Short clips
Trailers to full length videos and stand-alone quick tips; everything we make that is under 60 seconds
Preview to: 6 Tips to Stay WARM in a Cold, Snowy Camp
Our boys, Connor and Kade, have been gathering up a pretty good amount of cold, winter, snowy camp experience. So, they wanted to each share three tips - so six tips total - that they find to be the biggest difference makers when it comes to staying warm in camp. The full video goes into all six.
Preview to: Using a Remote Canister Stove in the WORST conditions with a DIY Hanging Kit
Remote canister stoves often improve stove performance in cold weather when compared to standard canister stoves. But remote canister stoves can be hard to use in the harshest environments when there is no means to safely hang the stove. Well, the full video provides a step-by-step tutorial to build a DIY(ish) solution for that problem.
Preview to: This DIY Hack Improves Your Canister Fuel Performance In COLD Weather
There are lots of ways to maintain a warmer temperature for your canister fuel, thus improving the performance of your camp stove when out climbing, backpacking, or camping in the snow. One way is using a bath for the canister, into which you can pour warm water. The full video shows how I made one and some options on how to use one.
Preview to: Is the La Sportiva G-Summit the Most VERSATILE Climbing Boot?
The La Sportiva G Summit Boots are designed to be worn as either a single boot or a double boot with a removable liner. So, is it one boot that can serve all your needs? Warm enough for cold, high-altitude climbing? Light and maneuverable enough for technical climbing? How's the durability? What about the fit? The video goes into these questions and more.
Preview to: Keep Your Drinking Water from FREEZING! Practices from High Altitude Climbing
Depending upon your part of the world, winter climbing can bring extreme cold that can make the seemingly simplest things complicated. I got asked a question about how we stop our drinking water from freezing when temperatures dip into the extreme. The full video borrows lessons from many high altitude climbers who regularly face those types of extreme temperatures.
Preview to: Three Uses of the Bowline on a Bight Knot for Climbing in the COLD
When winter sets in, the cold, the gloves, and the snow and ice all make tying and - particularly - untying weighted climbing knots more difficult. So, easier-to-knots to untie can make transitions in and out of systems faster. The full video details three ways that I start using a bowline on a bight when wet, winter weather shows up in the mountains.
Preview to: Have We Been Rappelling WRONG!? A No Tether Multi-Pitch Rappel
While the "backside clove hitch" method of connecting to the anchor is getting more and more popular for ascending routes, we can extend that same thinking to a multi-pitch rappel. The method was developed to address the problem with managing knots in the ends of our rope, as we need to remove them to pull the rope but need to add back for the next rappel, which creates opportunities for mistakes. The full video goes step-by-step and gets into pros and cons.
Preview to: Contrasting Two Transitions from Climbing to Rappelling to Study Tradeoffs
Like the old "choose your own adventure" books, each climb we make presents many choices, big and small. The full video looks at two different transitions, moving from climbing to rappelling in a team of two, to see how our choices impact the various risks we can both avoid and bring into play by those choices.
Preview to Why Our Climbing Family Doesn't Typically Simul-Rappel (Abseil)
Counterbalanced simul-rappelling is something expert climbers will do in unusual circumstances, and this gives the impression of relative safety. But in nominal climbing circumstances, what benefit are we really gaining? The full video breaks down the time-savings benefits so that we can weigh the costs.
Preview to Climbing is Adapting: Case Study of a Recent Climb When Things Did Not Go Perfectly
On a recent climbing trip, I forgot my harness, used up gear making an improvised harness, and was confronted with a cascading series of risk assessments and mitigations as a result. The full video is a case study of a climbing day when things went fine but imperfectly, as many days climbing end up being.
Preview to Taking an Improvised Climbing Harness Up and Down Multiple Pitches: What I Made and Why
Every piece of climbing equipment has its strengths and weaknesses. The tube-style plaquette devices I use a lot, because I am often climbing with both of my boys, are no exception. The full video goes into three ways these devices can fail to break assist when in the wrong circumstances along with what we can do to mitigate those risks.
