Why we climb…
It must be said, this blog has turned more into a neglected play toy of the admin over here at The Climber Store. But thanks to a number of great changes to the site, a massive load of new products coming soon, and the a great deal more investment means we should hopefully be updating this more regularly. Keep posted for more information.
For now, we thought we would share something all of us at The Climber Store thought spoke quite closely to the reasons we climb. Often times we can’t even quantify the reasons why we get out on the sharp end. Indeed, many of us are asked this question regularly and can only stutter out either a meaningless Johnny Dawes esque sentence about the ‘beautify of it all’ or about ‘being one with the rock… or we end up going into so much detail that we go way over the heads of any would-be interested party. This I think, is sort of the point. Bear with me…
We’re climbers because we DO see the point in being an adventurous sprit, we don’t question it as so far as to put it in perspective and rationalise it. Why, then, would we ever be doing what we do. Climbing isn’t safe and so obviously isn’t rational. If you wanted great views there are plenty of ways to get it. No, it’s more about the combination of aspects that brings us to climbing. The views, the adventure, the thrill, the adrenaline, the separation from our every day lives, whatever. Everyone of us can pretend to be living in little boxes but that has no relation on why we climb. This is why we have such trouble describing it. Mallory stated ‘because it’s there’, and in fact, I don’t think it needs much more explanation that that when it comes down to it. Take the hardest climb you’ve ever done and the joy and excitement upon reaching the top… how could you possibly explicate the senses flowing though your body at the point. You can’t. So I suggest letting us enjoy it all to ourselves, whether it be the mountaineer, the crag climber, the boulderer, the scrambler, the alpinist, the ice climber, or the trekker… we all get it… that doesn’t mean everyone has to. Enjoy the video…
An incredible video of a man caught in an avalanche then rescued
TheClimberStore brings you another incredible clip, this time of a skier who is caught in an avalanche and then struggles to breathe until his friends rescue him.
He was wearing a Black Diamond Avalung but was unable to actually get it in his mouth and so the whimpering in this video is in fact him trying to breath.
The reason he was able to be rescued so quickly was due to the fact his glove came off right before the avalanche stopped, his friends were able to see this and he was extremely lucky to survive.
No commentsNew Upcoming Products to The Climber Store
We are currently in the process of expanding our product range to both more selection as well as all together new products. Over the coming month a number of new products will soon be added to our site including a greater range of 1/2 and single climbing ropes from Tendon climbing. We are also expanding our cam range to include both Tri-cams and Ball-nuts…
As well as this we are going to be have a number accessories such as new chalk products (including some inovative high magnesium chalk). We are also adding some new training devices to our product lineup, including 3 different sizes of fingerboard with a slim design that allows it to be placed in places where fingerboards wouldn’t usually be able to fit.
We are very excited for these new additions as we feel they are the next step in our expansion. Check back soon!
No commentsClimbing Harnesses… Which one is right for you?
We do recieve quite regularly questions regarding which type of product is right for you. In fact, we welcome these emails because it often means our customers recieve a more informed purchase that they are often ineviably happier for. In this blog we are going to take a closer look at a couple of different harnesses and what they might be used for.
There are obviously some very specialist harnesses out there. We offer a number of full body harnesses as well as special sit protection harnesses for high rope work and extreme comfort. But our most popular are in the indoor and rock climbing range…
The basic model is the Gym harness made primarily for indoor use. Thats not to say it can’t be used outdoors, indeed, it offers all the same strength properties as the other harnesses and is hard wearing. It is more suited to indoor use due to the limited number of gear loops and its simple/light design. This is idea for those wanting an extremely light and simple harness without the frills and weight of things that are just not needed in an indoor environment or when you are starting to climb. This is currently on sale at around £26…
One of our most popular ranges is the Rock Series. We offer a few different designs which all seem equally popular. The Guardian QB (QB standing for the quick buckle system) has a double gear loop setup with an additional belay loop integrated into the front. This is made to be lightweight while be comfortable in an outdoor environment. The Peak Sport harness is a similar design coming in both orange and blue but with a total of 4 gear loops and a singular belay loop. Both of these offer adjustable leg straps. The Peak sport is currently on sale at around £35 and the Guardian with its quick buckle system is £43.
