ISPO 2018 - Final Report
The UKC team recently returned from the annual gear-fest in Munich: ISPO 2018. Here are some video interviews with brand representatives, who talked us through the key features of their latest creations.
The UKC team recently returned from the annual gear-fest in Munich: ISPO 2018. Here are some video interviews with brand representatives, who talked us through the key features of their latest creations in climbing hardware.
Stal Anchors
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You're likely to see these popping up at walls around the country. The design comes as a result of recent safety concerns with some lower-offs. The Stal system seeks to present a safe, simple, and modular system. It also features entirely replaceable and inspectable parts so safety can be assessed and updated if necessary.
DMM - PerfectO RRP £9 each or £30 for 4
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The PerfectO is a specifically designed with racking in mind. It's oval shape means it rotates around with ease, but the distinct catch on the gate means that it's easy to feel when they're in the correct orientation. Four colours allow you to distinguish between the different carabiners and what's on them.
Edelrid - Carabiner Overview RRP £7 to £27
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Edelrid's range of Hardwear has been growing in both quality and quantity over the last few years. From the ultralight Nineteen G (the worlds lightest Carabiner at 19g!) to the ultra durable Bulletproof there is innovation within each product and something for everyone. The Bulletproof HMS in particular looks like a real show stopper.
Black Diamond - Ultra Light Ice Screw RRP £71 - £74
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Super light aluminium shaft with a steel tip. 45% lighter than their previous screws, with a neat folding wire handle for ease of screwing
Black Diamond - Reactor RRP £220
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A tool that does it all - easy, hard and mixed. Brilliant on water ice. An adjustable off-set grip. It features a new Naturalist pick with a more open pick angle.
Black Diamond - Chalk Range
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Winner of an ispo award, this new engineered chalk absorbs up to 10 times more moisture than standard magnesium carbonate. You can really feel the difference, they say... it can be mixed in varying proportions with other powdered chalk. Can also be bought pre mixed in a 1:10 ratio as black gold. Pure Gold is the pure chalk whilst white and black gold are the diluted forms.
Petzl - Quark, Nomic and Ergonomic RRP £205, £230 & £280
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The axes retain all of their essential features. All three feature a highly sculpted shaft. The base and the top of the handle are adjustable. The Nomic now has a hole in its base to attach leashes and now has a solid handle. It also comes with weights on the pick. The hammer is interchangeable. It comes with the Pure Ice pick although this is again interchangeable. The Ergonomic has the same shaft as the Nomic. The handle differs to make it Ergonomic. The Nomic now has a molded sleeve and the head is deeper to eliminate any wobble.
Klettern Retter - Cream Chalk RRP £10
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Cream chalk for climbers. A fast drying cream chalk that significantly reduces chalk dust and disinfects your hands.
Climbing Technology - Click Up Plus RRP £75
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An improved version of the Click-up. It has smoother rope feed, and add safety feature in the event of a fall with both ropes held upwards. Better design to fit in the hand for easier lowering.
Climbing Technology - Via Ferrata Sets
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New adjustable system in the shock absorber which covers body weights from 40kg to 120kg. Smaller and more compact system now fitted as standard on all CT via Ferrara sets.
Beta Climbing Designs - Beta Stick
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The Beta Stick is reincarnated! It now comes in two sizes, both of which pack up smaller than the original stick. The head has had a redesign too, making getting those draws in that much easier.
Comments
From the Edelrid video description:
"the worlds lightest Karbala at 19g!"
There's some interesting auto-correct going on there! From the word karabiner, to the name of an Iraqi city. And to get an A* in your RE GCSE, who can explain the importance of Karbala in Shia Muslim tradition? :-)
"the head wobble issue, not yours, the previous axes" !
Ha ha
The Petzl rep saying 'problem eliminated' regarding the head wobble seems a bit of a spit in the face for all the people that supposedly 'abused' their axes in a not-for-purpose way. Still absolutely baffled as to why they didn't accept the fault, fix the issue and not alienate climbers. I wouldn't touch a Petzl tool with a barge pole after that.
Probably because its expensive and not really necessary. I'm sure used properly this stuff will make your hands even drier, but normal chalk dries sweat off hands to cracking point as it is. A chalk bag full of saturated mesoporous chalk (as it will be after its been in your chalk bag for a week) isn't really going to make much difference in the real world use because you will have to open the bag immediately before use to prevent it absorbing moisture from the air.
At least there is more to this than the friction labs selling the same Hydromagnesite (chalk) as the next company but pretending to be scientists in order to market the emperors new clothes.
Looking forward to picking up the discarded condom bags that the black diamond stuff comes in at the bottom of my local crag soon....