Top Five Climbing April Fools Jokes 2018

The 2018 April Fools jokes were alive and well on Easter Sunday this year.

Many brands played along, including us with the first 5.16a in Canada by Bob and Doug.

So here are the top five April Fools jokes in the climbing world for 2018.

Black Diamond

Black Diamond introduced their Hot Forge Heated Chalk Bag.

Their joke was meant to cause confusion as a follow-up to their HonnSolo Bag from 2017.

The joke was that while the video featuring Alex Honnold seemed like a fake, the product was very real.

Black Diamond made 1,000 of them and if they sell well, they’re produce more for autumn.

We had a chance to try it out on some cold Canadian stone, visit here for a review and here to buy.

Stefano Ghisolfi

Italian climber Stefano Ghisolfi said he trained with NASA in “hyper gravity” to make the first ascent of the world’s first 5.16a.

Unbelievable. I never told anything to anybody about this project. And now it’s done. I always tried it secretly to avoid more pressure on myself, and in the end everything worked. I tried this route so many times since I moved to Arco that it took all my energies and my stamina out of my body and my mind. All this for more than 50 days. It’s impossible to count every single attempt: they are just too many. I believe this is the hardest thing I’ve ever tried and, let’s make it clear, the hardest in the entire world. I want to say a huge thank you to my brand new sponsor, @nasa and @nasa_italia , that built a Hyper gravity room for my training, giving me a chance to be a better climber. Without their special training facilities the 3m diagonal jump of the route wouldn’t be possible. (in the picture, the double swing after the jump). Special thanks go to @sara_grip , that introduced me to yoga and meditation. These practices were so useful to levitate during the only rest of the route, to reduce my weight and rest better on the two crimps. Luckily, I had the opportunity to mentally recreate the route and then climbing it in virtual reality before the real send. For all these reasons, I want to propose (and confirm, since I climbed it twice for the pictures) the first 9C+ of the world. I wanna call it Pelirpa, like the goddess of sacrifice, patience and fishing. Why? Simply because it took me a lot of time, efforts and mental strenght… ? @theverticaleye • • • @thenorthface @lasportivagram @camp1889 @vertical.life.climbing @epictv @hrtholds @frictionlabs #neverstopexploring #fiammeoro • #climb #climbing #rockclimbing #klettern #escalade #bouldering #climbing_pictures_of_instagram

A post shared by Stefano Ghisolfi (@steghiso) on Apr 1, 2018 at 12:41am PDT

American Mountain Guides Association

Since 1979, the American Mountain Guides Association (AMGA) has set the standard for guiding in the United States. AMGA Certification requires completing the alpine, ski and rock disciplines.

For April Fools, they announced the organization looks to fill a void of its current curriculum by adding a discipline.

“We realized we are missing one critical component of our curriculum that the Europeans have expertly mastered,” explained AMGA Technical Director Dale Remsberg.

That fourth discipline is, jokingly, Apres.

Sleep Anywhere

As a top sleeping bag company, Klymit is always looking for ways to keep us cozy and warm.

For April Fools, they released this video of an action suit that looks pretty awesome.

A Sleep Anywhere Suit for your whole body with baffles that inflates.

BioLite Drone

BioLite went full future with their April 1 video featuring backcountry drone service.

Here’s to topping out The Chief this summer to a fully prepped and warm meal delivered via drone.