I am going to purchase a ledge sometime soon, and am having a tough time deciding what I should do. I really want to get a single because of the lesser expense and more personal space you get, but I heard it saves a lot of weight to go for the double. I'm about 6'1" and the A5 double seems abit cramped. Also anyone know anything about the new Black Diamond ledge, it looks sweet, but I plan on doing a lot of walls, and it doesn't seem as bomb prood as the A5. Thanks for your ears, anyone with any info or personal experience with certain ledges would be greatly appreciated.

Jeff

-- Jeff Vaughn (Jeff@alpine.com), November 21, 1998

Answers

Jeff here, if you don't know what bomb prood means its "bomb proof" sorry about the miss type

-- (Jeff@alpine.com), November 21, 1998.

Hey Jeff, I am in love with my A5 double. It is the most bomber legge on the market. The Cliff Cabana (A5) is longer and wider, and it is one of the best 4 season legdes out there. I would go with a double for a couple of reasons, 1. Most of the time when you lace up for a wall your partner doesn't always have a ledge and he/she won't have to sleep in slings. 2. When you solo something nothing beats wide open spaces to relax and sleep on. 3. For just a hundred bucks more and a few pounds more (a few pounds means nothing to get a good nights sleep) you can't go wrong. I hope I helped, this is just my opinion. -Burt-

-- Burt (epiclmber@hotmail.com), November 22, 1998.

Yo jeff! Check out another posting in the forum entitled "Fish Portaledges". There is a lot of users opinions in there. Anyway, I have an A5 single and I like it. I am 6'4 so doubles are pretty much out, although I have slept in the A5 cliff Caban and it is delux! The BD's are sweet, but you might want to give it a few years on the market so they can shake out the kinks. It is pretty bomber, as I saw Warren hollinger hang a protoype from a tree and get four BIG dudes jumping on the thing with no adverse effects! Good luck!

-- Mr. Tea (mtea@ptc.com), November 30, 1998.

I have an A5 Cliff Cabana and I find it quite roomy, especially since I'm a real short guy. On a recent solo, I rolled all around like I was a little kid with a brand new grown up bed! It's a little on the expensive side, but it might be worth it if you plan on doing lots of walls. The only problem that I have found is some difficulty putting it up & taking it down at a hanging belay while solo climbing. It's so big that I have trouble manuevering it around.

-- Dave Condit (dcondit@aol.com), December 02, 1998.

I agree with everything Burt said. I have an A5 double and think it's excellent. The new version they (now North Face) are about to release will be even better, with a vented fly. Definitely buy a fly (rhyming too) - I hear of numerous epics when people get caught in storms without one (a while back there was a good article in Climbing about getting caught on Zodiac in a storm).

Hope this helps, Adrian

-- Adrian Hill (adrianhill@bell-labs.com), December 05, 1998.