Alpinist

"You figured out that if you go past the panic function, then you're just lowering," Roetzel continues. "When you feel the click you've [partially] activated the anti-panic feature. You over-rode it. Like when rappelling, if you don't have a lot of weight on the rope, you'll keep activating that panic feature so you have to override it." Because of this addition, there's a sweet lowering spot that descends the climber at a controlled rate.go to full review

I wore them on a variety of climbs to test their limits, from easy, low-angled climbs to routes that were very overhanging, on both limestone and granite. The Katakis were definitely not the shoe for low-angled granite where maximum friction was required, as the downturn shape prevented the shoe from smearing well. On the severely overhung routes—where you're not standing on your feet so much as using them like a second set of hands to grab, hook and pull—the shoes didn't have the..." go to full review

The shoes proved themselves admirably on slabs that day. So I took them to the glass-smooth vertical walls outside of Denver, called East Quarry, to the unrelenting finger- and hand-size splitter cracks at Turkey Rocks in South Platte, and the hard edging routes in Boulder Canyon and Eldorado Canyon. They conformed like slippers on thin to hand-sized cracks, were aggressive like the Evolv Shaman for the steeps and provided much-needed support on micro edges and small pockets.go to full review

During my testing of the Irvis Hybrids I was able to use them in a variety of conditions throughout the winter, including ski mountaineering, alpine climbing, mixed climbing and ice climbing in Rocky Mountain National Park—as well as for a summit climb of Pico de Orizaba (18,491') in Mexico. I found them to be a stellar addition to my quiver of crampons, and I will definitely use them again. Of all the positive things I have to say about these crampons, I have only one critique worth writing..." go to full review

When I was given the choice of Tenaya shoes to review, I chose the Ras because they fit my three criteria of a rock shoe—Velcro instead of laces, stiffness and fit. For eight months, I put them to the test climbing at the gym, bouldering, and climbing trad, sport and multi-pitch routes in Vedauwoo, Wyoming, and Eldorado Canyon, Lumpy Ridge, Boulder Canyon, Clear Creek Canyon and Puoux, Colorado, as well as the Moab, Utah, area. In complete honesty, the only thing I didn't like about these..." go to full review

Soon after it arrived in the mail, I got right to trashing the Topaz and took it mixed climbing throughout Colorado including at Bear's Den in Rocky Mountain National Park, Vail and for an extended group top-roping sessions on ice and mixed terrain in Clear Creek Canyon. I also took it sport and trad climbing, treating it like a gym rope. Today, after months of use, the rope is holding up well and continues to handle as if it just came out of the box.go to full review

Overall, I will be reaching for these tools for both guiding and personal climbing on moderate ice and mixed terrain. For upcoming alpine trips in bigger ranges, these will also be in my kit since they are more than capable of withstanding battering. For really steep ice and harder mixed terrain, I'll still reach for my Petzl Nomics, though, as the wrist-to-tool-head angle is more anatomically inline in overhanging terrain and causes me less strain.go to full review

Over several months of testing—let's just call it climbing—from the sharp cracks in Vermont's crags to the sustained splitters in New York's Adirondacks (ADK) to Boulder, Colorado's smooth granite, these svelte units performed as well as single-axle cams are expected to. They're also very flexible, which helped me wiggle them into placements, and they were generally easy enough to clean.go to full review

At 69 grams, the Lambda is lighter than many auto-lockers of similar price. After a little practice, it's as easy to clip as Black Diamond's lighter-weight VaporLock Magnetrons (56 grams), but unlike the Magnetrons, which are $24.95 to $29.95, depending on the model, the Lambda is comparatively inexpensive and can withstand heavier cross loading.I'd be hesitant to replace every locker on my rack with a twin gate, but I'll definitely continue bringing the Lambda along for fast anchors and..." go to full review

I wondered, does this mean that other cams without such aggressive teeth are less stable, more prone to walking or more prone to slipping out of soft rock? Over six months of using the Dragons, Metolius Master Cam Ultralights (ULs) and Black Diamond Camalots (and an Ultralight), from the Adirondacks to Eldorado Canyon (to name a few), I found that sometimes the ULs worked best, and other times the Camalots and Dragons worked best.go to full review