BGT Ascent Plates / Verts

Info on gear, conditioning, and preparation for hiking/climbing.
Forum rules
  • This is a mountaineering forum, so please keep your posts on-topic. Posts do not all have to be related to the 14ers but should at least be mountaineering-related.
  • Personal attacks and confrontational behavior will result in removal from the forum at the discretion of the administrators.
  • Do not use this forum to advertise, sell photos or other products or promote a commercial website.
  • Posts will be removed at the discretion of the site administrator or moderator(s), including: Troll posts, posts pushing political views or religious beliefs, and posts with the purpose of instigating conflict within the forum.
For more details, please see the Terms of Use you agreed to when joining the forum.
Post Reply
User avatar
Buckie06
Posts: 154
Joined: 10/14/2012
14ers: 56  3  4 
13ers: 18 1 3
Trip Reports (2)
 

BGT Ascent Plates / Verts

Post by Buckie06 »

Now that couloir season is here, has anyone used BGT Ascent Plates for booting up couloirs? They look pretty cool, I can think of a handful of times I wish I had these. Although they're probably only for very specific conditions. Soft enough snow to need a bit of flotation, but not soft enough that you're getting wet slides.

Kinda like ski crampons; when you need them you need them, but mostly they stay in your pack.

Image
Attachments
Capture.JPG
Capture.JPG (77.92 KiB) Viewed 3217 times
User avatar
gb
Posts: 989
Joined: 12/12/2006
14ers: 56  54  6 
13ers: 67 54
Trip Reports (26)
 

Re: BGT Ascent Plates / Verts

Post by gb »

Yep! My good buddy in Pemberton makes these. Your assessment is spot on- if they're in your pack, they'll probably stay there and if you leave them in the truck, you'll wish you had them :lol: Just like ski crampons.

They're more useful in coastal snowpacks where you can climb steep but safe powder snow. But those conditions are sometimes found in CO, too, especially in the spring. The nice thing is that they fit pretty flat up against your shovel blade, so they don't take up much room. Worth having for sure!
User avatar
BillMiddlebrook
Site Administrator
Posts: 6910
Joined: 7/25/2004
14ers: 58  46  19 
13ers: 172 44 37
Trip Reports (2)
 
Contact:

Re: BGT Ascent Plates / Verts

Post by BillMiddlebrook »

Interesting, I’ve never seen these before. gb, how on earth do you side-step with those on?
"When I go out, I become more alive. I just love skiing. The gravitational pull. When you ski steep terrain... you can almost get a feeling of flying." -Doug Coombs
Skimo95
Posts: 413
Joined: 5/19/2021
14ers: 58  11  23 
13ers: 176 8
Trip Reports (0)
 

Re: BGT Ascent Plates / Verts

Post by Skimo95 »

Alex Gavic and a lot of the western slope guys have been putting these to use. Seem very efficient, does anyone know the price and weight? I could see this taking off in popularity with how big freeriding is getting.
User avatar
Jorts
Posts: 1113
Joined: 4/12/2013
14ers: 58  4  2 
13ers: 102 11 5
Trip Reports (10)
 

Re: BGT Ascent Plates / Verts

Post by Jorts »

I've seen a few big mountain ski/snowboard films shot in AK of guys booting couloirs with these.
Traveling light is the only way to fly.
IG: @colorado_invasive
Strava: Brent Herring
User avatar
lodgling
Posts: 537
Joined: 6/21/2005
14ers: 58  58  2 
13ers: 18 1
Trip Reports (12)
 

Re: BGT Ascent Plates / Verts

Post by lodgling »

I've got a pair of those and they helped quite a bit on the booting up for all-time conditions like this on El Diente (2019):

Image

Image

(It also helps to have a young partner like Gueza)

With the right conditions, you don't really notice that you have them on, other than the bonus floatation you get.

El Diente story and video at the end of this TR:https://www.14ers.com/php14ers/triprepo ... trip=19400
User avatar
gb
Posts: 989
Joined: 12/12/2006
14ers: 56  54  6 
13ers: 67 54
Trip Reports (26)
 

Re: BGT Ascent Plates / Verts

Post by gb »

I realized last night that this post was kind of interesting timing- yesterday marked 12 years since my good friend Jack Hannan passed away in an avalanche near Pemberton. He won a pair of verts in a Big Mountain comp and played around with them a bit but thought they were sketchy when the occasional hard snow or ice was encountered. So he started playing around with plywood and other materials to make early prototypes of what are now the BGT plates. Combined with the crampon front points, they did better with hard snow/ice. When he passed away, his best buddy Jon took up the torch and refined the idea and created BillyGoat Technologies. Clearly the universe is telling the OP to buy a pair based on timing alone :)

Bill, with these you just go straight up steep snow- no sidestepping.

And yeah, those are sick conditions on El Diente and exactly how they can work to your advantage :)

pvnisher
Posts: 1723
Joined: 9/28/2006
Trip Reports (8)
 

Re: BGT Ascent Plates / Verts

Post by pvnisher »

Never seen nor heard of those things.

I can see them having a niche. Is the plate plastic or metal?
Post Reply