Diana Rooney

I've used these boots for ice climbing and winter mountaineering adventures for two years now. Being leather boots, they took a while to break in, but they have turned into slippers. The heel is narrow and quite snug, but I do have to resort to some lacing techniques to prevent heel lift. The boot has a great lockdown feature to allow your laces to be tigher around the ankle without cutting off circulation on your foot.

I have not tried these in temps below 0F, and I have had some problems with my feet getting cold/frostbite, but I blame that more on my insoles than the boots themselves. I've replaced the cheap felt insoles with a pair of superfeet hot pinks - and I haven't had an isssue since. Plus, you can score these on clearance for pretty low prices. As a boot for ice climbing or for general mountaineering - why pay more for something when this gets the job done?

I've owned these shoes for two years, and cranked some long, hot days at the Gunks and pulled quite a bit of plastic on these. I'm on my second resole. My thoughts:

Sizing: Women's 9.5, bought a EUR 41. I wish I owned a half size larger than I bought, as the size tends to get painful for me after your feet swell or after a mere 3-4 pitches. They've become my indoor shoes unless its 40-55F out, and I'm considering buying a larger pair for outdoor use.

Shoe: The Synthetic upper, while great because it doesn't stretch, doesn't really let your feet breathe either, which can be a drag. The fabric is doubled up, which unlike the sirens and gambits prevents them from stretching a lot. If you don't pull the tongue out and let these babies air out, you will get stinky shoes.

Rubber: Onyxx rubber rocks, it edges and smears great. The original rubber cracked down the rand in the front of the toe "point" in about 3 months of climbing, but the first resole lasted a year after that. The rand rubber also seems to take a lot of abuse, every resole i've had required a rand too. Unfortunately I haven't done an ounce of crack climbing in them to help you there.

Shoe Shape: The edging on these shoes is supreme, and the way the outside of your foot molds over the outside edge gives you a huge advantage in outside edging ability and control. You might think its no big deal, but you'll appreciate it on some airy cross-step move. However, the pointed toe tends to get in the way more at the horizontal-holded world of the Gunks than its helpful, its biggest problem is if you have to pivot on the toe on a tiny hold or horizontal - the pointy bit would tend to knock you out from your stance as you rotated. Of course, after two rand replacements, the point profile looks more like the front of the anaszai now, and I think its changed for the better.

Overall, even though I mainly use these shoes for pulling plastic, they sometimes get hot, and will smell if you don't air them out, their control and ability outweighs that. I like these more now that they've been resoled, if that makes sense, and I do like these shoes enough that i'd buy a larger size to use in the real vertical world.

The bottom line - these insoles saved my feet and my love of Ice Climbing, and they'll save your cold winter footsie woes too.

Before owning these insoles, my feet were suffering - the descent back to the car was always excruciating, and my feet would sweat too much and then freeze. I'd have to wear sneakers to work for a few days until my swollen feet healed. At first, I blamed new boot break-in, bad footwork, etc; I tried deodorant and the other usual tricks but a year and two episodes of frostbite (on warm 20 degree days) later I knew something had to change before I ruined my feet. The wicking and insulating properties of these puppies is outstanding, and the shock-absorption forefoot is bliss. Seriously, all my problems went away overnight. I had previously tried my regular green superfeet and the stock boot insoles, and neither did me any good. Sure they're a bit pricey, but they were definitely worth it for me, and you'll get more mileage on these than you would with the same cost in gas.

If your feet get cold and bashed up with good socks and proper winter dress for any winter sport - these are for you. And now i'm a changed woman - going out for dinner in heels after a day on the ice now seems like a fine idea :)

This Skirt is cute, but the cut did not work for me, it was too roomy (i'm a tall slender athletic build). If you've got some curves on you, this will probably look great. I found the sizing to be off - I am usually a size 6 in most clothes, (and in this according to the size chart) but a 4 (or maybe even a 2!) would have been more appropriate for me. The skirt does come to a few inches "below the knee" - and thats coming from someone who is 6'0" (most skirts are 4" too short for me). If you're shorter, you're probably looking at a almost mid-calf-length skirt. However, the hemp fabric was a nice weight, it'd break in awesomely, and the pockets and other features were great for the tomboyish girl looking to step things up a notch without feeling like you lost the comfort of your carhartts.

Whoever designed this backpack really had their thinking cap on - it is wonderfully designed.
- The Compression straps do a great job of holding the load down, and can be arranged in three different ways to help hold things down (or onto) your pack.
- The Pole Mounts are not hard to use, and can be accessed even with gloves on. I have not used the ice axe holder yet.
- There are four sewn-webbing loops on the outside (in theory for one of the compression styles) that are great for clipping whatever stuff you don't put in the bag (like your helmet)
- If you attach your skis to the pack, they are held securely. One minor flaw is that your binding brakes dig into the pack, but that can be fixed easily.
- The hydration bladder pocket fits a 3L bladder without a problem
- The expandable outside pocket is great for all those little things (guidebook, maps) that you don't want lost, but are too big for the small key/wallet size pocket inside.
- The foam and hip belt do an excellent job of supporting the load from my hips - and the foam is molded to provide lumbar support. I loaded this pack with my climbing rack, rope, and my heaviest skis (close to 50lbs) - and the pack (and I) stood up without a problem.
- Size-wise, it will fit my climbing rack, rain gear, lunch, water bladder, and harness with a snug fit. It has plenty of space for a day hike or a lightweight overnight.

My only complaint is that I can't find the "wand" pocket... but what the heck is that anyway?

My only complaint with these shorts is that the length makes for funky tan lines. That said, these are great for climbing, biking, kayaking/canoing, and whatever else you want to do outdoors. They repel water, stains simply wash out, and they are very abrasion resistant. I found they were true to size - the measurements on the chart were exact.

When ordering, be sure to check your waist/leg measurements - don't go by the numeric sizes. Also, pick the harness that has your measurements in the middle of the harness, buying a size larger will leave you exchanging the harness. My measurements were the small-end of the size 10, and it turns out that it doesn't fit comfortably. Otherwise, the harness is super comfortable, the gear loops are easy to handle, and is a solid piece of gear.