Editors' Choice 2019: Edelrid Aramid Cord Sling Review

While you could certainly use the 6mm Aramid slings (60-, 90-, and 120cm lengths) solely for V-threads while ice climbing, I quickly found them to be much more versatile. During testing, the slings quickly revealed themselves to be quite stiff, almost wiry. As such, they are not simply for connecting your rope to pro—they are pro, designed to be threaded through solution pockets and connected huecos, around chockstones, and to sling horns, blocks, and chickenheads or get flossed behind flakes and then cleaned by the second. The almost extreme stiffness allows the cord to defy gravity when threading overhead, and gives you extra rigidity to push through a funky opening (as with a V-thread, etc.)—situations in which a normal, soft sling would noodle up and go nowhere. Another side benefit is that being made of Aramid, they have a high heat resistance and could be used as a rappel backup instead of melting your precious Dyneema. For a specialist’s tool with multiple uses, the innovative Aramid ticks many critical boxes.

$16-25, edelrid.com

See more of our top climbing gear picks in the Gear Guide 2019: Editors’ Choice Awards, and listen to our latest podcast for an interview with Black Diamond’s climbing category director Kolin Powick.