Sometimes first impressions are hard to shake, and I tried not to let my first impression of the Rab Neutrino Endurance jacket influence this review. No luck. The jacket wowed me at first appearance. Made from a water-resistant Pertex Endurance outer fabric and packed with 850+ goose down fill, it’s an alpinist’s dream come true: maximum warmth to weight ratio in a lightweight, weatherproof package.
I’ll admit it: I’ve got a small head. As a result, I’ve spent the past few years bouncing between glasses that slide down the bridge of my nose, frames that feel like a loose, dead handshake, and cheapos bought shamefully from the children’s aisle. So, when Julbo asked me to pick one pair of mountaineering glasses to test, I chose the Neve, a pair of glasses designed with Alti-Spectron X6 lenses for small heads, and, yes, women.
My go-to approach shoe for three years has been the La Sportiva Exum Ridge. Sturdy yet nimble, stealthy enough for talus-hopping but rugged enough to endure all the missteps that result in abrasion, the shoe has held tough for me through three summers in the Tetons without blowing out or debilating the tread. It’s a tough benchmark to beat.
More than any piece of rock gear I’ve seen advertised over the past few years, I wanted to hate these Omega Pacific Link Cams. All those moving parts and the inevitable dumbing-down of racking-up brought out the Luddite in me. And the cost–about $100 a pop–seemed prohibitive, and the weight…
When you hear the name “Monster,” it may conjure visions of a huge, ugly beast. Or for all you movie buffs it might bring a horrifying vision of Charlize Theron and Christina Ricci. Scary. Luckily, when I hear the name “Monster,” I associate it with Metolius’ climbing rope line–burly and strong.
Let’s begin with an understanding. If given the choice either to snowshoe or ski on an approach, I am going to pick skis every time. When guiding on Denali, however, I find that the combination of people’s varied ski skills, and the fact that we are schlepping huge loads up the Kahiltna Glacier, makes snowshoes the right choice.
I was looking forward to getting a set of Black Diamond’s new C3 cams since I first saw the prototypes, and when I did, they were everything I expected them to be. They’ve been on my rack for a year now, and have been put to the test in just about every condition imaginable. From the misty summit of Torre Egger to a first ascent on Mt. Alberta; from greasy Squamish finger splitters to Bugaboo wall routes; and from overhanging quartzite trad routes at the back of Lake Louise to the mixed desperates of the Icefield Parkway, these cams have served me well. Despite the abuse, they’re still working like new. They’ve held my repeated whippers, inspired the confidence I need when it comes time to run it out, and have shaved precious grams off the weight I’ve carried.
Mountain Hardwear has come out with a new 3/4 pant, the Silcox. This pant is made from eighty-five percent nylon and fifteen percent elastane and–when combined with articulated knees and a full-length gusset–has four-way stretch that is ideal for climbing, running, and… well, stretching. I sampled a size medium with a 23 1/2″ inseam, and it fit perfectly (I’m usually a classic medium with a 32″ waist). The pants come with an integrated belt made from 3/4″ webbing for cinching them up when the time comes to send that project.
I used the cushy Therm-a-Rest Prolite 4 this summer in the Wind River Range of Wyoming, where I was guiding Gannett Peak for Jackson Hole Mountain Guides. I cannot say that this was my first Therm-a-Rest experience; I have owned many over the years. But the Prolite 4, the four-season model in Therm-a-Rest’s Fast and Light Series, is truly a step above. It elegantly blends weight savings with packability and, most importantly, comfort.
Weighing in at 1.11 kg, the Osprey Talon 44 is one of the lightest packs for its size on the market. While I welcome any opportunity to lighten my load, I wondered if this svelte pack, when filled with ropes and cams, could hold up to being sat on and thrown on to rocks.
