Brock Fisher

I am not gonna go into a lengthy review of this shoe and mostly because there is no need...

IF YOU CLIMB IN SQUAMISH YOU NEED THIS SHOE

THis sweater is everything you would expect from a nice thick wool sweater.....including the itch!

Its a great sweater and it keeps you warm and it looks nice but it still gets a little itchy hahaha nice try KAVU haha.

If you are reading this review one of the reasons why is you are probably wanting to make sure that if your going to spend this kind of money on a pair of jeans that everyone else that has already done so is very happy and have no complaints and in this case... YES I AM VERY HAPPY WITH THESE PANTS AND WOULD RECOMMEND THEM TO A FRIEND... there ya go I fulfilled your want for reassurance in purchasing 80 dollar pants.

If you still aren't sure here are some good reasons why you "should" buy these bad boys.

1. THE GUSSETED CROTCH ~ No real need to go into detail other than unless you enjoy ripping the crotch in normal jeans this makes life a lot nicer and doesn't cause a wicked draft in an area that does not like being cold....

2. THE LOOSE BAGGY FIT ~ This is the biggest reason why these pants are #1 in my opinion. The hardest problem with climbing pants and even some climbing shorts is they are designed for skinny dudes with no legs. I have been a runner and a mountain biker since I was 12 and with this I have grown up with some monster sized thighs and finally i found a pair of pants that accommodate my leg size that are perfect for a solid day at the crag but can also be great for going out for dinner with the family and still looking as if you put some effort into dressing yourself.

3. STRETCH ~ Prana have put out a pair of pants that look and feel as if they are real jeans but the difference is, in these you never have to lift up your pant leg so that your knees don't blow through the front of them while climbing or whatever activity you might be doing. This also means when you hop in your truck or whatever you drive you don't have to re-adjust your pants once you are in the driver seat because they stretch so well that you always feel "comfortable"

When it comes down to it most people wont buy these pants just because of the price but don't forget that you are not really buying just a single pair of pants, your buying a nice pair of jeans and also a nice pair of climbing pants all at the same time.

I wear a 11 mens running shoe but bought these in a 7.5 mens size and they are still really comfortable! great edging power, super sticky and great fit! This is just another reason why I wont climb in anything else but Sportivas.

If your looking for a show that can be walked around in all day and then if needed can excel very well in the trails you need to turn your little consumer ass around and go take a look at something like the FIREBLADE or WILDCAT both equally great shoes but with more of a multipurpose build to them especially in the tread department.

When I first slipped my foot into my brand new CROSSLITES I just wanted to run and thats all! This shoe fit great right out of the box and with the lacing system all it takes is a little tug and this shoe is tight and ready to take on whatever you got for it. The rock guard toe is a life saver especially if your running a lot in the spring time when all the water run off is still fresh and rogue rocks and roots seem to be everywhere like some kind earthy mine field.

Another feature that really set this shoe apart from the rest was the tread design with its highly spaced tooth like treads, steep hills were no match for this shoe and I never found myself slipping. When done running in the mud and whatever you find yourself running through you simply just bang the two shoes together and all the crap comes right off the bottom which means your not bringing the earth in the car with you.

This shoe is well designed to allow your feet to breath and thats huge for me since my feat sweat like its going out of style and really there is nothing worse than soggy sweaty feet when your running. But don't worry the lower half of the shoe is lined to not allow water in so don't worry about puddles and such.

Now of course with all great things there is always some kind of problem and this one is really a personal problem but since a lot of people suffer from it and some suffer from it and don't know they do I thought I would comment on it. This shoe has absolutely no arch support and if you pronate when you run your gonna feel some nasty pain in your ankles an knees and with this shoe being such a low profile design its hard to find insoles that have arch support that will still allow your feet to fit in the shoe.

Does everything i expected it too! Also whats nice is the mounting screws come along with it, which a nice thing!

one thing though the screws are a very tight thread so make sure you screw it in in the middle of the day if you live in an apartment as it will be very very loud!

Reviewing a bag like this is really hard. We all use duffle bags for all different uses so keep that in mind when reading this review, its only a part of the story for this bag.

