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I have owned 10+ pairs of the La Sportiva Katana’s – basically they fit my feet better than any other climbing shoe I have ever had. I have pretty long narrow feet with ‘big’ big toes, and the Sportiva boots seem to fit the shape of foot pretty well; for me a boot that fits is the most import aspect of any climbing shoe. The Katana’s are reasonable technical boots, but are comfy with the velcro closure and large tabs they are easy to synch tighter for harder pitches then slacken off for easy pitches or undo on belays.

Katana

I have used more technical climbing shoes in the past which I could only keep on for about 5 minutes at a time, which meant they were useless for anything other than bouldering; I would be unable to stand on anything by the top of pitches due to my toes hurting too much. The Katana’s are a good compromise between technicality and comfort – I can wear mine all day on long routes as well as do hard moves requiring delicate footwork in them (the rock boot is not the limiting factor my foot work is). Hence I use my Katana’s on everything from alpine rock to sport climbing.

Katana's in action

The sole on the Katana’s is really good – hard-wearing and sticky, and the new XS Grip rubber is stickier than the old version vibram. I find the Katana are excellent for smearing and when newish work well on edges too; however once they have become quite worn I find they do loose there stiffness at the toe making them poor at edging. So if you are planning on climbing lots of ‘edgy’ routes e.g. slate routes, then I would not recommend the Katana’s – however for virtually anything else they’re great.

While I enjoy climbing mountains on foot and on skis I also spend a large amount of time on two wheels. I haven’t been doing much skiing or climbing lately so I thought I’d do a quick cycling post.

Last week I was doing a bit of work in France and I also had my bike with me. I managed a couple of flat 80km rides around Toulouse before moving on to the Pyrenees. I had not cycled in the mountains before so I didn’t quite know what to expect when tackling my first major climbs. The Col de Marie Blanque was short at 9.5km but steep in places for the last 3 or 4 kilometres. I rode it from the Escot side as part of a 100km loop from Pau.

Col de Marie Blanque

A couple of days later I hooked up with Jon, our warehouse manager, in Lourdes and we tackled the Col du Tourmalet together. We rode up from Sainte Marie de Campan on a very hot day. With the Tour de France also passing by that afternoon I managed to reach the top despite the best efforts of the Gendarmes to stop me. I watched the stage come past right on the Col before descending down to Luz Saint Saveur and back down the valley to Lourdes.

Col du Tourmalet

King of the Mountains

Yellow Jersey Group

Just back from the Outdoor Show 2010. The show is in Friedrichshafen, South Germany and showcases all the new products which will be available for Summer 2011.

My overall impression was that there was nothing really ground breaking on the horizon, which considering the global economy is hardly surprising. There are however a few stand out developments for us all to look forward to.

From Petzl we have the Gri Gri 2. 20% smaller, 25% lighter and with a reshaped cam to make it smoother in use, sure to be a winner. Also from Petzl we have the new Meteor helmet which is now certified for climbing, cycling and watersports. Actually the helmet part is unchanged, but the strap and buckle had to be updated to meet the watersports standards. Lastly from the french giant we have the Core Lithium battery. This rechargeable Lithium Polymer battery will fit in any of the Tikka/Zipka2 range. The battery can be mains,usb or car charged. The battery also uses software which allows the user to programme the discharge profile of the light. Tell the battery how long you would like it to last or how bright you would like it to be and the battery makes the lamp behave accordingly. Don’t worry you can use the battery without the software if that all sounds too much.

Black diamond have some great new trekking poles which collapse in a similar way to a tent pole. This makes them pack really short without the bulk of overlapping tubing. They pull together and lock like an avalanche probe does. The carbon ones are awesomely light.

Wild County have got the new Ropeman 3 and the Helium Friends. The Helium friend replaces the technical friend, which is a massive step for WC. The new helium friend has hot forged cams which allow a much more intricate shape than the CNC milled cams on the technical friends. So more material where you need it but much less elsewhere. The shank of the cam is longer and WC have worked hard to get the best ergonomic shape and trigger action when the cam is in use. The same size range covered by 12 technical friends is now covered by 9 helium friends.

More observations in the next few days…

We have 3 of the old Suunto t3 c watches left. They come in Suunto Packs with a wireless POD. We have a Cycling Pack (universal bike POD), Running Pack (foot POD) and a Triathlon Pack (GPS POD).

One left of each at 40% Off.  The only difference between the t3 c and the current t3 d is that the heart rate belt with the t3c is not compatible with analogue gym machines.

t3 c

In order to clear out the shelves and keep things moving along we put every item that was already on sale to a minimum of 40% Off. Some of these items are the last size of a garment in an old colour or style and some are products that we bought that simply weren’t popular and so never sold very well. In both cases we would like to get rid and put the money in something more current or more popular (hopefully both). There are clothes, hardware, gloves and packs. Something from just about every section of the website.

35% off the Petzl Quark, Aztar and Aztarex all of which are being replaced or updated next autumn.

35% OFF

Jetboil Helios & Helios Guide

ON SALE 40% Off

ON SALE 40% OFF

New addition to our climbing information section is the How to Choose a Climbing Harness article, written by our very own Fran. Hope you find it useful, feedback as always gratefully received.

How to Choose a Climbing Harness