2019 gear

DRusso wrote:

The Wall Rider MIPS is the same helmet as the Wall Rider but with the MIPS technology in it which noticeably reduces brain injuries from angled impacts. The technology is expensive but brain injuries are a lot more expensive. There are not extra holes cut in it. If you want to see if for yourself it will be at the Outdoor Retailer Tradeshow in Denver in two weeks.

My b, was speaking of Rock Rider, didn’t know of the variant other than the Alpine rider

Brent D wrote:

The Dyon is just a key lock wiregate, idk what’s nitpicky about that. 

On top of that, the Dyon has the slimmest nose of any notchless wiregate biner on the market.

I've been using Wild Country Helium on my extendibles since I started climbing.  Great biner! But the width of the nose made it more difficult to get into fixed pistons, and chains/small maillons, etc.  I'm thinking of switching them all out for C.A.M.P. Dyons.

Any info on the GriGri changes?

Brad Johnson wrote: Any info on the GriGri changes?

Cam redesign to prevent the rope from sliding behind the lever and getting stuck. Faceplate redesign to look slick and make people waste money on new things. 

adeadhead wrote:

Cam redesign to prevent the rope from sliding behind the lever and getting stuck. Faceplate redesign to look slick and make people waste money on new things. 

The rope/lever thing is serious, I have it happen to me at least once a month, which is once a month too many

John Clark wrote:

The rope/lever thing is serious, I have it happen to me at least once a month, which is once a month too many

Hmm never had it happen. Need to go look at mine and see how it could. 

Two videos on the Testarossa changes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGE5nR4FHaM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sotdvPAcR9A

If I'm understanding his semi-broken English, Pietro says the red heel rubber is sticky and durable, and that the new design puts more even tension on the heel rather than concentrating it under the slingshot band.

I'm hopeful it's an improvement, but this is my favorite shoe so I'm definitely buying at least one extra pair just in case the changes ruin it.

Jim Titt wrote:

If you believe any of the current devices used with ropes at the bottom of the size range actually give acceptable (not good, just acceptable) braking force then you are in for a big dissapointment one day.

Jim have you tested the MicroJul? It used to come with the super thin Edelrid twins. 

Linnaeus wrote:

Jim have you tested the MicroJul? It used to come with the super thin Edelrid twins. 

No

Noah Yetter wrote:
Two videos on the Testarossa changes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGE5nR4FHaM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sotdvPAcR9A

If I'm understanding his semi-broken English, Pietro says the red heel rubber is sticky and durable, and that the new design puts more even tension on the heel rather than concentrating it under the slingshot band.

I'm hopeful it's an improvement, but this is my favorite shoe so I'm definitely buying at least one extra pair just in case the changes ruin it.

Brendan Koch wrote:

As far as I'm concerned they shouldn't have changed a thing.  I think the heel is fantastic the way that it is, and the rest of the shoe really couldn't be improved upon given its objectives.  You can turn it into a bouldering shoe by putting more toe rubber on it, but thats not really what it was designed for.

yes, and yes! 

Has anyone ever had a pair of testarossas wear out at the heel?! Making the heel more “durable” seems like a silly thing. 

Lena chita wrote:

yes, and yes! 

Has anyone ever had a pair of testarossas wear out at the heel?! Making the heel more “durable” seems like a silly thing. 

The soft sensitive heel is actually one of the things I LIKE. My dragos have an even softer heel than the testarossa and hook so much better then skwamas did. 

I wonder if the 2018 mago will end up being a better testarossa update than the last gen. It’s either those or buy bulk of red and yellow testes.

Nick Drake wrote:

The soft sensitive heel is actually one of the things I LIKE. My dragos have an even softer heel than the testarossa and hook so much better then skwamas did. 

I wonder if the 2018 mago will end up being a better testarossa update than the last gen. It’s either those or buy bulk of red and yellow testes.

I should try dragos... I’ve never climbed in Scarpas, only ever tried a couple of midrange models, and they weren’t anything amazing in terms of fit. 

I always liked the laces instead of the Velcro, and the fact that testarossas were mostly unlined, instead of fully lined.
 Already ordered the red/yellows... 

John Wilder wrote:

That's concerning- I've had it happen twice. Once by accident, once intentionally to make sure I understood the mechanism that causes it, and never since- so years now.

It's not dangerous for the rope, so I don't know that I'd call it serious, but I'd say it's not terrible that Petzl addressed the issue with the update.

it's serious if you are rope soloing and you take a rope slicing fall, short rope your partner off the end of a 50' run out, or any list of things where you either need rope mobility or the rope not to slice on the sharper edges in that part of the device.

Lena chita wrote:

I should try dragos... I’ve never climbed in Scarpas, only ever tried a couple of midrange models, and they weren’t anything amazing in terms of fit. 

I always liked the laces instead of the Velcro, and the fact that testarossas were mostly unlined, instead of fully lined.
 Already ordered the red/yellows... 

I would definitely try them on first, if you've got a particularly low volume foot I'd opt for the chimera or that new "z strap" furia S. I have a low volume foot and there is just a bit of dead space under the ball of my foot. 

Actually you might want to look at one of those anyway, the drago is about like climbing with rubber painted on your toes. Sensitive and amazing for smearing/smedging, but it has all the power of an overly ripe banana when real edging comes in. The chimera and furia S have basically a mini midsole that runs just under the toes. http://scarpa.cz/upload/1480599120/CLIMBING%20tech%20sheets.pdf

I like them for training in the gym to build foot strength and more rounded/grainy granite. I tried them out at the local sport crag that's low friction edging (serpentinite) on a moderate route back to back with my testarossas. I carried far less pump with the powerful edging platform of the testarossa. 

