Climbing Report

The main kid-friendly feature of the Jasper Junior is the sliding waist belt. If you’ve ever worn a harness that was almost too big and adjusted it down to the last inch you’ll realize the design of the Jasper Junior is genius. Go ahead and cinch the harness down all the way and the outer padding on the waist slides along on the belt keeping the leg loops and gear loops oriented correctly instead of being all off-kilter like they get with other harnesses that are cinched down. Our kid..." go to full review

The Cassin Blade Runner crampons do a lot of things very well. We were most thrilled with the vertical mono-point setup, where design features and flaws really become apparent. But, the vertical dual-point and horizontal dual-point performance was also very good. The design and finish on these is top notch. There are two sizes to fit a variety of foot sizes. We can’t see how anyone would be anything other than thrilled with the performance of the Cassin Blade Runner crampons.go to full review

I still run into climbers that are skeptical of twin ropes. They are used to 9+mm single ropes and anything to do with skinnier ropes or multiple ropes just doesn’t feel right to them. Time after time when I climb with someone that hasn’t ever used twin or half ropes they walk away and the end of the day (or night) and say they are going to get a set. Bluewater makes some of our favorite ropes and the Ice Floss 7.7 twins are no different. It’s evident from the first time you pick up an end..." go to full review

If you’ve ever used thin 7.7 mm twin ropes then you’ve undoubtedly cursed the deep catch for wire gates that also snags onto thin ropes and gloves. The Cypher Echo covers much of this with a small hood so that nothing gets snagged on the gate. Unlike some other hooded carabiners, the nose on these retains a slim profile so you don’t have trouble slipping it through accessory holes on gear. Along with the ice and mixed climbing our crew really likes the Cypher Echo quickdraws for trad..." go to full review

We’ve been testing a couple of quickdraws this Winter and Spring: The Metolius Bravo Keylock, and the Cypher Echo.
The Metolius Bravo Keylock quickdraw is designed with sport climbing in mind. Our testers used these on all different types of climbing, sport, trad, mixed, but the keylock solid gate on the bolt end and the beefy nylon sling tell this is all about at-your-limit sport climbing.go to full review

Testinggo to full review