Gear

IF THE OSPREY Stratos 40 were a person, you’d probably hate him—this pack does it all really well.

I've worn various climbing shoes and wished that they were better at this or that -- heel hooks, dime edges, smearing and so on. But I've never donned a shoe and thought, I wish these shoes would outside edge better.

Field Test of the lightweight Camp Armour helmet. It's affordable, functional and impeccably stylish weighing in at only 11 ounces.

I bought a few Metolius Offset TCUs and, upon reading about them, learned that they are designed primarily for use in flares and pin scars. Can they hold lead falls when properly placed in parallel cracks (i.e., splitters)? I don’t see why they wouldn’t.

You can argue that all falls shock load the rope, because the rope instantly goes from not being loaded to being loaded.

Check out Andrew Bishrat's author page.

Would you trust CCH Alien cams that were produced after the dimpled batch and are marked tensile tested? Also, can re-testing weaken your hardware?

Will sports drinks freeze more slowly than water? I'm going into the mountains and would like to freeze-proof my beverages.

I use Black Diamond Camalots, but half the time I need to extend the sling with a quickdraw, which is a waste of gear. I’m considering replacing the original single sling with a doubled loop of Spectra cord so I can extend it when I need it. Is that safe?

Note that your substance in question is a “supplement,” meaning it is in addition to something else. That other thing is a good diet, rest and structured exercise.

I have seen folks jury-rig various scraps to the shafts of their old tools trying to retro them for modern leashless climbing.

THIS SPRING, MAMMUT LAUNCHED A NEW LINE of backpacks for alpine and rock climbing. The Neon 45 joins the rock fleet, and it’s one of the best “crag packs” I’ve used.