Progression – Climbing Magazine

Petzl Reverso 3 belay device, Mountain Hardwear Runout climbing pants, Mammut Infinity 9.5mm rope, Black Diamond C3 cams – The Mountain World

La Sportiva Speedsters – straight outta bedlam

SuperTopo Guides To Zion and Tuolumne – Climbing Narc

Five Ten Team rock shoes – Sicky Gnar Gnar, Climbing Narc, Paul Robinson

Black Diamond Aura Harness, La Sportiva Mantis – Rock Climber Girl

Sterling Ice Thong 7.7mm twin rope – Colorado Mountain School

Patagonia Alpine Wind Jacket – SplitterChoss

Five Ten Copperhead – GetOutdoors

Black Diamond C3 and Oz and Petzl Reverso 3 – Dream in Vertical

New S10 Black Diamond Products – TetonAT.com

Five Ten’s Prisms – The Mountain World

DMM Dragon Cams – UKclimbing.com

La Sportiva Exum Pro – Colorado Mountain School

Arc’Teryx Alpha LT jacket and the CAMP USA Alp 95 harness – GearFlogger

Chaco Pro Series Sandals – Trailspace.com

New dual axel cam from DMM – Carabiner development blog

New Petzl Tikka and Zipka headlamps – trailrunningSoul.com

If you’ve seen any good climbing gear reviews recently, please link them in the comments.

Back in 2002, I had a business trip to Silicon Valley and took a long weekend to head to Yosemite for some bouldering. There was only a smallish guidebook to the Valley bouldering at the time, but it was enough to get around and for me to sample the bouldering.

Since it was the middle of July, I was wise enough to head up to Tuolumne Meadows and avoid the 100+ degree temperatures and hordes of tourists. Unfortunately, there was no guidebook, but several climbers gave me rough direction to The Knobs.

As I was trying to figure out the correct parking pulloff, I saw what appeared to be an obvious looking climber. I pulled over, asked for directions, and was given tons of enthusiastic beta for the area. As I parked and gathered my gear, I kept thinking that guy looked really familiar. Then it hit me. It was Ron Kauk. He and Sterling Johnson were filming for their newest climbing video at the time.

In what was a completely random event, I and a few other climbers had the great pleasure of spending the afternoon bouldering with Ron and watching him climb some Tuolumne boulders as part of their filming. The combination of the beautiful scenery and spending the afternoon with a climbing legend will always hold a special place in my climbing memories.

So when Chris McNamara of SuperTopo asked me if I was interested in reviewing their new Tuolumne Bouldering guidebook, I excitedly accepted the offer.

If you’re familiar with other guidebooks from SuperTopo, then you’ll know what to expect as this guide follows their tried and true format. If you’re new to any of their guides, then you’re in for a great surprise.

This is the first edition of the guide, just released this July 2009. What I love about SuperTopo’s business model is when you buy the ebook, you receive three years worth of updates.

With tons of full color pictures, the Tuolumne Bouldering guidebook by Chris Summit is an excellent resource for over 20 Tuolumne bouldering areas. This thin book is only 72 pages in length but covers everything you need for each area including:

• number of problems
• best time of day
• difficulty range
• driving directions
• the approach

I particularly liked the blend of problem guide pictures with climber action shots of many areas. I believe the trend toward full color guidebooks is excellent as it can solve the old problem of not being able to see the routes on black and white images (anyone remember the old Seneca Rocks, WV guidebook?). The photos of problems in Tuolumne Bouldering use a picture of the boulder (with no climber) superimposed with a red line outlined by white and a problem number corresponding to the text. Very visible and easy to follow.

The guide’s introduction also includes everything you need to plan a trip to Tuolumne Meadows especially the all-important weather and lodging information.

For each bouldering area, Chris Summit (yes, he says that’s his real name!) provides an overview plus some historical context where applicable. There’s also two mini articles by John Bachar and Ron Kauk.

I was also pleased to see a star rating for each bouldering problem. I’ve been seeing too many guidebooks moving away from this and it really disappoints me. I understand that placing a quality rating on a climb or boulder problem is subjective, but regardless it gives the reader a baseline to see what stands out above the rest. Chris uses a star rating of one to four where every problem gets at least one star. I would have liked to have seen what this meant. Is one star worthwhile or just so-so? A legend/guide to the star rating system would have been useful.

But looking at the star rating system leads me to a question. Are there problems with zero stars and if so, were they not included in the book? The back of the guide says it includes the best boulder problems in Tuolumne so I’m assuming the crummy ones were left out. This can be good and bad.

I’d say that while Tuolumne Bouldering covers over 275 boulder problems, I’m always a bit wary of “best of” or “highlights of” guidebooks for an area. Mainly becuase I end up needing to warm up on a bunch of problems and they occasionally are less than stellar. Are these then not included? I’m usually more inclined to see everything and then make my own decisions about what to avoid based on star ratings. My apprehension was completely appeased though with an appendix in the back of the book that lists other areas worth exploring and possibly not completely developed yet. The obvious advantages to a best of guide are the smaller size and a conciseness that allows you to focus on hitting the best problems.

If you’re interested in checking out the format of the guidebook, SuperTopo offers a free PDF chapter for the Tamarack Boulders.

Overall, this guidebook is a must have for any climber planning to visit the area and do some bouldering in Tuolumne Meadows. I wish this was available for my first trip years ago. Even if you only have eyes for the classic routes, take an afternoon to sample the bouldering and I can guarantee you will not be disappointed.

Let me make this clear: my review of Vibram Five Fingers shoes is self serving. The more people who know about them, the less I will be stopped by total strangers asking “What are those?”

