Replacing Stuff Sucks

There are two types of gear buying scenarios for me. One's a lot of fun and the other one sucks.

When something new and awesome comes out, it's fun to throw some cash at it and play with a new toy. I had a BD ATC Guide which was a perfectly fine belay device, but then the Mammut Smart Alpine came out and it did all sorts of cool new stuff - like assisted braking. All of a sudden I could take photos on rappel by just flipping a few loops of rope around my leg as a backup - the actual weight was carried by the assisted braking feature of the belay device. AWESOME. I like getting something new when I buy some gear.

What I HATE is buying gear to replace something that just wore out. My inReach just died on me. I'm going to have to spend a pile of money to replace something and I'm not even getting any cool new features out of it. That blows. It feels like wasted money.

One of the worst culprits for this - the wasted money replacement - is pants. I don't know why, but I just destroy pants. All pants. I'm lucky if I get two seasons out of a hard shell. My current alpine climbing pants are riddled with holes and have a blown zipper. My last set of ice climbing pants lasted literally one weekend before they were getting replaced at MEC. Each one results in either annoying warranty claims or blowing cash with seemingly nothing to show for it.

So, given my frustrating history with pants, I was understandably intrigued when Bulletprufe Denim sent me a pair of their pants to test out.

Bulletprufe Promises

Bulletprufe makes some bold claims - they promise pants that look like a pretty normal set of jeans, but can be put to work doing everything from climbing to mountain biking while offering 10x the durability of your usual pants, abrasion resistance, breathability and enough stretch to let you move pretty unencumbered.