Best 10 cheap Mountaineering for Ladies

Hi, I'm Colin — power the climbing category director black diamond and this is our new vision harness this is the lightest. Weight full functioning harness on the market 224 grams designed really for alpine climbing for gear loops low-profile gear loops for. Ice buffer slots a super thin. Low-profile belay loop fixed legs it's super packable and really lightweight. Like I said 224 grams so having a. The lightweight harness is one thing but having it really packable is another so it takes up less space in your pack not exactly on the comfortable side of them.

Scale through a lot of the guys have been wearing this thing sport climbing and it's like totally fine really really minimalistic 149 95 available in January. Of 2018. Pretty sick it's pretty sick what we did. With this was we took our kinetic core construction from our Zeno center chaos. And our ethos this is really the guts of that we stripped all the shell and everything off and left the bare bones basically the skeleton so this is. Vector and fiber super strong don't absorb water really packable really lightweight made the width balance.

Between comfort and packability way more comfortable than you would think but it's alpine rig it's designed for alpine climbing no adjustment on the leg loops you know the only adjustment is the waist belt to get it on and off and this belay loop is super cool it's. Basically one strand of super high-tech. Fiber that's wrapped around like a doughnut and then wrapped in this casing.

So, it's not like that most belay loops are a piece of webbing that's folded into looping and bar tack so that's how we could get this to be so strong and so small and its way-way over built we could even make it smaller and it would still meet all the requirements but it would get to the point you'd be freaked out we actually played with the diameter of this tubing, a lot because our other. Have thicker but then it's not as packable.

We found this to be a good balance between functionality and packability if you put nothing on it then it's really hard especially with gloves and jackets and stuff in packs some ski mountaineer is gonna wear this you go to the Tetons you want a real harness that's really light in packs well 224 grams that's insane it's only 5 grams.

I think heavier than the Kawai which I would classify as not a full functioning harness you know yes you can wrap it and. Stuff like that but you know it's got the diaper legs and no gear loop you know that kind of thing so this is like got everything you need on it called the vision because we thought that these climbers that are looking at these crazy north faces in the mountains like they have the vision to link up these ice smears and stuff this is the kind of harness that they want to wear sadly.

We made it for Kyle dempster that's who we made it for and he had our first prototype when we lost him last fall you. Know we made it for those guys for kyle Haydon Kennedy urban Novak you know. Marko appraisal like this kind of dudes you know that are really pushing it but of course, anyone can use it for anything they want but we really wanted to make it for that kind of guys that are pushing the limits in the mountains.

Hey there and welcome back to peace. Couch now as many of you aware I'm about to embark on the marathon disorder which. Is something I've been concentrating really heavily on for the last year or. More as well as doing lots of training. I've been doing so much research on the. Amount of kit going to take and I've been testing a lot of stuff so over the next couple of weeks before I depart I thought I'd share some of those learnings with you and where better.

A place to start than the backpack I'm going to take which I have decided on. The ultimate direction fast pack 20 now. This is super heavy at the moment because it's fully weighted so I've been training with but I just can empty it out and show you why I like it so much so here it is and it's naked form. And this is what I like most about it is that it's so minimal it's basically an expanded running desk it weighs next to nothing and this is kind of one of the big deciding factors for me.

Because obviously, I'm trying to cut down as much weight as possible 510. Grams okay now a great thing to compare. This is the official war bag which a. Lot of people will be using MDF and in. Contrast it's got all kinds of stuff hanging off it and most importantly the. Weight of it 900 grams that's pretty. The huge difference so this is nearly half the weight of the wire back which is an incredible saving but I've also decided. To make an even bigger saving on it there's not much you can cut off it like the like a wild bag you can get the diseases to that and kind of trim off some weight but here it's so minimal anyway but certainly the most notable.

Savings you can make is in the back there's a bit of padding that you can remove, and they say that this can be. Used to sit on or even to you know used. To cushion your hips when you're lying down I found it pretty useless. I've actually having removed this form. The back I've actually found the pack more come — boo and with it out so condition this. That brings the weight of the pack down to give time a gram.

So I say 10 grams right there so although this fast pack is nearly half the weight of the wire bag actually fits way more in it and it's down as a 20 liters bag but I think. You could probably push that out quite a lot partly because of the nature of this main compartment and how it seals its kind of like a dry bag has a velcro fastening that then rolls and then clips. In at the sides now I probably got about. 20 liters in there now but you can. Basically just not roll it down as much and sitting maybe another five liters.

