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If there is anything specific you want to see, let me know and I'll try to track it down.
The new Batura! New zipper, should be a big improvement, which is not the TZip I first saw. Most importantly to me an totally new lace system. That should add some stiffness to the cuff and again be a big improvment on the new boot . I'll know more soon on this one. But it looks very good. I've had a love-hate relationship with this boot. But the basic design is literally time proven so I know it can be done very well.
Previous comments on the 1st gen. Batura;
http://coldthistle.blogspot.com/2010/04/la-sportivas-batura.html
http://coldthistle.blogspot.com/2010/04/scarpa-phantom-guide-vs-la-sportiva.html
The new BD mono...lwt 900g and very cool. Still in prototype form and not being shown at this OR. But very close to production and should be available early next winter. Buuuutt! I' ll be climbing on these while I am here in SLC and in Chamonix next month . Very exciting.
Just a couple of the new things I saw today. I'll get much more content up in the morning.
Grivel, La Sportiva, Wild Things, Brooks Range, Westcomb, Arcyeryx, Boreal, Black Diamond, OutDry, Kuhl, Petzl were the players today.
I'm really excited to see Wild Things back and into hard core alpine climbing again, clothing and packs!
The clothings lines for us as climbers are going to be a signifigant change.
I was one of the first into Gortex back in '76/'77. If it does really work as well as they say, POLARTEC Neoshell, is going to make an even bigger impression than Goretex did originally.
I have a buddies that have been climbing for a full year in Neoshell now and they are impressed.
"The answer."
Neoshell is a super lwt, 4 x stretchy softshell that is water proof and more breathable than any thing pevious by a good amount.
Wild Things Guide pack
New Camp tools...can you say Ergo?
Super lwt touring crampon from Camp...very cool.
Boreal Fruit boot with Black Diamond Raptor....which will now a stainless version BTW.
Carbon fiber mid sole....more to come on these as well.
Brooks Range which has a ton of neat things I'll be writing about and using...two man bivy sack here.
New tools by Grivel :) $700 retail for the all carbon version $500 for these. Nice tool but a little pricey!
The Ueli Steck Wagner knife is pretty slick as expected...more coming.
Official word from Petzl this morning......new Quarks are shipping. Extra picks aren't going to be available until March. New Nomic and Ergo won't be available again until fall of 2011 for a new release of "improved" version.
Brooks Range's new clothings line
Petzl's new helmet colors
Trango's new ice tool.....which I seriously think will be pretty good in comparison to the "big boys"!
Zamberlan Mtn Boots....again another one I really think could do well in any comparison
Always nice to see someone building stiff boots again.
More to come when I get home!
New Black Diamond Half Dome helmets and a bunch of new glove designs I really liked.
33 comments:
I've heard whispers of new mono black diamond poons, any chance you could get a bit of info on them?
Wenger has a Ueli Steck Climber's Knife - curious if you find a MSRP and weight on that? and if it locks closed?
I think I found my new pair of crampons! I have gotten a lot of miles out of my old bionic's and looks like I’ll be upgrading next year. Those things look great. Let us know how they perform!
Petzl is working on a new M10 crampons.Any news about that?
True waterproof breathable sounds good. Would love to see the Wild Things stuff.
I'd also be cool to see you killin it in Maple Canyon.
Dane,
Did the folks at WT indicate when they would actually be ready to ship the new Guide Pack?
Hi Dane,
First, thanks for the pack write up some time back. I also have a Cold Cold world pack. great pack, great service, great company.
What about...harnesses? Anything new in the works at the show? I have an older BD harness, and have resisted buying a new harness because so many modern versions seem over designed. That said, I would love something lighter, that still has four gear loops, and a clean way to slot ice clippers. general thoughts?
So are the new BD crampons sporting a newly redesigned toe bails?
Hi Dane,
Great news on the BD mono with replaceable points, $200?
Also happy to hear about Wild Things, I have all their old packs.
To the guy asking about a harness with ice clippers- I like my Wild Country harness, has 6 loops, 4 ice clipper spots, auto lock buckles are lighter than double back buckles.
Is Austi Alpine there? have you seen their ice tools?
Jim, WT Guide pack should be avialable now if you call the store. If not, shorty. Tell them you saw it here :)
BD bails? I have seen the newest bail. It will fit any of the newest boots including my Scarpa Ultra. So finally one up on the Petzl bail conversions. The bail should be available by fall.
Geof, I'll check on the AA tools.
Harness? I'll have a entry on that soon. BD and Petzl are my current choices in lwts.
It seems like the Batura Evo is different from the one on the catalogue. The gaiter actually isn't much changed.
Dane, I've been climbing on a set of Trango ice tools for a couple of months now and actually like them (picks are soft though). They definitely don't get the attention of BD or Petzl but they are decent for what I spent.
I have a set of the newest Baturas
Very similar in size and shape to my silver Trangos.
-Thicker lugs on the sole by a lot.
-Ykk zipper now
-Thicker laces than the Trangos with a different lace lock
-more volume at the toe
-compared to the photo on Sportiva's website, my schoeller upper is about 1cm taller. It is 4" from the top of the boot
Petzl M10? Actually I was told the M10 is no longer being made by an industry guy that should be reliable. NA is suppose to be getting the last of them now.
So I suspect we may see a totally new crampon from Petzl at the summer show. But that is just a wild guess on my part.
That trango axe looks familiar...
And the mon BD are actually wicked.
Let's hope the petzl crampons fare better than the latest axes.
