vitriol

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Everything posted by vitriol

  1. Thanks aOwl I wonder now how the performance of the lightweight winx is compared to the hybrid pilot7. I'd guess pretty similar...
  2. Thanks for the feedback. If you don't mind me asking, what did you like better about the winx? Also, did you demo the regular or lightweight winx? Last question, how small did they pack compared to the storm 150? Thanks a lot!
  3. Anyone tried the pilot7 vs Winx?
  4. My girlfriend is a biologist and guide for a Canadian company that specialised in adventure trips around the world. It's called Karavaniers and I'd really recommend them. They have great trip, incluing some in Tanzania/Kili. Only thing, the trips are in french. If you don't speak french, I'd recommend http://www.africanatravel.se/ The manager, Arnold Moshi is a friend. My girlfriend summited Kili over 20 times so far and she has been really happy with Arnold's company. They treat the porters, guides, drivers, cooks , etc very well. People love to work for Arnold and respect him because he too respects them. Their equipment is of good quality and the food during the trips is good. Also, they use vehicles in good condition for the safaris. I'd recommend you do mt Meru first to acclimatise to the altitude. People that skip proper acclimatation don't really enjoy Kili as they are sick and tired. Also, mt meru is a beautiful mountain. I'm planning to bring my parents on a safari in Tanzania, and when I do it it's going to be with Arnold. Hope this helps, if you have any questions just ask, will be happy to help if I can. Cheers
  5. vitriol

    puffy jackets

    Patagonia Men's Down Sweater Hoody. 800 fill down. Packs really small, lighter than a sweater, warm and looks good. Patagonia is a great company too. If it gets really cold just wear it with a shell on top. It's thin enough for that. I bought it for the evenings while trekking but I use it all the time now: traveling, trekking, working, in town!
  6. Best open water diving I've done is in Komodo, indonesia. For caves mexico is hard to beat, and an experience you'll never forget. The closest thing to being in space, with water so clear you can't see it. Cave diving is no more dangerous than skydiving, but as many other activities, you need to do what you are doing. Same as skydiving. You can do guided cavern (you can see the exit at all times) dives that are awesome and very safe if done with a competent dive shop.
  7. Funniest thing I've read in a long time. Is that your expert opinion on how things work in africa? If I had to guess I'd say you've never been to africa, and probably never stepped out of the united states. OK I'll bite. What's your "expert" opinion and basis for saying he is wrong? What he said was true of Southern Africa - based on growing up there with relatives and friends who ran game ranches (for hunting). Non hunters made up the bulk of tourists, but like tandems it was the hunts that brought in the big money. ... My opinion is based by the fact Cecil, the Lion we're talking about was killed by a hunter that payed a lot of money to a professional hunter that organizes those hunts. Do you really believe any of that money went to conservation? Do you believe it's the only time this has happened? Do you believe the local authorities have no knowledge of people having done this before? Also, there's a big difference between zimbabwe and south africa. If those big amounts of money were all going to conservation, there would not be private hunting ranches. Those ranches exist because the owners make loads of money. Animals lare ured or taken from national parks to fenced ranches. Same for the money paid in permits for safaris, treks, etc, it is notoriously known money is stolen and diverted for personnal gain. Only a tiny fraction is being used for what it should. I've been to africa, my g/f lived in Kenya and is a biologist and currently a professional guide in eastern africa. Corruption is rampant, crimes go unpunished and while there are some exceptions, many animal populations are not doing very good.
  8. Funniest thing I've read in a long time. Is that your expert opinion on how things work in africa? If I had to guess I'd say you've never been to africa, and probably never stepped out of the united states.
  9. Ordered a Squirrel Hatch for a friend Nov 10th, received it Dec 9th. It's the second suit I order from them, and again I'm very impressed by the professionalism of the company. The suit is really nice and communications could not be better. The suit came in a nice bag with shoulder strap, and boxed in a cardboard box. There even was a strip of cardboard under the box flaps so you or the customs don't cut into the suit when opening the box. I know it's just details, but it shows how much effort they make to have happy customers.
  10. He did say he has an all carbon prototype, so it's probably lighter than that.
  11. Just saw this on my facebook newsfeed: http://squirrel.ws/epicene I new wingsuit canopy by Squirrel. Sounds interesting!
  12. I agree that if they wanted to silence everyone quickly, that would do it. seeing that they climbed that high and then descended to normal altitude might point in that direction. If they did in fact depressurize the cabin to that end, that also points in the direction that they wanted to keep the plane intact. Otherwise they could easily have just crashed the plane to kill everyone. On the topic of why nobody called, at high altitude very often it is difficult to get a signal on a cell phone, even over land. concerning the sat phones, they can be disabled from the cockpit. If everybody was killed by the depressurization, that could explain why later the cell phones of the passengers were ringing when people called them.
  13. The way I see it, if someone stole the plane and went to all this trouble to hide where it was going, they plan to do something with the passengers or the plane itself later. If so, they need a place to land and maybe take-off again relatively safely. If that is the case, I don't see them flying over India (they would probably be seen by their military radars). The only place I can see them go is one of the northern 'stan, flying over the himalayas, in between China and India's radar coverage. It matches the last ping location on the northern arc, they would avoid detection by military radar, and they would be able to land and refuel undetected in those countries.
  14. vitriol

