DIY verts/ billygoat plates?

[Skipow907]

Anyone make their own verts for steep bootpacking and whatnot? Was looking at getting a pair of billygoat plates so I can still use my crampons for firmer sections but I’m not trying to spend $150 for a glorified chunk of aluminum. Has anyone made something similar out of aluminum or fiberglass or something, and if so how did it hold up long term?

 

[Simkiwinki]

Gonna look into this tomorrow. Can’t be that hard

 

[jompcock]

Crampons + polycarbonate sheet and a dremel

 

[Vish-shoe]

Anyone make their own verts for steep bootpacking and whatnot? Was looking at getting a pair of billygoat plates so I can still use my crampons for firmer sections but I’m not trying to spend $150 for a glorified chunk of aluminum. Has anyone made something similar out of aluminum or fiberglass or something, and if so how did it hold up long term?

What the fuck did you just say

I understood about half of those words

 

[Skipow907]

Crampons + polycarbonate sheet and a dremel

Didn’t think about using polycarbonate, that’d probably hold up pretty decent, I’ll see if I can order some without shipping costing an arm and leg, I’m just really trying to avoid breaking a jury rigged vert plate and having to take my crampons off in the middle of a 50 degree climb up some face

 

[Skipow907]

What the fuck did you just say

I understood about half of those words

I’m trying to macgyver a pair of these things, basically rigid snowshoes that attach to a pair of crampons for booting up deep snow that’s to steep to skin and a pain in the ass to boot up normally

 

[Vish-shoe]

I’m trying to macgyver a pair of these things, basically rigid snowshoes that attach to a pair of crampons for booting up deep snow that’s to steep to skin and a pain in the ass to boot up normally

View attachment 1056486

Oh cool that makes a lot of sense

I know absolutely nothing about AT, but asking 130 for those seems a bit ridiculous. Hope it works out well.

 

[cydwhit]

Didn’t think about using polycarbonate, that’d probably hold up pretty decent, I’ll see if I can order some without shipping costing an arm and leg, I’m just really trying to avoid breaking a jury rigged vert plate and having to take my crampons off in the middle of a 50 degree climb up some face

Yeah... This is why I gave up on trying to make something at home, and instead just bought the damn things haha. I will say, five minutes of climbing on BGT plates and I was fully convinced. 100% worth the money!

 

[jompcock]

Yeah... This is why I gave up on trying to make something at home, and instead just bought the damn things haha. I will say, five minutes of climbing on BGT plates and I was fully convinced. 100% worth the money!

Seems like a pretty simple thing to make out of carbon. I have a vacuum pump and all the other stuff needed at work so I might give it a try. Seems like the difficult part would be making a decent mold which I have no experience doing since most of my glass work has been repairing boats.

 

[cydwhit]

Seems like a pretty simple thing to make out of carbon. I have a vacuum pump and all the other stuff needed at work so I might give it a try. Seems like the difficult part would be making a decent mold which I have no experience doing since most of my glass work has been repairing boats.

Yeah! If you've got that stuff it seems really straightforward. I bet you could make a decent mold out of blue board foam insulation, maybe throw in few aluminum stock pieces to keep them stiff?