Bailing off the sixth pitch of Petit Grepon (5.8) in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, in the face of a rain and hail storm, our tester put this “emergency storm jacket for an alpine environment” to the test. The Arc’teryx Alpha SL Jacket ($319; arcteryx.com) was a godsend for the two-hour downpour while the tester and her partner rapped down almost 800 feet.
Would you rather drop a few hundred clams for an ultra-specialized glove that ends up relegated to ski-slope use or pay way less for a warm workhorse glove that handles your dirty work? That’s what we thought. The North Face Work Glove ($80; thenorthface.com), an all-around and full-leather paw-warmer, stood up to plenty of rappels and belays.
On steep and technical ice—or loose, sketchy ledges—precise foot placement is critical. The Lowa Weisshorn GTX ($460; lowaboots.com) made even the most unstable terrain manageable. “It fit me like a second layer of skin—never awkward or bulky,” said a Vermont tester after multi-pitch ice climbs at Lake Willoughby. The secret?
Take a bomber four-season tent and make it comfortably livable, and there you have the First Ascent Katabatic ($599; firstascent.com). Our seasoned tester and guide put this tent at the top of his all-time-favorites list after taking it to 26,000 feet on Everest and braving 40 mph winds in it. He then rounded out his testing with another high-altitude stint in wind-whipped Peru.
As gear and apparel get more specialized, you wind up owning a quiver full of pieces that are perfect for a few things and, well, less than awesome for others. Enter new technical midlayers that our testers have used from last winter through the beginning of fall. We focused our test on synthetic fleece, which provides warmth and breathability in a slim profile. Bonus: Many are $100 or less. From the dozen midlayers tested, we culled the five best— each would do well for any and all of your upcoming adventures.
Although I’ve heard anti-crossloading carabiners derided as “taking a problem that doesn’t exist and making it worse,” that would only be true if the cross-loading protection made the biner a pain to use. In fact, carabiners rarely—if ever—break during belaying, but cross-loading can cause untimely opening of improperly locked gates and other problems.
Snow flukes (aka deadmen) have been around for ages, but most mountaineers today seem to prefer carrying pickets for snow anchors. The new Brooks-Range Deadman will challenge alpinists to add this gear back into the mix. These flukes (available in three sizes) feature a single-cable design—unique in the fluke market—which makes placements faster and stronger in firm snow, especially in the smallest size, since the cable readily slices into the snow.
Right out of the box, the Scarpa Rebel GTX Carbon ($439; scarpa.com) was an excellent addition to our tester’s alpine boot quiver. At a scant 21 ounces per boot, it’s no surprise that speedster Ueli Steck had a hand in designing them. Our tester found them best suited for moderate alpine rock and snow climbing in environments where you need more support and warmth than an approach shoe, and may want to wear crampons.
I’ve always wanted that one warm jacket that I can grab for approaches and belays in times of near-freezing temps and blustery winds. That one jacket that I can throw over a tank top when I’m running to the gym, and trust to keep me completely warm. Downs weren’t cutting it for such uses (especially with that skin-to-nylon fabric contact—eek!), and regular fleeces weren’t windproof or warm enough. The North Face Polar Hooded Jacket ($299; thenorthface.com) came to my rescue at the end of last winter.
How much space do you really need in a pack? The 26-liter capacity of the Wild Things Guide Pack ($175, wildthingsgear.com) definitely raised my eyebrows. It’s minimalist for sure—no external pockets; the waistbelt is nothing but two-inch webbing; and there’s no framesheet, just a removable pad. But it proved to be just enough for all my multi-pitch days, especially as an “up and over” pack for climbs where we didn’t return to the base of the route.
This tent was perfect for car camping, yet light (4 lbs., 6 oz.) and packable for backcountry adventures like my twoweek stint in the Cascades of Washington. For the hot and dry eastern side of the range, it had large doors on either side, with a fully open option or a nice screen for bug protection. For the soppy western side, double-wall construction, vents in the fly, and those large screened doors meant no morning condensation buildup.
A good night's sleep is imperative for all climbing objectives. Whether you're attempting the Nose in a day or just car camping for a weekend of sport climbing, your bag can make or break your climb, not to mention your mood. Climbing magazine teamed up with Backpacker magazine to round up a dozen three-season down sleeping bags that were new for 2012.
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