A head-to-head review of the most common high-top climbing shoes on the market. High-top climbing shoes have seen a huge resurgence in popularity over the past few years. This has of course prompted more brands to jump back into the high-top shoe game. Now, where there was once only a few high-top options around, every major shoe manufacturer seems to make a pair. To determine … Continue reading Comparison Review: High-Top Climbing Shoes
Continuing with the expansion of the Trango line of mountaineering boots, La Sportiva added the Trango Tech this summer (2019). Next year will see further expansion, with a leather version of this boot hitting the market. The line now includes the Trango Tower, Tower Extreme, Cube, Ice Cube and a hiking boot version called the Trango TRK, in addition to the new Trango Tech. The … Continue reading First Look Review: La Sportiva Trango Tech GTX
This year’s Winter Outdoor Retailer / Snow Show was a bit underwhelming. There wasn’t as much new and innovative kit to check out as I’ve come to expect. And unfortunately footwear was no exception though there were definitely a few highlights. Five Ten and Lowa, didn’t have anything new for winter while other brands such as Salewa weren’t even at the show. However, that’s not … Continue reading Winter OR 2019: Footwear
The 2018 version of our Annual Christmas Guide for Climbers. For me Christmas is always a bit of a mixed blessing. I have to put up with hearing Christmas carols everywhere, and there’s the stress of spending time with family, finding gifts for everyone and often lots driving on icy roads. On the other hand it’s great to catch up with friends and family and … Continue reading Black Sheep’s Christmas Guide for Climbers 2018
With quite an amazing selection of new alpine, ice and mountaineering boots being showcased at the OR show this summer it seems like a great place to start our series of summer OR Show Reports. Stay tuned over the coming weeks for more articles on climbing gear, packs, etc.. La Sportiva Trango Tech: The popular Trango line is expanding with the release of the new … Continue reading Summer OR 2018: Climbing & Mountaineering Boots
Well this is the last of the series of Winter 2018 Outdoor Retailer show reports but one of the more fun to research and write. The show sure had a lot of winter climbing eye candy this year with new ice tools, boots, screws, helmets, harnesses, etc. to check out. Given all the cool new technical climbing gear coming out this year you can expect … Continue reading Winter OR 2018: Winter Climbing Gear
While Winter OR typically has a winter / cold weather focus there’s always some warm weather gear to check out as well. This year it seemed that most companies had new or updated footwear on display. In no particular order here are the new shoes you can expect to find this fall just in time for the road-trip climbing season: Scarpa Mescalito Approach Shoes: Scarpa … Continue reading Winter OR 2018: Summer Climbing Footwear
Not only did OR move to Denver this year, it also joined forces with the Snow Show. As you can expect this combined show was bigger with much more of a ski/ride feel than Winter OR typically does. With the larger show my available walk-around-and-drink-beer time was curtailed as I found myself running from meeting to meeting trying to catch up with everyone. But with … Continue reading Winter OR 2018: Ski Boots & Bindings
Looking for some ideas on what to get that avid backcountry skier on your list? We’ve got you covered! While in past we’ve only issued Christmas gift guides for climbers. This year we decided to include some ideas on what to get the avid skier on your list as well. So, in no particular order, here are 5 great gift ideas followed by a bonus … Continue reading Backcountry Skiers Christmas Gift Guide 2017
The newest addition to La Sportiva’s Trango line is the Trango Tower. A 3-season mountaineering boot that replaces the aging Trango S Evo, a long-time favorite of alpinists and mountaineers worldwide. This new generation boot improves on the Evo by shedding weight while providing better grip and water resistance. However, as it’s built on the same Trango last the fit is similar and should be … Continue reading Review: La Sportiva Trango Tower Boots
