Rocktoberfest!
Drum-roll, please!!!
The winners of the Trango, Rocktoberfest 2011 raffle are:
1st Prize: BetaStick Compact stick-clip – Liam Dillon
Grand Prize: 10 Smooth Quickdraws – Christine Emmerton
What a great weekend! Thanks to everyone who came out to enjoy the great weather and contribute to a really important cause. For those of you who don’t know, the Red River Gorge Climbers Coalition (RRGCC) puts on Rocktoberfest every year to raise money to pay the mortgage on the Pendergrass-Murray Recreational Preserve (PMRP), which is home to hundreds of routes at iconic crags such as the Motherload. As climbers, it is a special privilege to have control of the access to the rock we hold so dear. The final payment on the land is due in 2013 – we are so close!
This was my first time at an event like this, and it went extremely well. There was so much psyche in the Trango booth that I could hardly keep up. Brad and Kelsey came out to support Trango, and we couldn’t have done it without them! Between talking with participants, running around to hardware stores, and sending some hard routes, they had their hands full!
The evenings were filled with events like the dyno comp, live music, climbing movies and slideshows, and crate stacking. Crate stacking is a game in which you stack milk crates as high as you can while climbing up the tiny column of plastic until it topples over. A handful of participants made it over 20 crates, getting pretty close to the crane that was belaying them!
We did some demos at the Boneyard inMuirValleyon Saturday, which was a fun process. I mean, who wouldn’t enjoy hanging out at a crag talking shop about Trango’s awesome climbing gear? What products got the most attention, you ask? The BetaStick Compact stick clip is relatively new, and people were always amazed at how long it becomes from such a short, lightweight, and easily packable size. The head on the BetaStick holds the carabiner at an angle that makes snagging that first (or second or third) bolt a breeze. The Cinch was also a big hit. The Cinch gives the smoothest feed for lead belaying of any other belay device because it allows the rope to travel through in a straight line, whereas other devices always have a bend in the rope. This auto-assisted locking device is invaluable, especially while pushing yourself on some of the best sport climbing in theUS(The Red!).
People were also stoked on the Smooth Quickdraws. (*Checkout the video on our new homepage!) Two words sum up these draws: tough and light. I have never used such a lightweight, high performance sport climbing draw. Most “light” draws have skinny little dogbones and wiregates to cut weight, but the Smooths are able to keep the weight to a minimum and still have all the features you look for in a primo sport draw: notchless gates on full-size carabiners, strong spring action, and a beefy nylon dogbone, tapered at each end. And for a limited time, there’s one more word to sum up these draws: SALE! Check out the 5-packs on our special offers page to save almost 40%!
Thanks again to all the participants who made the event a success! I can’t wait to see you all again next year at Rocktoberfest 2012!
Keep sending,
Adam Sanders
