UKC

Ocun climbing hardware Gear News

© Ocun

Many climbers throughout the UK may be unaware of Ocun as a brand, but the company has been making climbing gear for over twenty five years. Ocun are based in the Mlada Boleslav, in the Czech Republic. The town has a strong engineering heritage, Skoda was also founded there.

Ocun's founder, Pavel Hendrych was an automotive engineer by profession. He started making harnesses using his Grandmother's sewing maching and hand dying the fabrics in the families kitchen. In the early Ninties a visit to the Rock Pillars area of Sibera inspired Pavel to start manufacturing rock shoes. Rock Pillars was an innovative brand from the start. They were the first company to design shoes with soles that covered the the heal, enabling better grip whilst heal hooking. In 2014 to allow greater focus on product devolpment, build quality and customer service Rock Pillars and Ocun were merged into a single brand.

Ocun products are designed and engineered in the Czech Republic. A small number of products are manufactured in the abroad. However there are Czech experts on site at all times. The final assembly of all products is carried out in Ocun's factory in the Czech Republic.

Ferry


A versatile belay and rappel device, with optional guide mode that works on ropes from 7.5mm to 11mm. It also feature an extra hole to enable release under load.

  • 84g
  • RRP: £20

Hurry


A lightweight belay device with two friction modes. It works with both single or double ropes.

  • 43g
  • RRP £15

Condor HMS Screw


A modern HMS carabiner with an independent internal wire gate that prevents the karabiner from rotating when belaying. The top of the karabiner is made from round bar to allow smoth rope handling and reduce wear. The condor has a clean nose to avoid snagging.

  • 85g
  • RRP £16

Eagle HMS Screw


A hot forged, lightweight HMS karabiner with a clean nose. Ideal for use with a belay plate or Italian hitch. It is also available as a tripple and twist lock.

  • £84g
  • RRP £11

Osprey Screw


The Osprey is a hot forged, clean nosed screw gate. It is ideal for big wall climbing and use with pulleys. For climbers using double ropes the symetical shape of the Osprey makes it the perfect belay karabiner. It is also available as a tripple and twist lock.

  • 70g
  • RRP £11

Falcon Screw


A lightweight, hot forged, clean nosed screw gate in the classic offset d shape. Perfect for building belays or adding security to a cruical runner.

  • 53g
  • RRP £10

Kestrel


The Kestrel is a hot forged micro biner available in: red, gold, purple, blue, green and grey. It is probably the best value karabiner of its size on the market; perfect shaving weight of a huge trad rack.

  • 25g
  • RRP £5
  • 6 pack (one of each colour) available for £29

Falcon QD Zoom PAD


The Falcon is a brilliant sport climbing quick draw that does not break the bank. The hot forged Falcon karabiners are large enough that you don't fumble cruical clips, and have a clean nose that doesn't catch on bolts. The 26mm Zoom tape provides durbabilty and is comfortable when working moves. The Falcon is robust enough for working your project at Malham or LPT, yet light enough for onsighting big ptiches in Rodellar of the Verdon.

  • 107g
  • RRP £15

Kestrel QD Nano 8

6 ultra light wire gate quickdraws at an ultra competive price. The draws use 25g Kestral karbabiners, conected by 15cm 8mm Dyneema slings. The bottom krababiner is held in place by a rubber binner fix. This is the ultimate quickdraw for shaving weight off a big trad rack.

  • 58g (per quick draw)
  • RRP £67

Crack Gloves


Crack gloves are like rockshoes for the backs of your hands! These fingerless sticky rubber-backed gloves, made from suede, save the backs of your hands whilst hand-jamming. A velcro strap holds them firmly in place and they are perfectly comfortable wear. Crack gloves are partically worthwhile on rough rock types like gritstone and granite cracks and will save taping up.

They are particually popular with those climbing cracks in the alpine environment as they are quick to take on and off, and unlike tape gloves do not restict your circulation.

  • Anatomic shape.
  • Made from microfibre stretch suede and highly sensitive adhesive rubber for maximum friction.
  • Quick closure system.
Ocun Glove Size Chart

Specifications

  • Size: S, M, L, XL
  • Weight: 57 g

For more information Ocun



30 Jun, 2015
I have Ocun bouldering mat and couple of Hawk wiregates. Wiregates are nearly the same as DMM Spectres, but with slightly stiffer gate opening. Both are brilliant and I would say that the quality is really good. I hope to see more of their products in the UK.
30 Jun, 2015
Crack climbing gloves? Are these for people who can't jam? Alternatives: 1. Learn to jam 2. Toughen up
30 Jun, 2015
an alternative to taping up suppose you'd suggest the wideboyz man-up and learn to jam properly!
Maybe as an experiment you'd like to lead The Vice with a crack glove on one hand and a no glove on the other? I'm a pretty competent hand jammer and was very skeptical before I tried a pair, but they do make jamming quite a lot easier/less painful. For longer routes, or repeated days of crack climbing they are well worth considering. I recently did the 1989 Stanage VS challenge, with out gloves, My hands were pretty shredded by the end of the day. Had I worn crack gloves I have no doubt that they would have been in much better shape. For a trip to somewhere like Lofoten or Squamish I would take a pair for sure. They last a lot longer than tape gloves and are much easier to take on and off. This makes them a great option for crack climbing in the alpine environment, where traditional tape gloves reduce circulation and make already cold hands colder. Think Grand Capucin or Patagonia. Full disclosure: I work for the company that brings Ocun into the UK, but view is my own. Tom
30 Jun, 2015
Nope, I think they are best for people who love jamming (like me) and tend to jam at every possibility. All my hardest leads have been routes that were solely or mainly cracks, I used to use tape gloves (I've found you can get a couple of weeks of climbing out of well made pair) and now have a pair of crack gloves - Singing Rock, although loads of mates have and like the Ocun ones. There is a reason why people tape up in places like Indian Creek or Yosemite - no matter how good at jamming you think you are, you will get some cuts or scratches on, these can get infected, but worse is the bruising and swelling you get from multiple pitches of jamming. Maybe you will get through a long day fine, but if you are holiday somewhere for, say, a week and want to climb more cracks the next day, your hands will be really sore making it much harder. There are also some forms of granite - never come across it in the UK but there could well be some - which is very crystalline and will rip your hands up jamming all too easily. Crack gloves are great then - they are very common among Helsinki climbers for instance for exactly that reason. Helsinki granite can be vicious like that, its just a shame no one has found a way of stopping boulderers shredding their tips on the same type of crystals!
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Product News at UKC presents climbing, walking and mountaineering equipment posts that will be of interest to our readers. Please feel free to comment about the post and products on the associated thread.
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