Basically, the Five Finger shoes are the antithesis of footwear technology – not much more than a flexible, semi-form fitting rubber sole attached to the bottom of your foot. You can feel everything. I actually find myself wanting to walk more often, and taking strange paths home just to feel the difference between concrete, grass, and gravel.

What are they for? Everything. I’ve worn mine:

• Walking around town
• Climbing easy routes (these aren’t great for cracks, dime edges or
  smearing)
• Hiking (both with and without a pack
• Sprinting
• At work (caveat: I’m in Boulder!)
• Trail running
• Playing soccer on astroturf (amazing ball control)

Why should you get them?

• There is growing evidence that “high performance” running shoes may actually cause more injuries
• You’ll strengthen your feet beyond what is possible in normal footwear
• Traveling on foot becomes much more fun
• Better balance on uneven surfaces (I’m actually more likely to step on smaller stones and branches because I can feel them – and won’t wobble)
• They can solve lower back problems (see Tim Ferriss’ post for a good explanation)

That sounds great, but what if you have __________ (fill in the blank: high arches, flat feet, pronation, weak ankles, etc)? Well, I would ask you this question: why would you be born with feet you couldn’t use as is? What do you do for arch support? Use your arches. What do you do for ankle support? Use your ankles.

I have high arches myself (my footprint in the sand is two unconnected imprints) and have not had a single problem. Two days after my track workout (complete with sprinting) my arches were killing me. And then a strange realization – was this the first time in my life I’d ever felt the need to stretch my arches? It was. The next day I felt fine – and my feet were stronger than ever before.

The best part is that my occasional lower back pain is gone. Heels on our shoes push our hips forward, arching our lower back. This doesn’t happen with my VFFs. Why are we wearing footwear that is bad for our posture and makes our feet weaker? Pretty crazy when you think about it!

The cons:

1. Don’t overdo it. It takes a little while for your feet to get stronger. Work up to longer hikes and runs.
2. Unwanted attention. Extreme introverts might have a problem with strangers approaching to ask about your Vibram Five Fingers. In particular, I catch women and children staring at my feet constantly.
3. If you wear them for more than a few hours consecutively, you’ll need to wash them. Your feet won’t be hot, but the shoes will be stinky.

Find a store and try them on for sizing purposes (for reference: I wear an 11 mens US, but ended up with size 42 five fingers – your situation might be different). There are 4 different styles. I own the KSOs but have not tried any of the others, so I can’t enumerate the differences, other than saying that the Flows are thick neoprene on top and more suited for water-only activities.

Expecting to walk home in the Classics, I went with KSO because I did not want an open top which would likely collect dirt and pebbles on the trail.

Anyone else own these or seen them around? I’ve noticed a dramatic increase in the last few weeks.

You can order the Vibram Five Fingers online from Amazon.

Special thanks to Ryan Wanger of Everlater for writing this guest post. I’m still not 100% sold on these shoes, but he’s been doing a good job trying to convince me!

GearFlogger looks at pro reviewing the DMM Wallnuts and also reviews the Arc’Teryx Dually belay parka.

Cupcake Mafia reviews the PrAna Natural Sticky Mat for yoga and the Petzl Bug Bag. That Bug Bag intrigues me.

The Adventure Blog reviews the REI Traverse Pack. I just bought one of these to use as my main laptop bag.

Sicky Gnar Gnar looks at the Five Ten Projects, while ClimbingNarc reviews The Players DVD.

SplitterChoss reviews the Black Diamond LiveWire quickdraw and the Petzl Fuse 9.4mm rope.

The Mad Rock Con-Flicts (and especially their rubber) was reviewed by straight outta bedlam.

reel deep snow looks at the Five Ten Freerunner

More trad gear as the RockClimberGirl reviews the Black Diamond Camalot C3.

Colorado Mountain School discusses the Sterling Ion 9.5mm rope and the Black Diamond RPM pack.

It Came from the Garage reviews the Mammut Champ Pants.

And finally, RockClimbing.com reviews the Five Ten Projects.

With the next installment of the gear review roundup, I’ll be changing the format a little to make them easier to scan and read.

I’ve started reading the book One Move Too Many as it was recommended to me by several different climbers. I’ll be posting my full thoughts when I’ve finished the book, but I can already tell you that this is a must have for any climber, especially those dealing with specific injuries.

One idea from the book really stands out to me. The authors discuss warming up and state that:

Scientific studies have shown that bringing the pulleys and tendons up to a perfect state of “readiness” requires about four routes or 120 moves of climbing.

Think about that statement. Do you warm up that effectively? Do you climb four easy routes as a warm up? I’d wager that the vast majority of climbers do two routes maximum and call themselves warmed up.

More thoughts on this book are forthcoming, but I thought that tidbit was too interesting to not share immediately.

While grocery shopping the other day, I saw a large display for the new Clif Quench sport drinks. I vaguely remembered hearing about these, so I decided to buy one of each flavor and try them out.

Let me start off by saying that my primary sports drinks are massive quantities of coffee in the morning, followed by as much water as I can consume the rest of the day. That said, I occasionally buy a Gatorade or Powerade and throw it in my climbing pack for a long day.

The selling points of Clif’s new drink line is the list of ingredients and its recycled bottle. The Clif Quench is 88% organic with no high fructose corn syrup. From the company:

CLIF Quench offers the optimal balance of ingredients your thirsty body needs, including electrolytes and carbohydrates to move water where your body needs it most. CLIF Quench is all-natural and contains no artificial colors, sweeteners and preservatives used in many beverages today.

