Taken from Rockclimbing.com
DMM Wales
Once we were finished at Misty, we stepped across the aisle to meet with Steve at DMM to talk about their new gear coming up this season.
Although it didn’t come up right away, I finally got the lowdown on the story with the HB Offset fiasco. The short version is that DMM could not produce the stoppers without upping the price by almost 50% per unit. Thus, the former HB employee who actually manufactured the units for HB was given leave by DMM to go ahead and produce them on her own and try to make a go of it. The final end of the story comes when Julian (the employee), signed an exclusive contract with the Yosemite Mountain Shop for distribution of the HB Offset (Hugh still owns the rights). So, there it is- the only place in the world you can buy the HB Offsets is at the YMS…just in case you were wondering!
http://www.yosemitegifts.com/hboffsets.html
Now, on with DMM’s really fun offerings this season! First up is a new standard in lightweight wiregates. DMM’s new wiregate called the Phantom will set the new record for ultra light when it comes out in March- barely registering on the scales at a scant 24g! It is tiny, like the Nano, but I bet folks are going to love it.
DMM’s trend of ultralight stuff continues with their other carabiners- the Shadow, a regular gate carabiner comes in four versions- straight, bent, screwgate, and autolocker. The straight and bent gate versions are only 43g and keylock, making them an attractive carabiner for those not into wiregates.
DMM’s final ultralight offering for next season is a tiny stainless steel belay device called the V-Twin that really looks cool (and was tough to photograph- so shiny!). This is a prototype- the production version will be a bit beefier and with slightly wider slots.
