While grocery shopping the other day, I saw a large display for the new Clif Quench sport drinks. I vaguely remembered hearing about these, so I decided to buy one of each flavor and try them out.

Let me start off by saying that my primary sports drinks are massive quantities of coffee in the morning, followed by as much water as I can consume the rest of the day. That said, I occasionally buy a Gatorade or Powerade and throw it in my climbing pack for a long day.

The selling points of Clif’s new drink line is the list of ingredients and its recycled bottle. The Clif Quench is 88% organic with no high fructose corn syrup. From the company:

CLIF Quench offers the optimal balance of ingredients your thirsty body needs, including electrolytes and carbohydrates to move water where your body needs it most. CLIF Quench is all-natural and contains no artificial colors, sweeteners and preservatives used in many beverages today.

Continuing on the company’s journey toward sustainability, the CLIF Quench bottle and label are the most planet-friendly options on the market. The bottle is made of 40 percent post-consumer recycled PET plastic—the highest percentage of any U.S. bottled beverage—and the bottle and label are fully recyclable.

Unfortunately, the drink tastes like a big gulp of ocean water. Seriously, the Quench has such a strong salty taste that I almost couldn’t drink a full bottle. And I love Clif’s other products, so this was a real disappointment.

My initial thought was that the taste was due to a much higher sodium content which is common in sports drinks. So yesterday, I picked up a bottle of Gatorade (Frost Glacier Freeze if you must know) and guzzled it down. Just as I remembered, I did not feel like I was drowning in the Pacific Ocean.

Next obvious step – check the ingredient labels. Here is the surprising result of my quick research:

Gatorade (8 fl. oz)
Calories – 50
Sodium – 110 mg
Potassium – 30 mg
Total Carbs – 14 g
Sugars – 14 g

Clif Quench (8 fl. oz)
Calories – 45
Sodium – 130 mg
Potassium – 35 mg
Total Carbs – 11 g
Sugars – 10 g

These drinks are quite similar except for the real sugar in Clif versus the high fructose corn syrup in the Gatorade. You can also see that there is 18% more sodium in the Clif. From the taste though, I was estimating there would be twice the sodium.

Unless you absolutely refuse to use products with high fructose corn syrup and have to have a sports drink, I can’t recommend this product in its current form. Hopefully, with enough feedback, maybe they’ll revisit the taste factor on the Quench.

Has anyone else tried these yet? What was your opinion, especially on the taste?

In July 1981 a note appeared in Yosemite Valley – “$10,000 reward for anyone who can follow me for one full day. – John Bachar”

The Dike Wall is a beautiful cliff of pristine granite situated at 9,000ft above Mammoth Lakes where John lived with his son. John was climbing by himself and was found at the base of the 80ft North Wall.

SuperTopo has a thread up as a memorial to John.

(via Climbing Magazine and UKClimbing)

The Cobra Crack 5.14, Will Stanhope from Sonnie Trotter on Vimeo.

(via Sonnie Trotter)

Nalle Hukkataival is in Colorado sending Jade (V15) and establishing a new V13 called Sunseeker.

Adam Ondra repeats Alex Huber’s Om (5.14d) at Endstal, Germany. Om sat unrepeated for 17 years after Huber’s first ascent.

Will Stanhope gets 5th ascent of Sonnie Trotter’s Cobra Crack (5.14) in Squamish.

Alex Honnold and Sean Leary climb the Salathé Wall in a record time of 4:55.

Stephan Siegrist made the first successful redpoint ascent of “Magic Mushroom” on the North Face of the Eiger.

The dyno world record was broken at the Eindhoven World Cup event.

We found that drinking cold liquids from polycarbonate bottles for just one week increased urinary BPA levels by more than two-thirds. If you heat those bottles, as is the case with baby bottles, we would expect the levels to be considerably higher.

(via Trailspace)

Trad climbing has lost some of its appeal, or is a smaller blip on the radar. I still know plenty of folks that prefer trad, but there was a day when there was only trad. Trad climbing may be analogous to a lost culture. In fact, it is a culture within a culture, and as with the loss of any culture, it’s inevitable that knowledge specific to that culture is also lost. My goal here is to create and catalog the (lost) techniques, tricks, and tips particular to, or useful for trad climbing.

