Bouldering Mat: Black Diamond BlocBox Bag
19th Mar 2009
A neat little idea that ism in reality, a bit excessive, but nevertheless quite appealing. The Impact Bag is a miniature, folding bouldering mat whose sides zip together to form a bag. If you are heading somewhere that you can’t be bothered lugging a regular sized mat into, and can manage with just a smidgen of padding, then it works really well. The best example of this situation arising is on an easy circuit at Fontainebleau. It’s small enough that you don’t mind carrying it, and is easy to zip your few bits and pieces needed on such a circuit into between problems. It gives you a place to site / stand when putting on your boots, and a clean starting point from which to start your problems. It also provides a modicum of padding should you fall off, but should not be considered as a regular crash-mat. The other situation in which I use it (probably more regularly if I’m honest, as I only get to Font a couple of times a year) is on regular visits to the Peak boulders where it slips inside my larger mat and comes out as a sit / foot mat when I arrive at the boulders – i.e. it’s a glorified bit of carpet!
In a nutshell it’s a nice luxury for the boulderer who has everything, and useful in certain circumstances, but not something that we’ll see inundating the crags in the coming year.
rrp £49.95
Reviewed by Matt Heason on behalf of planetFear