Clever Outdoor Gear

The best in outdoor gear, equipment, and apparel reviews.

Black Diamond

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GRIPPED UP with Grip Pro

Smith Rock’s Karate Crack
Smith Rock’s Karate Crack

When COG’s most elderly correspondent reported being “gripped up,” we thought he was talking about short 5.10s he barely exited in style 40 years ago.

(For the record. Smith Rock’s Karate Crack, 60’, 5.10a and North Wales’ Cenotaph Corner, 120’, 5.10a…both routes feature tidy hand jams to the very top. Here climbers have just enough hand-strength to pass the tricky crux right: either into a pod or out of one.  Film reference: 2001 Space Odyssey, “Open the pod-bay door, Hal…”)

But no. This wasn’t nostalgia for the classic UK test-piece, Cenotaph Corner. Our pal’s orthopedist had diagnosed “trigger finger,” an arthritic condition rendering a finger-joint “permanently” fixed with a right angle bend.

Our guy rejected arthritis.

“I cooked those two knuckles lighting a gas-fired broiler on St. Martin,” averred our crook-fingered friend. He palmed a rubber-ring hand-exerciser at COG headquarters

Flexing the rubber-ring, we could clearly hear his middle-finger knuckle “lock,” slip and slide through its regular range-of-motion: no smooth movement here, just three-distinct, painful indents.

“Each morning, I can’t open this finger; it’s so locked-up. I have to pull it straight and flatten it down [with my chest in bed] for a few minutes before I get up. Otherwise, it stays crooked.”

But a few minutes with COG’s Grip Pro Trainer (we’d bought one at an industry event years ago) revealed that our elderly correspondent had lost grip-strength in his damaged fingers. A right-hander, his left-hand now over-powered his dominant hand. A lot. A rock-climbing gym regular, our guy was appalled.

Grip Pro Training Rings
Grip Pro Training Rings

So we loaned the old fellow our Grip Pro Trainer rubber-ring. Within days (using the rubber-ring for two sets of twenty-reps/day), he reported that his fingers remained flexible throughout the night. Two weeks later, our friend’s grip-strength was normal. While joint movement wasn’t silky smooth, our correspondent felt comfortable ignoring medical advice to visit a hand surgeon.

So, COG discovered a medical/orthopedic/age problem and an exercise solution. No surprise here. End of story, right?

Well, as usual with the COG team: not so fast.

You see, the Grip Pro Trainer is manufactured of black rubber. Our friend carried the Grip Pro to his car for exercising (more than patience) while stalled in rush hour traffic. Enter girlfriend. Late night dinner, maybe some dancing. Shuffling around the front seat. Dark. Grip Pro pushed to the car-floor. Hasty exit. Next morning, where’s the Grip Pro Trainer?

Missing daily grip-strength sessions means our guy’s fingers immediately “gripped up.” So, he urgently hustles over to his neighborhood REI, 10am Saturday morning. $7.95 being much cheaper than surgery…but what? No Pro Grip Trainer?

Black Diamond forearm trainer
Black Diamond Forearm Trainer

OK. Black Diamond’s Forearm Trainer looks about the same: a squeezable rubber-ring (www.blackdiamondequipment.com), $6.95, in blue. Available everywhere online, including BD. But not stocked at REI?

What if you need a grip strengthener immediately?

Is there anything on REI’s shelf?

GripMaster grip trainer
GRIPMaster Hand Strengthener

The Gripmaster Hand Strengthener, $14.95 comes to hand. Cumbersome name for a complicated-looking, spring-loaded device. Gripped at a “high” angle across the knuckles, the Gripmaster focuses isolated loading of each finger: nice for finger control. But our guy needs a more powerful, rolling action for his whole hand, fingers and forearm in order to arrest arthritic degeneration. BD’s and the Pro Grip’s rubber-rings are perfect, but where to find one, today? Not at Dick’s, not at Sports Authority, not REI, nor our local fitness equipment retailer.

Back at COG headquarters, we hand over a freebie Boreal (climbing shoe maker) had given us many seasons ago.

Now, we happen to like Boreal shoes. However, Boreal’s FS Quattro (at several years’ remove) generated negative reviews on climbing blogs. The promotional grip trainer, branded with the FS Quarttro label, worked about as well as many thought the rubber works.

[COG’s friction-shoe tests favor these resoles: 5.10’s Stealth and Vibram’s newest, XS Grip2.]

GripSaver Pro
GripSaver Plus by Metolius

So our trigger-finger guy bought a Metolius’ Grip Saver Plus, $17.95. The Metolius take on grip-training is injury prevention, an exotic concept for many. The red, palm-sized squeeze-ball is perfect for easy grappling. But the real rave’s for the ball’s finger-extension feature: nothing’s better for warming-up finger-tendon sheaths. And as everyone knows, dynamically balanced, incremental-load training is essential for avoiding repetitive motion and overuse injuries.

For the next three days, our griped-up cousin maintained his hand exercise/recovery regimen using his Metolius Grip Saver Plus (also available at REI stores), while awaiting delivery of his online orders. He judged the Melolius squeeze-extension ball a perfect pre-exercise/climb warm-up routine.

Meanwhile, COG made phone calls. We ordered another Grip Pro Trainer and chatted with Grip Pro’s Erich Esswein. Asked why we couldn’t find his product at REI, Dick’s or even our local fitness equipment retailer (dealing the premium Lifefitness Brand, among others), Esswein replied that “…big-box retailers, and even REI, have squeezed out small manufacturers…” with economies of scale. Better for the retailers, not so good for hand exercisers ready to hand.

Here’s our final tally for Black Diamond’s Forearm Trainer ring and Grip Pro’s ring: Dead-heat for quality resistance and hand-finger position variety. Order online; order early.

