The Chalk Bag » Apparel

Paracord Survival Bracelets

Derek — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 03:46:13 +0000

A friend of mine sent me an email earlier this week with a Gizmodo link to these Paracord Survival Bracelets made by Tough Gear, Inc. They have a pretty slick idea with these bracelets – they are made out 15 to 20 feet of 550# paracord (rated up to 550 lbs.), that can be unraveled and put to use in any emergency (or non-emergency) situation.

“What do I do with it after I use it?” you may ask. Well, you can send what is left back to Tough Gear, Inc., along with your story, and they remanufacture it for you free of charge!

While I can’t recall a situation where I have ever needed a stash of emergency paracord, now that I’m getting back into climbing it’s one of those things that wouldn’t hurt to have laying around if you run into a situation climbing outdoors. Plus, they are pretty cool looking!

I’m hoping to get a Paracord Survival Bracelet for Christmas, but if I don’t then I will probably order one for myself shortly thereafter.

Climbing Rope Bracelets!

Derek — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 21:54:00 +0000

My order from Green Guru Gear came in today while I was at work (I was hoping it would). I realized after I placed my order that I could have specified a color/design preference that they would have tried to match, but I’m happy with what I received. One of the bracelets is a light blue and tan mix (which makes it look like woven silver), and the other is red, yellow and black, and matches my chalk bag quite well.

I’m more than happy with the product itself, and will probably order from Ecologic Designs again in the future. I’d love to have the chalk bag they make, but I can’t justify spending $25 on a chalk bag when I now have instructions on making my own and I know you can pick them up in stores for closer to $15. Perhaps when I finally have a place where I can realistically have a dog or two I will pick up their climbing rope dog collar and leash.

Green Guru Gear

Derek — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 03:02:05 +0000

Out of pure curiosity, I went looking for some cool climbing apparel to see what was out there these days. I ended up coming across this cool website called “Green Guru”, a concept developed by Ecologic Designs – a group of outdoor enthusiasts devoted to creating products and gear from recycled and reclaimed materials. They have a line called the “Climbing Rope Series” which consists entirely of products made retired climbing ropes! Their Climbing Rope Series consists of:

Rope Bracelets
Chalk Bags
Key Chains
Dog Collars
Dog Leashes

For a long time I had a yellow LIVESTRONG bracelet that lived on my wrist. It finally broke a couple of months ago, which I was somewhat upset about seeing as I wore it more for personal reasons than for the “fashion craze” that swept the world in 2004. I have been keeping my eye out for something different, as I wasn’t particularly interested in picking up another LIVESTRONG bracelet because the darn things were just too big for my wrist. I came across these rope bracelets and knew I had to have one. To add icing on top of the cake, you can order them in different sizes!

Ecologic Designs has a lot more products and gear that they have made from organic and recycled materials – everything from bamboo t-shirts to messenger bags made from discarded highway billboards (so cool!). Wander on over to their site and take a look for yourself: Green Guru Gear by Ecologic Designs