Mountain Equipment Climbing
It’s a strange hook that keeps us doing what we do. But one thing is for sure, a love for climbing comes with its share of pain. Don’t expect everyone to understand the satisfaction of a deep, wedged hand in a gritstone crack, don’t expect them to know what your dog-eared guide book with years of hard-earned ticks means to you. And sharing a beer with someone whose hands held your leader fall hours ago just counts more than an average Friday night out. We don’t have all the answers to why we do what we do, but you can know that we are out there, living the bittersweet journey alongside you. And making the best mountain gear in the world can also be a strangely painful and committed route. But the rewards are there. It is the drive for excellence from designers, fabric technologists and gear testers that overcomes the status quo and breaks new ground. Striving for new products to be the very best, and then seeing them worn around the world is at the heart of everything we do.
D Josef Hilpold
Dave MacLeod
D Alexandre Buisse
Dave MacLeod attempts his ďŹ rst Alpine route, Paciencia (8a 900m) on the north face of the Eiger.
Pitch 4, Paciencia, 7c
D Alexandre Buisse
Dave MacLeod on the Eiger
D Calum Muskett
I’ d done next to no “climbing for several weeks except a few indoor sessions. My endurance was nil.” On paper it was completely ridiculous for me to go near Paciencia. I’d just come through one of the most difficult six weeks of my life and climbing just hadn’t featured. However, predictably, on meeting Calum Muskett in Chamonix it took about two minutes to decide that we would head straight to the Eiger for the first route. It would be my first alpine multi-pitch route with a new climbing partner. His preparation was at the other end of the scale – he was fresh from putting up a series of new routes up to E8. Paciencia is the hardest route on the north face of the Eiger. It was also top of the list we had cooked up when I was a lot closer to being fully fit. The route was first free climbed in 2008 by Ueli Steck and then repeated just once by David Lama in 2011. Reading Lama’s blog made me wince.
He rated it one of the hardest routes in the alps and said he was utterly exhausted by the time he reached the top. The objective was clear, both free the entire route with no falls, whether leading or seconding. We already knew from reading David Lama’s account that the many 7b and 7c pitches were going to be very hard to onsight. So we decided to give ourselves three full days to climb to the top since we would need the extra time for both of us to succeed on each of the 23 pitches. When we reached the second bivi below the Czech Pillar, we spent the following day climbing the hard pitches that followed, before descending for one more night on the ledge. Both of us were tired that day, and I almost fell right at the end of a 7c+ pitch, where I knew Lama had also fallen. I knew I didn’t have the energy for
another go within the hour, so I just held on like my life depended on it when a foothold broke four moves from the belay ledge. While Calum worked on the pitch, a helicopter appeared, hovering close by. The door opened and a long lens popped out and took some pictures of us. I thought to myself, that doesn’t happen in Scotland. Although the pitch grades don’t look too bad on paper, it’s fair to say that we knew we had taken on a bit of a sandbag. The pitches are 6b, 6a, 6a+, 7c, 7c, 7a, 8a, 7a+, 6b+, 6a+, 6a+, 7c, 7c+, 7b, 7a, 6a, 7a+, 7c, 7a, 6c+, 6b, 6b, 6c+. One of the 6b+’s we thought translated to E4 6b. The blisters on my toes from wearing ill-fitting boots on the recce day had grown steadily worse.
After nearly four days hard climbing my rockshoes had become serious teeth gritters. And the walk back down to Grindelwald was almost as interesting as the route. Of course, sitting in a cafe the next day, life felt sweet again. It’s a stunning route with proper big wall atmosphere. I’d recommend it to anyone who can climb the grade. It may just be the right therapy for the tough times in life that no-one seems to escape from. All credit goes to Ueli Steck and Stefan Siegrist for opening the route. It must have been a serious effort. Dave MacLeod has been a Mountain Equipment pro partner for over ten years. He helps to design high mountain and climbing gear and then does his very best to destroy it.