(via @rockgrrl)

For me I’m never going to use the word “tragedy” in reference to a climbing or mountain sports accident again. A tragedy is when a whole family gets killed by a drunk driver. A tragedy is when a little kid gets abused. A tragedy is when a 30-year old mother of two young kids gets cancer and dies. Dying while climbing, kayaking, paragliding, BASE jumping or any other form of outdoor recreation isn’t a fucking tragedy, it’s a clearly predictable result of doing the activity.

Collection of video tributes to Jonny Copp, Micah Dash, and Wade Johnson and the link to donate to the search fund.

The Spot Gym is holding a fundraiser for the The Search Fund on Tuesday, June 16th in Boulder.

More details on the expedition to Gongga Shan by Micah Dash, Wade Johnson and Jonny Copp.

Results from the Teva Mountain Games Bouldering World Cup in Vail from BoulderDiaries, B3bouldering, Carlo Traversi, and ClimbingNarc.

The route Mecca (F8b+) at Raven Tor in the UK is falling apart.

Alex Honold does record speed ascent of Salathé Wall in Yosemite in 8.5 hours.

The 16th annual International Climbers’ Festival to be held July 8-12 in Lander, Wyoming (via OnTheSharpEnd).

You can find the first three parts here and the fourth is due this August. The articles are PDFs and contain some great tips for climbing and training from the Scottish hardman.

His description of the route:

Pachamama is a blue wall just to the right of my other route Papichulo 9a+. Its 50m long and very pumpy and psychological.

Read the full post at MVM for more details and pictures of the send.

There are some amazing photos of climbers’ home gyms in this very long thread. If I ever get around to putting up a wall in my house, I’ll be using these for ideas.

As climbers, we suffer from numerous injuries. One of the more common climber injuries is medial epicondylitis or golfers elbow. Essentially this is pain on the inside of your elbow and it originates from overuse of the flexor muscles. All our gripping without exercising the opposing muscle groups is usually the culprit for climbers.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I’ve been suffering from this condition for months now. I’ve been seeing a sports medicine doctor and slowly my severe pain has reduced. When I started rehab, my pain was about an 8 on a scale of 1 to 10. After about three months of daily ice baths and exercises to strengthening opposing muscle groups (including a couple initial weeks of ultrasound), I was finally down in the 4 out 10 pain range.

So when I was contacted by the inventor of a device called Armaid, I was initially quite skeptical. First, if there was some device that would help, why didn’t my doctor or any literature mention it? Is this really going to help me and how long will it take? But since I really had nothing to lose at this point, I decided to try it out. The company saw a few of its customers were climbers and was interested to see what the reaction from the climbing community would be for this device. My goal was to test it out using my own pain and injuries as a guinea pig and provide some critical feedback to Armaid.

Amazingly, I felt pain relief from the Armaid device immediately. And before getting into details about Armaid, let me give you a quick summary. I’ve been using the device daily for about 2 – 3 minutes each on each forearm and my pain level has dropped at least another full notch on my pain scale after only a couple weeks.

Details of the Armaid Device

Armaid costs $99.95 and comes with a 30 day money back guarantee. Initially I thought was that this was a high price for an unproven device for notoriously cheap climbers. But after using Armaid and finding it actually works, I changed my mind about the pricing. Let’s assume you have medical insurance. For the price of about two co-pay sessions with a doctor or massage therapist, you’ve paid for Armaid. Comparing the cost of Armaid to all the other medical treatment I have received in the past for climbing related injuries, a hundred dollars is a steal.

The Armaid device works by relaxing and releasing tight muscle tissue by massaging and stretching muscles in the arm. It comes with a detailed DVD with instructional videos as you must use the device in a specific manner to achieve results.

The Armaid appears to be constructed well. The apparatus is made of a sturdy plastic mounted on a swivel that allows for moving to a variety of angles. There are different stiffnesses of the therapy balls that actually run over your forearms to adjust the level of pressure.