Thanks for the news and picture Dane it's awesome to see the stuff since we cant go! I saw on another webstie the Ueli Steck's knife has an MSRP of 200$. Expensive.
Louis-Alexis
About the WT Guide pack. I've been using it for a couple months and it's great thus far. super durable and minimalist. The waistbelt isn't removable, which sucks, and the tool loops don't hold headless leashless tools (nomic/fusions) well at all. they need a flap system like cilo/bd use. I think I'll get mine modified to fix the tool loop problem.
good pack overall.
Wild Things? For those that recognise the old style packs I have pictured, the detailing looks as good as the originals. Fabric is obviously better. Things changes but nothing radical like what they are showing on the web iste as a "guide pack". I have zero interest in the "new" guide pack that I suspect Kurt is using. But I have a lot of interest in the original designs that Bouchard and Muggs along with a host of others climbed with. The original Andinista was being shown in SLC as well as the Ice sac. All updated in materials and details but no big changes...which I was THRILLED with!
Hi Dane,
Have you noticed the similarity of the New Grivel axe to the Climbubu tool that's been out for a few years now?
http://www.climbubu.com/Equipmnt/bb_eq001_e.htm
Something to give the Ergo a run for its money.
Cheers
Will
Hey, Dane, thanks for all the write-ups.
In your experience, how quickly will this stuff hit the market? Next fall?
I'm currently looking to buy a set of light aluminum crampons for spring ski touring and those Camp 'pons look even better than their XLC offerings. I'd be stoked if I could pick them up this year...
Cheers!
Hi Eric,
The Ourdoor Retailer shows or OR for short are twice a year. The Winter show with the new items to be shipped in the fall of that year generally. The Summer show is for Spring delivery the following year.
So, those new Camp super light crampons should be in the stores Fall of 2011. That is the down side of the trade shows...long waits from when you see the really cool stuff till you can actually walk into a store and buy it.
Imagine how anzy I get for something I really like and can't get for 6 to 9 months after seeing it. Things are changing a tiny bit because of the traffic here @ cold thistle. Kinda cool because some of the manufactures are allowing me to test samples now long before they hit the store shelves.
Black Diamond, Polartec and Boreal are three (and hopefully not the last) allowing me access to the new items long before even the trade show will seen them and 9 or 10 months befor they will be in a store.
Hopefully I can give you a head start on the newest stuff you might find useful.
Hi, whats the difference between the new BD Punisher glove and the old one?
No clue on the Punisher...sorry.
Hey Dane, any info on the new specialist? thinking of picking up a new pair this season but i could hold off. as always thanks for all the great work you do at coldthistle.
Carolyn..thanks for the kind words. The Specialist? Just tried on the samples and they are always too small but liked the addional cuff length and the weight of the glove...with the majority of it a Shoeler style material. It should be worth the wait as Doug Heinrich @ BD, and a incredible climber in his own right, has put some serious effort into the glove line recently. From what I saw the new Specialist would be a stand out for me.
Sorry, i meant BD enforcer not the punisher!
Sorry, still no clue on my part. I took photos of the gloves I liked the best @ BD. And generally climb in MH gloves not the BD gloves so hard for me to make past comparisons.
What I did take pictures of and tried on I really liked. MH Hydra is my glove to make comparisons with if you are familiar with it.
Valandre is preparing a replacement of its Sirius Down Jacket. I loved Sirius and I'm quite sad to se it go... Aparently the replacement, called Immelman was presented at OR and is thought as an improvement.
I hope I'll have the chance to be trying this very soon and be able to give a first hand feedback. Unti then, here is the description from Niels (the owner of Valandre):
The text is too long to be accepted here as a comment so I have to put a link to it:
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=129990733735800&id=100002077025965
Valandre gear here: www.valandre.com
just expressing a comment here but the ueli steck knife is very stupid!As guy who knows a tad about knifes I know that the titanium siding is completely useless and slick!It cost 5times as much as aluminum and is really,in this case, no better. Also the the knife is far, far overpriced 200$ for that thing! Save yourself some money and get a lwt multitool. Gerber makes lwt multitools, you just have to hold it in your hand to tell. Also most knives will not lock close, my kershaw does and it also has aluminum siding and "assisted opening" which is nice but not necessary. Knives that don't lock don't make that big of a difference, but it has nice piece of mind in it, that I may add. Overall swiss army knives just suck imo, they aren't that sharp and don't sharpen very well!
Always good to get user feedback.
I found the Steck knife most impressive. I also use Swiss army knives almost daily and find them easy to sharpen.
There are certainly cheaper knives but none that I know that are as small and designed with specific tools just for climbing and climbing tools.
I also know a bit about knives and knife steel. Having a locking blade when you are using it as a wrench is mandatory. At just over $100 online I don't think the Steck knife is such a bad invetsment.
I didn't mean to make such drastic remarks, also i did not see that it was reduced in some spot for 100$. I just think there are so many other options of better quality. one example of a one knife that comes in handy a lot that can be found for$70 is the Leatherman Skeletool CX, pliers, a great knife, screw driver at 5 oz. 2 more than the ueli steck. and can be upgraded even more for a little weight cost. all in all its an opinion, imo, just giving some other examples.
by the way did you ever get to hold one of the crazy looking grivel tools, I see that they are posted on their website. They look very interesting, whats your opinion?
Hi
Do you test Zamberlan Mtn Boots such as eiger 4000?
or compare that vs batura or phantom guide for warmth and flexibility and ...
have a nice time
Zamberlan? No I have not. They weren't interested in bringing any of the climbing models into the US last winter. Hopefully that will change in the future.
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