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Marmot Variant Jacket: Conceptually Alluring, Functionally Impractical
I group the Variant with obsolete layers such as the heavy-duty Synchilla jacket. Wind rips right through the fabric, necessitating a windproof layer that makes me overheat. Sure, fancy new designs look good at the coffee shop but this jacket, at least, is not mountain functional.
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Smash and Grab
In 2011 David Burdick, John Frieh and Zac West climbed a new route on the Burkett Needle (~8,500 ft.), a tower on the Stikine Icecap of Southeast Alaska. The route, Repeat Offender (IV 5.9 AI3 M5), was done in three days, Seattle to Seattle. Below, Burdick describes the style of “Smash and Grab” climbing and…
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Terra Nova Quasar 30 Pack: Holds Up Despite Holes
Climbing in the Alps all winter, I put the Terra Nova Quasar pack and its “Ultra” fabric through an ice-and-granite gauntlet. While the pack is a little worse for the wear, it’s come out on the other side still capable of holding my gear.
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The Ice Warriors
First my aim was to reach people who do not know much about mountaineering. Especially those people who would probably never read a thick book about it. If I am successful with this then I hope they would find some interesting information about climbing, winter climbing, the history of mountaineering and also about Polish achievements…
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Dukkha on Funeral For a Friend
Birth is Dukkha, aging is Dukkha, death is Dukkha; sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, and despair are Dukkha; association with the unbeloved is Dukkha; separation from the loved is Dukkha; not getting what is wanted is Dukkha. In short, the five clinging-aggregates are Dukkha.
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Petzl Elia Helmet: Hair Hole For She-Climbers
With slim webbing straps, light weight and, of course, the ponytail hole, the Elia offers women-specific features that suggest it may have even been designed by a real she-climber (or at least a man on good terms with his feminine side).
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Elbrus
The social climate of the Caucasus was rocked politically and economically by these measures. “The area is still dangerous may be even more than before…due to the year-long economic blockade, the local people became more desperate and chance of being robbed or killed for the reason of robbery is very obvious,” writes Alex Trubachev, a…
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Cerro Torre Roundup
Since Hayden Kennedy and Jason Kruk climbed a “fair means” variation to the Compressor Route and then removed the bolts from its upper pitches the international climbing community has been awash in discussions of climbing ethics and etiquette. In what will most likely be Alpinist.com’s final post on this story we have gathered a collection…
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