By Lorraine Blancher 　　Photos by Ryan Creary 　　As passionate outdoor aficionados, we all love to experience the natural beauty of our planet. As humans, we know our decisions can have an impact. How we balance our adventurous desires with our responsibility to protect the precious places we love is paramount to ensuring they will be here for generations to come....

　　 　　The boulder field, photo by Whitney Oliver Originally published on Aug. 18th, 2014 　　Story by Hilary Oliver 　　When it comes to hiking, there are mountains—and then there are the mountains that haunt your fantasies. The legendary peaks that don’t come so easily. The ones with iconic shape, or stunning cliff faces. Longs Peak in Colorado’s Front Range is one...

　　This past June, climbers Harry Hamlin and Avery Parinello spent a couple weeks in the Ruth Gorge in Denali National Park. The Gorge is a mammoth glacial gorge cut into the lowlands below Denali by the Ruth Glacier. This enormous zone contains prodigious peaks that tempt rock climbers and ice climbers alike due to their immense size and spectacular exposure....

　　By Steve Marks, aka the “Malbec Pilgrim” 　　A few May snowflakes appeared out of nowhere, drifting down and brushing off my jacket as I paused to enjoy the immense vista. It had been a tough cycle to the summit, and was just one of the many times my altitude almost touched 5000 m (16,400 ft). The blackened rocky and mountainous...

　　Words by Sammy Podhurst 　　Photos by Sammy Podhurst and Anna Pfaff 　　Climbing in the Himalaya is interesting. There are many layers to the equation here. The acclimatization period requires patience. The lack of resources requires a lot of forethought and pre-planning. There is little infrastructure as far as rescue and medical goes. But at the same time, all of that...

　　Oscar Wilde said, If you want to be a grocer, or a general, or a politician, or a judge, you will invariably become it; that is your punishment. 　　Long before living a nomad life, I had wanted to be a software engineer. But when I became one, it felt like a punishment. It is not to say that a Ph.D....

　　By Savannah Cummins 　　This spring I spent nearly a month on the flanks of Denali, supporting my friend Katie Bono as she successfully set the women’s ascent speed record at 21h 6m. As my first time on a big mountain, it was an unforgettable experience despite all the suffering involved. From carrying 130lbs of gear at once, to rain, snow,...

　　Story and Images by Dustin Silvey 　　Outside my tent I hear the fire crackling. I open my eyes, shocked to realize the sun is shining. I roll my body to the side, slowly sitting up, and pull myself out of my sleeping bag. That’s when it hits me, the cold. I quickly put on some extra layers and head out...

　　By Luke Mehall 　　Fall means one thing to the desert climber: Indian Creek season. Located about an hour southwest of Moab, Utah, the Creek is the center for the Colorado Plateau desert climbing scene. Every year, it gets a little more popular, but the good news is there are plenty of cracks for everyone. If a climbing road trip is...

　　16 Days and 8 First Ascents in Chinas Tien Shan Mountains The Tien Shan range in China is ideal for exploratory mountaineering expeditions. There are hundreds of valleys, each with handfuls of unclimbed peaks and each mountain with plenty of route options. A lot of the routes can be simple mountaineering, but you can choose a line more demanding and...

　　Avalanche safety, like sex ed, isn’t really about abstinence. People are going to venture into the mountains, so the challenge is to minimize risk, take appropriate countermeasures, and understand when conditions are too dangerous to proceed. Still, things sometimes go wrong even if you’re following best practices, at which point the objective shifts to maximizing your odds of surviving and...

　　When considering the wild areas of the UK, my mind quickly pans straight to Scotland which houses some of the remotest places in the country, vast planes of uninhabited wilderness and towering mountains. Each region of Scotland has its own unique feel, from the valleys of Glencoe and the planes of Glen Shiel to the wild sandstone landscapes of Torridon....