Check out the "New  route info" section of this web site for complete route listing for Amole Cliffs and Comales upper wall sport routes!

Before any piece of Black Diamond gear makes it on to the shelves, it spends months, sometimes years getting put through the wringer by our Director of Quality, Kolin Powick, and his team of Quality Assurance engineers. Through extensive and meticulous testing, both in the lab and in the field, KP and his team help ensure that you can count on your BD gear to be as durable, reliable and as strong as possible every time you head into the mountains or out to the crags. Our QC Lab posts aim to answer some of climbing's most common gear-related questions.

A few weeks ago I was at a local sport climbing cliff when one of my buddies came up and asked if I would mind him posing a "technical-sciency-engineering-like-type-question." He wanted to know why each fall he took while working his "proj" felt progressively more painful. I mentioned the old adage from Freedom of the Hills as well as numerous climbing magazi...Read more

Last week I was climbing a classic multi-pitch route in Big Cottonwood Canyon, 30 minutes from the Black Diamond Equipment offices. Clear skies upon arrival but true to the weather lately in the Wasatch there was a downpour mid pitch 2. When we met at the belay, my partner voiced his concern. “Our gear is soaked. Are these runners going to hold if I take a whipper?” “Of course they will,” I assured him. But how much weaker are runners when wet? The truth is I wasn’t sure.

This sparked my curiosity. Is the strength of runners affected when water drenched? People say to use Dynex in snow because Dynex doesn’t absorb water, so are Nylon runners affected more than Dynex runners?

The next day in the lab I got my hands on 10 nylon and 10 Dynex runners. I put five of each in some water to soak for 24 hours. I tested five dry and five wet of each runner in the standard CE tensile testing configuration (something I do almost...Read more

The Carson National Forest will enter into Stage 1 Fire Restrictions, July 29, 2011 and is open to public use.

Although the Forest's are closed, there is still plenty of climbing on BLM and Private Land in the Taos Area.