Blue Square

The days are getting longer here in Portland, and I was actually blessed with some twilight on my ride home from work tonight. The mountain even came out! Super pretty view coming up Barbur in between the traffic zipping by me at a zillion miles an hour, honking at me for going so damn slow. I’ve suffered through an entire lousy winter here only to leave just as the weather is getting good! I will miss it here.

Anyway, here’s a whole bunch of assorted shit.

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Black Diamond has released a new interactive catalog, hearkening back to the days of Chouinard Equipment when catalogs featured more than just glossy ad copy. For Chouinard Equipment, that meant fascinating essays on climbing ethics and more; for the modern age we’ve lost the philosophy but gained some youtube videos and whole bunch of beautiful, ultra-high rez images. Seems fair.

It’s actually a really cool catalog, all things considered. Bit ironic that Black Diamond, a company well-known and somewhat despised in the climbing community for moving its manufacturing facilities to China, is trying to recall the days of climbing past when gear was made by guys at a forge using metal salvaged from junkyards.

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Since people really love watching videos of hard climbing (or at least that dork Matt does), here’s an oldie but a goody: the New River Gorge’s Proper Soul (5.14a) done on gear. Reminds me a lot of the Black Bean video from Ceuse that was floating around a while ago, although sadly it lacks the giant whipper easter egg at the end. Very cool, and very impressive.

On the off chance you haven’t seen it by now, Park Life is a mini movie about bouldering in the Valley. That seems a little bit like going to a strip club for the food, but I have to give them credit: this is one of very few bouldering movies I’ve seen that actually manages to hold my attention, and it’s free. The producers, Louder than 11, even describe their business model in some detail if you’re into that sort of thing.

Finally, since I know most of us aren’t getting out of the city lately, here’s a beautiful video showcasing all the stars we’re missing here in our glorious paradise of lighted streets, delicious food, and hot showers.

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Finally, I came across a history of the Spring-Loaded Camming Device the other day that is pretty interesting, as much for its diction as its content. A choice gem, referring to a weird combination cam/big bro apparently made from a socket wrench set:

“This disquieting object has fallen into oblivion.“

Amen to that. I’ll stick with my Chinese-made C4s, thanks.

Petzl Meteor III+

After the wall of text I dedicated to my new harness, I’ll try to keep this review a little more succinct. Also tagging along for the ride this past weekend was a brand spanking new Petzl Meteor III+ helmet I’d snagged from US Outdoor. While USO has it at $10 less than the MSRP, it’s still pricey for a helmet at $100. However, on my last few weekends out I’ve found myself packing my helmet in (“Yeah, it takes up a lot of space, but I should be wearing it. Bring it.”) and then never ever wearing it (“I can’t bear to cover up my beautiful Ken-doll hair.”). Since I was going to be lending my old helmet to my partner for the weekend anyway, I figured this was a good opportunity to upgrade.

Despite my vanity, I actually like the Meteor more for its features than its looks. It’s very easy to adjust the chinstrap on the fly, making it easy to add or remove hats throughout the day. This is a blessing; a few of the other helmets I’ve used make this simple process into an ordeal that takes entire minutes. Minutes! The system for tightening the band around your head isn’t the usual spin dial, but instead has two ratchets. This makes it slightly harder to adjust the band while you’re wearing the helmet, but not by much. If you’re OCD like me you’ll have to overcome a nagging fear that the ratchets might not be perfectly symmetric on the back of your head after you’ve blindly adjusted it, but the helmet will be comfortable regardless.

A helmet so light, it weighs less than your hair!

What really stands out about the Meteor though is its weight. I realize this will sound cliche, but I literally forgot I was wearing this thing for large portions of the day. I ate lunch wearing it and didn’t realize until I was halfway through my sandwich. Since my hope was to pick up a helmet that I would use more often, this is a huge plus.

The Meteor, like most climbing helmets I’ve seen, is a foam helmet covered with a crown of hard plastic. The plastic is thinner than in most models, and the helmet probably is less durable as a result–as with all foam helmets, once the foam gets a dent in it, it’s retired, so thicker plastic around the foam matters in that respect. The Camp helmet and Petzl Elios both feel a bit more substantial and bomber than the Meteor III+. Personally, I’m more concerned with the rigidity of the helmet plastic when I’m considering rockfall. In the event of an inverted lead fall, the foam is doing all the work protecting your noggin anyway, and the Meteor actually has foam protecting the side of your head unlike the other helmets I’ve worn. I will probably continue to use a harder, heavier helmet on multipitch or in areas where something falling onto my head is a worry, but for day-to-day cragging the Meteor is my new go-to.

The Meteor is a step up in looks from my Camp Armour, but I still think it’s kind of ugly compared to flaunting my winsome blond locks. However, at least now when I do need to use a helmet, I might still get Facebook-worthy pictures. And that’s the real reason I climb.

Misty Mountain Bolt Harness

I recently found myself in the market for a new harness, as the Black Diamond Gumbyface AL I’d been climbing in for the past few years wasn’t really cutting it anymore. It was a little too big for me, the leg loop buckles had an alarming habit of loosening themselves over the course of the day, and in my clumsiness I managed to constantly snag the surprisingly flimsy gear loops on things, each new tear bringing me one step closer to a realization of my ultimate nightmare: watching all my gear free falling several thousand feet into oblivion when my left front gear loop finally gives out on El Cap. Big wall climbers rack everything on a single harness gear loop, right? Nevermind that I’ve never climbed a big wall. It’s the principle of the thing.

My Momentum's gear loops, already coming apart.

Despite all that though, harnesses are basically indestructible, and although I might be annoyed by the old faithful BD Momentum, none of those minor quibbles really impact my safety or comfort when climbing. The imperative reason I needed to replace the harness is that I saw an opportunity to shave 6 oz of weight while wearing a piece of gear made in the US by a company with some cachet. For a punter like me, it’s crucial to both save weight and boost my street cred whenever possible, since my climbing definitely isn’t going to impress anybody.

Enter the Misty Mountain Bolt. Misty Mountain, like Cold Cold World, is a small shop with a reputation for making minimalist, bomber gear that works great and has no extra frills. From their workshop in North Carolina, the folks at Misty make a variety of harnesses and crashpads to order, and will happily make any customizations you need. Although they’re known mostly for their Cadillac harness, a trad-daddy harness with six gear loops and a reputation for being incredibly comfy, I decided to grab the Bolt harness since that suits my needs better. Weighing in at 12.8 oz with a more standard four gear loops and fixed leg loops, the Bolt looked ideal for my diet of mostly sport climbing: lightweight, no frills, and hopefully as comfortable as Misty’s reputation suggested.