Into that main compartment, it's not only that you've also got this fat mesh here. Which you can fit loads in that really stretches out and it's a firm mesh as well so it's going to hold things firmly in place I don't tend to put a massive amount in there because I like to keep my weight closer to my back but it's actually really good for holding waterproof or extra base layers that you. Might be using during the day stuff that down there and it holds it in their lovely and secure on top of those two main compartments we've got these mesh pockets on the side which also hold a lot of stuff very stretchy and pretty. Secure I'll generally use those side pockets for stuffing food and stuffing rubbish because even though I've got terrible flexibility I can reach into those pockets quite nicely so coming onto the front, and we've got two really great water pouches here it really surprises me how many ultra bags don't.

Seem to have big enough pouches built in. For hard water bottles and maybe because they want to offer flexibility so that people can attach themselves but as you think this is a great weight saving thing to be able to build them into the bag that ultimates are it shouldn't have done so as you can see — water pool. Tools fit there really nicely there's also the option on this right-hand one if you don't want to. Carry two water bottles this zips back up again and there's actually a really nice secure pocket that you could maybe put bars you could put all kinds of stuff down in there it's actually a really brilliant phone holder you can put your phone down into their sip it back up and that's super secure.

But I actually find that's one of the major downsides of its bad for me is that I'm going to be running around with two bottles most of the time and there's nowhere for me to put my phone now I'm not expecting to be on the phone the whole time but it'd be really good to have access to music and stuff like that if I do want to listen to music currently there's nowhere else. On the front of the bag for me to put it. There's this outside stretchy pocket just outside where the water bottle is but actually getting your phone into it. It's pretty much a no-go really the best.

A place for you to put your phone is there's a smaller zip pocket on the side of the bag then it can go in nice and. Securely there's also one of this clip leaves to put your keys onto you know I've ever used one of these so the annoying thing about it is that it's going to be too far away for you to reach when you've got your bag on so coming back to the front you've also got two smaller pouches below the water bottles so if I just take these out so you can get a better look so on the left.

Hand side we've got zip and on the. Right-hand side we've got a velcro strap these are actually bigger than they look quite often I use them to dump keys and just have stuff that I want readily available, but they're actually stretch out to hold a couple of bars maybe or you know something slightly more sizable approach they just not that phone but you can see I can fit two full Clif bars. Into each one of these pockets obviously. One of the most important things about the bag is how comfortable it is and I get on really well with this and I think.

That could partly be because of the nature of these shoulder straps it's actually one bit of fabric runs straight. From the base of the bag over the. Shoulders and down the front you can see it completely wraps around which makes it really comfortable all the way around and especially now I've taken that back bit of padding out it just molds into your body really nicely so one thing that it's most commonly criticized for is that it has two chest straps but no waist strap and a lot of people will say that that creates a bit too much side-to-side bouncing when they're running.

I can definitely see that point but I don't really experience it too badly myself and I think that's partly because I found a configuration that really works for me on the front here I tend to pack. A lot of the weight in the bag place for my body to avoid bouncing if I do experience any bouncing I tend to try and adjust my running to be a little normal glider which I guess I see is a win-win situation I kind of want to be a little bit more glide ii so the chest straps themselves are actually really nicely adjustable they're set into these sliders here which you can move them up and down so I found best. For security for me is to have one right.

At the top and then slide the bottom one right down to the bottom and that kind. Of clips me in nicely either side of the rib cage by far my biggest issue with this bag is full of my decision to take polls to the mds oh now handily enough. There's actually some really nice. Elastic straps on the back that hold them nicely in place you can put them down here there's a clippable elastic. Bungee that you can wrap them around and have them nice and secure on the back of. The pack like that but I know having. Poles on the back of the bag I will never use them so really I need to have. Then on the front straps but unfortunately on the front straps, there's nothing there that's made to hold the poles.

So I've had to try and budge something to make it work for me now, unfortunately, I haven't made life easy for my selves and I've got poles that fold into four sections which means. That both the handle and the pointer at the bottom which means that when it's. Going down this way there's nothing really to hold on to the top of the pole so my first idea was to put a hook at. That I tied on to one of these things here and I took this string on the top. And then I tied it to the side that worked it was actually quite comfortable. But it was just.

