Month: July 2011

MAMMUT® presents: the biggest peak project in history – PHASE 2 "The Zuitas™" team is now complete!

/ Ale Santuz / Leave a comment
Thanks to your essential support, the team is now complete! From this moment we just need to wait and try to convince the Mammut’s panel of experts until the selection will be over. The tours will be selected one after the other up until September 2011. There is therefore no set deadline. As soon as the jury decides in favour of a tour, the status of the team changes to “Selected”.
Thank you all for the support and now…finger crossed for the final PHASE 3! You can take a look at our team page by clicking HERE: you will find a detailed tour description and the profiles of the team members.


ARE:

Alessandro “Ale” Santuz
Katrina “Mina” Meyer
Alberto “Ray” Vianello
Enrico “Gere” Geremia
Nicolas “Nikla” Bellomo

Omni-Lite ceramic track spikes

/ Ale Santuz / Leave a comment
Not for publicity, but just for real passion and interest (after all I am an Aerospace Engineer) I publish the whole text found HERE about the state of the art in ultra-light Athletics track spikes. Here we particularly talk about ceramic technology: a solution that can reduce the weight of the old steel spikes with a high corrosion resistance of the material at the same time. And they are cheap, too! Just try and see!


Ultra-Lite Ceramic Track Spikes
  • Patented space-age ceramic material 1/3 the weight of traditional steel spikes;
  • patented design compresses track to provide more energy back to the athlete;
  • will not rust or corrode;
  • will not damage track.



Omni-Lite’s track spikes are standard features in the track shoes designed and manufactured by the world’s leading athletic shoe manufacturers including Nike, Adidas, Reebok, Puma, and New Balance. Omni-Lite’s space-age ceramic track spikes were utilized by athletes who won over 40 gold medals in the summer Olympics in Atlanta, Sydney, Athens, and Beijing. Omni-Lite’s patented christmas tree spikes were utilized in the gold shoes that helped propel Michael Johnson to several gold medals highlighted by his remarkable world record in the 200M sprint. These products were also utilized in several recent world record performances including the men’s 100m, 200m, 400m, and mile events. Omni-Lite’s compression style track spikes are mandatory at several track facilities. The companies knowledge of advanced composite materials and computer assisted production of precision components has enabled the company to capture almost 80% of the OEM track spike market.
Omni-Lite’s sports and recreational products are resold worldwide in more than 140 countries through Nike, Adidas, Eastbay, Springco Athletics, M-F Athletics and about 100 independent sporting goods catalogs and retail stores. Customers can also buy these track spikes online at the Omni-Lite Store.

My Adidas Cadence equipped with 5mm Pyramid Omni-Lite ceramic spikes.


Recommended Spike Usage
50m – 400m
800m – 1,500m
3,000m – 10,000m
Pole Vault
Javelin
High Jump
Long Jump
Triple Jump
Cross Country
1/8″ 3/16″ or 1/4″ (3,5 or 7mm) Christmas Tree
1/4″ (7mm) Pyramid or Christmas Tree
3/16″ (5mm) Pyramid
1/4″ (7mm) Pyramid or Christmas Tree
1/4″ – 1/2″ (7-13mm) Pyramid
1/4″ – 3/8″ (7-9mm) Pyramid
1/4″ (7mm) Pyramid
1/4″ (7mm) Pyramid
3/16″ – 1/2″ (5-13mm) Pyramid

Spike Maintenance & Replacement
  • The Ultra-Lite ceramic spike is designed to provide athletes with a lightweight product that feels good on the track and maximizes energy returned to the athlete by compressing the track rather than cutting it. The useful life of the product can be extended significantly by avoiding concrete.
  • When inserting spikes with a standard spike wrench there’s no need to overtighten. A snug fit is satisfactory given the nature of the ceramic spike. Check each spike prior to each outing.
  • As the ceramic spike will not rust, removal of it should be easier than removing a steel spike. If removal is unsuccessful with a standard wrench the following tools will help:
      • needle nose locking pliers
      • a file
  • As in the removal of a steel spike, attach the locking pliers tightly across the flats of the spike. The locking pliers should be attached near their handle, not near the thin tip. After achieving a firm grip, rotate counterclockwise until the spike begins to rotate out. If a firm purchase is not possible on the spike, use the file to carefully create a smooth section on each flat area. Remove a minimum amount of material to allow for successive attempts with the locking pliers.
Available Colors
  • Violet
  • Black
  • Fast Red
  • Fast Blue
  • Olympic Gold
  • Olympic Green
  • Silver


MAMMUT® presents: the biggest peak project in history – PHASE 2

/ Ale Santuz / Leave a comment
“The Zuitas™” passed the first selection!
The first selection has come to an end, the teamleaders are decided and the teams are going to be built! We passed to the phase 2 creating a team called “The Zuitas™”, whose logo is the charming owl representing Mount Civetta, the target of our trip.
Our virtual mountain has been selected between more than 2000 other projects and we are now in the first 300 supported teams (3rd most supported team in Italy!). Here comes the description of the trip we proposed to the jury, hoping to enter the final stage and becoming part of the 150 teams that will take part in the biggest peak project history!
Between 4th and 5th August, 1931, Emilio Comici and Giulio Benedetti opened this extremely beautiful and intelligent line to Cima Civetta. For the 80th anniversary of the climb, our team is going to celebrate the event with a double ascent: an expert team of three people (one or two of them are Alpin Guides) will climb the route on the NW face of Monte Civetta, while a second team of mountain enthusiasts with at least 5 years of alpinism experience will climb the mountain through the via ferrata “Degli Alleghesi”, the normal route for the top (a pretty difficult ferrata with a great line around the mount, 9 hours for 1100 m of drop: http://www.vieferrate.it/ferrataalleghesi.htm ). The meeting on the top will greatly celebrate the anniversary, hopefully in the days planned (weather forecasts will make the final decision).
The name of the team recalls the most famous quote from Emilio Comici: “Perché Zuita? Perché la incanta!” (tr.: “Why Civetta? Because she charms!”, where “Civetta”, the name of the mount, means “Owl”).