Wanting to climb to the summit of a 14er? Here is a practical approach to selecting a Colorado 14er or California 14er peak and route; planning your departure, hiking, and turn around times; factoring weather into your planning; and other safety considerations.

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.

Wanting to hike to the summit of a 14er? Here is a loadout of the equipment I take on a typical summer climb to above fourteen thousand feet.

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.

Wanting to hike to the summit of a 14er? The full video shows how you can approach getting your body ready to carry you to the summit.

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.

Twin brothers Connor and Kade, just after turning six, wanted to climb their first 14er, that's a mountain that stands more than 14,000 feet (or 4267 meters) tall. Come summer, they built up to their first 14er by summiting a few 13ers, Mount Sniktau and Dyer Mountain. Then it was time for the attempt at their goal: 14,036' (4278m) Mount Sherman. This is a trailer to the short film chronicling the three climbs.

A right of passage for a budding Colorado hiker is getting up to altitude. Colorado 14ers - mountains above 14,000 feet - number at 58 (some say 59, some say 54 depending upon prominence and new measurement technology). Our boys told us they wanted to "climb a 14er" this summer, so we trained and attempted one. Here are the boys at the summit. Their first 14er: Mount Sherman, which stands at 14,036 feet.

If you are going to hike with your kids, they are going to need shoes that can handle everything that you will throw at them. Over several years, we've had multiple pairs of the Adidas Terrex AX2R CF Kids Hiking Shoes for our two boys. This video reviews these shoes after quite a bit of use and abuse so that you can better decide if these might be right for your child.

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.

Over several years, we've had multiple pairs of the La Sportiva Stickit Kids Climbing Shoes for our two boys. We offer our thoughts on the shoes' pros and cons so that you can better decide if these might be right for your child.

The kids have been asking about how Mom and Dad are keeping them safe while they climb, so I showed them the basic pull-break-under-slide technique. The next day, I had found that they rigged a pully system so that they could haul themselves up our small bouldering wall, and were using belay technique to capture their upward progress. I guess if it builds their muscle memory, it isn't all bad?

During a climbing rescue, the standard practice of using the "pick off" technique may not work if there is a large weight difference between - say - a child climber and the adult belayer. So, if you are going to be climbing with kids, you should know how to transfer a child to a second rope, in order to move them off of the wall safely, should they get injured and need to come down. The full video walks you through this skill.

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.

Being able to rescue a climber requires a series of skills. The first of these skills you will need to apply is "escaping the belay." As a belayer, you can't help your injured lead climber or go get help if you can't get out of the system. The full video shows how to escape the belay in a way that maintains the safety of your team.

Being able to rescue a climber who is injured on a rock climb requires a series of skills. One of those skills is being able to ascend the rope. Another is being able to transition from ascending to descending in a way that keeps the everyone safe. The full video shows how to make those transitions based on the type of equipment you are using.

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.

Being able to ascend a climbing rope is a necessary skill to make you and your climbing partners self-sufficient and able to deal with emergencies. When you are trad climbing, alpine climbing, or even sport climbing, injuries can happen. If you are rock climbing, and the climber gets injured above the belay, you may have to ascend the rope to assist them (yes, even when top roping). So, our full video tells you how to do it!

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.

Rock climbing with younger kids can be complicated. We want to share our love of climbing, but the regular routine we have to pack the usual gear and head to the usual crag may not be right for setting up our kids for a joyful and successful day.

We've learned some lessons along the way; so, the full video shares the climbing tips and tricks for we employ with our kids that have helped us ensure that our kids have positive experiences and want to keep coming back.

Whether you are trad climbing or sport climbing, lead climbing or top roping, it's all about climbing safety and climbing fun!