Nick Drake wrote:

I would definitely try them on first, if you've got a particularly low volume foot I'd opt for the chimera or that new "z strap" furia S. I have a low volume foot and there is just a bit of dead space under the ball of my foot. 

Actually you might want to look at one of those anyway, the drago is about like climbing with rubber painted on your toes. Sensitive and amazing for smearing/smedging, but it has all the power of an overly ripe banana when real edging comes in. The chimera and furia S have basically a mini midsole that runs just under the toes. http://scarpa.cz/upload/1480599120/CLIMBING%20tech%20sheets.pdf

I like them for training in the gym to build foot strength and more rounded/grainy granite. I tried them out at the local sport crag that's low friction edging (serpentinite) on a moderate route back to back with my testarossas. I carried far less pump with the powerful edging platform of the testarossa. 

All the power of an overly ripe banana... now, there's an image I won't get out of my head easily!

Lot's of shoes I haven't tried...

But I always make a point of trying a pair or two during the shoe demo events at climbing festivals, and there are a couple that are on my list of "not bad, I could get used to these". But over the years none of them went from "I think I could get used to these if I had to" to the "wow, I'll pick these over Testarossas".

I have climbed in several different pairs of shoes before I came to testarossas, it's not like they were my first-ever pair that i latched on to and simply got used to... I even went back to 5.10's for a period of time after my first testarossas... but ever since I started wearing them, nothing else seems to fit quite as well. 

reboot wrote:

I've done it more than once on the same route? And on 3 different routes I'm currently (sorta) projecting? Do I need toe patches for all of them (or even do I absolutely need to toe hook)? Probably not, but it's sorta like kneebars: if you look for them you'll likely find more. Also, on one of these routes, I didn't feel secure heel hooking w/ mago (and I assume same result had I used testarossas).

It is reasonable to ask how incorporating these features will alter the primary function. I guess we shall see. I'm at least looking forward to the increased toe coverage of the new mago as I usually wear a hole in the leather between the toe patch and the rand of the old mago.

It will be interesting to see how the new mago and the new testarossa compare. If the new testarossa ends up being as stiff in the heel as the skwama/kataki I will be pretty sad, I can't tell what the hell I'm on with the skwama, if it's a blind heel I'm going on faith. In the dragos I can feel the texture/feature of the rock well and the whole thing seems to just deform more to get more rubber in contact. 

I've read that the mago has some type of stiffening piece in the heel (TPS?), so it may be a wash here and they'll both be overly rigid. 

Brendan Koch wrote:

how many times have you used a toe hook on a route?  

Not since yesterday.

reboot wrote:

I've done it more than once on the same route? And on 3 different routes I'm currently (sorta) projecting? Do I need toe patches for all of them (or even do I absolutely need to toe hook)? Probably not, but it's sorta like kneebars: if you look for them you'll likely find more. Also, on one of these routes, I didn't feel secure heel hooking w/ mago (and I assume same result had I used testarossas).

It is reasonable to ask how incorporating these features will alter the primary function. I guess we shall see. I'm at least looking forward to the increased toe coverage of the new mago as I usually wear a hole in the leather between the toe patch and the rand of the old mago.

I toe-hook in testarossa a lot, though mostly bouldering, not on routes. I think I did it 5 times while boildering yesterday, including a double toe hook on one problem. And I heel hook and heel/toe cam a lot. 

I’ve never worn out the leather uppers where there is no rubber. I did tear out the toe rubber near the spot where it is perforated in one pair. 

The soft heel (lack of rubber on the side of the heel) is the reason why I love testarossa for heel hooking. That softer heel molds to my foot the way any of the shoes with fully-rubber covered heel do not  

I happen to have an unusual combination of relatively wide/full toe box, and relatively small heel, so all the shoes that I have tried with extra rubber on top feel very uncomfortable (to the point where if I had to wear one I might resort to shoe surgery to remove a piece of the rubber over the big toe), and the heel on all the shoes that have fully-rubber-covered heels end up way too high on my Achilleus tendon.  

I will definitely try the new testarissas, and I sure hope the fit is still good. Maybe it would be a magical improvement, and all my worry is for naught. But there are already so many shoes with a large rubber patch on top of the foot and the deep fully rubbered heels in the la Sportiva shoe family, as well as others... I see no point in changing the one pair that offered an alternative to match the other shoes. 

Well, as someone who wears both the Mago and the Testarossa, I'll jump on the "interested to see how these redesigned shoes are" bandwagon. I heard that after Heinz Mariacher left Sportiva and joined SCARPA, the Mago was one of the first shoes he designed and he said of it, "This is the shoe I had wished the Testarossa to be." Curiously, even though they are oft compared, I find them to be very different shoes. My experience is that the Testarossa is softer, focuses more power over the big toe, and has a better-fitting heel. Unfortunately, it is also less comfortable (thanks to the big toe thing). The Mago feels stiffer, focusing power over several of the toes (probably thanks to the TPU insert), and unfortunately has a baggy/sloppy heel. But it is way more comfortable for me!

I use the Testarossa for steeper climbing... probably what many modern climbers are using softer shoes for... and I use the Mago for techy slab, vert, and gently overhanging climbing (it is an edging machine). Both work well in small pockets and suck equally in cracks. Both shoes are fantastic and I hope the new models are improvements.

AlpineIce wrote: I wonder if Outdoor Research's use of PrimaLoft's "AeroGel" in their new Bitterblaze Gloves will be a game changer for cold hands during winter climbing?

Well, what no one wants to say is that pure numerical testing only shows aerogel really worth the $ at EXTREME temps. Like your jacket would melt, or winter on a 8000m peak.