By: Andy Chapman | January 19th, 2012 | Posted in Outdoor Articles | 1 Comment »
With the debauchery of the holidays over, you might feel that it’s time to repent and start training. A month of over-consumption and inactivity has left you feeling lost. Having strayed from the path, you look to the web for guidance. The Google leads to many websites, books, magazines, and blogs offering recipes for success. Dissatisfied with the current state of things, you begin to find inspiration in the testimonials and meaning in the words of those with the answers.
Thin-air squats: Crossfit at almost 19,000 feet.
Brimming with enthusiasm and the promise of salvation, you feel motivation building in the New Year as you vow to improve. “If I just do X, Y, and Z, I’ll be set. This time I’ll get it right!” you think, as the sugarplums dancing in your head (actually they probably already made it to your belly …) are now replaced with visions of killer programming and previously unimaginable physical prowess. Read More »
By: Andy Chapman | November 18th, 2011 | Posted in Climbing, How To | Tags: climbing, gear, sport climbing
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Winter is imminent, but you still haven’t done your proj. Don’t despair. Cooler temps are actually quite conducive to “sending.” With a few tricks, you could turn that draw-recovery mission into a productive day of climbing.
What to wear
"Warming-up" on a chilly day at the Motherlode.
The first rule is to bring a lot of clothing for your single-pitch climbing or bouldering session. I typically crag- or pebble-wrestle in cotton as it’s more comfy and less geeky. I rest easy knowing that, since I’m close to the car, weight and moisture management aren’t a concern. If you have a long approach or prefer something up top that wicks, choose a synthetic or merino wool tee. Pack for comfort (and style?), knowing that there’s no harm if extra layers stay in your pack all day. Read More »
By: Andy Chapman | September 19th, 2011 | Posted in Gear Guide, Outdoor Articles | Tags: peak bagging
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Andy Wellman and Diane Chapman going up Wilson Peak
The conditions encountered on your average summer or autumn peak-bagging outing can vary considerably: one minute you are blasted by the sun, the next minute it’s hailing or even snowing. Relatively long walks or exposed scrambles mean that you want to bring just enough to deal with precipitation and temperature swings but not so much that you are busting a gut carrying it all. This post is focused on what you need and (implicitly) what you want to leave behind. Read More »
By: Andy Chapman | September 7th, 2011 | Posted in Outdoor Articles, Trips | Tags: fourteeners, mountain climbing, peak bagging
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Longs Peak and the Diamond
Sometimes the universe seems to conspire against you. My best efforts to have meaningful (or any) progress climbing this spring and summer have been consistently shat upon by the cosmos. After six months of setbacks, I was hardly surprised when my wife/climbing partner hurt her wrist a week before our planned road trip. Accepting that my climbing agenda had been set adrift on the cosmic tides, I simply threw my hands up and decided that I was along for the ride. No Sierra granite for us. Time to find a Plan B.
Having taken a fatalistic approach to this chunk of time off, I looked for signs. Diane was keen to get into the backcountry, but I am loathe to carry a pack without the carrot of climbing something. Humping loads from point A to point B to point C is personally unappealing. Could we find common ground? I asked the universe. Read More »
By: Genevieve Mount | August 24th, 2011 | Posted in How To | Tags: get back into swimming, pull buoys, swim fitness, swim routines, swim workouts, why bathingsuits come apart in chlorine
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It's safe to go back in the water (pool sharks only come in human form).
When things get a bit dull or a bit injury-focused in your fitness world, it’s good to get a change of pace. And what better than an infusion of refreshing wetness (swimming, that is)? The good news is that you don’t have to know how to execute a crisp flip-turn or a perfect butterfly stroke to make swimming part of your workout routine. Read More »
By: Adam Riser | August 8th, 2011 | Posted in Climbing, Humor, Outdoor Articles, gear reviews | Tags: alpine climbing, scotch
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Jesse testing out a nice 14-year Oban
Since this will be the last gear review from my Alaska trip, I figured I should end with the one item that we got the most use out of. Some trips are cold, and good down jackets are really key. Other climbing trips have lots of steep ice and mixed terrain where the choice of ice tools make a huge difference. On our trip, however, the most important pieces of gear were the two bottles of 14-year-old Oban scotch that we drank to help us pass the time during the endless hours of daylight while we waited fruitlessly for the temperatures to drop and the ice to form.
