climbing gear reviews

Gear Review: La Sportiva Trango Cube GTX Mountaineering Boots

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La Sportiva Trango Cube GTX mountaineering boots.
La Sportiva Trango Cube GTX mountaineering boots.

Mountaineering Boots
La Sportiva Trango Cube GTX
$390, 3 lbs. 3 oz. (men’s Euro 42/US 9)
Sizes: men’s Euro 37-48/US 5-14
backcountry.com

Traditional mountaineering boots are heavy, and we’ve all heard the maxim that every pound of weight on your feet is like five pounds on your back. That’s taxing when you’re climbing a big mountain—and that’s why I picked the Trango Cube GTX for a four-day, April snow climb of the Mountaineers Route on California’s Mount Whitney. On it, and other classic mountaineering routes in the western U.S. and elsewhere, you hike more than you “climb”—meaning that you’re striding normally (albeit often on snow) more than you’re employing French technique or kicking steps for ascending steeper snow in crampons. Due to their heft and stiffness, many mountaineering boots aren’t all that comfortable to walk in. But that’s exactly the kind of adventure where this boot shines.

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Rock climbing at Castle Rocks State Park, Idaho.

Gear Review: A Complete Rock Climbing Kit For Climbers With a Real Life

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By Michael Lanza

In the interest of full disclosure, as a climber, I’m no one. I climb trad and sport rock routes up to 5.10 and I like moderates. I do the kind of mountaineering where people generally survive. My partners are family and friends, none of whom are sponsored (although my son has climbed 5.9 in sneakers), and my only first ascents were accidental and not recommendable. If you’re looking for a reviewer with a five-continent climbing resume and a home that has bumper stickers, I’m not that dude.

But in a sense, I’m everyone—or I’m like most recreational climbers. For climbers like me, here are my gear recommendations—based on 25 years (and counting) as a rock climber and nearly as long as a mountaineer (and 20 years as a gear reviewer)—for what you need to hit the crags and the mountains to have fun, be safe, and go back to work on Monday with some pretty good stories that will never get into any magazine.

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Gear Review: Exped Thunder 50 Backpack

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Exped Thunder 50
Exped Thunder 50

Backpack
Exped Thunder 50
$249, 50L/3,051 c.i., 3 lbs. 4 oz.
One size, adjustable
Men’s torso range 17.5-22.5 ins./ 44.5-57cm
Women’s torso range 16.5-20 ins./ 42-51cm
moosejaw.com

The idea of downsizing your backpack and other gear is always enticing (and a smart goal; see my tips on that). But unless you have pockets deep enough to finance a quiver of packs, you probably need one that can handle whatever kind of trip you take, and you may be leery of buying one that’s too small or specialized or lacks convenient features. The Thunder 50 struck me at first glance as a pack that may offer exceptional versatility while hewing to a minimalist ethic that keeps weight low, so I took it out on a mostly off-trail backpacking trip with my son in Idaho’s White Cloud Mountains to test my theory.

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Gear Review: Asolo Magix Hiking-Approach Shoes

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Asolo Magix
Asolo Magix

Hiking/Approach Shoes
Asolo Magix
$210, 2 lbs. (men’s Euro 42/US 9)
Sizes: men’s Euro 41-47/US 8-12, 13, 14, women’s Euro 36-41/US 6-10.5
moosejaw.com

In their early days, approach-style shoes were basically rock-climbing shoes for easy routes that you could walk short distances in with marginal comfort. They have since evolved greatly into something designed more for hiking comfort and performance than for climbing. Much as I like climbing, that’s a smart evolution, in my opinion, because that turns them into all-mountain shoes ideal for hiking and scrambling long days in difficult, off-trail terrain—a task for which lightweight, low-cut hiking shoes can get trashed, and burlier boots are often too heavy and hot. (For skilled climbers, some approach models are also sticky and nimble enough for easy fifth-class routes.) But there’s still a tension between conflicting objectives with approach shoes: balancing walking comfort against design elements that protect your feet better, but can also make shoes heavier and hotter. With the low-cut Magix, Asolo seemed to take a shot at achieving that delicate balance, so I took them on several hikes, including a 12-hour, roughly 14-mile and 5,000-foot, mostly off-trail dayhike in Idaho’s Sawtooth Mountains, to test whether they could deliver.

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Gear Review: Princeton Tec Sync Headlamp

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Princeton Tec Sync
Princeton Tec Sync

Ultralight Headlamp
Princeton Tec Sync
$30, 2.9 oz. (including three AAA batteries)
moosejaw.com

Hiking down the steep, rocky, frequently slippery trails of Mount Washington in the dark for the final 90 minutes of a 17-mile, 6,000-vertical-foot dayhike over the four summits of New Hampshire’s Northern Presidential Range, the last thing I needed was a headlamp that wasn’t bright enough or lost power. With the Sync, those issues weren’t a problem. In fact, its brightest setting threw a broad beam that illuminated the lower Tuckerman Ravine Trail well enough that two teenagers in our party who had forgotten their headlamps could see. Considering also that the Sync is one of the lightest, cheapest, and simplest headlamps on the market today, and it’s hard to find fault with it.

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