It's Mental Health Awareness Month so we are discussing some of the mental aspects of adventuring. Climbing is dangerous. I think it can be done safely, but that shouldn't be read as "perfectly safe." This is especially true of alpine and high altitude climbing, which are my preferred styles and which come with more complex, objective dangers. So, I think a lot about how to keep my personal risk profile manageable, and the full video shares that one way I do it is to diversify my outdoor activities.

It's Mental Health Awareness Month so we are discussing some of the mental aspects of adventuring. When my climbing partners and I climb for similar reasons, there are a host of advantages. The full video explores this often overlooked factor in finding compatible climbing partners that stands out, to me, as the most distinguishing factor between a good climbing partner and a great one.

It's Mental Health Awareness Month so we are discussing some of the mental aspects of adventuring. We've all heard, "climbing is an inherently risky activity," and we do our best to understand and manage those risks. But we also sometimes don't notice when we've "gotten lucky," The full video goes into how we assess our climbs when we can't always really know how far away or close we were to disaster?

It's Mental Health Awareness Month so let's get into some of the mental aspects of adventuring. A good part of our channel is about helping get whole families - and that includes the kids - into the outdoors. That brings risk. But learning to assess risky adventures, like climbing, can translate to day-to-day life. The full video offers a simple framework to help us talk with our kids about risk.

It's Mental Health Awareness Month so let's get into some of the mental aspects of adventuring. Years ago, I had a military friend introduce me to the phrase “slow is smooth and smooth is fast.” In the full video, I talk about how I lean on that line of thinking quite often when in the backcountry and particularly when rock climbing, ice climbing, alpine climbing, or mountaineering. Danger and fear can create a strong desire to rush through a situation, and I often remind myself that slowing down and avoiding rework will often speed me up, overall.

I carry chemical warmers in my first aid kit for cold weather climbing, hiking, and camping excursions. But I only buy the toe warmers, not the hand warmers. Here's why.

When we are out climbing, hiking, or camping in cold temperatures, we need to layer well. And our layers need space between them to insulate. That means our liner gloves need to strike a balance between cold protection and being thin enough to work with your outer gloves, too.

Ice climbing usually demands a lot of different gloves. Different portions of ice climbing need more dexterity and therefore less insulation. Some portions are the opposite. Some portions expose your hands to a lot of water. The full video shows how the approach ice climbers use to pick gloves to bring can help us think through how different gloves, in combination, can help us ensure our kids have warm hands on their climbing, hiking, and camping adventures in winter.