Continuing on the company’s journey toward sustainability, the CLIF Quench bottle and label are the most planet-friendly options on the market. The bottle is made of 40 percent post-consumer recycled PET plastic—the highest percentage of any U.S. bottled beverage—and the bottle and label are fully recyclable.

Unfortunately, the drink tastes like a big gulp of ocean water. Seriously, the Quench has such a strong salty taste that I almost couldn’t drink a full bottle. And I love Clif’s other products, so this was a real disappointment.

My initial thought was that the taste was due to a much higher sodium content which is common in sports drinks. So yesterday, I picked up a bottle of Gatorade (Frost Glacier Freeze if you must know) and guzzled it down. Just as I remembered, I did not feel like I was drowning in the Pacific Ocean.

Next obvious step – check the ingredient labels. Here is the surprising result of my quick research:

Gatorade (8 fl. oz)
Calories – 50
Sodium – 110 mg
Potassium – 30 mg
Total Carbs – 14 g
Sugars – 14 g

Clif Quench (8 fl. oz)
Calories – 45
Sodium – 130 mg
Potassium – 35 mg
Total Carbs – 11 g
Sugars – 10 g

These drinks are quite similar except for the real sugar in Clif versus the high fructose corn syrup in the Gatorade. You can also see that there is 18% more sodium in the Clif. From the taste though, I was estimating there would be twice the sodium.

Unless you absolutely refuse to use products with high fructose corn syrup and have to have a sports drink, I can’t recommend this product in its current form. Hopefully, with enough feedback, maybe they’ll revisit the taste factor on the Quench.

Has anyone else tried these yet? What was your opinion, especially on the taste?

As climbers, we suffer from numerous injuries. One of the more common climber injuries is medial epicondylitis or golfers elbow. Essentially this is pain on the inside of your elbow and it originates from overuse of the flexor muscles. All our gripping without exercising the opposing muscle groups is usually the culprit for climbers.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I’ve been suffering from this condition for months now. I’ve been seeing a sports medicine doctor and slowly my severe pain has reduced. When I started rehab, my pain was about an 8 on a scale of 1 to 10. After about three months of daily ice baths and exercises to strengthening opposing muscle groups (including a couple initial weeks of ultrasound), I was finally down in the 4 out 10 pain range.

So when I was contacted by the inventor of a device called Armaid, I was initially quite skeptical. First, if there was some device that would help, why didn’t my doctor or any literature mention it? Is this really going to help me and how long will it take? But since I really had nothing to lose at this point, I decided to try it out. The company saw a few of its customers were climbers and was interested to see what the reaction from the climbing community would be for this device. My goal was to test it out using my own pain and injuries as a guinea pig and provide some critical feedback to Armaid.

Amazingly, I felt pain relief from the Armaid device immediately. And before getting into details about Armaid, let me give you a quick summary. I’ve been using the device daily for about 2 – 3 minutes each on each forearm and my pain level has dropped at least another full notch on my pain scale after only a couple weeks.

Details of the Armaid Device

Armaid costs $99.95 and comes with a 30 day money back guarantee. Initially I thought was that this was a high price for an unproven device for notoriously cheap climbers. But after using Armaid and finding it actually works, I changed my mind about the pricing. Let’s assume you have medical insurance. For the price of about two co-pay sessions with a doctor or massage therapist, you’ve paid for Armaid. Comparing the cost of Armaid to all the other medical treatment I have received in the past for climbing related injuries, a hundred dollars is a steal.

The Armaid device works by relaxing and releasing tight muscle tissue by massaging and stretching muscles in the arm. It comes with a detailed DVD with instructional videos as you must use the device in a specific manner to achieve results.

The Armaid appears to be constructed well. The apparatus is made of a sturdy plastic mounted on a swivel that allows for moving to a variety of angles. There are different stiffnesses of the therapy balls that actually run over your forearms to adjust the level of pressure.

Another small climber-related complaint I had was the size of the device. Armaid is rather large (about 16″ long), but to mechanically achieve its mission I realize it pretty much has to be that way. My initial opinion (before testing it) was that climbers may not want to take it on our frequent road trips. After using it, I realize that if you have chronic pain like I do, you’re not going to care about the size and you’ll throw it in the car. It’s really not that big, but you can see for yourself in one of Armaid’s demo videos. It also weighs just over a pound so it’s not too heavy.

I haven’t seen much discussion of this device elsewhere, despite it usefulness. I did see a brief recommendation in Clyde Soles’ training book, but other than that the Armaid appears to be quite unknown to climbers.

My next obvious question was what is this company all about? Who are they and why should I trust them with my health?

Armaid’s Founder

I had several conversations with the founder of Armaid, Terry Cross, and asked him some very pointed questions that I knew climbers would be interested in learning before committing to this product.

Terry is a former sports injury and occupational injury therapist and I asked him how he came up with the idea for Armaid:

“I would see sometimes as many as ten clients a day and over time I began to develop repetitive strain (tendinitis) in my arms and hands. I began to do more self massage to maintain my own level of strength and fitness. This worked for a while by using my free hand to massage the other arm but this method often aggravated my problems and after trying several different products I felt there was not a good massage tool available for specifically helping the hand, wrist, forearm and elbow. I tried many different prototypes and designs until I came up with the idea of using a lever (as in the mechanical advantage of a nutcracker) to easily amplify the pressure on the trigger points (sore areas) without using a lot of strength necessary from the free hand.

