GearFlogger

Joshua Tree by Robert Miramontes

You would think that with this new Internet fad there would be no place for paper rock climbing guides. Fail! There are at least three good reasons why paper guides are superior. First, they're portable. Second and third, have you ever tried to wipe your ass or start a fire with a web page? No can do, amigo!

Joshua Tree: A Color Guide to the 2600 Best Rock Climbs & Boulder Problems by Robert Miramontes crushes the sweaty-palms test. I learned to climb in J-tree with Vertical Adventures, and reading Miramontes' guide I realized it's been far too long since I've been.

This guide is well thought out, with gorgeous color photography, clear route descriptions and helpful symbology. One thing we really liked was the use of color to differentiate between sport, trad, toprope, boulder and aid climbs, and there are graded lists of each type of climbing in the back of the book. The intro has tons of useful beta on the park and logistics in the area, some cool hikes, and there are "best of" lists for different kinds of climbs, e.g. cracks, faces, etc. The only quibble is with the maps, which are based on satellite photos; they'd be more clear if they were simple line drawings, but don't let that distract you: this is the best climbing guide out there right now for Josh.

$39.95 at Amazon

Casio Pathfinder 1500-1V solar powered watch

It's amazing what you can pack on your wrist these days. The Casio Pathfinder watches are perfect examples. We tried out the 1500-1V, one of a dizzying array of Pathfinders available, and it's across-the-board impressive.

The 1500-1V is a beefy, medium-large watch with a 51mm bezel diameter and 14mm case thickness, but at 2.6oz it's not too heavy on the wrist. It's an ABC watch (altimeter/barometer/compass) designed to be your backcountry buddy, water-resistant to 200m (SCUBA-friendly!), with every possible time-keeping function you could want including a 1/100 second stopwatch, 5 daily alarms, countdown and yacht timers. Don't know what a yacht timer is? OK, neither did we; it's just a countdown timer with beeps, which is actually kind of handy.

For good measure there's a useful backlight, thermometer, tide graph, moon age and phase graph. Oh, and it's solar-powered, and the multi-band radio receives time calibration signals 6 times a day in compatible locations to syncronize with the atomic clock. If you're a total feature-whore this is definitely the watch for you. Measurements are accurate to the degree you would expect on a watch, i.e. not professional grade but plenty good enough for backcountry use.

Our tester came with two bands, a normal style one with a buckle and a thinner, larger one with velcro, designed to be worn over winter clothing. If you don't have massive arms you can actually use the winter strap over your upper arm for running, swimming, etc. Very useful. If you're looking for the total package short of a GPS unit, definitely check out the Pathfinder series.

$208.25 at Amazon

Black Diamond HoodWire carabiner and quickdraw

Latest in the funky carabiner design category is the Black Diamond HoodWire. It's also the latest in the TakeOutTheSpaceBetweenWordsButStillCapitalizeThem trend. GearFlogger hates that. ReallyWeDo.

The wire hood eliminates snagging on bolts when you're cleaning a draw, or if you're un-racking off a sling. The HoodWire is otherwise a nice little hot-forged biner with good handling and a generous 24mm of gate clearance. The wire gate will cut down on gate flutter or "lash" where sudden loading may cause the gate to open. Not likely, sure, but wire gates are also nice because they are lighter and don't freeze up in icy conditions.

The 1.3oz HoodWire looks like a modification of Black Diamond's HotWire biner. Substituting the HoodWire for the Positron on the bolt end cuts the weight significantly from 3.3oz for the HotWire draw to 2.9oz for the HoodWire draw, both with 12cm by 10mm Dynex dogbones and rubber keepers on the bolt biner. Whether it's worth the extra buck-fifty a biner or two bucks a draw is up to you.

For some reason our test biner was a little sloppy on the quality control. The wire gate was offset just a teensy-weensy bit, enough to have already chipped the anodized color off the nose. Although the design really does work, we might wait a bit to monitor long-term durability of the hood before subbing out all our Positrons.

$8.95 for the biner at REI
$17.95 for the draw at REI

Petzl Freino belay carabiner

OK, alpha-gear-geeks, your carabiner has arrived. Designed to be used with the Petzl Grigri (but just as effective with any belay device), the Freino belay carabiner is a 3 ounce autolocking unit that has a secondary gate and basket - yes, you may call it a spur to establish techno-superiority - that provides additional braking.

The braking function is particularly valuable with a light belayer and heavy climber, making the whole process safer and smoother. Even partners of similar weights can benefit from the extra friction if they're using skinny ropes.

The Freino can even be rigged off the anchor to redirect the rope for lowering. The downside to all this increased functionality? Price. You be the judge.

$44.95 at Moosejaw

Black Diamond Camalot C4 cams

Camalots (Ha! Get it?) have been around forever. I have a full set from the halcyon years of the early 1990s with "Chouinard" stamped on them. I am just that old-school.

