No one wants to be the person who leaves a store and becomes the subject of retail employees’ horror stories—but…
Tag gear
In 2004, my friend Nick and I went on a 10-day road trip from Montana to Phoenix, where I was…
A lot of things felt like they were on the verge of breaking down in the six months of training…
Every once in a while at a book signing or during an interview, someone asks me: What’s your favorite piece…
ARE YOU READY for another ski season? These skis and poles sure are! And they could be yours for just…
Earlier this year, my book The Great Outdoors: A User’s Guide came out, representing about 12 years’ worth of poking…
Fact: ski season is just around the corner. Another fact: it’s hard to participate in ski season without skis. Don’t…
In “the outdoor industry,” people have thrown around the term “game-changing” for several years, using it to describe a new…
Remember your last backpacking trip? What was missing? Come on, think about it. That’s right, a shitload of pineapple upside-down…
Today, I get to share something that some wonderful people and I have been working on for almost two years:…
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Just kidding. You probably have most of the stuff you need already. But…
I’ve been having fun drawing diagrams and cartoons for Instagram lately, because some jokes (and sentiments) work better in a…
About 12 years ago, I bought a water bottle with no water in it. I guess it was kind of…
Dear Foam Roller: I think— Oh, you thought I was just going to say “fuck you,” didn’t you? Well, hold…
I walked up the stairs at my apartment building last Friday morning, five $20 bills in my hand, and paused…
Normally I use this space to talk about not buying a bunch of shiny new gear, to sarcastically review entire…
“Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.”…
A heavy backpack can make a backpacking trip no fun at all. Here are a few tips to lighten your…
If you walk any distance over one mile in the out-of-doors, you should think about getting a backpack. Sure, cargo…
When you’re buying a rain jacket, you probably have lots of questions, none of which really matter besides “Which rain…
I sat down exhausted last Tuesday night next to my friends Chris and Forest in front of a granite shelter…
“I’ve been thinking about things on a cost-per-use basis lately,” my friend Nick said to me a few weeks ago.…
I walked onto the Pearl Street Mall in Boulder last Friday and a Denver Voice vendor looked down at my…
Staying hydrated is important. Perhaps equally important is subtly communicating your identity by decorating your favorite water bottle with the…
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…
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…
I picked up these sweet-ass rigs after I finally wore out my last pair of trail running shoes after 2…
I had this idea in early 2011 to make a web site about “normal” outdoorsfolk, those of us who are…
On Nov. 25, Black Friday, Patagonia placed an ad in the New York Times, telling readers, “Don’t Buy This Jacket.”…
A year ago, a friend asked me what I thought of the Street Strider. He had seen it on The…
Snow is falling in the high country. Be honest. Can you really afford to start this year’s ski season with…
I have learned many things from my friend Lee: How to place gear on trad routes, how to suffer with…
Maybe you missed some of the Internet chatter a few weeks back when Levi’s announced its new 511 cycling jeans.…
I was renting this guy a backpack and 3-person backpacking tent when I worked at an REI store several years…
There’s a single paragraph in Yvon Chouinard’s Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of A Reluctant Businessman in…
A few years back, I went from a co-habitating man living in a spacious apartment with a walk-in closet dedicated…
The average human poop event weighs between 7.3 and 9.3 ounces, according to an Iranian study of 100 male and…
I rode my bike across the country last year, carrying three free water bottles from my pal Scott’s bike shop,…
I had this old, beat-up REI Mistral soft shell for 4 years, and finally, when the cuffs started fraying so…
You like your bike ride to work. It fires up your heart, lungs and legs before you spend 8 hours…