There is a particular type of therapy that I used as a hands-on therapist that I use constantly and it is the most efficient method I have ever found to work to relieve tight muscles. I built Armaid to specifically incorporate this therapy technique. To keep it simple, I call it “trigger point therapy” on our website. It is called different names depending if you are talking to an Occupational or Physical Therapist, Rolfing Therapist, Chiropractor, etc. I’ve heard it called Myofacial Release, Client Assisted Release, Active Release etc., but it is always the same technique of maintaining static pressure on a sore spot and then stretching the muscle under that pressure (see the “two therapies” video on our website). This releases the muscle fiber much more quickly and efficiently than cross-fiber technique or mere stroking (effluerage). It also has the added benefit of letting the sufferer discover which muscles and which range of motion is the culprit in their problem.”

And on who is using Armaid and why climbers should think about using it:

“Disgruntled sufferers that have had the surgeries, taken the drugs, been upset with unending appointments with expensive therapy sessions and still not happy and are looking for something that they can do for themselves. They hear about Armaid mostly through word of mouth or a search online. For the cost of one or two medical or massage sessions they can buy an Armaid and be in charge of their own arm, elbow and hand health.

It must be made clear that Armaid is only useful if the problem is based in the forearm muscles that can create painful problems in the elbow, wrist and hand. The question that I always ask someone who is considering using Armaid is “Do you have sore forearm muscles?” if they say “yes” then I know that Armaid is perfect for them and will deliver relief when used as shown on the videos. Armaid will not be of use if the problem originates solely in the neck or shoulder region with a pinched nerve or injury “upstream” of the arm.

Armaid is not a cure all or a one-time magic bullet. It does give the sufferer a way to relieve their symptoms and to maintain their own hand, arm, elbow health. Armaid use is like brushing your teeth, regular maintenance is best for health because as an athlete you are constantly using your body and muscles and creating tension and metabolic waste products. That is why professional athletes have massages constantly before and after every work out and performance.

Summary

The Armaid is a useful product that can be used to supplement other healthy physical therapy for rehabilitating several conditions climbers experience. If you have chronic pain, the Armaid by itself will not cure you. But an overall change in habits along with this device can be an effective solution to getting back to lower pain levels.

* Special Discount *

Terry also gave me a special discount only for readers of All Climbing. If you mention you saw Armaid on All Climbing, you will receive 15% off your order of the device. Just mention it when ordering online or when calling them.

Disclaimer: It pains me to even write this, but let me reiterate – I am not a doctor. This is not medical advice. If you have medical problems, please consult a doctor or other medical professional.

Steve Casimiro of The Adventure Life reviews the Coleman Lantern, the Therm-A-Rest NeoAir, and the Timbuk 2 Doctor’s Bag.

Climbing Narc and Sicky Gnar Gnar have some first impressions on the Five Ten Projects.

Climbing Hold Review examines Jason Kehl’s Cryptochild holds.

A La Sportiva Speedster preview from Joe Kinder.

BJ at Splitter Choss looks at the Black Diamond Chaos harness and the new Indian Creek guidebook.

GearFlogger reviews the Metolius 18mm nylon sling, the DMM Revolver screwgate carabiner, and the Julbo Explorer glacier glasses.

Colorado Mountain School also reviews the Black Diamond Chaos harness.

Well, it turns out one of the side benefits of her being born 10 days early was my ability to attend the premier of Rocky Mountain Highball last night at the Boulder Theater.

Overall, I found this to be an excellent climbing movie and I really only found a few minor flaws. The following are my impressions of Rocky Mountain Highball.

Before the show, the filmmakers mentioned that it took them over two years to make. That care and dedication for delivering this product was unmistakable throughout.

The title may lead the viewer to think this is just for Colorado boulderers. Rocky Mountain Highball was set in Colorado, but not specifically about Colorado. This is an important distinction. The film was more about the essence of bouldering and how highballs fit into the equation. How we as boulderers attempt to push our limits within the pursuit of bouldering. Rocky Mountain Highball appeals to all climbers regardless of style or geographic preferences.

That said, it depicted a nice overview of Colorado bouldering, really showing the breadth of rock type and quality here.

Rocky Mountain Highball had a great story line. Simply having a story, let alone an interesting one, is a major accomplishment for any climbing film. They started with examining the past, looking at the history of bouldering (not just highballs) and then progressed from the present to the future of highball bouldering.

The movie balanced between amazing footage of highball bouldering problems and short clips of commentary from boulderers both old and new.

The interviews with John Sherman, Pat Ament and John Gill were fantastic and likely worth the price of admission by themselves. Their insights and commentary on bouldering contrasted with the newer generation of climbers was striking.

During Rocky Mountain Highball I didn’t think much about the music until I started thinking about what I would say about the music! So I’ll take that to mean the score was unobtrusive and fit well with the climbing.

An often discussed topic, Rocky Mountain Highball took great care to dive into what highballs actually are and how climbers define them. Jason Kehl had one of my favorite quotes where he defined highball bouldering as when you personally feel like you’re too high off the ground (paraphrased). A highball for one person may not be highball for others. That’s really the essence of the experience, right?

It was also nice to watch a climbing film that wasn’t exclusively focused on the hardest boulder problems in the world. There were numerous problems shown that mere mortals could aspire to climb. Unfortunately, they were still scary and tall as hell.

There was also an all-star cast. From their web site:

Director/Filmmaker Scott Neel, and Yama Studio have brought in a huge cast of world renowned climbers, like Paul Robinson, Mark Wilford, Kevin Jorgeson, Lynn Hill, Daniel Woods, John Sherman, John Gill, Steve Mammen, and Jason Kehl. Having filmed more than 70 climbs with more than 35 athletes, this film proves to be an exciting journey through the world of highball bouldering.

