Discussion Topic |
|
This thread has been locked |
cybele
Ice climber
the hell of grad school
|
|
|
Mar 22, 2012 - 06:34pm PT
|
Thank you Kate! I used to have some climbing nerve once in a while... grad school has beat down a large part of that. I am now 4 weeks from graduation with a paper looming over my head that is so big it has a friggin table of contents. This alone seems like a mountain of sorts. Could say is mountainous, anyway.
Yes they are Petzl, but not twins, monos here. Compared to my old Bionics they are much more aggressive and secure. But I traded the annoying sidelock that always glitched out for normal attacher mechanism and replaced the heel spur with the standard heel... At some point I just let go of the ego and admitted that I'll never be needing heel hooks on ice, unless my biceps suddenly become like 50% stronger.
I realize the pic I posted was not exactly what "YoungGun" had in mind...too bad, hahahaha! No way, dude.
:0)
|
|
Stewart Johnson
climber
lake forest
|
|
|
Mar 23, 2012 - 12:30am PT
|
wow e, pretty cocky for someone who only climbs established Himalayan routes. i guess you didnt learn anything over there.
cheers
|
|
Holdplease2
Big Wall climber
Yosemite area
|
|
|
Mar 23, 2012 - 12:47am PT
|
Its all mountains, Cybele, and you are sending.
Looking forward to our paths crossing again.
-Kate.
|
|
ms55401
Trad climber
minneapolis, mn
|
|
|
Mar 23, 2012 - 01:31am PT
|
in a nutshell, what's your beef, coz
|
|
ms55401
Trad climber
minneapolis, mn
|
|
|
Mar 23, 2012 - 01:48am PT
|
you settle down
|
|
E
Social climber
Tujunga CA.
|
|
|
Mar 23, 2012 - 11:48am PT
|
I guess for me the learing curve is bigger than I thought. This is probably why I don't go every year. I think that it is also really tough to do these kinda climbs without training and money. I'm gonna try to plan climbs in asia every year if I can. Not trying to be cocky at all but alot of the climbing that i do is unroped these days. Alpine climbing is for me more of a mental game and that is a good way to improve mental tenacity. It's taken years to get to this level with many hardships along the way.
cheers
EE
|
|
RDB
Social climber
wa
|
|
|
Mar 23, 2012 - 03:37pm PT
|
Well said Coz. You obviously know the corporate culture.
When quizzed at a annual meeting last year "no one" at BD knew anything about crampon failures when questioned on the record by a stock holder.
Saying the employee I was in contact with last year on the topic was simply unaware is being generious indeed.
|
|
aforslund
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
|
|
|
Mar 23, 2012 - 05:36pm PT
|
Coz
I am the shareholder that RDB is talking about. When I discovered that BD crampons were breaking I did what any shareholder has a right to do. I called in to the quarterly meeting and asked Peter Metcalf directly what BD had to say about it.
Peter Metcalf's response to me was "Our crampons rock! And, I think that you aren't a shareholder. I think you are one of our competitors." Not only was Mr. Metcalf rude but the sales rep for my region was very unprofessional and some of the employees were no better.
BD has never addressed the issue directly. BD continues to deny deny deny at every turn. What it says is that whatever BD's past may be good, bad or otherwise. At this point they are not making me vote for anyone on their board. I was happy to cast my proxy ballot.
Adam Forslund
|
|
aforslund
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
|
|
|
Mar 23, 2012 - 07:12pm PT
|
I'm still an investor because I want the ability to call in to shareholder meetings. Plus, I like owning them despite the fact that I don't feel like it is a good long term investment. They are in my loss leader column even though they are up since I bought them.
|
|
mike m
Trad climber
black hills
|
|
|
Mar 23, 2012 - 09:09pm PT
|
Is it just the sabertooth? My buddie had the spacer bar break on a pair that he had only wore a couple of times. I have had two pairs of grivels and I beat the holy living hell out of them and they still are tough as nails. I wore them for several seasons of ice climbing, then in the summer while traversing over limestone cliffs to put in sport routes, and currently while chopping holes in thick ice to get to the water to make the ice grow. They have to be over 10 years old and they still are bomber. BD would not replace his broken spacer bar.
|
|
Stewart Johnson
climber
lake forest
|
|
|
Mar 24, 2012 - 12:57pm PT
|
heres another quality control issue i had. as you can see these brand new stainless crampons came with different length frontpoints.
|
|
Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
|
|
|
Mar 24, 2012 - 01:50pm PT
|
This is very interesting.