So fiddly I'm hooking this and hooking it back on again I probably was never going to use my poles because it was too fiddly so then. I tried other things I tried to pass them on to the front which is a terrible idea don't try that it was awful and I also tried to fasten it down here somewhere which again didn't work so my final winning solution simply uses two pieces of elastic one of which just ties. Straight around the strap and around the water bottle here and one which fixes on.

To the bottom buckle over here and that one has a sliding clip on it so all we. Do is we take the end of the poles and put it through the bottom bit of elastic we tie that site then put the end over the spike which. Then holds that in position and stops it falling down then the top you just feed. Through that top bit of elastic which. Holds it nice and securely in place so that's nicely out the way and more.

Importantly it's a really light solution and i know it's going to be simple enough for me to deploy and actually use the poles when I need to use them so that is the ultimate direction fast pack 20 is a massive winner for me really recommend it if you are doing a multi-day ultra or if you just do a lot of running weekend so check it out.

We're taking a look at the leakey micro Vario carbon dss anti-shock trekking. Poles these are extremely collapsible. Ultra lightweight trekking poles that. Are perfect for your owns counting backpackers travelers who are looking. For trekking poles that really collapse down into luggage and people who are looking for a lightweight pair of trekking poles that don't skimp on any. Features so these are fully featured.

Poles the first thing I want to point out here about these poles is they actually do have a shock absorber at the. Bottom so the dss in the naming here it. Stands for a dynamic suspension system lake ease put a lot of research and. Development into this feature and there's an elastomer here at the bottom. Close to the point of impact of the.

Ground it's lightweight and it's extremely durable so it's not going to. Wear out over a long period of time and the basic function of this shock absorber is really to take out that vibration that you feel through the trekking pole when you're hiking for long days long miles on the trail. Sometimes that vibration that comes. Through the pole can irritate your wrists your elbows your shoulders and. This just dampens that vibration the. Another standout feature of these poles is that they are extremely collapsible and the way leaky achieves this is by. Having a very durable cord that runs through all shaft sections of these.

Poles and they go together almost like. Tent poles they remind me of the way tent poles are designed and then all you do in order to set them up is stretch. That out and it tensions the cord that's. Inside and makes this very durable there's a push button here that comes. Out once you've got everything set up you can hear that positive click and then you've got an extremely durable pole here so really great design now. This is carbon fiber so each of these. Shaft sections are extremely lightweight perfect for that ounce can in backpackers and this does have an.

Adjustable range these will adjust from. A hundred and ten centimeters all the. Way up to a hundred and thirty centimeters so fully-featured trekking. Pole here on those days where you may be. Climbing or descending and you really want to make quick adjustments it's perfect you can also really just dial in the exact length of trekking poles that you. Need and this is lake ease speed lock. It's an external lock it couldn't be any easier to adjust basically you just. Flick it open with your thumb adjust it. To the proper height and then flick it closed and you've got a really secure lock while we're up here on the grips.

You do have an ergonomic leaky air gan. Grip there are thermo grips so you've got really comfortable foam here and the. The thing I really like about foam grips is they work well in all temperatures and in all seasons so in the summer if your. Hands begin to perspire this really. Wicks away sweat and you can keep a. Secure grip there with your hands but. Also in the winter, this material works well with gloves you have an extended. Grip here so if you need to grip the pole at a different spot that's really easy and then you have this egg-shaped top that's really great for palming.

The top of the pole so a nice wide top there. And then obviously you've gotten adjustable straps they're really comfortable they're lightweight and you can adjust them to just take the strain. Off of your wrists as you're hiking moving down the pole you have Leki's carbide flex tips it's very durable. Tip here and you have that carbide end. So that's going to last a really long time and the thing that's great about these tips is that they do flex a little. But if they're put under a lot of pressure so let's say they're caught between two rocks it's going to take them.

Force away from the actual shaft sections of the poles and this tip is going to take most of that force so it's going to protect the poll it's going to last a long time and they are replaceable you do get just a narrow. Diameter basket here there is a thread. On the tips, so you can take these. Baskets off and put a snow basket on. There if you need to so with all the features here you get a very lightweight set of poles with that carbon construction they're extremely collapsible so there.

Great for travel they're great for those ounce counting backpackers who don't want to skimp on any features you've got all the adjustability you need in a very comfortable grip they're the leakey micro vario carbon dss anti-shock. Trekking poles. You.

got just enough features with a comfortable and technical suspension system that's going to keep you comfortable on the trail all day long it's the Gregory women's Sula 18 liters.