Trail Gear Blog Nov 14th

Gear news

13 November 2008 14:23

New winter gear from DMM
DMM are gearing up for a major overhaul of their 2008 ice axes and crampons for Jan 09. Most notably, their 10- and 12-point crampons will be redesigned with the most popular winter boots in mind. Simon Marsh, climbing products manager told us, “The first samples are through and our team have tried them on the most popular 3-4 season boots, like LaSportiva, Scarpa, Garmont and Meindl. Boots have got more technical and our aim is to make cleverly designed crampons that will fit boots better, across a wide range of brands and sizes.”

That’s not all. DMM are also working closely with Petzl to develop an improved, smaller belay device to follow the popular Reverso 3, to be released next March. Simon says, “This is more great news for scramblers and rock climbers as the development of lightweight gear has made the full traditional climbing rack 20% lighter, allowing people to climb harder routes with less load.”

How the hell...
...does the latest Petzl’s headtorch work? The Myo RXP is out this Dec and is a programmable upgrade to the XP. It has two lamp buttons, which when pressed simultaneously, take you into program mode where you can customize three light modes to one of eight levels of brightness based on your needs. Confused already? We were too, so we got Petzl’s Rin Colombi to demonstrate it in this video.

Trail mag’s technical editor Graham Thompson is using a Myo RXP right now to see how it compares with the original Myo XP, so watch out for a used and abused review in an upcoming issue.

Tog 24 go digital
TOG 24 have released a new range of robotic outdoor wear that allows you to listen to music rather than that pesky bird song while you walk. You store your MP3 player in a ‘media pocket’ and operate it via a control panel on the jacket sleeve of any garment in the PLAY range. Now you can adjust the volume and click through tracks without taking off your gloves or having to fish it out of your pocket.

The £150 Vortex Men’s Milatex Music is a waterproof jacket with roll-away hood, storm flap and storm cuffs, underarm ventilation zips for temperature regulation and an interactive main zip to add a zip-in fleece for extra warmth.

The £190 women’s Delta Music jacket is a performance 3 in1 jacket (you get a fleece too) constructed from TOG 24’s MILATEX waterproof, windproof and breathable fabric. It also features a rollaway hood, double storm flap and map pocket.

TNF best sellers

We asked The North Face what gear you guys have gone mad for so far this winter.
They said that for women, “The TKA 100 1/4 zip rules. It’s stylish, very practical and versatile micro fleece in a large range of colours and a very reasonable price at £35.”
And for men? “The £140 Evolution Triclimate has sold the best. It’s an incredibly versatile waterproof jacket and zip in 200 weight fleece.”
And for everyone? “The Bones Beanie, a classic hat with our logo in a wide range of colours.”