I learned the hard way that gaiter straps matter more than the gaiters themselves. Three miles into a wet scramble last fall, my under-boot strap snapped and my gaiter slid down into a creek. That single failure ruined the rest of my hike. Since then, our team has spent over 200 trail miles testing replacement […]

One wrong step on black ice ended my January hike two years ago. I slipped on a flat rock shelf, twisted my knee, and spent the next six weeks off the trail. That was the winter I started testing hiking boot crampons seriously, and I have not hiked a frozen trail without them since. Crampons […]

After 18 months of rotating through eight different waterproofing waxes on my personal collection of leather and hybrid hiking boots, I can tell you one thing without hesitation: not all boot waxes are created equal. I have spent wet weekends in the Lake District, slogged through Scottish bog, and crossed more ankle-deep fords than I […]

After 30 days testing the best hiking route planning tools across three mountain regions, I can tell you this: the right planning tool can mean the difference between a perfect summit day and a stressful scramble through fog. Our team has logged over 200 miles with 10 of the most popular hiking GPS units and […]

Last January, I postholed through knee-deep powder on a Cascade ridge and watched my socks turn to ice within an hour. That single miserable day sent our team on a 90-day testing marathon across 17 pairs of winter gaiters to find the best hiking gaiters for snow that actually keep snow out of boots. Our […]