Our twin boys run, climb, scramble, hike, backpack, swim... you name it. So, it has always been an expensive proposition to get gear that is specific to each of these activities. We try to find items that can be used - and used well - across many different disciplines. We've been using the La Sportiva Ultra Raptor II Jr shoes for life on the trail as well as scrambling on the rocks. How well have they performed as trail runners, hikers, and approach shoes? Follow the link for the full review.

Skiers, Climbers, and Snowmobilers all concern themselves with avalanche dangers and, therefore, avalanche rescue procedures. Well, a recent study has suggested that heated gloves, other heated clothing, and maybe all electronic devices need to be turned off and managed in the event of needing to conduct an avalanche search with beacons.

I had been on an approach hike into a climb when one of my toes started hurting. I hadn't knocked my toe against anything. I hadn't been heading downhill and impacted my toe against the front of my boot. What could have been causing it? Surprisingly, it was my socks. The full video shares how it happened and what I now do to prevent it.

Most modern headlamps for camping, hiking, and climbing have a red-light feature. Why's it there? Why would we use it? Well, take a look; let's all be kind to our tentmates ;)

Our boys, now age 8, have been using the Deuter Climber 22 Liter Kid's backpack for over three years. It's been the pack they take on just about every hiking, backpacking, camping, and climbing adventure. So, with that much wear and trust put into the backpack, we thought it would be worth a review. The full video shares what we dislike, like, and love about this pack.

The Connecticut Tree Hitch can be set up quickly and with minimal material, making it a very efficient climbing anchor choice. However, being a single-point anchor, making a mistake when setting it up could end up with severe consequences. Here is one potential error to watch out for.

A semi-rigid, extended quickdraw is sometimes called a "cheater stick" for rock climbing, but it can be a good tool when we find ourselves on a sport route that has critical bolts placed just beyond our reach. It does introduce new risks that need to be managed, however. The full video shares what this tool is, how we can use it safely, and how we can either buy or build one of our own.

Rock climbing rescue techniques often demand releasable knots as part of their procedures. Two knots that we may be called upon to tie are the Mule Overhand around a belay carabiner and the Münter Mule Overhand. Here's how to tie them.

Whether you are a climber on the approach to the climb or a hiker who is putting in miles on the trail, we want to be conscious about conserving energy and avoiding stumbles and falls. The full video provides a basic understanding of a few rock climbing footwork fundamentals that can help keep us efficient and safe, which will matter a great deal after 10 thousand, 100 thousand, or even 1 million steps.

Rock climbing in the cold temperatures of winter usually means better friction, but it also means struggling to keep your body, hands, and feet warm enough. Here are a few tips that may help with that struggle.

I don't feel like my family and I should be pushing our limits with hard climbing all of the time. We had previously done a video about learning to find satisfaction with some of the less demanding forms of adventure so that our risk profiles aren't always high. Well, exposing the boys to backpacking was one of those experiences we wanted them to try and see if they enjoy. This is a preview to a short film we made about it.

For whatever reason, I had a mental block when remembering how to orient the load strand of the climbing rope through the Petzl Micro Traxion until I made explicit the position of the cam relative to the rope. But, that's not the first time I've had a problem like this.

Early in my climbing career, a mentor told me "...now we need you to start thinking about the 'working end' of your carabiners." He was talking about orienting my carabiners to maximize efficiency and safety. The full video takes two case studies, attaching our carabiners to our anchor points and attaching ourselves to the anchor, to go into some of the subtleties of carabiner orientation.

Once we've arrived at our good belay stance, if we choose to build an anchor with sewn slings or runners, we need to manage the stiff section where the material is sewn together (called the "bar tack"). If we don't it can get in the way of any knot tying we might want to do. Here is the simple solution I go to, most.

Downclimbing is an important skill for anyone who climbs outdoors. It is downright necessary for those who "scramble" on ridges or other terrain that typically doesn't use ropes. There are times where it feels self-evident to face in towards the rock, and there are times where is feels very comfortable to face away from the rock. But what about those times when it isn't obvious? The full video goes into how I think about deciding to face in or away.

The Half Gibbs Offset Bend can join two ropes of unequal diameter, and is easy to untie after loading. It is also less prone to rolling than a Flat Overhand Bend. All of this makes it a good solution for joining two climbing ropes (or a climbing rope and a skinnier tagline) for rappels (abseils). But, can you tie it on the tenth rappel, in the dark, and hypoxic? Here is how we tie this knot.

I think it's a false choice that we can either "climb quickly but with high risk by soloing" or "climb slowly but with low risk by using a rope" when we are on terrain that is well within our abilities. This is part of a short series on some techniques that allow us to use a rope to mitigate risk on moderate terrain without burning through time the way fully-pitched climbing sometimes demands. The full version of this fourth video covers short-pitching.

Like top rope belaying has the pull-brake-under-slide method of managing your hands and the climbing rope to maximize safety, so is there a preferred technique when using a terrain feature as the friction add on a belay. Here's how to do it.

I think it's a false choice that we can either "climb quickly but with high risk by soloing" or "climb slowly but with low risk by using a rope" when we are on terrain that is well within our abilities. This is part of a short series on some techniques that allow us to use a rope to mitigate risk on moderate terrain without burning through time the way fully-pitched climbing sometimes demands. The full version of this third video covers simul-climbing.

Another method of climbing with a shortened rope is to carry the excess line in your pack. If you are going to do that, it is important that you stack the rope carefully to avoid having it tangle as you pull out extra as it's needed. Here's how I ensure that rope stacks neatly inside my pack.