From Black Diamond:

It all started in the gym for BD Athlete Carlo Traversi. Now, 15 years later, he’s come full circle, tracing his roots back to where it began, only this time, as the owner of Sacramento’s new premier bouldering gym. But Carlo’s motivation is not only to provide quality plastic pulling, but also to create what he experienced growing up—a communal place for climbers to train and hang out, but also be mentored and taught the valuable ethics needed for the crag. Check out this film documenting Carlo’s journey from the gym to the crag and back again.

The post Video: Carlo Traversi – Gym. Crag. Repeat. first appeared on All Climbing.

From Black Diamond:

BD Athlete Will Gadd has been putting Black Diamond gear to the test for over 20 years. He was an early proponent of our revolutionary carbon fiber ice tools—now known as the Cobra—and has been questing to the top of ice formations around the world with prototype ice gear ever since. From climbing Niagara Falls with prototype ice pitons, to going big in Greenland with extra-long special-made ice screws, Gadd is always willing to put it all on the line for the sake of adventure … and invaluable feedback to the designers and engineers here at BD. Recently, his latest hare-brained idea involved multiple innovations—as well as his own Canadian ingenuity—and was captured in this film. Check out Gadd’s latest gear testing exploits as he takes the formidable spray ice of Helmcken Falls … with natural gear.

The post Video: Will Gadd Takes On Helmcken Falls with Natural Gear first appeared on All Climbing.

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Kolin Powick from Black Diamond posted another excellent gear testing article, this time on the different methods of extending slings on cam placements. He illustrates the three common methods he uses (same as mine) and then examines a sling-on-sling approach he thought was dicey.

The sling-on-sling method of extending a cam sling does save the use of a biner but in my opinion is cumbersome for both the leader and the second. It also appears to reduce the ultimate strength of the system, however, in most cases not so much as to be the weakest link in a real-world climbing situation.

The post Extending Cam Slings first appeared on All Climbing.

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Progression – Climbing Magazine

Petzl Reverso 3 belay device, Mountain Hardwear Runout climbing pants, Mammut Infinity 9.5mm rope, Black Diamond C3 cams – The Mountain World

La Sportiva Speedsters – straight outta bedlam

SuperTopo Guides To Zion and Tuolumne – Climbing Narc

Five Ten Team rock shoes – Sicky Gnar Gnar, Climbing Narc, Paul Robinson

Black Diamond Aura Harness, La Sportiva Mantis – Rock Climber Girl

Sterling Ice Thong 7.7mm twin rope – Colorado Mountain School

Patagonia Alpine Wind Jacket – SplitterChoss

Five Ten Copperhead – GetOutdoors

Black Diamond C3 and Oz and Petzl Reverso 3 – Dream in Vertical

The post Climbing Gear Review Roundup – 10/8/09 first appeared on All Climbing.

New S10 Black Diamond Products – TetonAT.com

Five Ten’s Prisms – The Mountain World

DMM Dragon Cams – UKclimbing.com

La Sportiva Exum Pro – Colorado Mountain School

Arc’Teryx Alpha LT jacket and the CAMP USA Alp 95 harness – GearFlogger

Chaco Pro Series Sandals – Trailspace.com

New dual axel cam from DMM – Carabiner development blog

New Petzl Tikka and Zipka headlamps – trailrunningSoul.com

If you’ve seen any good climbing gear reviews recently, please link them in the comments.

The post Climbing Gear Review Roundup – 8/25/09 first appeared on All Climbing.

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