When I first started trad climbing, I spent months agonizing over which cams to buy. Should I go with the Black Diamond Camalots that everyone recommends? Spring for the Totems that seasoned climbers swear by? Or piece together a mixed rack from different brands? After three seasons of climbing with all the major brands across […]
When you are run out 40 feet above your last piece of gear on a granite trad route, nothing matters more than the protection on your harness. I have been trad climbing for over a decade, and I have placed thousands of nuts in cracks from Yosemite to the Gunks. The right set of climbing […]
When you are building a mechanical advantage system on a wall, halfway through a rescue scenario, the last thing you want is your prusik cord getting sucked into the pulley. That is exactly where a prusik minding pulley (PMP) earns its keep. Our team spent weeks comparing the best premium PMP climbing pulleys on the […]
After spending the better part of three years climbing at gyms and crags across the country, our team has belayed hundreds of pitches with nearly every assisted-braking device on the market. We have caught big whippers, held hangdogging partners for 20 minutes straight, and fed slack on runout leads that made our palms sweat. Along […]
Dry tooling is one of the most demanding disciplines in climbing. You use ice tools and crampons on bare rock, hooking picks into cracks, edges, and features that would normally be climbed with hands and feet. It builds raw technique for mixed routes and keeps your skills sharp when ice conditions are unreliable. Our team […]
When you are heading into serious mountain terrain, your ice axe is not just a walking stick with a fancy tip. It is the one piece of gear standing between you and a life-threatening slide down a frozen slope. I have spent months testing premium mountaineering ice axes across glaciers, steep snow couloirs, and mixed […]
When you are standing on a 60-degree ice pitch at 4,000 meters, your crampons are the only thing keeping you connected to the mountain. I have spent over three seasons testing technical climbing crampons across ice falls in Colorado, mixed routes in the Alps, and glacier approaches in the Cascades. The difference between a well-matched […]
Standing at 14,000 feet on a windswept glacier, the last thing you want to question is your traction. I learned that lesson the hard way on Rainier's Emmons Glacier when a budget pair of crampons let me down on a steep ice traverse. That experience sent me on a search for the best premium general […]
Ask any mountaineer what ends expeditions early, and the answer is almost always the same: cold feet. Not metaphorical cold feet, but actual frozen toes that turn a summit push into a survival retreat. I have watched talented climbers turn back on 6000-meter peaks because their boots could not handle the conditions, and it is […]
When temperatures drop below zero and the wind starts howling at 50 miles per hour, your tent becomes the only thing standing between you and a miserable night. I have spent years camping through brutal winter storms, and I can tell you firsthand that not every shelter is built for real extreme weather. That is […]