I picked up the MEDIUM sized LCD GREEN version and when I received it from Backcountry I had no idea how small it really got! the whole bag stuffed in its internal pouch and was not much bigger in length and width than my hand ( I can palm a basketball ) so I was really impressed by that. Now I primarily use this for just hauling around 2 pair of climbing shoes, climbing harness, big bouldering chalk bag, a water bottle and extra change of clothes and with all of that in there it still has room.

The shoulder strap can come off which is nice and the handles have a velcro strap around them making it easier to carry and when you have a full size crash pad on your back it made hauling everything else around really nice. Another key feature I i really like is the amount of cinch straps on it, one on either end and two on either side and with these you can really lock everything down and know that things are not gonna go flying around inside the bag.

I could also see this bag being really good as a CARRY ON at the airport since with all the cinch straps you could really crank on it to get the size down just in case it did not want to fit in that little size regulator they make you put it in when getting your boarding pass.

My only concern is I know North face says they are using RIP STOP Nylon but I would say its more like a SNAG stop, the Nylon wont just randomly catch on things but I feel its too thin to be really considered RIP STOP, but thats me personally.

When I first started climbing this was the first shoe I ever bought, the price allowed me not to feel like a broke the bank on gear for a sport I might not even want to keep doing. And remember when you first get into climbing your going to shred through your first pair of shoes very very quickly.

This shoe got me through a huge part of my learning curve and held up well to a lot of "beginner" abuse such as toe dragging slipping off small holds and just holds in general . Another nice feature I found with this shoe was the lacing and toe box on this shoe, when you first start out as a climber your really not in the mind set to cram your foot into small little shoes just to maximize climbing potential. Your still at a climbing level where your wanting to fall in love with the sport and really see if this is "your" kind of sport. Scarpa did a really bang up job on making a semi-performace shoe that I feel appeals to newer climbers.

I couldn't really give this shoe more than 3 stars since well I feel it was never designed to be a 5 star shoe in the first place but also for two KEY points.

1. After about 5 months of climbing in these things 3 days a week I had to put them in a ZIP-LOCK bag before putting them in my climbing bag since the stunk soooo bad!

2. After a few months of climbing and pushing my self to climb harder routes I was having a problem with the shoes being able to hang on to smaller foot holds which resulted in a lot of skinning of my knees.

Two things before you read the rest of this review.

1. There is a shoe wiping pad in the middle of the pad so your shoes are clean before begin climbing I thought I would let you know since the picture doesn't show that.

2. This is one of those great CHRISTMAS WISH LIST items, its cheap and its for your "safety" and from personal experiences if you can convince your parents it will help save your life no matter the cost they usually find a way to get it for you or at least let SANTA know.... if you have those parents who still think its fun to put "from: Santa" on your gifts.

It has all that you need and at the price you want. The larger pads are nice but if your someone who's bouldering projects are a bit of a hike that also involve heavily treed areas this pad is awesome since its weighs nothing and its not overly big so it doesn't get caught on everything on the way.

The pad is only 4" thick but the group I was with all took some good falls on this guy and none of us ever bottomed out the foam or even got close. If you are a bigger guy or gal and you are worried about going through it a simple way to strengthen the fall capacity of this pad is to go your local foam shop and ask for their highest density 1" foam and slip it inside the pad on the main fall side, not only will it catch more weight but it will also distribute the load all across the pad allowing it to last longer.

If you wondering about how comfortable the backpack straps are well lets put it this way YOUR CARRYING FOAM! so really its not as if its ergonomically designed but its comfortable enough and wont rub anywhere.

This pad makes total sense if your someone who understands that money doesn't grow on trees and that you don't get better as a climber just because your purchase a 300+ dollar crash pad.

Holds enough chalk for you and everyone else who "forgot" theirs and with its hard plastic ring it keeps the bag open for my large hands to fit in so i am not having to spend as much time with only one hand on the wall.

its light with looks good and the dark grey one matches really well with my R320 harness.

The old saying goes "The bigger they are the harder they fall" and when using the XP it really doesn't matter anymore.

if your belaying a climber who weighs over two hundred pounds you have two options don't eat for a few weeks and buy a Grigri or find 20 bucks and get your self one of these bad boys.

