I’m just experienced enough of a climber and mountaineer to tell you this: Climbing is hard. That's true if you’re tackling a tough route at the gym, grabbing onto the Gunks in upstate New York or ...

Long gone are the days of hemp ropes, hobnailed boots, and chopping steps up ice faces. Today's ice climbing gear is highly engineered, refined, and more dialed than ever. Even so, simply surviving ...

Few seasons excite me as much as autumn. The evil tag-team duo of sweltering heat and thick humidity depart for the southern hemisphere, and in their place come pleasantly cool, drier air and pumpkin ...

Deciding when to retire climbing gear is tough. Losing half your rack to an unplanned escape is one thing, but decommissioning gear is quite another. According to several mechanical engineers, ...

Among my friends, I’m the de facto outdoor-gear guy. And for years, they’ve consulted me for climbing-gear recommendations, especially if they’re new to the sport and have no idea where to start. I’ve ...

My climbing partner moves doggedly up the inclined face of “Steel Monkey,” a difficult climb up a granite face that arcs over a clearing in the woods near Lake Tahoe, California. After the brittle ...