Now for a couple negatives.

The film only showed names of climbers during their interviews, not during actual climbs. More frustrating though was the film only displayed the names of individual problems, but not the areas where they were located. As a new local to Colorado, there were many problems where I could place the area or specific boulder, but many I had no idea where they were located.

I spoke with @boulderdiaries after the show and he hinted at researching and publishing a list of the problems and their locations from the film. Or at least that was what I think I heard…

The only reason I can think of why they didn’t explicitly add the areas to the titles was the fact I mentioned above about Rocky Mountain Highball not really being a film about Colorado. Maybe by not highlighting the areas, the filmmakers were attempting to focus on highballing itself. Possibly true to their vision of the movie, but annoying nonetheless.

I know this sounds a bit of schadenfreude, but I think some more footage of failures or falling during some of the problems would have added to the movie. I say this because some of the more dramatic scenes were when a climber topped out of a highball. Watching well-known, pro climbers literally shaking from the fear and anxiety of doing the highball really made the viewer relate in ways you don’t normally see in a climbing film. Especially noticeable was hearing Lynn Hill stress out near the top of one problem. You immediately start to think “if Lynn Hill is freaking out a bit on this highball, how really scary is this?”

Overall, Rocky Mountain Highball delivers on its promise of exploring the world of highball bouldering and more interestingly why climbers push themselves on these types of problems.

My Dad is in town this week and I took him with me to see the premier. As this was a much more climber oriented film compared to the recent releases of The Sharp End and Pure and since he isn’t a climber, I wasn’t sure he would enjoy it. Afterward, he said he loved it. That in itself should say a lot about the quality of the film. Creating a work that is climber-focused yet still delivers an impressive and powerful story line is quite an achievement.

While they mainly distribute in the Rocky Mountain region, Colorado based Go Fast appears to be aggressively expanding. Their main pitch over competing energy drinks is the distinct (better tasting) flavor and natural ingredients.

While Red Bull, Monster, Rockstar and the like dominate the market, Go Fast definitely has an angle with their approach.

I tried four flavors of Go Fast – regular, light, Z17, and GFTea. While the branding is a bit confusing, the taste of all but one was quite good.

Each of the drinks had light carbonation, no preservatives, no aspartame, and no high fructose corn syrup. Those are some pretty decent selling points. Unfortunately, something still needs to be used as a sweetener so Go Fast uses sucralose. There have been numerous documented negatives of each so it may be a wash. For their high energy mix, each drink has a high dose of caffeine, ginseng, ribose, and guarana.

The original flavor, my least favorite, had a distinct cherry/strawberry taste. I dislike cherry flavoring so even a hint of it is enough for me to pass on this one. The light version had much of the same flavor, but it was subdued and much easier to drink (with a bonus of less calories).

The Z17 and GFTea flavors tasted much better to me and were the only ones I would actually purchase. I’m not sure how to describe the flavor of Z17, but as you can guess from the name the GFTea tasted, well, like tea. The company says it contains a mix of white, green, and black teas which is definitely a welcome change from most of the other energy drinks on the market.

My main concern with all energy drinks is the high levels of taurine they add. Every one I’ve read the ingredients for include around 1000mg of taurine per serving. That’s 2000mg in one of those standard 16oz cans you see everywhere.

There’s not a lot of evidence that taurine is necessarily bad for you, but a high dose of anything is enough to make me pause. Granted, not enough to not drink these at all, but definitely enough to never drink more than one per day.

Overall I like the approach here. Go Fast is trying to tackle a pretty saturated market with a unique twist. If you’re looking for a better tasting energy drink, I can definitely recommend giving the Go Fast lineup a try.

The Adventure Blog reviews two books: Clyde Soles’ Training for Peak Performance and Expedition Planning.

Haven’t read enough about Pure? straight outta bedlam reviews Chick Fryberger’s film.

GearFlogger reviews the La Sportiva Olympus Mons mountaineering boots and the PMI 7mm cordellete with Lumi-Line.

The Colorado Mountain School reviews the Sterling Nano 9.2mm rope.

The RockClimberGirl looks at a wide variety of women’s climbing gear including Five Ten Insight approach shoes, Mountain Hardwear Butter Hooded Topper, and the Marmot Neve Sweater. She also reviews the Bluewater lightning Pro 9.7 rope.

Kevin Jorgeson reviews Marmot’s Eiger 35 pack.

Backpacker Magazine on the Black Diamond Speed 40.

Hayden’s Rock Scaling reviews the Five Ten Projects.

SplitterChoss writes a book review on Falcon Guides’ Crack Climbing.

And last but not least, ClimbingNarc reviews BS Productions’ climbing movie, Rewind.

Jay Young at RockClimbing.com reviews the book An Eye at the Top of the World by Pete Takeda.

Team Geared Up offers up their thoughts on the climbing film The Fanatic Search.

Björn Pohl reviews the Andrea Boldrini Scorpios and recommends a couple books.

The Colorado Mountain School reviews the La Sportiva Katana, the Marmot Cauldron jacket, and the Arcteryx S240 harness.

Climbing Hold Review looks at the Climb It Top Out Slopers and the EntrePrises Imperfect Cobbles.

Lloyd Climbing Blog covers two bouldering films: Unreal and Swedish Meatballs.

Steph Davis talks about her favorite crack climbing shoes by Five Ten.

Stewart Green reviews a new climbing geology book: Flakes, Jugs, and Splitters.

And finally, The Adventure Life examines a new portable espresso maker.

Well, I was quite wrong in that regard. Chuck Fryberger’s Pure takes the genre to a new level. Pure was one of the more unique climbing films I’ve seen. This may be good or bad depending on your preferences. Let me explain a bit further.