D Calum Muskett
Introducing the Squall Hooded Jacket
The brief was simple - create the ultimate rock climber’s Soft Shell. A perfect layer for any route, on any cliff, anywhere. With a lightweight, double woven stretch fabric the Squall is as tough as it is lightweight and as comfortable as it is protective. A minimalist exercise in taking nothing more than you need.
Redefining lightweight Soft Shell
HARD CLIMBING SOFT JACKET
Lightweight Soft Shell
NEW MEN’S COMICI SHORT
NEW WOMEN’S COMICI SHORT
NEW MEN’S COMICI PANT
NEW WOMEN’S COMICI PANT
Maximum warmth where you need it and maximum breathability where you need it. This hybrid jacket works with you rather than simply shutting out the elements. Polartec速 Alpha速 wraps the body in lightweight insulation and high wicking microgrid fleece lines the arms and hood. The Kinesis Jacket is perfect for alpinism where speed of movement generates excess heat but core warmth can also be critical.
Natalie Berry’s transition from bolts to trad D Chris Prescott
D Chris Prescott
I think the mental “ strength for competitions
and for hard sport on-sights or red points might come in handy – well I’m hoping.” When climbing walls were just a place to train or take shelter from the rain, it was impossible to imagine the effect they would have on British climbing standards. The breed of climbers that emerged, blinking in the light and sniffing the air came with all the strength and technique to quickly show a clean pair of heels to the beards and Boreal Aces brigade. Protection needed learning, of course, but balance, dexterity and strength were certainly transferable skills. Add the swagger of youth and almost anything becomes possible.
One such young climber and Mountain Equipment’s newest pro partner making the switch from sports to trad is Natalie Berry. Showing talent from as young as eight, Natalie grew up competing. By eleven she was already in the GB youth team. This gave Natalie the opportunity to compete at an international level all over the world, culminating in a win at the European Youth Series in Slovenia in 2007. By 2012 she was on-sighting 7c and had climbed up to 8b, one of only a handful of British women to do so. Now aged 21 and based out of Edinburgh, Natalie continues
to climb for the GB senior lead team. But her mindset is changing. “I’ve done competitions for so many years and so much sport climbing that I just feel I need to get out and do something different. I was living in the alps and saw everyone doing so much cool stuff in the mountains I just knew I needed to try new things. I think it’s just too limiting to just do one type of climbing. Of course there’s lots to learn which is all part of the attraction. I’ve got to learn about placements and setting up belays and of course there are is no replacement for getting solid experience behind you.”
Natalie has been climbing with Dave MacLeod for the last few months. Dave is certainly a solid and motivated mentor who has climbed at the highest level. There probably couldn’t be a better guide for ice, trad rock routes and gnarly mixed Scottish routes. It remains to be seen whether Natalie can become part of the elite few who are able to reset the grades for women’s climbing in the trad world in the same way as she has with sport climbing. She certainly has youth on her side and talent in spades.
D Chris Prescott
D Chris Prescott
Natalie Berry’s transition from bolts to trad
Zippy’s Traverse. Stanage, UK.
Tough, and perfectly fitting. Hope Pants are fit for big wall epics, fit for ultra-technical limestone sport routes and fit for bold gritstone test pieces. They are hardwearing, abrasion resistant and if they do get wet, they dry in a flash. Designed for long, long days, with built-in stretch, they are the perfect balance of tough and comfortable. The look is simple and they are quite simply the perfect all-round climbing pants.
Fit. Form. Function.