Another small climber-related complaint I had was the size of the device. Armaid is rather large (about 16″ long), but to mechanically achieve its mission I realize it pretty much has to be that way. My initial opinion (before testing it) was that climbers may not want to take it on our frequent road trips. After using it, I realize that if you have chronic pain like I do, you’re not going to care about the size and you’ll throw it in the car. It’s really not that big, but you can see for yourself in one of Armaid’s demo videos. It also weighs just over a pound so it’s not too heavy.

I haven’t seen much discussion of this device elsewhere, despite it usefulness. I did see a brief recommendation in Clyde Soles’ training book, but other than that the Armaid appears to be quite unknown to climbers.

My next obvious question was what is this company all about? Who are they and why should I trust them with my health?

Armaid’s Founder

I had several conversations with the founder of Armaid, Terry Cross, and asked him some very pointed questions that I knew climbers would be interested in learning before committing to this product.

Terry is a former sports injury and occupational injury therapist and I asked him how he came up with the idea for Armaid:

“I would see sometimes as many as ten clients a day and over time I began to develop repetitive strain (tendinitis) in my arms and hands. I began to do more self massage to maintain my own level of strength and fitness. This worked for a while by using my free hand to massage the other arm but this method often aggravated my problems and after trying several different products I felt there was not a good massage tool available for specifically helping the hand, wrist, forearm and elbow. I tried many different prototypes and designs until I came up with the idea of using a lever (as in the mechanical advantage of a nutcracker) to easily amplify the pressure on the trigger points (sore areas) without using a lot of strength necessary from the free hand.

There is a particular type of therapy that I used as a hands-on therapist that I use constantly and it is the most efficient method I have ever found to work to relieve tight muscles. I built Armaid to specifically incorporate this therapy technique. To keep it simple, I call it “trigger point therapy” on our website. It is called different names depending if you are talking to an Occupational or Physical Therapist, Rolfing Therapist, Chiropractor, etc. I’ve heard it called Myofacial Release, Client Assisted Release, Active Release etc., but it is always the same technique of maintaining static pressure on a sore spot and then stretching the muscle under that pressure (see the “two therapies” video on our website). This releases the muscle fiber much more quickly and efficiently than cross-fiber technique or mere stroking (effluerage). It also has the added benefit of letting the sufferer discover which muscles and which range of motion is the culprit in their problem.”

And on who is using Armaid and why climbers should think about using it:

“Disgruntled sufferers that have had the surgeries, taken the drugs, been upset with unending appointments with expensive therapy sessions and still not happy and are looking for something that they can do for themselves. They hear about Armaid mostly through word of mouth or a search online. For the cost of one or two medical or massage sessions they can buy an Armaid and be in charge of their own arm, elbow and hand health.

It must be made clear that Armaid is only useful if the problem is based in the forearm muscles that can create painful problems in the elbow, wrist and hand. The question that I always ask someone who is considering using Armaid is “Do you have sore forearm muscles?” if they say “yes” then I know that Armaid is perfect for them and will deliver relief when used as shown on the videos. Armaid will not be of use if the problem originates solely in the neck or shoulder region with a pinched nerve or injury “upstream” of the arm.

Armaid is not a cure all or a one-time magic bullet. It does give the sufferer a way to relieve their symptoms and to maintain their own hand, arm, elbow health. Armaid use is like brushing your teeth, regular maintenance is best for health because as an athlete you are constantly using your body and muscles and creating tension and metabolic waste products. That is why professional athletes have massages constantly before and after every work out and performance.

Summary

The Armaid is a useful product that can be used to supplement other healthy physical therapy for rehabilitating several conditions climbers experience. If you have chronic pain, the Armaid by itself will not cure you. But an overall change in habits along with this device can be an effective solution to getting back to lower pain levels.

* Special Discount *

Terry also gave me a special discount only for readers of All Climbing. If you mention you saw Armaid on All Climbing, you will receive 15% off your order of the device. Just mention it when ordering online or when calling them.

Disclaimer: It pains me to even write this, but let me reiterate – I am not a doctor. This is not medical advice. If you have medical problems, please consult a doctor or other medical professional.

