HardGoods

Review of the new climbing helmet by Wild Country, the Rock Lite. Affordable, light-fit and easily adjustable.

Climbtech, the company that invented removable bolts [Field Tested, No. 174] has just come out with a line of price-point gear dubbed Everyman's Pro Deal. The new gear includes carabiners, ascenders, camming wedges, belay/rappel devices, pulleys and quickdraws.

The carbon-fiber Cobra has the rigidity of a steel pipe with virtually none of the weight, and what heft there is, is mostly in the head, right where it should be. The best part, though, is the tool's feel.

I was all set to hate this shoe. Affordable and cushy comfortable -- surely it would climb like a stale hot dog bun. Wrong!

Maxim Chalkline 10.8 climbing rope is reviewed by Rock and Ice, the climbing magazine.

If you wax nostalgic for those brimming days when the Mandala was the “hardest thing in the world,” you can count yourself as a part of that charged moment of climbing called the Bouldering Boom.

Nothing's more repulsive than back sweat, especially my own. Unfortunately, climbing in the summer inevitably means you will sweat like a pig in a monkey suit.

At 1 pound 8 ounces, the Reactor is not the lightest tool around, but I liked the weight for plowing through hard ice. While the security of leashes will always occupy a fond place in my heart, leashless climbing is here to stay.

A field test of the Gregory Alpinisto 35. Main selling point: the removeable waist-belt padding, bivy pad, frame sheet and stay.

This hardcore rope from Edelweiss is light and right for sporty sends and long onsights. As a bonus, it comes in a red, green and yellow rattlesnake pattern.

Field test results for the Vaude 35 superlight climbing pack.

The new Arc'Teryx harnesses are snazzy, thin, sleek and, at just 11.4 ounces, unbelievably light. I tested the R-320, the all-around, four-gear-loop, fixed-leg-loop model.