MEN’S & WOMEN’S LATTICE JACKET
NEW MEN’S & WOMEN’S FRONTIER HOODED JACKET
NEW MEN’S INTEGRITY HOODED ZIP TEE
NEW MEN’S GROUNDUP LOGO TEE
Good grades A schoolboy’s worldwide climbing adventure D Ralf Heuber
D Ralf Heuber
D Ralf Heuber
Homework has never looked so good for teenager Florian Heuber. When Florian Heuber was thirteen, he set himself the task of climbing fourteen 8a routes before his fourteenth birthday. It’s fair to say, he enjoyed his homework more than his classmates did. Succeeding with this first challenge was also the start of a worldwide climbing journey, with his father, photographer and sometime belayer Ralf, that continues today. “I’m sixteen and still in school, so getting enough free time is sometimes challenging – it’s certainly getting harder and harder to balance climbing and schoolwork. I’m waiting impatiently
for the long summer, and in two years I will finish school and most probably get to do the two things I love most for a year, climbing and travelling. I’m so lucky to have been able to visit some really cool climbing spots. Thailand really stands out for me. The most famous climbing area is Tonsai, it was so crowded that we decided to explore some of the small islands. Koh Yah Noi was one of them and it was perfect – sea cliffs, perfect beaches, sunshine and a really chilled atmosphere. I only had one day there but managed to climb Hang-em-High, a stunningly beautiful setting, and another 8a.
I also like to travel within Europe. My favourite areas so far are the South of France and the North of Spain. I’ve been there many times but I still have so much more to explore. At the weekends I climb with my training mates at least one of the two days, mostly climbing at local cliffs, just one to two hours from our home in the south of Munich. Areas like Schleierwasserfall, Frankenjura and Zillertal. I have just returned from a trip to Osp in Slovenia, it was a training trip with the Bavarian youth climbing team. We had tons of fun and pushed ourselves pretty
hard, I was pleased to climb my first 8b+ and an 8a flash. Our family Christmas will be spent climbing in Laos which looks incredible. A friend of mine will join us. So fun and motivation should be no problem. This will be awesome! I’ve only had to take a break from climbing once, due to a finger injury when I was fourteen, and I discovered paragliding. Now, if the weather looks good, I’m sometimes tempted to get my cross country flying hours higher. So unfortunately, I now have two great reasons to leave my schoolwork.”
D Ralf Heuber
Insulation
A key ally for protracted missions in the high mountains, the Mazeno combines water resistant down with resilient synthetic insulation. For extended use on the highest peaks you need layers that offer the highest levels of insulation whilst requiring the minimum care. Down and synthetic insulation both have their strengths but long expeditions at altitude with minimal kit can expose the limitations of both options. The Mazeno brings you the best of both worlds in a carefully engineered hybrid construction that keeps working day after day.
D Paul Diff ley
Men’s
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1 Foil Jacket, Steel Blue 2 Lattice Jacket, Pumpkin 3 Integrity Hooded Zip Tee, Harbour Blue 4 Hope Pant, Shale 5 Branded Beanie, Lava/Flame 6 Perspective Pant, Shale 7 Groundup Logo Tee, Lava 8 Perspective Short, Shale 9 Yorik Tee, Lava
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Men’s
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1 Kinesis Jacket, Citronelle 2 Eclipse Hooded Zip Tee, Citronelle 3 Squall Hooded Jacket, Flint 4 Comici Pant, Flint 5 Comici Short, Citronelle 6 Frontier Pant, Abyss 7 Spectrum Zip Tee, Citronelle 8 Frontier Hooded Jacket, Abyss 9 Crux Tee, Shadow Grey
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Women’s
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1 Kinesis Jacket, Steel Blue 2 Darwin Jacket, Alpenglow 3 Aeon Jacket, Harbour Blue 4 Perspective Pant, Shadow Grey 5 Approach Short, Pewter 6 Hope Pant, Shadow Grey 7 Gear Tee, Harbour Blue 8 Calico Hooded Jacket, Shadow Grey 9 Equinox Vest, Alpenglow
Women’s 1
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1 Firefox Jacket, Foxglove 2 Ultratherm Jacket, Meltwater 3 Squall Hooded Jacket, Foxglove 4 Eclipse Hooded Zip Tee, Emerald 5 Comici Short, Foxglove 6 Branded Beanie, Byzantium/Foxglove 7 Comici Pant, Shale 8 Frontier Vest, Foxglove 9 Divinity SS Zip Tee, Lime Cream 10 Modus Zip Tee, Meltwater
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