From the opening, the viewer is struck by the beautiful cinematography of the film. Strong climbers and spectacular climbing areas are combined with an outstanding soundtrack for maximum impact. To be honest, I think the music in many climbing films is a liability, but in Pure I felt it added tremendously to the experience.

The overarching vision of Pure was to look at strong boulderers at areas across the globe while experiencing their approach to bouldering and its “purity”. In this regard, the film succeeded.

However, if you’re a fan of watching extended, intricate, and detailed climbing sequences of an entire problem, you may disappointed with Pure. Chuck forsakes showing the complete sends of many problems for the overall artistry of the film. The viewer will often only see the crux of the problem or a particularly exciting sequence of moves. You’re not going to watch many boring top-outs in Pure. Actually, one of the few top-outs shown in the film was quite interesting as some of the boulders in Innsbruck were snow covered for the sends.

Much of the bouldering footage was done in what I could best describe as stop motion. I was not the complete, flowing movement you’re used to seeing in other climbing films. Instead of showing entire sequences, Pure was more action oriented, skipping to the best moves in the problem. I found this exciting to watch, though I suspect there will be some viewers who will not like this approach.

Some of the featured climbers in Pure included Nalle Hukkataival, Kevin Jorgeson, Cody Roth, Kilian Fischhuber, Anna Stoehr, and Fred Nicole. They were shown bouldering at Rocklands, South Africa; Sonoma County, California; Fountainebleu, France; Innsbruck, Austria; Vail, Colorado; Arco, Italy; and The Vallei, Magic Wood, and Brione, Switzerland.

I had the impression watching Pure that there was a heavy dose of Nalle Hukkataival. This was not necessarily a negative though, because Nalle was extremely impressive to watch as he crushed problems. But it did seem there was a disproportionate amount of him in Pure.

The opening footage of the Rocklands was spectacular even though we’ve all seen video from there before. Kevin Jorgeson bouldering along the coastline in Somona, California was unique as it’s not quite well known for its bouldering. But as Kevin said in the film: what it lacks for in quantity, it makes up for in the quality of the lines.

I did think there was going to be more footage in Colorado. Now that I’m a resident, I can’t help but be interested in seeing more of my local areas. Colorado is listed on the film’s web site, but the only Colorado climbing in Pure was of the Teva Mountain Games in Vail.

This leads me to my only other minor complaint. I found it unusual to see footage of climbing competitions in Pure (Vail and Arco). I’m not necessarily against this, but it seemed a little out of place with the rest of the film. If taken in the context of following Nalle Hukkataival around the world bouldering, it makes more sense; but I don’t think this was a documentary of Nalle. Don’t get me wrong, the footage of these comps was great, but it just didn’t seem to fit in as seamlessly as everything else.

I also took a brief survey of some of my various climber friends in attendance and the response was very positive. The only negatives brought up were the ones I’ve mentioned above and are really minor depending on your pre-conceived notions of climbing films.

Overall, I really enjoyed Pure. It’s not a movie you’re going to watch to acquire exact beta for a problem, but the film takes you to these climbing areas and immerses you in the action. Pure will get you psyched to climb and in my opinion that’s the purest test of great climbing flick.

A few other notes from the Pure premier:

• A trailer was shown for Rocky Mountain Highball. One word – awesome! The premier of this film is in Boulder on April 27, 2009. This is also the due date of my first child. My wife was not pleased when I said I hoped the baby comes late so I could go to the premier…
• Mike Brooks of FrontRangeBouldering.com interviewed me briefly before the show. It was loud and I was drinking beer so I cannot be held accountable for anything stupid I may have said.
• For his train of thought impressions of the film, Boulder Diaries took live notes during the premier.
• Some complained on Chuck’s site about the computerized narrated voice in the trailer. It didn’t bother me at all, but it is still used to transition between the high level sections of the climbing areas in the movie.

Online Climbing Coach takes a look at Clyde Soles new book, Training for Peak Performance.

The Colorado Mountain School reviews the La Sportiva Miura VS climbing shoes, the La Sportiva Trango Extreme Evo Light, the Black Diamond C3 Camalot, and the Marmot Ion Windshirt.

Dream in Vertical reviews the women’s Patagonia Plush Pants and a great overall review of several brands and models of climbing ropes.

Rock Climber Girl writes up the Red Chili Corona VCRs.

ClimbingNarc reviews Dosage V and the new climbing iPhone app, Spraycaster.

Koan Bouldering reviews the Five Ten Dragon and the Evolv Optimus Prime climbing shoes.

GetOutdoors examines the Wild Country Elite Syncro Ziplock harness.

Finally, RockClimbing.com has a roundup post of some new gear from the recent Outdoor Retailer show that includes the La Sportiva Speedster shoes, harnesses from Black Diamond, new Edelrid ropes, and the Five Ten Project shoes.

like a condom for your gear: a prophylactic to prevent that expensive piece from walking away, accidentally or otherwise. Just mix the two ingredients and have about a 30 minute working time to apply to gear. 24 hours later it’s bombproof. literally: there may be some chemical to get it off but there’s no way mechanical friction or impact will do it.

Looks much better than the colored electrical tape I’ve been using for years that keeps falling off.

The Mark comes in four colors, has enough for making 250 marks, and retails for $14.95.

Honestly, I was hoping some of the book’s most vocal detractors would show up for an open debate (hopefully more entertaining than the VP debate happening simultaneously), but there was a relatively small turnout of about 20 people and no visible outrage.

