Grab your gear and go. In the military, especially in Ranger School, you are taught and instructed to never have more than one item out of your ruck at a time. It was always entertaining to see some guy in the position next to me with both boots and socks off just as that fateful […]
Climbing
Everybody could use a good rope in their life: The Panthera Climbing Rope
For a climber, a good quality climbing rope can mean the difference between life and death. For the rest of us, climbing rope may not fall as high on our list of gear priorities… but as this Panthera climbing rope has demonstrated over the past few months, you’d be surprised how often a rope you […]
Mount Everest “human traffic jam” has already claimed 11 lives this year
The 2019 Mount Everest spring climbing season is becoming one of the deadliest on record, with 11 people having lost their lives on the mountain so far. Many experts blame overcrowding for the deaths. The longer people wait to summit, the longer they are exposed to the elements and the more fatigued they become. Adding […]
Petzl ACTIK Headlamp: Capable of all of your adventuring needs
Petzl specializes in two categories: vertical environments and headlamps. This isn’t a surprise as the inspiration for the Petzl company began nearly a century ago when Fernand Petzl was exploring the Dent de Crolles in France, one of the deepest known cave systems in the world. Petzl dedicated himself to developing the technical gear required to […]
Petzl Sm’D RL Twist-Lock Carabiner: A step above all other carabiners
As I and other writers have illustrated in previous reviews, Petzl is one of the premier gear manufacturers for climbers, mountaineers, and adventure seekers. The company was founded by the late pioneer Fernand Petzl who manufactured his own technical gear in order to explore some of the deepest known cave systems in the world. Today, the Petzl […]
Petzl Conga Rope | Technical rope for a hardline
Petzl has been the leading manufacturer of climbing gear for decades. It all began with Fernand Petzl, the founder of the company and a pioneering cave explorer, who manufactured his own equipment to navigate through vertical environments. Petzl’s innovation continues today as they continue to manufacture climbing gear for all kinds of adventurers. In this review, […]
Mini Frog Kit – Pirates and Trees
Three Reasons: “Climbers Rope Swings” hung high into the forest trees are incredibly fun I’ve got trees that need some trimming I love Pirating ships What the hell is he talking about? The reason I’ve gotten so “into” everything I did as a SEAL is that, for me, it always related back to my personal life […]
The Carabiner | A Go-Bag Must Have
I never really had any use for carabiners prior to my service in the Marine Corps. During my enlistment, I attended the Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center where we learned several methods of rappelling, cliff assaults, and general wilderness survival. We were all issued several carabiners for the course. Carabiners soon became very convenient […]
NW Alpine Belay Jacket: Chosen for it’s warmth, toughness and minimal packed size
The NW Alpine Belay Jacket is a compressible and very comfortable synthetic-fill jacket built for cold and damp environments. What’s intriguing about this jacket is the apparent design quality and the company’s manufacturing location. NW Alpine began in 2010, and has since continued to produce top-quality alpine gear, cut and sewn in Portland, Oregon. It is […]
NW Alpine Black Spider Hoody: Functional in a wide variety of conditions
The Black Spider is the moniker given to a formidable, 1000-foot-tall wall of volcanic rock and ice on the eastern face of Mount Hood above the Newton-Clark glacier. This area contains some of the most sought-after and heart-pounding alpine routes in the Pacific Northwest. NW Alpine has designed a hoody capturing the namesake of Mount Hood’s most […]