    Phoenix Fly

    Maybe the dealer should have requested the payment, maybe not, I don't know. But clearly someone dropped the ball on this one, and I just find it odd that people think it's the customers fault, and that if they do this or that everything works fine. Really, it should not be difficult. Order, receive invoice, pay,receive the suit.
  15. vitriol

    Phoenix Fly

    Dealer issue??!! Are you for real? The guy sent his last email to PF december 15th and has had no response yet. If the dealer would have been the problem, PF should have contacted the customer and the dealer to sort it out long ago. And anyways, dealers represent the brand. If they chose a dealer, they chose to be affiliated with that person. For me, as a customer, I expect all authorized dealers to be reliable. If it was not the case, what's the point of having dealers? I'd do business only directly with the manufacturer. Concerning the money, why and how would he pay up front if it is not required or if he has not received an invoice?
  16. I'm not saying it's the best, because I havent tried all dz in the US, but all three times I've been to Z-hills there's been a lot of wingsuiters and jumpers with tracking suits. Travis from Wicked wingsuits is there and does organizing, coaching and FFC, plus Tony Suits shop is based there too, and it seems pretty easy to have him lend you a suit to try. Scotty Burns is based in Deland and Jeff Nebelkopf in Sebastian. All these DZ are relatively close one of another.
  17. Anyone had a chance to try the Zulu?
  18. I'ts a 135/135, but it's pretty big compared to other containers of same size (LOTS of padding). Your's might fit, but I'd try it before buying.
  19. I have a porter 46, really nice bag. Small enough to be confortable on a bike. I can fit my rig and a freefly suit in it, and if you ever fly commercial, it is carry-on size. You can tie your helmet bag to the motorcycle with a bungee net.
  20. I don't believe you need to be more experienced to jump a stowless bag. It's just different to pack, not more difficult. Just ask someone competent to show you how to use it. PD doesn't recommend any of the semi stowless bags, because they believe they are not all created equal and some don't have enough tension on the lines for a good deployment. I've been jumping one for about 175 jumps and prefer them to normal bags.
  21. I'm curious to read the first reviews, and how it compares to the latest suits from other manufacturers. [inline 1.jpg] [inline 3.jpg] [inline 8.png] see what they did there? [inline Michael-Jackson-Beat-It-Jacket-1.jpg] More info and pictures here: http://squirrel.ws/sumo
  22. The suits collars were pretty much aligned, but we didn't take the time to perfectly align them. We just wanted to have an idea of the size of the wings. The phantom does seem to be a few inches longer when lying on the floor for some reason. But yeah, all in all, the leg wing is similar but the arm wings are bigger. I also have the impression the suit profile is thicker.
  23. For those interested, here's a picture comparing a phantom 3 and a swift. The phantom was made for someone of same weight 1/2 inch taller than the swift.
  24. Thanks a lot, appreciated! Edited to add, not only appreciated but very informative!
  25. Well the last two post before you say they think it's a good beginner suit. And other people say just the opposite. I guess I'll have to make my opinion by myself! Anyone else tried to backfly the swift?