Building on recent trends in climbing gear, 2023 brought the same focus on lightness, sustainability, durability, and niche innovation we’ve been seeing in recent years. We’ve figured out what we want from climbing gear and why, as the sport’s many disciplines become ever more, well, set in stone. Meanwhile, technology has brought us to an amazing place. Imagine telling a Cookie Cliff crack maven from the 1980s that someday he could, while out at the cliffs, use a small, handheld pocket computer to track his training plan or watch a livestreamed video of one of the world’s hardest first ascents halfway across the world. Or that he could train on an almost-perfect replica of a famous boulder problem using 3D-scanned holds. He’d have thought you were insane!
We’ve also figured out how to make gear safer, incorporating ever more hardwearing and reliable components to reduce the risk of catastrophic failure, and—in some cases—made our gear greener. Much of this knowledge has been hardwon, learning from accidents in which gear was misused and/or failed, and then, as with the aviation industry, building more durable, more foolproof equipment.
And we’ve come a very long way in terms of training knowledge, with techniques like campusing, system boarding, max hangs, eccentric lowers, repeaters, and so on now so codified that the tools have also evolved with them to become more streamlined, user-friendly, and adaptable.
Here, we present the eight most innovative pieces of new gear we tested or heard about in 2023. From a greener Dyneema, to a brush that’s a first ascentionist’s dream, to a flip-free quickdraw, to a rope that’s more cut-proof, to an ultra-ergonomic harness, to a featherweight multi-pitch pack that’s also a functional haulbag, to the aforementioned hold set, to a pairable hangboard set that advances with you as you improve, this year’s crop ticks all the creative boxes.
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Price: $109.95 for a five-pack
It’s an open secret that much of our gear, from apparel down to rope, dogbone, and sling nylon, comes from fossil fuels, and that the dyes used to color these products have their own toxic footprint. As “green” as climbing is, compared, say, to jetting around the world to play golf, we have impact, whether it’s travel or our equipment, much of which needs constant replacement.
It’s been reassuring to see a trend toward using recycled components in climbing gear, among them Bio-Based Dyneema fiber. Bio-Dyneema merges waste products upcycled from the pulp and timber industry with fossil feedstock to produce the ethylene that’s then spun into polyethylene (Dyneema), plus it has regular Dyneema’s weight, strength, and UV resistance. Ocun was, according to them, the first brand in the industry to incorporate the fiber into their slingage, which we tested on their Hawk wiregate quickdraw. With a big, 26kN breaking strength, the dogbone was bomber for whipper-time sport climbing, but also light for alpinism. These slings are white, so be sure not to confuse them with faded nylon. (Full review here.)
Price: $9.95
For years, first ascentionists had to use barbecue-grill and paint-stripping wire brushes to remove dirt, moss, and lichen. Sure, these brushes can be found at any hardware store and are cheap, but the bristles wear down quickly and the wooden handles are clunky, with inadequate knuckle protection, especially for the diagonal angles at which you’re approaching the stone.
The Fixe Spid is the first brush that seems to have climbing usage in mind. It has a big clip-off loop, an ergonomic grip with four finger depressions, an arced and upturned head that lets you angle perfectly into the stone without knuckle-dragging, a solid-metal spine to tap off small flakes and friable spikes, and either hardwearing plated-steel bristles for denser rock (the red brush) or nylon bristles for softer stone (the blue brush). I’m still using my two original Spids a year later, and even with the front half of the plated-steel brush’s bristles worn down, it cleans way better than whatever they’re selling at Home Depot. (Full review here.)
Price: $29.95
Metolius has always done a great job of “overengineering” safety, from the Rangefinder color-coding system on their cams, to their Safe Tech Trad Harness, which has double belay/rappel loops. The designers are all veteran climbers who’ve lost friends to preventable accidents, such as when the free-climbing legend Todd Skinner died in Yosemite in 2006 when his belay loop failed while rappelling off the Leaning Tower.
The Captive Quickdraw (originally named and tested as the Surefire) addresses the problem of quickdraw carabiner rotation, which is more common on the top, protection-side carabiner but can happen to the rope-side clipper, even with a keeper loop. The draws’ captured-eye technology—the dogbone is essentially sewn into a hole in the carabiner—helps with two things: doing away with time spent re-rotating a carabiner back into place at a strenuous stance, and the risk of a carabiner-shattering fall onto an awkwardly loaded, off-axis clipper. During our months of testing, neither I nor my friends could get the Captive’s carabiners to rotate—ever, even when whipping the rope down through a long, steep route. They’re hyper-safe, and ideal for redpoint projects at crux clips. (Full review here.)
Price: $199.95, 60m; $229.95, 70m
Cut ropes kill climbers. This has been proven time and time again, from John Harlin II dying while ascending a fixed line on the Eiger Nordwand in 1966; to Joe Miller losing his life in 2010 on the Yellow Spur in Eldorado Canyon, Colorado, when his rope likely sawed across a knife edge after a ripped piece sent him penduluming; to the Swiss guide Mario Luginbühl dying at the crag of Magletsch in 2012 when a grooved-out in situ carabiner severed his rope in a routine sport-climbing whipper. Shit happens, especially out trad and alpine climbing, where the terrain is complex and jagged, and rope drag and abrasion become compounding factors.
Edelrid recently began using their “Protect” technology on certain ropes to reduce the risk of cutting. Basically, Protect braids aramid fibers (“aramid” is short for aromatic polyamide—perhaps most recognizable under the brand name Kevlar) into the sheathe to make it more cut and heat/friction resistant. This results in stiffer, more cablelike ropes, yes, but it’s a small tradeoff for peace of mind in high-stakes situations like big-wall free climbing, alpine routes, and multipitch trad. Both testers who used the aramid-enhanced Eagle Lite noted that the rope just kept on going—even after six weeks of usage 2x to 3x times per week on sharp limestone, it never needed to be cut, as the sheathe was still slick and intact. (Full review of the Eagle Lite is pending.)
