Scarpa just keeps the hits coming in the high end shoe department, and the Chimera is what we’ve come to expect from them. If you like the Drago but want something with more support for roped climbing, the Chimera might be exactly what you’ve been looking for: a high performance tool that is geared toward sending steep routes with small, smeary foot holds that you really need to be able to feel underfoot to stand on confidently. The only drawback is the steep price tag, but you get what you..." go to full review

I’ve used the Dart for sport, trad and Scottish winter climbing and it has proved a good all-round harness. There are no areas that it truly excels in but likewise there are no areas where it is really lacking. Comfort is very good whether actually climbing or on a hanging stance and like all good kit it tends to disappear from your mind whilst in use. It was a great harness on ‘mountaineering’ type Scottish days with a fair bit of scrambling and ridge walking the design doesn’t hamper..." go to full review

The LiveWire has a nice, large, solid-gate Nitron carabiner on top, and a similarly-sized LiveWire wiregate on the bottom. The latter incorporates Black Diamond’s proprietary HoodWire design: a piece of metal on either side of the nose prevents it from snagging on your harness or other gear; this means it functions like a keylock carabiner, but still saves weight compared to the solid gate. We enjoy wiregates for the rope-side biner— we find they allow for a quicker, more responsive clip—so..." go to full review

Typically, I’m a medium in just about everything, but I am a M/L in the Boreo (size options are S/M and M/L). If you’re unsure, size up, which also guarantees that you can get a beanie under there in colder temps. Adjusting the helmet is intuitive and easily done while it’s on your head, or, assuming you’ve got a no-hands rest, when you are on route. A pet peeve of mine is when the side straps dig into your ears. Thankfully, the Boreo’s straps were barely noticeable. Sleek headlamp clips..." go to full review

Functionally, the CR Carabiner worked without any hiccups. The screw-mechanism operated smoothly up on the walls of the Black Canyon, and it was small enough to fit through the guide-mode hole in a belay device. Our only concern would be the black finish potentially causing the biner to absorb even more heat than normal metal gear, but let’s face it: If the heat is turning your gear into hot pokers better suited for branding than climbing, you might as well go take a dip in that salty sea..." go to full review

Raise your hand if you’re tired of either a) Clipping sketchy, grooved “fixed” draws or B) having to retire a beloved draw because of rope-side-biner grooving. Edelrid has come up with an ingenious solution with their new Bulletproof Quickdraw: The top biner is a nice, smooth-clipping Bullet biner, but it’s the bottom biner that counts—the keylock closure Bulletproof clipper with a steel insert where the rope runs. Having the one bit of steel keeps the 12 cm draw light (4.1 oz) while..." go to full review