I learned the hard way that a regular first aid kit is not the same thing as a trauma kit. During a backcountry deer hunt in the Rockies in , my hunting partner took a misstep on loose scree and opened a gash on his shin that would not stop bleeding with a typical adhesive […]

When a chainsaw slips on a hunting trip or a kayak flip sends you into a rock garden, you have about three minutes before blood loss becomes fatal. I learned this the hard way on a backcountry elk hunt in Montana when my partner took a broadhead arrow to the thigh. We were 47 minutes […]

I still remember the day a timber rattlesnake coiled up next to my boot on a humid Appalachian ridge trail. My heart hammered so hard I could feel it in my fingertips, and the only thing between me and a venomous bite was a cheap suction pump I had bought online a year earlier. That […]

I've spent the last three months testing the best emergency bivvy sacks on the market, dragging them through sub-freezing alpine nights, stuffing them into bug out bags, and even dragging a few through scratchy underbrush to see how they'd hold up. After cracking open ten different models, weighing them on a precision scale, and measuring […]

A small spark from a campfire, a propane stove tip-over, or an electrical short in your campervan can spiral into a full-blown emergency within seconds. Most established campgrounds are 15 to 30 minutes from the nearest fire department response, which means you are the first responder. That reality hit me during a camping trip when […]

Finding the best climbing slings and runners can completely change how your rack feels at the crag. I have spent the last several months climbing with these slings on limestone trad routes, granite walls, and alpine ice, and the differences between them are real. A good runner keeps rope drag manageable, builds clean anchors, and […]

Finding the best ice tools for ice climbing changed my whole approach to winter climbing. I picked up my first pair of tools eight winters ago, took a beating on brittle Cascade ice, and spent the next several seasons testing every pair I could get my hands on. Our team has now put 8 tools […]

I've been running before dawn for the past six years, and I can tell you the best safety lights for night running aren't a luxury — they're survival gear. After logging 23,000+ miles on pre-dawn miles, I've watched drivers blow through stop signs inches from my path because my plain reflective vest just didn't register. […]

I lost a Sony A7III to a boulder on the Eagle Creek trail in . That painful moment sent me on a six-month testing spree across the Pacific Northwest, Cascades, and Sierra Nevada to find the best camera holsters for hiking in . I tested 14 different systems across 600+ trail miles with DSLR, mirrorless, […]

I have spent the last three hunting seasons hauling rifles through rain-soaked timber, down muddy ATV trails, and across countless airline baggage carousels trying to find the best gun cases for hunting that actually hold up. After testing eight popular soft and hard gun cases side by side, hauling them on real hunts, and checking […]