Meridian Line Denim Jeans
These climbing and outdoor-specific jeans are adorned with beautiful artwork from the climber Jeremy Collins, who has been designing these puppies for a long time.
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Climbing jeans? Your skepticism is justified, as your mind conjures up moments of panic when you can’t high-step on your project because, well, you’re wearing jeans. Meridian’s Momentum Denim Line will convince you otherwise.
Their Gravity Jean have the look and feel of jeans, make no mistake about it, but they do not perform like jeans. They are way lighter than your father’s Levis, and the flexibility they provide is substantial, if not miraculous. In short, if you are having trouble moving your lower half while climbing in these pants or boulder hopping on the approach, you need to work on your flexibility. The stretch of the pants comes from mixing cotton with polyester and a wee bit of spandex. The result is a highly agile and unrestricted sensation, a feeling closer to an alpine softshell pant than typical denim. This is their main, and warranted, value.
Because they have a cotton base layer, the jeans don’t have that cold, techy nylon feel like your ordinary all-purpose outdoor pants do, which is exactly what they want—for us to rethink what an outdoor pant should look or feel like. On the skin, they are very comfortable and the seams and folds do not crease into a sordid, bulky mass when you sit or wear a harness. In terms of fit, the jeans matched my typical pant size on the money. An added bonus for the eco-conscious outdoor crowd—the cotton is organic and even the leather stamp above your rear is vegan. Meridian Line Denim is the brainchild of artist/climber Jeremy Collins—whose art graces the inside of the jeans—and fashion designer Benji Thrasher, and they should be proud.
Rock and Ice vigorously tests all gear it reviews for either 50 days or 50 pitches. This is a time-consuming process and limits the amount of new equipment we can present to our readers. Every year hundreds of new products hit store shelves, and most of these aren’t reviewed due to our stringent selection and review process. To better keep you more up to date on what is new, we present First Look. Gear in First Look has not been field tested, but is gear our expert testers think you’d like to know about as soon as it is available. Some of the gear will be reviewed using our 50 days/50 pitches criteria, in future print and online editions of Rock and Ice.