Ueli Steck Special Edition Titanium Knife: Sometimes Useful
Ueli’s tool has a function for every piece of gear in my backcountry quiver: a sixty-five millimeter blade, file, hexagonal keys, flat- and Phillips-head screwdriver, wire stripper and can opener. For three months, I used the multitool to tune, tweak, sharpen, crank, slice, saw and open a beer at the end of it all.
Chad’s Ennedi Dessert: A Google Earth Adventure
They began by traveling the only paved road in the country–and then driving 700 kilometers farther.
C.A.M.P. Speed Helmet: The Lightest Lid
Helmets can be so top heavy the straps can’t hold them in position. You look back at your partner and his frontal lobe is shining in the sun while the helmet humps the back of his head. Thank goodness technology has finally caught up.
The Threshold Effect
Alfred Mummery wrote in his 19th century classic book, My Climbs in the Alps and Caucasus, “It has frequently been noticed that all mountains appear doomed to pass through the three stages: An inaccessible peak – The most difficult ascent in the Alps – An easy day for a lady.” While the misogynistic temper of this famous quote is obsolete, its more general point seems to ring true.