‘How To’ Articles

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Shoulder Season Sending: Tips for climbing in the cold

By: Andy Chapman | November 18th, 2011
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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 …

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Posted in Climbing, How To |

10 Tips: How to Make Swimming Part of Your Fitness Routine

By: Genevieve Mount | August 24th, 2011
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underwater swimming

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 …

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Posted in How To |

Chaco Cleaning: Slaying the Funky Beast

By: Jeffrey Miesbauer | July 1st, 2011
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Hipthongs in the middle of a soapy scrub.

With the return of summer comes the return of our favorite warm-weather essential, the Chaco Sandal. After a winter of toes crammed into ski boots, nothing feels better than to grant our feet freedom while we hike, float, and party outside…. But what is that funky, smelly foot-rot  emanating from our beloved platforms to paradise? That is the dreaded Chaco funk, the only downside I know to an otherwise perfect product.

If you’re lucky enough to never smell this nose-wrinkling phenomenon, congratulations; I hate you. Well, not really, but this guide is for all of us who need help dealing with a minor nasal inconvenience that eventually grows into a beast that can’t be ignored.

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Posted in How To, Outdoor Articles |

Go Big: How to Dress for Success on Long Rock Routes

By: Andy Chapman | May 2nd, 2011
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What to wear?

What to wear?

Spring is in the air, and many a young man’s (and woman’s) thoughts are turning to rock climbing. Longer days and warmer temps mean it’s time to start venturing off the ground to get some air under your heels. But before venturing onto a big route, you need to ask the age-old question: “What to wear?”

My pragmatic take on climbing clothing generally holds that expensive technical fabrics should be reserved for situations when you actually need them. (The bar, climbing gym, or even single-pitch crags don’t usually count in my book.) For a number of years, I also applied this philosophy to multipitch rock routes, wearing Carhartts up many a desert tower. Eventually, it bit me in the ass. A stuck rope on a cold November night left me wishing I weren’t dressed in a cotton hoody, canvas pants, and a cowboy shirt. Fashion is a bitch. Read More …

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Posted in Climbing, How To |

Death By Slideshow

By: Adam Riser | April 13th, 2011
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Make your photos tell a story. Here Alex Meyer and Shingo Ohkawa wait out the settling forest fire smoke with an endless chess session.

We’ve all been there: a few days after your friend gets back from a week-long trip, he invites you and the rest of his buddies over to check out a few photos. He starts up his slideshow, and you know by the third frame that you’re in trouble. By the 30 minute mark, you’ve seen at least a half-dozen fuzzy shots of the same moose, camp from every angle, and even one shot where the camera accidentally went off in the backpack.

You are experiencing the worst post-trip torture there is: Death by Slideshow. Every frame of the entire trip is in your buddy’s presentation, nothing has been edited, and although all the shots are in chronological order, there is no storyline other than the standard, “Oh yeah, I remember that” when your friend is surprised by which shot came up. You don’t want to risk subjecting your friends to this same fate after you go on an epic trip, so put a little effort into your own presentation and get them stoked instead of putting them to sleep. Here’s how….

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Posted in Climbing, How To, Newsletter, Outdoor Articles |

Crossing Snow Without Snow-Crossing Gear

By: Adam Riser | April 6th, 2011
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Even the middle of summer can necessitate a snow crossing. Ben Sukow finishing the last few hundred feet to the rock in Loan Peak Cirque during a warm July day.

Crossing snow is pretty simple. Put on your crampons, grab your ice axe, and start walking. But what if you don’t have either of those things? Large, steep snowfields often guard the entrance to alpine rock climbs. And it’s not unheard of to leave your ‘poons and axe behind for one of several reasons; maybe you didn’t expect snow, or you didn’t expect the snow to be as steep as it is. Maybe you didn’t want to carry the extra weight, or maybe you simply forgot to bring the right gear.

So, what do you do when you get to the bottom of a couple hundred feet of a 40-degree snow pitch with nothing but a boulder field waiting to catch your fall at the bottom? You improvise. Read More …

Posted in How To, Outdoor Articles |

Daisy Chain Dangers

By: Adam Riser | April 1st, 2011
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Not to flog a dead horse, but with rock climbing season coming into full swing, and I’m once again bracing myself to see climber after climber using their daily chains incorrectly and risking their lives. There is nothing wrong with using a daisy chain to clip into anchors, but you must use it correctly. If you use your daily chain incorrectly, you may as well be clipped in with your shoelaces. Here’s a very quick tutorial showing the right and wrong ways to clip in with your daisy chain.