The slideshow was nicely prepared and ran about 1.5 hours consisting of photos (mostly of Bob) with some occasional video footage. Many Colorado bouldering areas were covered with an obvious heavy focus on Front Range bouldering. Included were a few areas in the slideshow that Bob said were actually not in the book (Rabbit Mountain near Lyons was one I asked about).

After the show I spoke with Bob and specifically asked him his thoughts on the issues brought up by some respected Colorado boulders like Peter Beal and Jamie Emerson. As a new resident to the area, I had no agenda other than to get some response from Bob in person as opposed to his not exactly tactful response on his Falcon blog.

He was very accommodating and made the following comments regarding the issues:

• The original draft of the manuscript was double what was actually printed for the final book.
• The manuscript was done about two years ago.
• He said that the only ones complaining were the few elite climbers that had the opportunity to comment, but never spoke to him or provided input. (This is highly debatable though as it’s unclear whether these climbers were actually aware of the project.)
• Bob said that there will always be mistakes and issues with any guidebook.
• He also stated that the vast majority of climbers will benefit from the book.

While I disagree with how this entire situation was handled, Bob appeared to be genuinely concerned about writing a high quality guidebook. He made it clear to me that he was open to correcting any mistakes for future editions, but it’s still unclear why this wasn’t done more prior to publication as opposed to after it.

In a nutshell, I think this is what bothers most critics of the book and offers a learning lesson for other guidebook authors. As much as possible, guidebook publishers and authors need to provide an open forum to discuss a new work especially one with previously unpublished areas and those with questionable access. This would go a long way to getting the support of the local climbing community which in turn is the best free marketing you can get.

While Bob mentions this was done, there’s no excuse to not distribute this information well in advance to climbing site and prominent bloggers. I know if contacted, many of us would have been happy to publish information regarding the book years ago. Reading Bob’s most recent post on the subject, I really start to wonder how much blame lies on Falcon as well. Bob discusses how interacting with blogs and Internet media is new to him. But it is most definitely not out of the question to think that Falcon understands how publishing and marketing via Internet channels works.

To me, that is the biggest surprise of this whole issue. Regardless of the possible errors and judgement calls on including certain areas, at the ending of the day they are marketing a book. And a book we can only assume that they’d like to make a profit. Word of mouth and reviews (both print and Internet) will most definitely influence the sales of a guidebook when there are alternative options. With respect to bouldering in Colorado, this is most definitely the case.

As for the book itself, I have only skimmmed it and once I obtain a copy will write a full review after having time to thoroughly examine it. The one striking feature I will mention, and likely reason for the high cost, is the number of full color pictures of problems throughout the book. No one will argue the quality production value of Bouldering Colorado.

I know this issue has been discussed elsewhere, but I invite comments on this especially ones that help us all look to the future of how a situation like this can be avoided.

You know you’re watching a great climbing film when your palms are sweating and you start trying to chalk up. Most of the films presented last night at the Reel Rock Tour gave me that reaction and I was pleasantly surprised. With so many trailers and clips floating around the Internet, I think I started to get a bit jaded; but the Reel Rock Tour delivered in a big way.

The night was divided into two parts. The first half of the evening showed the filmmaking contest winners followed by relatively short segments from Grand Canyon Walls, Dosage: South Africa, The Aerialist, and On Sight. After an intermission that went on entirely too long with a pull-up contest and gear giveaway on stage, the premier of The Sharp End was shown.

The first four films were simply amazing. Maybe it was because they sliced them down to the best bits to show us, but the video definitely highlighted some of the exciting climbing that is happening across the globe.

At the Boulder Theater last night, the entire crowd gasped as they watched Tommy Caldwell, Beth Rodden, and Chris McNamara climbing in the Grand Canyon. I’m sure the reaction stemmed from the fact that most, if not all of us, had never realized there was that much climbing there.

In Dosage: South Africa, Paul Robinson, Tommy Caldwell, and Daniel Woods take the viewers on a tour of the bouldering in South Africa. Again, there was some simply amazing footage here. It’s always enjoyable to watch elite climbers work though their methodology for successfully achieving their projects.

After the intermission, it was on to the big show. In what was probably one of the most visually stunning climbing films I’ve seen, The Sharp End delivered breathtaking footage and cinematography. Starting with climbing in Boulder, Colorado traversing the world before ending in Europe with Dean Potter’s free solo / base jump, The Sharp End provided the viewer a glimpse of how some climbers are pushing the edge of the sport.

There was a heavy dose of the historical throughout the film which I thoroughly enjoyed. While not a documentary, the transposing of old photos in classic areas like Eldorado contrasted the footage of climbers like Hank Caylor pushing themselves on X rated routes.

One aspect of The Sharp End that I was not so sure about was the heavy focus on base jumping. Not that it wasn’t enjoyable to watch, but initially it felt disjointed as in “hey, I’m watching a climbing flick why so much of this?” Granted it was climbers like Dean Potter, Chris McNamara, and Steph Davis performing the base jumping, but it was a good portion of the film nonetheless.

By the end, I understood why the filmmakers included the non-climbing aspects because of how it helps tell their overall story. Overall though, I found the slack lining, tower jumping and base jumping a little bit too much. Was it interesting? Yes, but I’d always prefer more climbing when possible. But while many climbing films simply show footage of climbing, The Sharp End tells a story and a good one at that.

While The Shard End isn’t a film I’d likely buy and watch over and over for the climbing; it was an excellent movie overall. An interesting story line combined with outstanding visuals make Sender Films’ The Shard End a must see.

So I’ve been exploring the different options and decided to try the Evolv Optimus.

