REVIEWS: THE GEAR WE LOVE
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these are reviews of the gear we use at iceclimbingjapan and a profile of the kind of stuff that works in Japanese conditions (lots of snow, very cold and minimal moisture in winter, hot and humid in summer) and on expedition. some things we are endorsed by, others we have pro-deals on, some stuff we just like.
Black Diamond Highlight tent
The North Face VE25
MSR Twin Brothers with footprint
Henessy Hammocks
Mountain Hardwear Soth Col 70L
the pack for guiding and alpine climbing. for a long time MHW packs were lost in the wilderness of pack-dom. heavy, over-designed and expensive. it was rare to see anyone using one. but now theyve got it together. they are still at the expensive end of the scale, but these days they are worth it.
maybe taking a nudge from Cilo, MHW has gone into woven dyneema, totally strippable, climber-friendly designs that in my opinion beat Cilo at their own game – for half the price.
the South Col is a big pack – 70L, but thats real volume as theres no pockets aside from the lid to absorb the numbers. and its light: 16500gms unstripped, about 1000gms if you do – for a 70L pack remember, not some little 35.
the features are well thought out, and tho it bristles with them, none are particularly cheesy. the buckles and tool retainers are all glove friendly (about time), the compression system is totally customizable, the dyneema pocket is huge and adjustable, the bits that are left once stripped are all still useable. debatable is the daisy chain down the length of it – does anybody actually use them? and the internal pockets, tho nice to have, mess with the opening when stuffed full. neither are worth loosing sleep over, nor taking the scissors to.
Millet Exped 65L
Arcteryx Cierzo 35L (old version)
La Sportiva Spantik
La Sportiva Batura
Millet Pro Radikal
Grivel G20
in my opinion, every other crampon is over-designed. what was first seen as some super-technical hard climbing specialists crampon, is to my mind all a crampon needs to be. the G20s are light, precise and simple. why they arent more popular I dont know.
for a start, they have all the usual well functioning Grivel bits: the well designed heel locking thing, the great strap buckle system, the near-universal toe bail. for the specifics, the mono-point sits right under your big toe, being less centered than the Dart. the front clusters and other teeth are not too long as to feel like walking in Kiss-style show boots. the Mono-rail connector bar functions mostly thoughtlessly, not being the radical pivot point its easy to imagine it as. without a front anti-balling plate im still yet to have significant balling up – and Japan has the snow to test that it.