Our top of the range harnesses, known as our rock climbing big wall harness offer the ultimate in both gear loops, comfort, adjustability and ergonomics. The Throne harness by rock empire is the ultimate with 4 gear loops, quick buckle design for all 4 buckles, and an aditional belay loop. It even had a gear holder system at the back for attaching an additional carabiner. This is primarily for teachnical climbing and trad climbing, as well as for big walls. This is currently a featured product and is on sale at only around £49!
Hopefully that helps make the decision a little easier on which rock climbing harness is right for you! If you have any questions, dont hesitate to contact us!
No commentsWoman saved by Beluga Whale
Random article of the day…
This image looks a little frighting at first, like the whale appears to be biting the womans leg off. In fact, this is a animal coming to the rescue of a diver in trouble! Yang Yun, 26 was taking part in a free diving competition in the whales tank. The whales require arctic temperaters and so the water is chilled to very low temperatures. Yang soon found herself unable to move when her legs were crippled with cramp from the artic temperatures. As she bagn to choke, the Beluga wale named Mila sensed the distressed woman and began bring her to the serface in its mouth.
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Yang described her experience as she “felt this incredible force under me, driving me to the surface”
Climb Find- social networking for climbers
A new site that we have noticed gaining some real growth and a very strong following is Climb find.
If your looking for other climbers in your area this site is absolutely key. Think Facebook style networking but dedicated solely to climbers! A brilliant idea which to be honest, im surpised wasn’t around a long time ago!
With Climb Find you can create your own profile, add you regular walls so others know where you go, meet other climbers who are near to you, and discuss your favorite rock types. Indoors or Out, the website caters for you and allows you to ‘network’ with others, with like minded views. So check it out!
No commentsWhy Google’s Unsubscribe feature doesn’t work
Time for some geeky talk. Googles popular Gmail (for which The Climber Store make good use of with google apps) have launched a new feature here:
http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/unsubscribing-made-easy.html
In short, when people recieve a newsletter, they have the option to let google unsubscribe for them by clicking ‘report spam and unsubscribe’.
Which on paper seems all very well and good. But it isn’t, let me explain. Plenty of us ‘email senders’ are sending out our legitimate newsletters that plenty of our customers want to read. Notifying of product updates and specials… every single one of The Climber Stores subscribers have selected that they want this information. Now when one of these people decide they dont want to be on our list, thats fine, they reply to the email as we state in our newsletter email, and we honour that. Easy.
With Google’s new approach, instead of our cusomters doing this, they will ‘report it as spam, and unsubscribe’. WHAT? Why is our newsletter immediately considered spam? Now of course, we dont go straight onto a spam ‘list’, but a few users do this and bam! ALL of our subscribers now see our newsletters in the spam box…because Google decided it was best that marking things as spam is better than replying to the email with the word ‘unsubscribe’ in it. It’s important to realise, that just because someone nolonger wants to recieve your newsletter, its not spam for everyone else. The traditional system accomodates this, and enables the spam feature to be used for legitimate email garbage… Its the email senders who suffer on this one, especially the small buisnesses trying to keep in contact with their customers.
Ohh well Google, you can’t get everything right.
No commentsTheClimberStore updates and new products
The entire site has now been revamped to make things easier to use.
First, we have a testimonial page so you can see what users really think of The Climber Store. Everyone is welcome to make a comment here so long as you have made an order.
Second, feel free to visit our specials page as well as our new, Best Sellers page
And finally, keep checking back often, we are about to initiate our ‘climber deal of the week’ where we will have a great sale on one of our top items every single week! Now for some news…
The climbing world was shocked last week to hear that the famous free solo and training guru, john bachar died on July 5th of this year. Our thoughts go out to his family and friends and he will be missed. Here is a video for what he will be remembered for; his incredible climbing…
No commentsUpdates
Hello All!
TheClimberStore has been going through a few changes. First the entire site has been reconfigured to be a little more search engine friendly so now every page should be linked in HTML.
The main thing for the site is a good deal more products available. We now have CASSIN Rock climbing clothing and technical ’soft’ware clothing. This is a great addition to our site and still aligns well with our ethos of climbing related products only.
We have also got Gift Certificates for sale for those who want to give their climber friends a gift but just can’t think what to get.
The Flying Man
This video is quite impressive and really has to be seen to be believed. Brings new meaning to the word ’scary’
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