Dialing my Denali Kit We struggled to put one foot in front of the other, gasping for every single breath. Digging deep and fighting for each foot, we finally, after what seemed like a never-ending stair climb from hell, reached…
The Deuter Trail Pro 36 is a pack for long day hikes where comfort and additional space for gear are necessary. It also performs exceptionally well for short multi days trips, mostly in the realm of summer mountaineering or backpacking…
If you’ve seen my gear closet you know I have *a few* backpacks…and by a few I mean enough to start a small retail store. I have tried several different brands – Northface, Osprey, Gregory, Columbia, and now Deuter. One…
After moving from Alaska to Colorado I traded my mountaineering boots for climbing shoes, and my feet finally felt freedom after long seasons crammed into what felt like bricks compared to the comfort of the TC Pros. I had been…
Imagine you are out rock climbing in a place that requires a soft touch since the sandstone seems to be only one step further in the geological timeline than loose sand. Your route might only have two or three drilled…
In 2011, my partner Kevin and I climbed Denali in Alaska via the West Buttress. It was our second 6000m peak together. We carried over 120lbs of gear each up the hill from basecamp on sleds and packs. Carefully planned…
The Deuter Trail 28 SL accompanied my partner and I on my climb of Skywalker Couloir, a snow climb in the Indian Peaks Wilderness of Colorado. We hiked through several miles through backcountry forests, crossed raging streams, and ultimately climbed…
The first thing you notice about the Women’s Mission Harness is the color. Electric teal outlined by an orange so bright it looks like the long lost cousin of a traffic cone. This is not a jab at Wild Country,…
The perfect layer to match a spring’s variable conditions. A layer you can keep on all day from cold mornings to warm and sunny afternoons, this layer is the key to an efficient spring outing. Out of the box, I…
Three thousand feet is a long way to fall. When picking new approach shoes to use for extensive simul-climbing and high exposure scrambling in the Tetons and Bugaboos, I chose to disregard price and pick what I thought was going…