A local paper, the Post Independent, has an article today about the new Rifle Mountain Park & Western Colorado Rock Climbs guidebook. It focuses on Dave Pegg, the motivating force behind the guide and the founder of Wolverine Publishing. Definitely worth a quick read.

In other news, NPS officials are starting to confiscate stashed pads in Rocky Mountain Park. This seems to be somewhat of a controversial issue for some, but if you’re too lazy to carry crash pad a couple miles, then maybe you shouldn’t be back there.

Also, the Climbing Narc is giving away some DVD’s and Pimpin and Crimpin has an entertaining interview with Climbing Mag Editor in Chief Matt Samet.

Here at SplitterChoss.com headquarters we’ve got some more reviews coming down the pipe, as well as some interviews with local climbers, and a whole lot more.

After Tracy and I got married, we realized our combined our racks gave us close to 80 cams. This comes in handy, especially when we go to the Creek, as for most climbs we don’t need to borrow other people’s gear. About half of these cams are pretty old, though, some I bought back in high school, so we figured it was time to get the webbing replaced. I think they say that five years is the longest you should go before getting rid of the original nylon slings. Five, fifteen, who’s counting?

After talking to a few people, I settled on sending the cams in to Yates. I’d heard good things about their service, and I couldn’t be happier with the results. They got the cams (34 of them!) back to me extremely quickly, it seems like they must have put the slings on the day they got them, and sent them back the same or very next day. The quality is top notch; I spent a half hour just fondling all the new slings, psyched to have the whole “family” back together.

So if you are looking to get your cams reslung (and you should if they are getting old!), then definitely check out Yates, I know they’ve got me as a loyal customer now for sure.

I’ve reached the point where I need to replace my current Miuras, so I was taking stock of the shoes I currently use. When I worked at Climbing Magazine I got a lot of shoes for free, but most I thought were crap compared to my trusty Miuras. You’d get an occasional 5.10 that was good, but not much beyond that. As a brand, Sportiva puts out a high quality product and because of this I’ve been pretty loyal. Here’s what I use on a regular basis.

Miuras - These are my go to shoes for just about everything. I have them sized so they fit my feet well without causing any pain. Great for sport climbing to long multipitch routes. They offer good support without being too stiff, definitely my favorite shoe of all time. The only downside here is a lot of jamming can be pretty painful if you have them sized right. But that leads us to the…

Mythos - When it’s time to head to the desert, you can’t beat the Mythos. The low profile slips easily into cracks and holds up well to repeated abuse. My only complaint is that the laces are often cut by the toe if you are jamming thinner cracks. I solve this by replacing the standard lace with accessory cord, and you’re good to go. I actually own two pairs of these, one for all around crack climbing, and then a more comfortable pair that I only wear in the Creek, as they’d be too sloppy for other spots.

Venoms - I got these for free and they have been a fun indoor/bouldering shoe. They have an aggressive toe that’s good for the steep stuff, and I like having a slipper thats easy to get on and off. They’re soft, making them a good training option as they’ll help build up your foot strength.

I’ve also been looking at the Barracudas as another good all around option, if only there was a shop around here that carried them…

So what’s in your quiver?

The Icon from Black Diamond is unique among the headlamps of the world: it offers a rechargeable battery. As someone who tries to live in a sustainable matter, it bothers me that things like headlamps, cameras and beacons often burn through many batteries over the course of the year. This rechargeable option is just the ticket, and the Icon isn’t some sissy headlight, as this thing puts out the watts. If you happen to look into it as you turn it on, like our unfortunate roommate did, you might go blind for a few seconds.

It offers two lighting modes, one big LED and four smaller ones. There are several brightness settings for each giving you about seven different settings to choose from. To switch between the two you simply press the power button down half way, simple yet effective. I found this plenty easy to accomplish even with gloves on as I was skinning up Sopris early Sunday morning.

But wait, you say, it looks really heavy! Come on, are you kidding? This is a headlamp, what’s a couple of extra ounces? I’m not one to complain about carry a few extra pounds here and there, and when you get the kind of quality light the Icon puts out, you wont think twice about tossing it in your pack.

The rechargeable battery is said to last for up to 90 hours on the brightest setting. We’ll never let it run out though, since we’ll be recharging it from our Brunton solar panels. Pretty cool to think this little light can be powered entirely by energy from the sun.

I recently picked up the new Black Diamond Apollo lantern, and I have to say, I’m impressed. I’ve used some dinky little battery powered LED lanterns before, but this one is different: it comes with all the bells and whistles.

First off, it’s a nice size, big enough to be effective car camping, but not so big you wouldn’t consider throwing it in your pack for a short overnight trip. Also, the amount of light it puts out is impressive. We pulled into our camp below Castleton this past weekend well after dark. When I flipped on the Apollo I was immediately surprised by how bright it was! If you need something a little more subtle, it’s even got a dimmer switch to lower the intensity.

It runs off of 4 AA batteries, or if you are more eco-minded, you can get Black Diamond’s NRG rechargeable battery kit, and there is handy indicator on the lantern that tells you how much power you have left. If you are on the road for an extended stay, hook it up with a Brunton solar panel, and you’ll have as much light as the sun can give you.

Overall, this is one slick product. It does everything it should do, and does it well. If you’ve been looking for a small lantern like this, go get one of these for sure. I know it’ll be coming on many more trips with us.