Climbing
One of our most experienced testers called this rope “one of my all-time favorites, especially for onsight and redpoint attempts.” It rated the highest possible scores for ease of clipping and ease of knotting/untying. Of course, 9.1mm is on the far skinny end of skinny single ropes, and not for beginners or toproping—rope stretch was noticeably long. But for experienced sport climbers looking to redpoint diffi cult projects, this rope was the ticket. Durability wasn’t possible to test in..." go to full review
The brunt of a rope’s strength comes from the core, and while the sheath doesn’t add significant strength, it does protect the core from damage. A sliced sheath will quickly unravel, exposing several feet of core, making the rope unusable. Solution? Beal introduced Unicore technology last year in two ropes; this bonds the core to the sheath via a thin, lightweight filament that’s woven between the two. That means if the sheath is cut from a sharp edge or bad fall, it will stay in place..." go to full review
Performance: Trango’s new line of ropes goes toe-to-toe with the best cords on the market—and the Diamond 9.4 is the shining star of the group. It handled just right: smooth clipping, easy tying and untying knots, and even feeding through every belay device we threw at it. “This diameter is the sweet spot for ropes: just skinny enough for maximum ease of use and just fat enough to be confident when I see it dragging over a sharp edge,” one discerning tester said. “The Diamond became my..." go to full review
Performance: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” was not the mantra of the Petzl designers. With significant waistbelt, buckle, and gear-loop upgrades, Petzl took our bolt-minded testers’ old favorite and made it hall-of-fame worthy. With wider sides and a narrower back, the new waistbelt scored top marks for comfort and freedom of movement. “The padded sides protected the sensitive parts of my stomach during falls at Shelf Road, Colorado, but I felt unencumbered when I needed to do twisting..." go to full review
Performance: For trad routes in Joshua Tree, California, and sport missions in Maple Canyon and American Fork, Utah, this addition to the Momentum lineup has proven to be a comfortable and versatile harness with a few upgrades. Black Diamond redesigned the Speed Adjust buckles—which had little issues with slipping in prior testing—by shrinking the space for the webbing to pass through just enough so that the buckles bite firmly without being difficult to tighten and loosen. “I was impressed..." go to full review
Performance: “Hands down the best harness I’ve worn out of the 15 or so I’ve donned in the past three years of gear testing,” one female tester said of the women’s-specific Togira Light. “It sits on my body perfectly and stays in place; I’m not constantly adjusting it or pulling it up—a first for me.” Another selling point is the plastic-molded gear loops, which are angled instead of round, so it’s easy to carry an entire rack of doubles through a No. 2 cam and still be able to quickly find..." go to full review
Performance: “This is one of those unique pieces of gear that disappears from my mind because it just works so well,” one tester said. The Orion combines comfort, breathability, and function into one lightweight package. A four-inch-wide waistbelt—one of the widest in our test—distributes pressure evenly: “This harness cradled my midsection instead of trying to squeeze the life out of it,” another tester commented. Thin webbing straps on the outside are connected directly to the adjustment..." go to full review
Minimalist-harness fans are going to wonder why they spent so many years cutting off circulation to their legs by hanging in rigs that skimped on material to cut weight. Edelrid took a different approach by using textiles that were inherently lighter so a larger amount could be included without weighing the whole thing down. They call it 3D-Vent technology, but it’s more or less a layer of thin foam wrapped in mesh, with supportive, stiff webbing strips that wrap around your torso and legs,..." go to full review
When you’re pumping out 10 feet above your last fiddled-in nut, the last thing you want to sweat about is how much it might hurt to take a fall in your older-than-dirt harness. Don the completely redesigned Sonic and you’ll be as relaxed as Willie Nelson getting recreational in Colorado. Testers loved it for long routes like Yellow Spur (5.10a) and The Naked Edge (5.11a) in Eldorado Canyon, Colorado, where tight belays forced semi-hanging stances. “I could sit in this harness for long..." go to full review
The Rhythm delivers a lot of utility for its $45 price tag. Adjustable leg loops for the thick-legged crowd, molded gear loops, and a reasonable amount of comfort make this rig the steal of the test. The harness’s utility does come at a bit of a cost, however. A little more padding would have been nice, but that probably would have bumped the harness out of the weight class. The gear loops, while easy to clip and rack on, were canted at an awkward angle. When we climbed on rock overhanging..." go to full review