No ice or sheep in sight, so many of the great minds in the industry compare notes @ the RAB booth ;-)
BD has a new lwt helmet which I really liked. New biners again and of course some great cams. More on all of this shortly. The new BD Vapor helmet is a stand out.
6.6oz or 187g BD's new Vapor. Very very nice new lid!
But the ugly award goes to Petzl. I happen to like ugly so the newPetzl Sirocco climbing helmet @ just 165 grams was a HUGE hit with me. More to come but super durable, and super protection at 165g! I don't give a chit how it looks. And $100 full retail! This will be my new lid as soon as they are available.
The newSiroccois TOUGH!
Ice tools? I have now actually seen the newest lwt Petzl hammer for the Nomic. Nice bit of kit. But from that I have decided to do a new run of the Cold Thistle hammers asap. There is easily room for both imo. As I mention earlier the Lynx crampon is being shipped to the NA market again. They simply over sold last year's production. It has been a very popular crampon for good reason.
Read more: http://www.thegearcaster.com/the_gearcaster//07/petzl-sirocco-climbing-helmet.html#ixzz22h26BRse
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photo courtesy of Wild Snow
NWAlpine's new wind shirt made of Dyneema.
I have a sample I will be testing but Wild Snow as a write up on line now.
And more Neoshell kit that I am really excited about! Still under wraps at the moment.
http://www.wildsnow.com/7910/shell-jacket-is-tear-proof-5-ounces/
The "WOW" at the show for me was the new Scarpa's Rebel Ultra. Only 60g more than the original Rebel and it will take a clip on technical crampon! Very close to 1 1/2 lb or 680g per boot. Outstanding!! More to come on this one asap.
Here is one of the best from this year's show. Another lwt Rebel from Scarpa. More to come asap.
I've been climbing in the Rebel the last couple of months and really like it. An in depth review on that boot is coming soon. However the new Rebel Ultra is going to be a huge success imo. I am chopping at the bit to make the Phantom Ultra (my favorite ice boot currently) and Rebel Ultra comparison for ice climbing. These things should really rock. I believe I first saw a pair of these on Ueli Steck climbing the Dru Coulior last fall...but no one would comment past, "that shoe only exists on the feet of Ueli Steck". Guess that might have been true last fall...it is not now and will be availabel to the public next spring. A fully featured fruit boot we can take into the mountains? Some one is getting the message, finally! Very exciting boot imo!!
Arcteryx? Official word on the Duelly from the guy actually making the changes? Not going to down insulation and not going away. Just a slight revamp of the pattern, so we'll have a better fit. Dually will be back again in the fall line up. Some very cool new clothing combos I had not seen there in the Gamma line up though. Damn! Another I want! And the possibility of some super suggestions coming directly from the Arcteryx designers on the combos and layering systems they use personally.
Another big one for me is the newest food being offered. Gu has/needs some serious competition I think for climbing calories.
Three new food companies (and their food products) that impressed me were www.Bridgford.com, Hotcan.com (hot drinks and soup available now as well) and www.aclimate.com All are worth checking out. And I'll be writing more on then asap.
http://www.bridgfordfoodservice.net/ready_to_eat/index.php
http://www.acli-mate.com/natural-high-altitude-remedy
http://www.hotcan.com/
Hopefully we'll get a few more things to test in the near future from Millet, Mammut, Mountain Hardware and RAB that I am really interested in for alpine climbing.
Down the road? For alpine climbers there is James Bond kind of stuff being talked about behind closed doors at every level. Gear that is yet beyond my imagination.
I've been looking at sun glasses again and will have a review of several of my personal picks from a huge fields everyone seems to be playing in these days.
I'll add more as I unpack and get to my pictures and notes.
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