Black Diamond really nailed it with the Creek 50. The haul bag inspired cragging pack is well thought out, nicely featured and fits all the gear you’ll ever need for a day on the rock and more. If you’re in the market for a new cragging pack the Creek 50 should be on your radar. Features: Top-loading, stand-up design Haul bag style main compartment with … Continue reading Black Diamond Creek 50 – Crag Bag Bliss
Black Diamond really set the bar for lightweight and packable trekking poles when they came out with the Ultra Distance Carbon Z. Now while those original poles are no longer available the new Distance Carbon Z poles have improved upon the design of their predecessor resulting in a very functional, ergonomic and packable trekking pole. Ideal for trips where the poles have to be stashed … Continue reading Review: Black Diamond Carbon Z Trekking Poles
Move over Starbucks, there’s a new kid on the block when it comes to instant coffee: Alpine Start. Since the Starbucks Via came on the market it’s become a staple of fast-and-light adventures everywhere. And like cigarettes in a jail house, these little packets of caffeine are the currency of the backcountry. However, much of the popularity of the Via stemmed from the fact that … Continue reading Review: Alpine Start Instant Coffee
Five Ten updated the Quantum last year and the result is a well-designed, featured and finished shoe that’s hard to miss in bright blue suede. The breathable tongue and lined interior give the shoe a soft feel and soak up the sweat on long days while the always reliable C4 Stealth rubber provides secure footing on the rock. A versatile shoe that’s good for everything but the … Continue reading Review: Five Ten Quantum Rock Climbing Shoe
Easily the most surprising shoe I’ve reviewed, the Arc’teryx Acrux SL is an incredibly versatile technical approach shoe. While light enough to live up to the SL (super light) name it’s still burly enough to be a great shoe for longer approaches and scrambles. With sticky rubber, a great tread pattern and a comfortable fit it‘s become my go-to when I want a light shoe … Continue reading Review: Arc’teryx Acrux SL Approach Shoe
It seems like all the various climbing hardware companies decided that this was the year to come out with new or updated cams: BD has the Camalot Ultralights, Metolius the Ultralight Mastercams (actually these came out in late 2015), WildCountry the new Friends, etc. And while most of these companies have chosen to focus on making their cams lighter, DMM decided to buck this trend and focus … Continue reading Review: DMM Dragon Cams
Crack climbing gloves have become increasingly common over the past few years with more and more companies making their own versions. They’ve even become popular enough that the ethical debate seems to have subsided. Of course the reason for this popularity is easy to understand once you try a pair: they work! Well at least if you get the right gloves of course. With the … Continue reading Comparison Review: Crack Climbing Gloves
I’ve been a long-time fan of Scarpa’s Vapor V shoes, both the original and the 2015 updated version, they fit my feet well and really seemed to have found that Goldilocks zone of comfort and performance. The recently released lace-up version of the shoe, which is simply called the Vapor Lace (or just Vapor), takes the performance of the sport shoe into the realm of crack climbing, all … Continue reading Review: Scarpa Vapor Lace
There’s a wide range of alpine ice axes or piolets on the market and it can seem confusing or intimidating when trying to choose one. However, when it comes to a versatile alpine climbing and mountaineering tool the Petzl Sum’tec has no rival. If you’re in the market for a great tool for summer mountaineering and alpinism this is it! Features: Options*: 52cm Hammer 52cm … Continue reading Review: Petzl Sum’tec
New to the climbing shoe scene, the Korean company Butora (BOO-TORE-AH) has come out with some great shoes and a unique fitting ideology that is sure to please climbers with hard-to-fit feet. While it would be fun to test the entire line-up we have to start somewhere and so chose the Butora Altura, a laced high-top like the TC Pro, to get us started. Features: High-top … Continue reading Review: Butora Altura Rock Shoe