The other option is to get yourself a Metolius PAS, which is essentially the same thing as a daisy chain, but it uses individual and independent full-strength loops, so there’s no way to clip in wrong.

P.S.: I realized when I watched this that I slipped up and said “where you would normally girth hitch your rope” when I meant to say “where you would normally tie in with your rope.” Please do not girth hitch to the rope when climbing.

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Posted in Climbing, How To, Outdoor Articles, Trips |

Backpacking 101: Learn How To Liberate Your Backpacking Gear This Spring

By: JGW | March 29th, 2011
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A reminder to “Like” less, and hike more this year. (Photo Credit: Andrew Cazier)

You spent last year’s tax return on some sweet new backpacking gear, but you’ve yet to test it beyond the unplanned St. Patty’s Day backyard sleepover .., yeah it’s time to set your sights a bit higher. Don’t get me wrong, backyard sleepovers are integral to the adolescent experience—thing is, your ultralight backpacking gear secretly hates you for consigning it to the fate of captivity. You see, backpacking gear is like a magic carpet capable of taking you to dream-like places that have the potential to restore youth, increase overall well-being, ‘cleanse’ an over-stimulated mind-state, quiet bad dreams, and increase overall epic-ness of character by at least 84%. If you’ve yet to experience the restorative and hubris-annihilating qualities of tramping through nature for an extended period with all your means lashed onto your back, it’s really time you let your caged backpacking gear run free. There’s, like, a whole new world out there, man. Read More …

Posted in Gear Guide, How To, Newsletter, Outdoor Articles |

The Art of Car Camping

By: Adam Riser | March 29th, 2011
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There are few things better for the soul than hanging by the campfire.

It’s really hard to say how much time I’ve spent living out of vehicles. During my first season as a river guide, I lived in an old Jeep that eventually burnt to the ground. Then I downgraded to a crappy Pontiac Grand Prix with a hood that was duct taped shut. The year before I became a mountain guide, I made a huge upgrade to a $1000 ’89 Ranger with a canopy that was about six inches longer than the truck bed.

Since moving to Utah, I’ve camped out nearly every weekend during the springs, summers, and falls. Let’s see … 13 years of climbing and mountain biking with, let’s say, 25% of the weekends in the rig, plus four whole summers, is about 700 days of car camping in a little over a decade. In that time, I’ve picked up lots of tricks that can make a campfire next to the car feel like home.

Remember, the more comfortable your camp time, the more energy you’ll have to get after it during the days. Here are a few things to keep in mind…

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Posted in Gear Guide, How To, Newsletter, Outdoor Articles |

Rope Coiling 201: Pre-Stacked Butterfly Method

By: Adam Riser | March 25th, 2011
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Last weekend was the first rock climbing trip of the season. I showed up at a crag with a group of friends and geared up for the season’s first crack. One of our crew offered up his rope for my lead, and when I pulled it from his pack, I saw a nice, neat coil.

Unfortunately, my friend had done what too many climbers do: he started his coil by holding both ends of the rope. While this method creates a nice, neat coil, it also necessitates re-stacking the rope at the bottom of every route. In the 20 minutes it took me to untangle and re-stack the rope, I could have been climbing the day’s first pitch.

So, learn the lesson well: instead of starting with both ends or the middle of the rope, start at one end and work your way to the other. Or, check out the video below for a slightly different coiling method that ensures a perfectly stacked rope every time, goes very quickly, and lets you backpack the rope if you need to.

There are about a million ways to coil a rope, and they all have their advantages. Share your favorite method in the comments section.

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Posted in How To |

Traveling With Skis and Snowboards

By: Jeffrey Miesbauer | March 23rd, 2011
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If only it were this easy ... Photo credit: Lee Cohen

Whether you live at the base of the Cottonwood Canyons or in the heart of the Carolinas, you’ll eventually hear the call of a faraway mountain range and travel by air to ski or ride. Since spring is go-time for places like Alaska and interior British Columbia, and it’s been known to produce big Pacific storms throughout the west, we thought we’d share some advice on traveling with your closet of gear in tow.

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Posted in Featured, How To, Skiing |

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