Price: $130
With high-end, gymnastic cragging, gym climbing, and multipitch, one longstanding issue has been how to blend comfort—like you get with a broad, padded waistbelt and leg loops—with the free-flowing functionality you need for twisting moves, big highsteps, kneebars, and so on. Sure, you can get there by stripping a harness down to its ultralight minimum, but then it becomes specialized dental floss that’s painful to dangle in and downright torturous at hanging belays.
Arc’teryx’s new Konseal magically ticks both elusive boxes by using a “butterfly” design: in front, the waistbelt is a webbing-only strip, with high “wings” along the sides that taper to an hourglass in back. This kept the harness mobile, ergonomic, and light at only 12.9 ounces, but maximized support and padding along the sides and back, where most of the fall and hanging forces get distributed. As its tester, Climbing’s Digital Editor Anthony Walsh, noted, “The result is delightful. At this point I have spent literal days in the Konseal: hanging from Grade VI walls, sussing out RP placements on headpoints, throwing myself at yet another sport project…”—and he was comfy throughout, labeling the Konseal “without a doubt the most comfortable high-end harness I have ever owned.” (Full review here.)
Price: $255, 22L; $345, 36L; $425, 55L
As with the Konseal Harness, the G7 is another genre-straddler that sounds too good to be true—but isn’t. In this case, the dilemma was to devise an alpine/multipitch/summit pack that’s light and body-hugging for on-route carry, but also durable and streamlined for hauling. These two attributes might seem mutually exclusive, but Grade VII Equipment, which famously makes an inflatable portaledge—the Pod—cracked the code.
The Haul Pack comes in three sizes (22L, 36L, 55L), and all three use the same stripped-down design: a lightweight but tough composite shell, broad but minimally padded microsuede shoulder straps (which don’t tuck away), a cut-resistant exterior bungee system for compression and lashing, and a single—yes, single—haul strap. This minimalism lets the pack sit right against the spine, making for easy carry—on the West Face of Alaska’s Mt. Huntington, one tester “found the 36 to be just as comfortable as any bag with a similar weight.” And another tester noted its hauling durability, even on low-angle Canadian alpine choss and even with those shoulder straps out. He also felt that having the single hauling point (once he learned to trust it) simplified clipping the bag off, plus having the shoulder straps permanently out imparted greater versatility, such as switching from hauling to having the second grab and carry the bag mid-pitch, to avoid its dislodging loose rock. (Full review here.)
Price: £432
Unless you were living under a rock in 2023—well, specifically, if you weren’t living under Burden of Dreams in Finland, the world’s first 9A (V17) boulder, put up by Nalle Hukkataival in 2016, as many of the world’s top boulderers seemingly were—then you couldn’t miss the hype around the second ascent of the five-move crimp line, which tackles slippery, widespread micros on a 45-degree wall, like a MoonBoard problem from hell.
The problem’s suitors took a novel approach—Aidan Roberts 3D-scanned the holds and then worked with Core Climbing to build replicas, which he, Will Bosi, Stefano Ghisolfi, and others used to try a simulation of the problem to prep for the real thing. Spoiler alert: It worked, and Bosi nabbed the coveted repeat on April 12 after livestreaming his efforts, prefiguring Jakob Schubert’s livestreamed FA of Project Big at Flatanger, Norway, on September 20.
If this all sounds very alarming and Black Mirror-esque, well perhaps it is, but it’s also super-cool and shows what happens when our sport interfaces with modern technology. Now you too can buy a slightly modified (read: comfier) version of Roberts’s hold set—the holds are made of a polyester composite—and try the Burden replica. If the full rig at 45 degrees is too turbo, you might start at vertical, an angle that renders a much friendlier V2, then gradually increase the overhang, like the proverbial frog being boiled in a pot. (A longer article on the holds is here.)
Price: $162.75
By now it’s basically a truism, but wood makes for better gains. This is because it’s smooth and kind on the hands when you’re pitching a post-rock-climbing session and your skin’s already nuked, letting you train longer. And because wood gives you nowhere to hide—you can’t rely on friction, as with tacky plastic holds, but must instead recruit your tendons and muscles.
For 2023, the wood specialists at Tension Climbing came out with two boards that showcase their expertise. Perhaps what’s most innovative is that Tension took everything they’d learned from their Grindstone-hangboard era and then applied that well-thought-out layout and edge system onto a two separate boards, the Whetstone for beginners/warmups/core and the Honestone for experts/small edges/max hangs.
The holds on both boards are remarkably comfortable, with the perfect radius on the crimps, which are placed asymmetrically so you can train X hold size at the same shoulder width. And the Whetsone features crazy-ergonomic jugs thanks to the “bumps” that encourage intuitive hand articulation ideal for pullups and core work. As a pair, the boards will help you nail your training niche: the Whetstone has grips from the benchmark 20mm crimp up to 40mm flat edges and bidoigts, while the Honestone runs crimps from 8mm up to 20mm with cozy, non-tweaky 25mm monodoigts and a 25mm central edge for one-armed hangs (the only feature testers didn’t like were the slopers, which felt awkward to hang). Together, these versatile boards could serve you through a lifetime of training—they’re almost like having a home gym. (Whetstone review here; Honestone review here.)
The post The Top 8 Gear Innovations of 2023 appeared first on Climbing.
