A bit far from my flat (near prospect park) but seing the gym, I'll definitely make the extra effort.  Do they make a 1 month pass? It's not clear to me on their website as a non native speaker

Hey! 

Will be in NY in June / July. My flat is in Brooklyn. What's the best gym around here? I climb V8/9 outside but I suck at comp style so the most old school the better. 

Don't need goretex pro for your needs, and not goretex either. There are very good water repellent jackets (not fully waterproof because those aren't breathable) and better for environment than goretex. 

For instance the ones quechua from decathlon https://www.decathlon.fr/p/veste-legere-impermeable-de-randonnee-mh500-homme/_/R-p-301681?mc=8785247 are nice and don't look too bad for everyday wear.

Si ça krash, c'est les soldes !

For control, the book of Nocedal & Wright about numerical optimisation is very good, backed by Convex optimisation by Boyd. And for the mechanical part of the theory, the one from Featherstone is very good. 

But all in all it depends on what you want to cover. For motion planning, the one from S. Lavalle is good, and for the others topics I'm not knowledgeable enough to guide you well.

Fingerstrength? Can you do a one arm hold on 20 - 25 mm holds?

True, thank you for your input. 

This norm is not much of a measurement but more of a comparison between sleeping bags as many variables can influence the feeling of heat in the bag. 

But that's even weirder if they used the same method to rate the bag. A 10°c difference is a lot

Depends on the way they measured it. As there is no "official" way of measuring it they can write whatever they want

Surprised nobody said Millet and their trilogy brand. Have a 2nd hand trilogy icon v hardshell, it follows me everywhere in the mountains and it is insanely resistant and weights almost nothing. My gf has a 2nd hand down jacket and she's pretty happy with it.  But I guess that's me being chauvinist as a French person

I have both warthog 30 and 40 for about a year now.

Pretty lightweight packs, resistant to abrasion and handy to carry rope, helmet and ice axes outside of the bag. What I would love is a side opening. But regardless, those are good packs. 

However not comfortable at all when highly loaded ( more than 17kg), it starts to be really painful after a long day.

Thank you for your answer! 

I don't have space for my whole gear, I can at most take a belay device, few biners, a harness and shoes. Do you think it's easy to meet people who go outside on the weekend?

Yeah definitely start with smaller mountains, that's for sure. 

I haven't done Mont Blanc, my specialty is more lower altitude but technical routes as I'm based in the Pyrénées mountain range. 

I'd say the fitter you are the better, but we are all subject to altitude sickness and react differently. But definitely able to do 15h+ a day of walking with a heavy pack is a good starting base.

That's fair. 

If you are serious and dedicated to this goal, you'll succeed. It is not an extreme route, so if you get enough experience you'll manage. 

Good luck with this!

Join your nearest alpine club.

The voie normale of Mont Blanc isn't technically hard but still requires being used to glacier travel skills and scrambling. 

Being guided to go there is the safest option because the guide will know the right timings to diminish as much as possible the risks. People die every year trying to climb the Mont blanc, it is by no mean an easy cruise. 

That's true, and with a heavy pack, it's not possible to go really fast.  I prefer to have buffer and finish earlier than what I thought than the contrary. 

Although I see that lots of people tend to underestimate their times when sharing their expeditions.

Oh I didn't know this Simond tent! I looked at the forclaz one, at 1kg3 but it's a pyramid one.. Thank you!

15°F is impressive, I'll have a look at this!

Good idea the tent roll, thank you for your input aha

Thank you for the advice!!

Thank you for your input! It seems we still don't know what we really need, we need more experience I think

Makes sense, thank you!

Good idea, thank you! We're gonna look at the one from decathlon, 1kg3 for a 2p tent for 190€.

1000m of elevation in 2h with a pack?  If so, I clearly need to start running... I'm at 350 m/hour with 18kg pack rn...