My beef with Metcalf was over his personal lack of ethical integrity and his dishonesty, but seeing so many come forward out of such a small pool of consumers that have serious product defect issues has made me suspicious that there is a trickle down effect on BD's corporate culture.
The trick is not to get trickled on.
If Peter doesn't want to face the music perhaps Maria would care to sound off. I know for a fact that she lurks here.
C'mon girl, whatever has happened to the Black Diamond I used to know and respect?
|
|
aforslund
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
|
|
|
Mar 24, 2012 - 09:26pm PT
|
I wonder if BD's legal counsel knows about the breakages. According to BD's investor relations website their lawyers are http://www.kanekessler.com
Curious to hear what they may have to say.
|
|
JBC
Trad climber
Portland, OR
|
|
|
Mar 25, 2012 - 11:16pm PT
|
This is very interesting.
My beef with Metcalf was over his personal lack of ethical integrity and his dishonesty, but seeing so many come forward out of such a small pool of consumers that have serious product defect issues has made me suspicious that there is a trickle down effect on BD's corporate culture.
I think in most cases that the CEO of a corporation sets the tone. If BDs CEO lacks integrity then it would not surprise me to see it trickle down through the rest of the organization.
|
|
RDB
Social climber
wa
|
|
I have to admit I am more than a little pissed.
Just got home from a week of ice climbing. Found a message on my face book page (that I seldom visit) saying in part, "I'm getting a little nauseated at "Cold Thistle's" mis-informed internet chatter, and slandering of me, and the 500 or so other BD employees and athletes".
Pissed enough to re post part of the private email. BD wants to contact me directly or make an offical comment ON THE RECORD, my phone and email are well known to more than one upper level BD employee. Happy to meet with anyone from BD in person to discuss the topic of stainless crampons.
Or simply post an offical BD rebuttal on the stainless issue @ the blog.
Threatening me personally however, is not an appropriate response.
|
|
JBC
Trad climber
Portland, OR
|
|
Just got home for a week of ice climbing. Found a message on my face book page (that I seldom visit) saying in part, "I'm getting a little nauseated at "Cold Thistle's" mis-informed internet chatter, and slandering of me, and the 500 or so other BD employees and athletes".
Had a much longer response to this, but changed my mind. A concise LAME will do fine I think. Cmon BD!
|
|
Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
|
|
500?
How impressive.
Gee whiz, I wonder just how many downtown SLC employees appreciated Metcalf's threatening their income by making political fodder of their biggest customer, the OR show?
Well,... you can tell that he is half jewish. He has chutzpah. lol
|
|
ncrockclimber
climber
The Desert Oven
|
|
Whether there is or is not a problem with the crampons, BDs response has be very poor. This same attitude has been displayed on other issues that the company has faced. It is sad to see this decline in transparency and customer focus. In a company that makes life-safety products, this is unacceptable.
|
|
SGropp
Mountain climber
Eastsound, Wa
|
|
As a metal worker and a climber, stainless steel would never have been my choice of material for a highly stressed part like a pair of crampons for a number of reasons .
Several other companies , notably Camp, make a line of crampons out of stainless steel. Have there been any reported failures with theirs ?
|
|
fear
Ice climber
hartford, ct
|
|
The right stainless alloy "could" be fine if proper testing and re-design was done. But stainless behaves very differently than standard chromo and can be very tricky to work with.
It looks to me that the stainless variant is almost exactly the same as the old chromoly stampings. That sets off the alarm bells right away. I'd be shocked if such a different material could be substituted without any visible differences.
Looks like corners were cut.
|
|
|
SuperTopo on the Web
|
Let us know!