Most of us started our climbing love affair with five essential pieces of gear: shoes, climbing harness, chalk bag, locking carabiner and belay device. In this article, I will share with you everything I’ve learned since I bought my first five essentials, plus one more I added to this list for all skill levels. Shoes …
Rock climbing is a challenging activity. It can push you to your limits and allow you to overcome a lot through hard work, patience, and proper training. One of the most important pieces of gear you need to have is a rock climbing harness. Getting your first harness is a big step. But with the …
Read more Finding A Rock Climbing Harness: Tips For Beginners
So you’ve been improving your grip strength through focused warm-ups and stretches, increasing your grip strength by mixing up training holds on the bouldering wall, and finally working all those grip strength exercises into your routine, now it’s time to test your forearm muscles and hand strength with a grip strength tester. Do you need …
Read more Grip Strength Testers: What Are They and Why Do I Want One?
In this second installment in our series on rappelling gear, we are going to talk about personal anchor systems (PAS for short). A PAS is an essential piece of climbing gear if you are going outside. It is how you secure yourself to the anchor system while you clean an anchor system and/or set up …
Read more Essential Rappelling Gear: Personal Anchor Systems
Quick List – Best Women’s Climbing Shoes • La Sportiva TC Pro• La Sportiva Testarossa• La Sportiva Muira VS• La Sportiva Solution• La Sportiva Skwama• Scarpa Vapor V Different shoe companies generate different brands of women climbing shoes annually. The different rock faces around the globe play an enormous role in this. Whether you are …
Review by Jessica Barilone Brand: Red Chili Model: Spirit Lady VCR Retail Price: $80-$125 Specs as advertised: 3 VCR (hook and loop) straps for adjustment Twin tongue for easy opening and easy in / out Synthetic upper to keep shape and size of the shoe leather footbed for comfort and nonslip positioning of the foot …
By Leici Hendrix 1. What is your longest road-trip and where? My longest road trip was to Hueco Tanks in El Paso, TX. I used to spend a month or two every season there. I would drive down and camp out of my car at the Rock Ranch the first few years, and then …
By Aimee Roseborrough Most of us have similar resolutions: eat better, train harder, be kinder, etc, but how about a resolution to help the earth and make your life easier? I’m talking about using a menstrual cup. You can decrease your impact on the earth by not using tampons and/or pads anymore! Menstrual cups have become slightly …
By Aimee Roseborrough My two favorite pieces of climbing gear by far are the Trango Cinch and Squid (and no, I’m not sponsored by Trango!) I’ve been climbing for over 15 years, so I’ve had lots of gear experience. When the Gri-Gri first entered the scene, I tried it, but I felt dissatisfied with …
I’m a moderate-grade rock climber who climbs mostly outside on routes with very few “balance on a quarter” moves. I like cracks, chimneys, slabs, off-widths, and I get them all on nearly every alpine route we find. So when I needed a new pair of shoes, I picked La Sportiva Mythos. I bought a new pair of …