The Black Diamond’s Forearm Trainer offers a single resistance increment: 35 lbs.

Grip Pro’s 3-ring set delivers three resistance increments: green, 30 lbs; black, 40 lbs; red, 50 lbs. 

To which our broken-down rock-jock says: “I could stay at 35-pounds (resistance), but I may as well get stronger while I’m at it (using a 3-ring set).”

Grip Pro wins on versatility and progressive strength training.

In the spirit of gender neutrality, we’ll mention: the 30 lbs, green Grip Pro ring is perfect for small, fair hands.

Black Diamond’s Forearm Trainer, COG 5-star rating, $7.95 each/$19.95 3-pack
Black Diamond’s Forearm Trainer, rings, $6.95
Gripmaster Hand Strengthener (springs) $14.95
Metolius Grip Saver Plus (squeeze ball + extension) (most innovative), $17.95

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Black Diamond Magnetron Carabiners

Black Diamond Magnetron Carabiner
Black Diamond Magnetron Carabiner

The Magnetron GridLock and RockLock carabiners: Black Diamond’s newest, terrific gear innovation buzzes even non-climbers. Basic amateur youtube videos were up immediately during Summer 2011 Outdoor Retailer Trade Show. The videos show the carabiner’s basic function, but not the salient points.

Here’s how Black Diamond’s website introduces their carabiner innovation, “Throughout the decades, we’ve been at the forefront of revolutionary carabiner design here at Black Diamond Equipment—from Yvon Chouinard’s original ovals; to the climbing world’s first-ever wiregate, the HotWire; to the crossload-eliminating belay carabiner, the GridLock. Never satisfied with the status quo, we’re always striving to develop the next great carabiner design innovation, which has led us to our latest game-changing advancement: Magnetron Technology™.

What’s so special about Magnetron Technology? One word: magnets. Yes, that’s right—locking carabiners that utilize magnets and not twistlocks or screwlocks on the gates. Available on select locking carabiners in July 2012, our patent-pending Magnetron Technology is so revolutionary we decided to share a sneak preview with you now to get you stoked. Here are the basics: using the power of magnetic fields to reinvent the locking carabiner, the Magnetron GridLock and the Magnetron RockLock locking carabiners combine maximum security and ease of use like never before.

The Black Diamond video’s a bit better demo-ing the Magnetron. But, still, questions.

Questions we heard at OR’s late July hands-on echoed those of BD’s on-line forum:

  1. Will the magnets attract/be activated by other nearby ferrous metal objects like ice axes, nut wires, safety pins?
  2. Wouldn’t a spring-loaded slider be simpler, more dependable and cheaper?

At $25.95+ at retail, every carabiner conceivable is cheaper than the new Magnatron. Otherwise, no.

The magnets BD employs don’t project a magnetic field beyond the immediate width of the ‘biner gate end. And no, you don’t have to worry about the magnetics sweeping up spare bobby-pins or metal filings: the force field only reacts when the gate’s held open. When closed, the magnets are locked solid and “covered” by the metal embedded in the carabiner’s nose. Unless you open the gate on a pile of metal shavings, magnet contamination isn’t an issue. And in any event, by the time the device arrives at outdoor stores summer 2012, I’d bet the BD engineers have even this far-fetched contamination scenario mastered.

Now the spring-loaded question’s the heart of BD’s material innovation. The old screw gates, as we all know, take a moment to, well, screw. If the threaded surfaces are aligned, “lubed,” clean and dry, climbers can do this automatically, smoothly with one digit, with practice. Sometimes you have to look at the gate; sometimes “work” the screw at bit. Spring-loaded twist-locks have similar encumbrances. And twist-lock springs are at their “strongest” when the gates’re open. When twist-locks are closed, the springs are at their weakest compression.

With the new BD Magnatron, a smooth “pinch” with two fingers and the lock opens. The move’s smooth because the gate’s ergonomically friendlier than any other locking design, while also rivaling any non-locking ‘biner gate. The lock stays open by magnetic repulsion, no springs. After opening, the gate can be held open with one finger. When released, the gate closes (powered by a conventional spring at the gate’s pivot point) and locks by magnetic attraction at its highest degree. The actual locking mechanism’s subtle. But we couldn’t see any contingency by which the lock might be accidentally disengaged. While the locked “look” is not as burly as sleeve or screw locks, the Magnatron could replace all ‘biners on your rack without looking weird. And, did I mention, they lock? According to BD test data, the magnetic lock’s at least as strong as any screw or sleeve gate. So no worry here; as with any locking ‘biner, test failure will never occur at the lock.

But what’s even safer about the Magnatron is what we like most: it’s so simple and perfectly intuitive to handle. Grab it like an ordinary carabiner. Touch the opposite side of the gate with a simple “pinching” gesture and swing the gate open with one finger. Just like a non-locking ‘biner. No looking, no learning curve, no delay. Release the gate and, as usual, the gate closes…now securely locked by magnetic force. Quicker, smoother, simpler, lighter, intuitive. This unit’s got to be one of BD’s biggest hits yet.

Now about the name? Maybe a “Transformers” suggestion is apt.

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Black Diamond Magnetron Auto-Locking Carabiner

Magnetron Gridlock Carabiners in 4 colors
Black Diamond Magnetron Auto-Locking Carabiners in four colors

Black Diamond’s Magnetron Carbiners are locking carabiners that utilize magnets not twistlocks or screwlocks on the gates. Magnetic attraction to a steel insert in the carabiner nose keeps two independent arms securely locked.

Locking arms must be individually depressed before the gate can be opened. Once open, opposing magnetic fields repel the arms to ensure smooth and reliable gate operation. To be released July 2012.

$30