Spring Gear Review Roundup

It’s been a busy spring, and we’ve had the chance to put some excellent new gear through the ringer to see how it stacks up. Here’s a quick recap of what we’ve taken a look at so far this year.

The Osprey Variant 52 is an excellent cragging pack, big enough for everything you could possible want for a day at the cliff, and durable enough to take season after season of abuse.

The Patagonia Retro Grade Pants are a perfect blend of comfort and performance, light enough to wear in warmer weather but not so light they can’t take some full on roughing up.

In the shoe department, the Five Ten Rogue is a good entry level slipper, being inexpensive while still climbing well. The La Sportiva Boulder X approach shoes are burly, and can take just about anything you can throw at them. And speaking of burly, the Five Ten Grandstone’s have become my new trad shoe of choice.

Rounding things out we’ve got the Metolius FS Mini’s and Long Draws. The Mini’s offer a lightweight carabiner in an incredibly small package, and the long draws are great for trad cragging.

That’s it for spring, as we move into summer we’ve got some more fun stuff in the lineup, so stay tuned!