One of my climbing partners is a big guy and when lead belaying him this thing really comes in handy in stopping him before hitting the ground which was just about happening when using a non-friction ATC.

For indoor climbing where the ropes are not your own, not in the best of shape and typically your no higher than 40 feet at the top of the route this ATC is a life saver.

Everyone I climb with has one of these now and we still talk about how something like this took so long to come out HAHAHA.

Look its job is simple and it does it perfectly. It also keeps everything nice and smooth when lead belaying which is more than I can say for when I climb difficult routes.

This is why Arc'teryx is who they are today. This harness is great, its light, comfortable and looks bad ass.

this harness is like HD Television. For people who have never experienced HD Television all they will tell you is "Oh i don't need that, its silly, there is nothing wrong with standard def television... blah blah blah." But of course eventually they come over watch the hockey game and next thing you know you go over to their house and unannounced to you they went out got a big television and and signed up for HD TV and then start preaching to YOU about the greatness of it as if you were the one who never had it.

Sure a normal Harness will get the job done but when a harness like this comes out there is no reason to settle when you could be in a light weight comfortably designed harness that had thought put into its design. Other companies add pads to make their harness' "comfortable" but it has a flip side because now if your out doing some good ol' climbing in the nice summer sun you now have yet another piece of equipment that smells just as ripe as your hockey pads and should probably just stay in the same bag.

Arc'teryx Saw that pads really weren't solving the "problem" with harnesses and started over and came out with a really great idea and have made an excellent harness that will get you up and down anything you can think of.

Now all that being said I do have one problem and a lot of it has to do with me being 6'1 and 190 pounds. If you take a nasty lead fall or are belaying someone who just took a nasty lead fall you might find that the auto lock device allowed some the belt out. Its not enough to cause alarm but if your consecutively taking falls just check to make sure your not falling out of your harness.

Arc'teryx obviously realized

Bought these souly for climbing and they are great!

They are super light, strong and will not snag your knees when making a high foot in climbing. Reviewing pants is hard they really only have one job and so far these have done their job very well for the past 4 months.

Only problem is their price, the North Face is very good at unreasonable prices but as I said they are really nice at keeping your knees and shins intact when climbing.

Just purchased these to try something other than the MIURA VS' (shits and giggles)

I wear a mens size 10.5 and was able to cram into a mens 7.5 and as much as it is not pleasant these shoes make dime size foot holds feel like no big deal. I haven't had them for a long time and once I break them in fully and destroy them after a few months i will definitely rewrite my review but for now all I can say is.. EDGING POWER!!

Also if your into having one of the uglier shoes in the gym or while outdoors this shoe will definitely facilitate that dream for you. I am not too ecstatic about the Japanese character on the heal but I guess when italians use the name "katana" i guess they feel they should probably stereotype as much as possible...

Had these for about 5 months and all I can say is no matter what other climbing shoes I buy in the future I will always have my self a pair of these on hand. Even with the rubber on the toe gone these bad boys still hold up and stick to anything and everything.

These are the kind of shoe that you keep in your bag for those occasions where a certain boulder problem or route is just kicking your ass and the only way to power through it is if you feel confident in your feet and with these you will no matter what condition they are in!

Confidence is a huge part of climbing and this shoe not only sticks well and performs in every kinda of condition but it also helps you mentally and thats key.

I would have given these wonderful shoes 5 stars but they do bag out really badly so buy them a few sizes smaller so that you ensure a great fit even when they are 5 months old.

If you don't want to read the whole review here is a quick synopsis of my review... "good shoe but you wont buy it a second time"

In the gym this shoe excelled way past what i though it would especially for how cheap in price they are! I even finished my 5.11 project i was working on in the gym with these bad boys. And being what is considered a heavy climber (190 pounds) the toe is stiff enough to tackle those small shitty foot holds that come along with hard routs.

That being said.... I feel this shoe should be left in the gym.

We all have a set of shoes that might be in the worst of condition but when outside and getting your ass kicked by a certain route we always go throw them on and all of a sudden the route is no problem at all.. and well... this shoe just is "not that shoe" its good but not great and just doesn't have what it takes to be shoe you will consider re-buying.