Preview to: Our Brake-Assisting Belay Device Can Fail! Three Plaquette Risks and Mitigations
Every piece of climbing equipment has its strengths and weaknesses. The tube-style plaquette devices I use a lot, because I am often climbing with both of my boys, are no exception. The full video goes into three ways these devices can fail to break assist when in the wrong circumstances along with what we can do to mitigate those risks.
Preview to: Beyond Visual Checks: How Climbers Can Use Weight Transfers to Check Safety Systems
We make sure our new climbing system (belay, rappel, anchor, etc.) can take your weight before we start taking apart your previous system as we move through a climbing transition. Kind of common sense, huh? Not very enlightening. But what if we take that same concept and apply it in less obvious ways. Can keeping a mental model of "weight the new system, first" keep us safer more generally? The full video gets into more details.
Trailer for Revisited: a Short "Movie" of a Family Camping and Climbing Trip
Four years into our channel, the boys and I made a full-circle trip to the location where we filmed our very first video. Like any full-circle event, it prompted some reflection on how far we’ve come as a family, how much the boys have grown and matured, and how I’ve come to live with some personal struggles. The full short video celebrates this trip that was four years in the making.
Preview to: Build Your Own Pulk Sled to Access Winter Camps or Mountain Climbing Objectives
Winter climbing trips are often extended from one to two day affairs, or even longer. Trailhead access can be further away as only main roads remain open. And then approach hikes take longer due to difficult conditions, as well. If we need more time out in the backcountry, and now need to set camps, we may want to haul, rather than carry in all that bulky, winter gear. The full video goes step by step building a Pulk Sled that is light and efficient enough for those local trips but also robust enough for expedition rigors.
Preview to - Backcountry Luxury: Making a Kitchen at Your Snow Camp Using a Pyramid Tent
If I'm going to be winter camping, on snow, in the same place for a while - think an expedition basecamp or a long-weekend outing - I will often make a dedicated kitchen in camp. With appropriate snow depth, a pyramid tent kitchen is my preferred version to make because it grants shelter, mobility, and better ergonomics. The full video provides more on why, and a lot more on how, I build them.
Preview to: My Crampons Don't Fit! Small Boots Make Crampon Toes Loose but We Have Options
I’m not a big man. I’m 5’ 6” or a little less than 1.5 meters tall. I weigh about 140 pounds or less than 65 kilograms. While that is good for not having to take a lot of bulk up alpine objectives, it does mean that fitting into equipment can be hard. The most troubling, for me, was getting my small boots to lock in at the toe of my crampons without having room to slide around from side to side. The full video is a deeper dive into crampon toe attachment options for people with smaller boots.
Preview to What Type of Crampon's Do I Need? A Guide to Front Points for New Winter Climbers
Each new climbing season brings with it a group of climbers who are new to climbing in that season. And now it is winter. It's always someone's first time peak bagging through the snow drifts after years of dry-weather hiking. It's always someone's first time on ice. It's always someone's climb up that choss-filled gully that is now covered in an inviting blanket of consolidated snow. These new winter climbers probably have equipment questions, and the one I get the most is about why the different front-point styles for crampons? The full video goes into the details.
Preview to - A Walk Together: 9-Year-Old Twins Complete the Tour de Mont Blanc
When the boys were nine years old, we took them to Trek the Tour de Mont Blanc. We’ve spent the last few weeks using that trip as a case study for some expedition planning videos. Well, we also made a very short movie about the trip, just a remembrance for us and maybe a preview for any viewers who are considering going. Here’s a sneak-peak trailer.
Preview to: Our Climbing, Backpacking, or Trekking Expedition Retrospective
No climbing, backpacking, or trekking expedition goes perfectly. We get some things in planning and executing the expedition just right, but we also don’t do enough of some things (like, maybe, communication) or too much of others (like, maybe, overtraining). So, this previews a facilitated retrospective on a completed expedition. What we learn from everyone's unique perspectives helps leverage strengths and avoid pitfalls when we head out on the next big trip.