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By: Andy Chapman | August 2nd, 2011 | Posted in Climbing | Tags: climbing, gear guides, trad climbing
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Part 2: Putting it all together
The Desert is a cam intensive place to climb
Building a rack is an investment that is best viewed on a lifelong time frame. You’ll have to throw down on the front end, but aside from occasionally cleaning, re-lubing and re-slinging, cams will last many years. If you climb in The Desert or other cam intensive nitch crags like Vedauwoo, then your rack is never really complete. Don’t despair. If you frequent these venues, you will probably make friends with other like-minded individuals and have an open door policy of gear borrowing and lending. Read More »
By: Andy Chapman | August 1st, 2011 | Posted in Climbing | Tags: climbing, gear guide, trad climbing
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Josh taking his pick of the litter
Knee-deep in the gear room last June, I was confronted with a major dilemma: what rack to take for the summer? Heading mainly to Squamish and the Bugaboos in the Northwest, I realized that taking the entire arsenal would be overkill. A phone call to my friend Nate in Portland, Ore., quickly sorted things out. “Dude, it’s granite. You probably only need doubles, maybe triples in a few sizes.” And with that, more than half my rack stayed at home. Lest you get the wrong impression of me as a gear-hoarding, over-protecting, grubby consumer, be forewarned that the parallel world of desert cracks leads to a skewed outlook when it comes to the cam department.
Spring-loaded camming devices (SLCDs or simply cams) can become a hotly contested issue among gearheads and dirtbags alike. Safety is a concern, to be sure, but other subtleties such as ease of use, holding power, size range, and cost come into play. Racking preference is largely personal, and as such is laden with bias. People new to trad climbing are often forced to rely on beta from their more “experienced” partners or simply go for the price point. This article will hopefully shed some light on the matter by briefly highlighting major design differences and providing some recommendations for putting together the right rack for you. Read More »
By: Adam Riser | July 28th, 2011 | Posted in Outdoor Articles, gear reviews | 1 Comment »
Jesse taking serious advantage of the burner and grill combo.
My partner and I had an obscene amount of gear when we got off the plane and set foot on the glacier in Alaska. Among our several duffel bags, skis, and backpacks was a Primus Profile Duo Campground Stove and 10 large propane canisters. The rest of base camp must have thought we were nuts, but my partner was the designated cook (since he’s extremely good, and I can barely feed myself) and insisted on something as close to a home kitchen as he could get. I had my reservations about his choice, but I went along. I decided that I had made the right call at about the time I was scarfing down my second steak and vegetables dinner in three days.
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By: Josh Barnes | July 26th, 2011 | Posted in Outdoor Articles | 1 Comment »
The road trip is a time-honored American rite of passage. In fact, failing to embark on at least one road trip per summer basically means that you hate apple pie, fireworks, and babies. We recently embarked on a kickass weekend road trip and wanted to share our firsthand experience and a few time-tested tips on how to make your road trip a success.
Location
Where you’re going isn’t always as important as just going somewhere. Whether you are headed to a music festival in the Columbia River Gorge, to Utah’s red rock desert, or to a destination unknown, just get on the road and go. Read More »
By: Jeffrey Miesbauer | July 20th, 2011 | Posted in Outdoor Articles, Skiing | 4 Comments »
Eli marching past a waterfall on Superior.
There’s something wrong with me. I can’t stop skiing. Mother Nature isn’t helping, either. Sure, it’s July, but there’s enough snow leftover from our super-snowy Wasatch spring to ski dozens of legendary lines. Although it’s seen as an anomaly for most, summer skiers like Elias Littenberg and I only see it as an opportunity to easily continue our ski-all-year lifestyle (Elias is going on 35 consecutive months, I’m on 23). And this July confirmed that this year’s summer ski season will be one to remember. Since there’s so much remaining skiable snow across the West, I thought I’d list ten reasons why we never put our skis away and perhaps convince you to do the same.
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