By Dan Dewell
Few can argue the threat that rising crude oil costs pose to the climbing industry. Despite industry-wide efforts to embrace green operations in the last few years-such as incorporating organic materials into gear, switching to solar energy, purchasing carbon offsets and rethinking packaging-the climbing industry still cant shake the black snake. Were not just slaves to oil because we drive cars to the crags. The majority of the products we use to scale cliffs, catch falls and buffer landing zones still rely heavily on petroleum. So how does this affect us?
“I know a lot of climbers whove chosen to stay local rather than take their annual road trip,” says Don Bushey, owner of the popular Denver-based Wilderness Exchange Unlimited. This spring, he, too, decided to “stay-cation” rather than drive west a handful of hours to Utahs Indian Creek, just to save money on gas. But surprisingly, tighter travel budgets arent necessarily resulting in lagging sales.
“Climbing sales are steady,” says Bushey. “And thats a good thing when compared to hiking and camping, where trends show stagnation, or even decline, in some cases.”
Jonathan Lantz, president of La Sportiva North America, reports 30 percent company sales growth from first quarter 2007 to first quarter 2008.
Sterling Rope owner John Branagan is seeing similar success. “We had a record first quarter in sales in 2008, and sales remain strong into the first half,” says Branagan. He identifies durability of his product and a strong environmental footprint as important to consumers, and also points to a trend in rope purchasing-from skinny to thicker cords-as a reason for strong sales.
According to Linda Givler, REIs climbing gear product manager, hardware sales are slow but REI has seen “good growth in our harnesses, ropes, carabiners and shoe categories, which would lead us to believe we are selling to a lot of gym and sport climbers.” Largely youngsters, if youre paying attention.
Market guru and Mad Rock owner Joe Garland concurs, pointing to a larger influence of youth on the industry, most of whom start either in the gym or bouldering. He sees this population as having a fashion-forward sense. For Garland, this means looking at the industry with a different eye.
“Your typical climber will have a pair of shoes for traditional climbing and maybe another pair for sport,” Garland says. “But for kids, its like sneakers; theyll have four or five pairs of shoes.” To adapt to youth demands, Mad Rock has created different iterations of the shoes-slight tweaks in design or alternate graphic options.
“The newest trends in climbing shoes are more targeted, climbing-style-specific products at a lower price” notes Lantz. “Theres also a trend toward asymmetrical shoes at entry-level prices. People are moving away from the more comfortable, neutral-shaped shoes and going for performance right away.” Lantz also identifies a recent trend of climbers moving from bouldering to roped climbing.
Among the rope climbing contingent, a special trend is developing in traditional gear and modern alpinism. The soft-spoken alpine ace Micah Dash spells out what he sees as a major change in how experienced climbers approach alpine objectives these days. “Siege-style tactics are a thing of the past in American alpinism,” he explains. “If youre not climbing in Alpine style, then youre living in the 1970s.”
Dashs mantra-work fast and work light-is shared by many, including his long-time climbing partner Jonny Copp. Dash points to advancements in the quality and weight of gear, such as single-walled tents, carbon-fiber ice tools and ultra-light sleeping bags, as well as ropes, biners, and cams, as evidence of the light-and-fast movement.
Most recently, the Metolius Master Cam became available. One of these single-stem units can protect a range of sizes previously reserved for several pieces of gear. This means searching for one piece instead of fooling around with three, which cuts back on heavy trad racks in the process. With better gear, teams can surge on a big wall instead of subjecting themselves to harsh exposure for days on end.
Which leads us back to the beginning.
“I still dont see a products carbon footprint as a major factor in consumer spending right now,” says former Climbing magazine gear editor John Connor. “Climbers still value price point and product innovation over whether a jacket or shoe is green or not. Although trends like the green movement have been somewhat instrumental at the wholesale level, it takes time for that trend to reach consumers in the same capacity.” He adds, “I look forward to the day when the consumer has no choice of whether to buy recycled-content or organic clothing-when all product is truly green.”
