if this works for them (he might already have them.)

You should probe him. . .hehehe. . .to find out a climbing destination where he really, really, really wants to go. Then you set everything up (transportation, where to stay, food, etc...) I'd be psyched if someone did tht for me. For the 2 of you it may cost more than $500.00 but you'd be getting something out of it too.

You can't go wrong with a new rope. doesn't matter how many he owns... a nice rope is about 200 bucks!