The National Geographic Adventure Travel blog interviews the First Ascent team about the technology behind their Everest filmmaking.

weather permitting, mountaineers Ed Viesturs, Peter Whittaker, and other members of the First Ascent team will take on the summit of Everest. And even though we have not yet donned our down jackets, we’ve been there every step of the way—through the avalanches, illnesses, and one of the largest storms of the season. This is thanks to the daily, three-minute video dispatches produced right from the world’s tallest mountain. The carefully choreographed process begins with the video getting back up on an Apple MacBook Pro from high on the mountain. It’s then carried on solid state memory cards down to Base Camp. Once there, the footage is loaded on to another MacBook Pro and edited for public viewing in Final Cut Pro

(via TUAW)

Ueli Steck comes close to an El Cap onsight with Golden Gate (5.13b, 41 pitches).

ClimbingNarc interviews Shawn Diamond and pimpin and crimpin interviews Phil Schaal.

The CragBaby provides a trip beta guide to bouldering in Bishop, California.

Alex Johnson made the FFA of Whispers of Wisdom (V10) at Emerald Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park.

Rocky Mountain National Park now requires bear canisters.

The Organic Climber is a new blog about climbing, raw foods, vegetarianism and healthy living. Should be an interesting combination of topics for climbers.

The Mid-Atlantic Climbers association now has a blog.

Results from 2009 Melloblocco in Italy.

Rockgrrl discusses how to marry a climber.

New hard trad and sport lines in North Carolina put up by Dave Sharratt and Pat Goodman.

I always find articles and videos on how climbing gear is constructed quite fascinating. A couple months ago I posted a video on how DMM makes carabiners and now Backcountry.com has written an article on Black Diamond’s process of making carabiners from start to finish.

“Whenever you design something, it starts with a need,” says Bill Belcourt, BD’s Climbing Hardgoods Category Director. The BD carabiner that eventually ends up on a climber’s rack begins as a brainstorming session or a simply sketched idea in the design department. Product designers determine what they want the carabiner to do and look like, and from there, they design computer models. Before they physically make anything, the design team uses FEA (Finite Element Analysis), which helps determine the shapes, angles, and features needed to fulfill the company’s strength requirements.

(via Backcountry.com and @BlackDiamondUSA)

The Reel Rock Tour has announced details for this years competition.

I saw last years winners during the 2008 Reel Rock Tour in Boulder where The Sharp End was premiered and they were quite well done.

From the press release:

The 2009 REEL ROCK Film Tour (www.reelrocktour.com), presented by Sender Films and Big UP Productions is now accepting submissions for the 2009 REEL ROCK FILMMAKING COMPETITION. If you have a camera, computer, and a fresh idea, one of the short REEL ROCK ‘09 films could be yours!

Building on the popularity of the 2008 filmmaking competition — in which tens of thousands of people voted for their favorite Humor/Spoof and Action/Adventure films — the 2009 competition has expanded with new rules and new prizes.

Winning filmmakers will receive $500 in cash and rake in grand prize packages from title sponsors Windstopper and The North Face, gear sponsors Petzl Equipment and Sterling Ropes, and media sponsors Climbing Magazine and Urban Climber. The winning films, one from each genre category — as chosen by voters online and REEL ROCK judges — will be featured on the 2009 REEL ROCK Film Tour in over 100 locations worldwide.

Submission deadline is July 20, 2009.

For more information and to enter visit http://www.reelrocktour.com.

Get those creative juices flowing, fire up the camcorders and laptops, and hit us with your best shot!

Steve Casimiro of The Adventure Life reviews the Coleman Lantern, the Therm-A-Rest NeoAir, and the Timbuk 2 Doctor’s Bag.

Climbing Narc and Sicky Gnar Gnar have some first impressions on the Five Ten Projects.

Climbing Hold Review examines Jason Kehl’s Cryptochild holds.

A La Sportiva Speedster preview from Joe Kinder.

BJ at Splitter Choss looks at the Black Diamond Chaos harness and the new Indian Creek guidebook.

GearFlogger reviews the Metolius 18mm nylon sling, the DMM Revolver screwgate carabiner, and the Julbo Explorer glacier glasses.

Colorado Mountain School also reviews the Black Diamond Chaos harness.

The Movement gym’s blog has an update on the ongoing construction and I thought it was interesting to take a brief behind the scenes look at a climbing gym being constructed.