The new ones are just as great as the old model, with a few improvements even. They have a single stem now, an integrated sling, are a bit lighter and the cam lobes themselves are a bit thicker. Otherwise, the new boss is pretty much the same as the old boss. Except... wait for it... you can now get matching anodized Neutrino carabiners! Omigawd! Oh yeah, and they come in sets.

$59.95 to $84.95 at Altrec

Sea to Summit Ultra-Sil DayPack

Down the rabbit hole, there is a realm of ridiculously light gear that actually works. Add to that list the Sea to Summit Ultra-Sil DayPack, a 2.4oz - yes, you read that right - pack that stuffs down to about the size of a compact camera. A small compact camera.

The DayPack stuff sack is permanently attached to the inside top of the pack, serving double duty as a an internal pocket for keys and credit cards. The pack is the size of a standard school daypack, 20 liters, big enough for a day of fastpacking or travel use at the beach or market.

The entire pack is made from siliconized Cordura ripstop nylon, tough as nails: we shoved sharp-cornered books inside and humped them around with no sign of wear. Even after two months of reefing on it the DayPack is laughing at us. Seams are reinforced with bartacking, and when stuffed there's a little cord loop for attaching to a key ring or carabiner. The shoulder straps are about 2.5 inches wide at the top, and even with loads of 15 pounds are plenty comfy. The half-moon top zipper gives easy access to everything inside.

The only nit to pick is the adjustments on the shoulder straps. They don't lock very well, although you can easily throw a knot on it when you've got it where you want it. This is an awesome piece of gear, perfect for light backcountry and travel use to hold layers, lunch and other essentials. Sea to Summit seems to have this material fully dialed in and they're creating all kinds of cool stuff so stay tuned.

$29.95 at REI

T Mat Pro sport mat

Sometimes you look at something and think, I don't need that. Microwaves. Cell phones. You know. Then it turns out that you really do need that. Well, OK, you want that.

The T Mat Pro is like that. It's just a 20x29 inch piece of thin neoprene with a nonskid backing. It's just the right size for a little pre-climb/run/surf stretch, and it makes a nice place to lace up your climbing shoes. The original purpose of the T Mat Pro is for triathlon transitions. The bright color really does make it easier to find your bike in the jumble.

Sure, you could cut your own, but the T Mat Pro has some nice touches: an attached elastic loops to roll it up, a white strip to write your name (or if you're a big wall climber to draw a crude picture), and the fact that unlike, say, a piece of closed cell foam the T Mat Pro lies nice and flat.

$24.62 at Amazon

Gymboss timer

Gymboss. Sounds like the steroid-popping walking anatomy chart who seems to live amongst the free weights at the local fitness center. Nope, just a handy little timer thingie that you can use for all kinds of training stuff.

The Gymboss basically lets you program two alternating time intervals, e.g. (that's Latin for "example given", they were really big on abbreviations) a three minute round followed by a one minute rest. The periods can be as short as two seconds and as long as 99 minutes.

The alarm can be set for durations of 1, 2, 5 or 9 seconds, or you can set it to vibrate, useful when you don't want to annoy others. It's fairly tough, no problems to date, and very useful for anything interval related, e.g. (see, there it is again) climbing laps on walls, sprints on your bike, blah-blah-blah. Handy belt clip on back.

$19.95 at Amazon

Icon Irix II headlamp

Icon, purveyor of sexy-design yet reasonably priced lighting, has a tricksy new headlamp out. The weatherproof Irix II weighs just 3.1oz with its single included AA battery installed, and can run as long as 100 hours on low power.

The Irix II has a knob instead of a button to control the light. Twist the knob and the five power-regulated LEDs give you continuously variable output from 5 to 50 lumens. The light is sufficient for up to running-speed activities. It's nice that you can twist it to minimum brightness and back to off without cycling through higher brightness settings and waking up your tentmates.

The straps is broad and comfy, with a little neoprene pad in the front. The lamp housing unit clips into a holder on the headband, so you can remove the light if you need an impromptu hand held light. Under serious jarring, more than you would normally subject it to, the light might rotate, but you can put a thin strip of athletic tape where the clips go to stabilize it. The Icon Irix II is a nice light at a nice price, especially if you like the tricks.

$23.95 at Amazon

Adidas board shorts

Summer means hitting the water, and a good pair of board shorts is mandatory. Adidas comes to the rescue with the women's Bailey and the men's Wahoo trunks.

The women's Bailey (pictured) is a sexy little microfiber number with a 4 inch inseam, long enough for modesty but short enough to minimize drag in the surf. The shoestring style tie is secure and quick, and the classic Adidas three-stripe styling is tres chic. The coin pocket is open to the world, however, so be careful when you stash your cash!

The men's Wahoo is a little beefier, with an elastic waist and mesh liner. It also includes the subtle three-stripe side seams and shoestring lacing. Both models wear well and dry quickly, so you can transition from beach to boardwalk without getting a hitch in your giddy-up.

$40.00 at Adidas