The Optimus is a new line of shoes designed by Chris Sharma for Evolv. The Optimus is a slipper and has a more cambered last while the Optimus Prime is a similar velcro version.

In the store, I found both fit well. A US size ten was very snug and I couldn’t even get my foot into a 9.5, so that made the sizing decision quite easy. While trying them initially I thought I’d like them a tad bit smaller, but a 9.5 was impossibly small and after climbing in them a few days, I’d say the fit was fine.

I’ve had some fit issues with some of the shoes I’ve tired recently. Specifically, the heel in the La Sportiva Katana was just too big for me (I even tried the women’s version but still didn’t like the fit). I was surprised to then find the heel fit nicely secure and snug in the Optimus. Unfortunately, after some climbing in them, the height of the heel cup is a little too high for me. While climbing I felt it digging into my heel a bit too painfully. This may not be as noticeable as I climb more in them, but an issue nonetheless.

Overall, I like how the Optimus climbs. The rubber is quite sticky and appears to be two generations past my last pair of Evolv’s (the Evo). My Evo’s used Evolv’s TRAX XT-3 while the Optimus uses the XT-5. What this really means, I have no idea. But I can at least assume it’s a new, improved version of their rubber and it does feel pretty sticky. Then again, they’re new shoes and I’ll have to revisit that statement in a few more weeks.

From just the appearance, the Optimus toe is very boxy looking. This rounded, symmetric toe box fits much better than I thought they would based solely on my first look at the toe area. The overall look of the shoe is subdued. All black rubber with bits of yellow peeking through does make the Optimus look sharp though.

There’s rubber all over the shoe and Evolv was very generous in this area. My climbing partner commented on this fact, but also added there’s rubber even in places he felt would never be needed. My counter argument was you never know what kind of crazy smear you’ll need on some bouldering problem, so I’ll take all the rubber I can get!

Pros

• good, snug fit (all relative to my foot of course)
• very sticky rubber
• decent price versus performance
• tons of rubber all over the shoe

Cons

• heel cup is too high for me and cuts into my heel causing pain
• aggressive shoe not great on slabs or face climbs

Specs

Here are the specs for the Evolv Optimus slipper. Most of this is straight from the company.

• profile: semi symmetrical down cambered (CS1 last)
• sole: 4.2 mm TRAX XT-5 high friction rubber
• rand: 2.2mm TRAX duro-rand
• upper: perforated elastic Synthratek synthetic upper with mositure wicking qualities
• lining: unlined
• midsole: MPX-1: 1.3mm stiff poly-dynamic full-length midsole
• Evolv offers split sizing for an extra $30 if you order through their website?
• price: $109

Summary

Overall, if they fit you without discomfort in the heel and fit in the toe box, the Optimus is a good value. As long as the heel cup issue subsides, I’ll be using these as a primary bouldering shoe or for use on short, steep sport routes. While they fit fine, the Optimus will not be my pick for a high performance shoe on most routes (La Sportiva Miura’s again are my choice here for pretty much all routes – perfect fit, edge on a dime, smears great), but for bouldering they look like they’ll shine.

While looking for new bottles, I was amazed at the numerous ways manufacturers can create complexity and choices for something as straightforward (at least in my mind) as a water bottle.

For my usage, primarily on climbing trips, I much prefer a wide-mouth bottle to the narrow drinking versions. While the smaller lids make drinking easier, I like the ability to add liquid, ice cubes, and drink mixes quickly to the wide-mouth bottles. I’ve always preferred the overall flexibility as well as the easier cleaning aspect of a wide-mouth.

So when I found an accessory cap replacement by humangear called capCAP, I was intrigued. The capCAP is intended to simply replace your current cap on any major wide-mouth bottle with their narrow, easier drinking version.

At first I was a bit skeptical that a replacement cap would make any sense, but after using it non-stop over the past few days I love this product.

The capCAP easily fit on my wide-mouth Nalgene bottle with no issues. The first thing I noticed was the rubberized lid on the small cap. This is what you will always be grabbing to open the bottle for drinking and it gripped well with a nice feel to it. This small, yet important feature will be useful out at the crags when hands get greasy, sweating, and chalky.

The other really noticeable design feature is how the drinking spout is curved ergonomically. No spillage and very easy to drink from.

The capCAP’s 2-in-1 design provides both the small cap as well as still giving you access to a large cap for filling the bottle. I like the fact that you get the easier drinking from the smaller cap without losing the functionality of the large cap.

So what does this all cost? The big question, right? The capCAP retails for $5.95 at stores like REI. The average wide-mouth bottle runs from $6 – $12 so your total cost for a bottle after adding the capCAP would be about $14. Not too bad for what you get, especially if you compare it with a narrow mouth SIGG bottle (a one liter bottle runs about $22).

Pros

• very comfortable
• best of both worlds – small-mouth and wide-mouth
• extremely grippable top lid
• ergonomic drinking spout
• BPA-free and PC-free
• works with all major wide-mouth bottles including Nalgene (wide-mouth, OTG and stainless), CamelBak (all sizes), Cyclone, Guyot stainless, and many others
• the carrying loop feels stronger than the standard ones provided with the original bottle

Cons

• currently only comes in one color choice (I don’t mind one color, but I know many do).

Summary

If you like the flexibility of wide-mouth bottles (or already own a bunch of them), but want to drink out of your bottle easier via a narrower spout, you can’t go wrong with the capCAP. Despite the extra cost on a bottle, the product is definitely worthwhile.

Disclaimer: All Climbing was provided a capCap for this review with no strings attached. We do not write reviews for products with any predetermined outcome.