JAPAN'S BEST ALPINE TRIPS BEGIN HERE
autumn in Tibet is like autumn anywhere – rapidly cooling, some moisture still in the air and oscillating winds both cold and neutral. only in Tibet it’s all exaggerated. the winds are colder, the sun is stronger, the difference between sun and shade is huge and the cold fronts huge. this means clothing needs to…
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power wool is soon to have it’s big release for fall-winter, so it’s a good time to get some real-world beta out there along side the endless press releases and showroom fondling from the trade show circuit. having used the stuff over almost a year and taken it from baking granite walls to nasty tibetan…
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still a way from its full release, Polartec has OKed comments from the testing process to ferment interest in another of its game-changing innovations. expedition use is what matters: weeks of constant use, minimal maintenance, just a squirt of dish liquid to clean it and an hour in the sun to dry – true expedition…
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the neoshell exped bivy bag: putting evolution into the technology, not the bling new places generate new ideas. bivy bags have stalled a bit with designs for alpine use, getting more complex and tent-like rather than lighter simpler. but what hasnt stalled is Neoshell and its constant evolution as polartec develops more and more variants…
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its usually hard to get excited about ‘new’ developments in clothing, most being just marginal variations on accepted themes. the leaps are usually pretty minor in both function and weight savings. but every now and then a leap occurs. it takes technology and elegance of design to fuse for it to happen, and when it…
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at iceclimbingjapan we don’t really test garments, we test systems. Japan is an ideal testing ground as results can be gained and processed rapidly, in direct conjunction with the developers. difficult, cold and complex: the mountain ranges of Japan allow for efficient R&D tasking from Teton Bros, who interface for Polartec, means we are a…
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iceclimbingjapan functions as a testing project for Polartec, with Teton Bros acting as the Japan interface and production element. this means we are given full access to all Polartecs innovations (including many that never make the mainstream and/or climbing market). from Neoshell to Alpha and dozens of variants of more esoteric fabrics – cast into…
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japans premier international climbing magazine is ‘wilderness’, carrying extended articles on climbing around the world. its a good place to be seen, with teton bros working with the publishers for a few years now, raising their profile from just big mountain skiers to climbers, inside and outside japan. part of this process is using more climbing…
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just back from another great early season trip to yatsugatake. this time was spent testing the latest Neoshell products from Teton Bros by getting onto some of the more obscure routes that are only accessible early in the season and climbing fast to see just how well these textiles and designs really perform: and lets…
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some trips you just have to do. after being hit by record snows across central Honshu with 165cm/24hrs on Fuji itself we opted for the south east route. closed roads and mass clearing efforts put us waaaay back from the trailhead, with an 8hr slog and 5hr retreat ensuing. days like this its all about…
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