We caught up with Scarpa athlete Jacob cook after his very successful climbing trip to Mexico at the beginning of the year. It was a busy trip and he made sure he got lots of climbing in. Read his account of the adventure that made him remember why he loves the sport.

This year’s CWIF festival, held in Sheffield, was once again a great competition to attend and be a part of. This year’s event saw Scarpa UK athlete Nathan Phillips take the men’s title.

We recently caught up with Dan McManus about his finger injury, the lack of rest and how it affected majority of his climbing year. Read his account and what he has planned for, what will hopefully be, an injury free 2019.

Scarpa athlete Eliot Stephens has recently returned from Vastervik, Sweden where he put his Instinct VSR’s and Furia S to good use. His desire to see everything and make the most of his trip, certainly led to an experience he will never forget.

“Trips like that don’t come around very often; perfect weather, great company and a load of new problems to go at every single day.”

Read on to get Eliot’s account of the trip.

We are delighted to introduce the very talented Emma Twyford to the SCARPA Climbing team. Emma represented Great Britain for 8 years competitively before going back to her roots of bouldering, sport, trad and alpine climbing. She is one of the few female route setters in the UK with fellow SCARPA athlete and friend Evie Cotrulia. Together they have set up ‘Creative Climbing’ to bridge the gender gap in climbing and inspire more ladies into the industry by providing beginner workshops.

When purchasing climbing shoes, the challenge at the end of the day is understanding what climbing shoe will work most effectively for what type of climbing you do the most. I would make one major point here:

You will NEVER have a climbing shoe that will cover ALL bases

Now you’ve got to grips with what you like, you may want to understand more about every facet of the shoe; from the rubber to the closure system to the material we use to make the shoe, it all plays a part in its overall performance. Understanding this in more detail is what in many ways separates the amateurs from the pros.

Read on to understand the true science, nay art, of climbing shoe design, laces and Velcro!