Mammut has developed what it claims is the world’s first climbing tracker. The hardware of the Climbax, presented at this year’s ISPO Munich Online, resembles a pair of watches. Climbers put on one watch per wrist, sync them together and go about their business scaling a mountain or boulder.
The dual trackers log data from the climb in stereo, so to speak, with their onboard altimeters, gyroscopes and other sensors. The wristbands are designed to deal with climb-induced swelling and sweating, with a surface layer of 3D-printed nylon and a skin-contact layer of neoprene. The buckles are designed for one-hand operation. To avoid distractions, neither watch has a display. Instead, a series of diodes shine through the fabric to signal various functions and then go dark.
Once they return to base, climbers can stop the recording and link the trackers by Bluetooth to their smartphone, which in turn relays the logged data to Mammut’s cloud. The data goes through the Climbax algorithm and returns to the smartphone app. Here the social media aspect comes into play.
In addition to reviewing their performance (meters climbed, intensity, time per hand, etc.), climbers can post their climbs for the perusal of tagged climbers. They can compete with one another and take part in contests. Data totals can be tracked daily, weekly, yearly or according to your requirements.
In the future, Mammut will be posting scannable route cards at the bottom of well-known climbing routes for more exact data.
The Climbax, available this summer, has won this year’s ISPO Gold Award in the outdoor equipment category
