My friend Chris had a perfectly good, secure, well-paying job as a chemist up until a few weeks ago, when…
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Because we all need a little motivation sometimes. All posters created with Despair.com’s DIY Build Your Own Motivator tool. …
Hopefully you’re enjoying some time off right now due to one of our many end-of-year holidays, spending time with people…
Sometimes, when you’re in a beautiful place, it’s easy to forget to take a #selfie. Later, when you look through…
-Brendan
When you’re buying a rain jacket, you probably have lots of questions, none of which really matter besides “Which rain…
The Sunday night before my first day of fourth grade, I rolled my black-and-gold Huffy Thunder 50 BMX bike up…
Do you have a hard time eating at fancy restaurants where food is presented as a sort of sculpture? I…
In November, a video posted online showed an American climber visiting Sweden blowtorching holds on some boulders to dry them…
Fact: Shirts are for suckers. They’re heavy, hot, and if you wear one when you’re rock climbing, the ladies (or…
My friend Aaron is a pretty normal guy, by most standards: High school math teacher, homeowner, happily married, good hygiene,…
“I’ve been thinking about things on a cost-per-use basis lately,” my friend Nick said to me a few weeks ago.…
At a grocery store last week, the cover of Cosmopolitan‘s January issue caught my eye with the headline “EPIC SEX.”…
In a scene in the spaghetti western The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, the One-Armed Bounty Hunter finds Tuco…
My dad and I walked into Busch Stadium in St. Louis on September 4, the first time he had been…
“Send me a list of gift ideas for you.” Why do we do this around the holidays now? I mean,…
When you dismount a mountain bike going uphill, you end up doing a sort of bow. As you step off…
A few years ago, I climbed Drift Peak near Leadville, Colorado, on Presidents Day with my friend Aaron and my…
My friend Mick’s heart stopped working last Sunday. He died at the age of 54, not knowing that the night…
I haven’t had a “proper” Thanksgiving dinner since 2002, somehow managing to be anywhere but watching football and eating an…
I was trying to start a campfire a couple weekends back and grabbed a fat piece of wood with a…
When he hit the ledge, I was sure he was dead. He was a young college guy, and we had…
Maybe you’ve heard this one: Ski resort patron approaches lift ticket kiosk on Powder Day of the Century and demands…
You, outdoor recreator, are quite probably quite educated: Bachelor’s degree, possibly a master’s degree or Ph.D. You wore a cap…
Five summers ago, I met this guy named Lee Smith while climbing with a big group of people at Castlewood…
“You know, I was just thinking that three bumper stickers changed my life,” Dan said as we tromped down the…
I always get sandbagged by guys in gear shops. I will stop in somewhere to pick up a cordelette, or…
As the USA Pro Cycling Challenge was working its way around Colorado and into the Front Range in August, I…
2:39 a.m., August 11, 2012: Packs packed, Chris and I are about to shut the tailgate on my van and…
Sometimes I like to fantasize that I have some sort of backcountry suaveness and culinary instinct, and that I will…
Ever fantasized about being a fire lookout, or living in a cabin high in the mountains, or deep in the…
When you tell the story later, you are a little less descriptive of the moment you experience pure dread and…
I’ve been a fan of Chris Kalous’ still fairly-new and incredibly rad podcast, The Enormocast, ever since my friend Josh…
I think there’s nothing that feels more rad than picking your way up a ridgeline, trailing a rope, pulling your…
Maybe you haven’t spent much time lately thinking about how awesome bears are. That’s OK, if that’s the way you…
My friend Jesse was about five miles east of Dighton, Kansas, a little over 200 miles from the start of…
Staying hydrated is important. Perhaps equally important is subtly communicating your identity by decorating your favorite water bottle with the…
When did you visit Japan? Someone at the table asked Mike during our late dinner after bouldering in Central Park…
In the weeks leading up to my wedding in 2007, my hair was a little long for my parents’ taste.…
In a conversation a few weeks ago, a climber friend of mine described herself as “not super-girly.” Her expanded definition…
Climbing is fun. But at the top of a route, everybody gets all serious. Which is good, because lots of…
I have a copy of this children’s book that I take everywhere I go. It’s called An Awesome Book, and…
There’s nothing better than some shit-hot new gear to spend your hard-earned dollars on, is there? Technological advances in apparel…
You have approximately one million different travel mugs at home. I know this because I have previously owned approximately one…
“A man does not climb a mountain without bringing some of it away with him and leaving something of himself…
You have to crawl through 50 feet of mud. You have to jump over a flaming car. You have to…
Get over here. Come on in and let the big bear get his paws on you. Sometimes men are afraid…
I showed up to meet my friend Becca at the bouldering gym in Seattle on a Monday afternoon. When we…
A handful of Saturday mornings, I have driven out of Denver’s Capitol Hill neighborhood juggling a bowl of granola on…
I picked up these sweet-ass rigs after I finally wore out my last pair of trail running shoes after 2…