I love hiking, backpacking, climbing, and camping in the "shoulder seasons" of fall and spring. There are usually amazing colors and smaller (or no) crowds. But the variable conditions can make layering a challenge. It's cool one moment, warm the next. That's why I like to wear a neck gaiter when I'm out during those times. It's a simple piece of gear that is versatile enough to work in the ever-changing conditions that I will be facing.

Snow and ice climbing season is here! Time to get that gear ready and we need to make sure it stays in top shape all season. This quick tip shows you how to file your crampons to get quality edges and points. Plus, a quick reminder on how not to sharpen them.

For climbers, and particularly those who are alpine climbing or mountaineering, it has become much more common practice to "extend your rappel device" by leashing it to your harness and allowing it to extend up towards your head. In this video, we quickly cover some of the benefits of rappelling with an extended device, benefits which can add up to improve your safety margin while on rappel.

For alpine climbing in winter and snow conditions, you can improve the safety and efficiency of your team by "improving your steps." That is, making sure that each climber on your team is using the same steps in the boot track in order to consolidate the snow and improve the stability of each foot placement.

When hiking down hills or mountain sides, it's easy to slip and fall. And our natural reaction to those slips - to lean back and to shorten our steps - actually makes it even more likely that we slip more! Here's a body position and movement technique to make your footing more secure when moving downhill, whether mountaineering, climbing 14ers returning from a technical climb, going for a thru hike, backpacking, or trekking.

With cold weather it's easy to forget the need for sun protection, and it's even easier to forget the need to protect yourself from not just the sun overhead but also the UV reflections from the snow, that strike you from below. Just a reminder to protect yourself given this dynamic.

Store-bought ice axe leashes can be expensive. And their lack of fall-rated materials mean you can't safely use the leashes as part of an anchor set-up or as part of a rescue system, like for a crevasse fall. Here is a quick and easy alternative that costs you no more than the price of a triple-length runner and no more time than the time it takes to tie three knots.

Snow and ice climbing season is fast approaching! Time to get that gear ready for use. This quick tip shows you how to file the pick of your ice axe (or ice tool) to get a quality edge and point. Plus, a quick reminder on how not to sharpen your axe.

If you don't like trekking poles while hiking, that's fine. But if you don't like trekking poles because gripping them tires out your hands, then learn how to relax those hands when on mild terrain without ever losing control of your trekking poles.

Want to shorten your breaks while on the hike, climb, or a 14er summit attempt? Or do you just want to make sure that you eat several times a day so that you keep your energy from flagging? Well, keep your trail food at the ready, and you can do both more easily.

Ice and snow traction for your feet, like the kind you can get with Kahtoola MICROspikes and High Stream Gear Ice Cleats for Kids, don't need to be a one season help. These can help you on steeper ground of compacted dirt and gravel. Try them out on your next Colorado 14er or 13er, or any hike with steeper slopes.

Hiking or climbing at altitude, like you find on 14ers or even taller mountains, is bad on your throat. The air has less moisture, you are breathing harder, and it isn't unusual to develop a cough. To keep my throat from getting too sore, I like to pop a Jolly Rancher Hard Candy in my mouth every hour or so. This keeps me from getting to raw and raspy, and really any hard candy will do.

The Surgeon's Shoelace Bow Knot adds an extra wrap to the starting hitch as well as an extra wrap to the bow hitch. The result is more friction, keeping the knot tied throughout your hike while remaining easy to untie at the end of a long day.

If you are pushing your current boundaries on summit hikes or mountaineering - or maybe you are getting into Colorado 14ers or will be attempting your first 14er - you are going to get tired legs. One way to mitigate that muscle fatigue is to change the orientation of your steps every so often, to stress different muscles. Your toes don't always need to point where you are headed, and the crossover step can be very helpful for changing things up.

Any piece of gear that you can make multipurpose will save you weight. Any rock climbing - sport climbing, trad climbing, top roping, and multi-pitch - is an opportunity to cut weight by replacing the belt of your chalk bag with some tech cord. Now you've got a working piece of rock climbing gear that can be used for anchors, prussiks, autoblocks, or myriad other needs should those needs arise.

The Bowline Knot works exceptionally well for attaching an anchor to a fixed point like a tree or a boulder. Here is how to tie this knot that is useful in rock climbing, trad climbing, and alpine climbing situations. In fact, it is even useful for making a back anchor when sport climbing or on top rope.

A Double Figure 8 Loop - AKA a Bunny Ears knot - is excellent when fixing a rope on two anchor points. Learn how to tie and adjust this climbing knot to ensure that you equalize your climbing anchor on the direction of pull.

An Autoblock hitch is often used to back up a rappel so that you are safe if you should accidently let go of the rope due to an injury, rock fall, or the like. Learn how to tie this climbing hitch so that your rappel system remains redundant whether trad climbing, sport climbing, ice climbing, or mountaineering.

This quick tip goes over how to build a "quad" climbing anchor. Using a "quad runner" - or a 240cm sling - you can build a self-equalizing anchor that is great for meandering routes or meandering climbers. (Kids often get off route due to difficulty reaching all of the standard holds.) This is also an anchor you can tie on the ground and rack on your harness, making for easy install when you know you'll have double bolts at the top of a route.

Here's three different ways to tie a clove hitch depending upon what you are tying your rope or cord to: a fixed object with an open end (like a tent stake), a fixed object with no open end (like a tree), or the one-handed version to a carabiner as used in lead climbing.