The La Sportiva Theory is an excellent shoe for shorter and more overhanging routes, boulder problems, the gym, Moon Boarding, and of course, for doing parkour tricks on indoor comp problems. People with narrow-ish feet who like soft shoes should definitely check this shoe out.go to full review

After so much of the last year spent in lockdown, many of us will be feeling like kids in a sweet shop now the restrictions are lifting and the weather is improving. Now we can travel more than a few miles, will we get back down the wall, go bouldering, sport or trad climb? Quite possibly, your answer will be ‘all of the above’. The Geshido is the kind of shoe you can chuck in your bag for a weekend, whether you are planning to train, go out bouldering, sport or trad climbing. Like any rock..." go to full review

My Mammut Nordwand MIPS helmet review details a comfortable and ultralight helmet with mountaineering specific features. I also congratulate Mammut on adding the benefit of MIPS. It is also well ventilated and great looking. I really do consider it to have everything you need in a quality climbing helmet. It may not be able to make you climb harder, but you’ll certainly be well protected while trying! Another great Mammut product.go to full review

The Booster is a technical and precise shoe that works best on steep, technical terrain. Great for bouldering and sport climbing as well as the ever blossoming indoor climbing market, I’d recommend the Booster for climbers who want a precise, aggressive and sensitive shoe with a lot of toe power. The twin velcro straps, DTS rand and PAF system give a secure and powerful feel to the shoe and the light, thin materials and general lightness of the shoe, offers incredible levels of feel on steep..." go to full review

Most of this winter season I climbed with Black Diamond Fuel Hammers. These super burly tools have an indestructible feel, particularly mixed climbing and dry tooling and whilst they’re great on steep ice, they’re not fully optimised for this, being a little heavy for my liking and not swinging quite as naturally, particularly when getting sticks on less steep ground.go to full review

With the pandemic the vast majority of my climbing time with the Voltage Lace has been outside which is no bad thing! As I alluded to earlier there has been little in the way of multi pitch climbing bar a few two pitch Lakes HVS classics. However the Voltage Lace has been thoroughly tested on Yorkshire limestone up to 7a and on the local Gritstone boulders. Bouldering the increased heel precision and security was noticeable when heel hooking and the slightly stiffer forefoot was a double..." go to full review

It is sad and scary for me to hear and read of so many accidents each year involving rappelling and lowering. Though easy to say, "Just tie a knot in the end of the rope and the problem is solved," reality is not always so cut and dry. Knots can get caught in cracks on windy days when rappelling, and as much as we are encouraged to do so, most climbers I see at the crag do not tie knots in the end of their ropes. Red ends are just one more needed step toward keeping us fallible human beings..." go to full review

Overall, I give the Metolius Offsets a solid 3 stars out of five because the other brands with the thumb loops are easier to handle, have narrower head widths for shallow placements and their trigger sleeves are less likely to affect the placement when that part of the stem is bent over an edge. That said, the lobes of the Metolius Offset Master Cams do have great holding power, the units are among the lightest on the market and the price point is about $10 to $20 less than the..." go to full review

As far as negatives, I can't really find any, which is an uncommon experience for me with my practiced critical mind. I could say that one downside is that the Akilas have fixed picks and can't be replaced should the picks become dull. But doing laps in the Ouray Ice Park are not what these axes are made for, nor should they be grinding on rock very often because of their Type 1 rating. Used as designed, the picks should last decades. So yeah, I'm at a loss. Blue Ice has created a quality..." go to full review