I have owned several helmets in my short 10 years of climbing career and I remember when I started off climbing in the gym or the outdoors, I would tease people who used helmet while climbing in a sports climbing area. With the young and ignorant mind thinking that its uncool, reduced performance and there is not going to be rock fall mentality, I was lid less for the first few years of my climbing career.
However, ever since I started trad climbing and teaching trad skills in various countries, I have had rocks and various equipments coming down at me when I’m at belay duties or as a climber. I have since decided that helmet is mandatory in many if not all climbing situation. After all, a climbing helmet like my new Singing Rock, Penta, weighs like 205gm and thats hardly any weight for the muscle bugling, badass swearing, bra tearing macho rock climbers.
Well, the Penta is a evolution of the old Singing Rock helmets Terra II, which the latter a has a higher profile, plastic quick adjustments at the back and of course not so much colour choice (which could be the number one deciding factor when buying a helmet for many).
I did not hop on the Terra II for sometime because I did not really like the fit as it created hot spots on my forehead. So I was pretty much stuck on my Black Diamond Tracer helmet, which was with me for the last 5 years. The Tracer is almost good except for the fit and that is the most important thing for me. The Tracer has hot spots at the top of the head for me and it slides forward and backward even when I have my chin straps and rear dial to the max and almost choking myself. Since I got the Tracer for free and is not willing to fork out money for other helmets, I lived and got used to the helmet.
Campers’ Corner called me this week and told me the Penta arrived at their store and I was really excited to wear it and feel how the helmet stands up. When you first picked up the helmet, you can feel the lightweight foam without excessive plastic parts on it and it has a great CG with weight evenly distributed around the helmet. The adjustable straps at the back of the helmet eliminated the traditional plastic dials which I thought was a great idea. The plastic dials either breaks or it becomes sticky rubber/plastic mix after being in our tropical climate for sometime. These adjustable straps on the Penta, feels soft and skinny almost ‘g string’ kinda feel. It is also not hard to adjust the straps when you have your helmet on.
The Penta also spots 11 vents to make sure the head breathes well under our hot and humid weather in this tropical island. The headlamp retainers are also flush to shell of the helmet so it doesn’t snags with items in the bag pack or tree branches while maintaining its full function of retaining the headlamps to the helmet.
Generally when climbing with it, I feel the Penta doesn’t roll around my head like the old Tracer does and it has a pretty low profile, which will be great for climbing roofs like Psycho Killer, Cathouse, Long Dong.
4 attractive colours to choose from and 1 size of 51cm – 60cm girth. This is my choice for the next season in Yosemite! 
Limited stock now in Campers’ Corner for SGD$140 only.
Qxadventures 