Some don’t carry one, others feel that “it won’t happen to you”. Sound familiar?

The Repair Kit:

A conversation between climbing partners

Mark:

“Steffan, Do you have the repair kit?”

“No man, nothing’s going break, this gear is brand new!” Steffan Said.

“That’s a cool perspective Steffan, let’s hit pause and think for a minute. In ice climbing, when things break, it’s a bigger problem than let’s say, rock climbing, Broken pick? You just lost your hand for the route. Crampon have a malfunction on pitch 4? That’s a bummer, hard to improvise another crampon, it’s easy to swap a part though.”

What’s the catch? Steffan said quickly

“About a pound, some time and money spent sourcing the spare parts and are most useful to you and your partners setup. “ Mark Replied

“1 Pound!”, No way man I climb for speed. Steffan said flustered

“How many aluminum screws are on your rack these days?”

“Enough so I can place every 10-12 inches” Steffan boasted.  

“Woah buddy! , that’s another conversation, even with that many screws, you’re lighter than when you were climbing on Steel”

“Ok, so you’re saying 1 pound is no big. “ Steffan sighed.

“That’s exactly what I’m saying, you said you just finished that Uphill Athlete ice program you’re feeling unstoppable, right?”

“Well, ya,”

“Well big guy, looks like you can lead with the repair kit. We drove all the way to Cody and I don’t want a bust crampon to the start of our day, we’ve only got 4 days here, I want to get some routes in. Even if something doesn’t break on route, we always get back after the shops close and leave before they open.”

“Ya, that all sounds very thought out and quite reasonable, I don’t love leading with the repair kit, but as long you carry my lucky brick in your bag, we have a deal” ;)