Finding the best belay devices means looking beyond a fancy brand label to how a device actually feels at the crag, the gym, or 200 feet up a multi-pitch route. I have spent the last several seasons testing assisted-braking and tube-style devices from Petzl, Black Diamond, Edelrid, and more across sport, trad, gym, and big-wall […]

After three months of testing on granite, limestone, and gym walls, I've narrowed down the best dynamic climbing ropes worth your money in . Whether you're projecting your first 5.12 or ticking multi-pitch alpine objectives, the right dynamic rope makes every catch softer and every clip smoother. I tested these ropes across 47 climbing sessions, […]

When you are hanging off a cliff edge or dropping into a wet canyon, the last thing you want is a rope that bounces, stretches, or soaks up water like a sponge. Static ropes are the correct tool for rappelling because their low-elongation design gives you smooth, predictable descents without the dangerous bounce of dynamic […]

I spent the last three months testing the best trail running shorts across 280 miles of rocky, rooty, and sandy terrain in Colorado and Oregon. I ran with gels, soft flasks, a phone, and keys in every pocket to see which shorts stayed put and which ones bounced me off the trail. Our team also […]

I tested 8 of the most popular GPS watches on technical singletrack, rocky climbs, and 50K training blocks over the past 90 days to find the best trail running watches for . After logging 412 miles of off-road runs across the Blue Ridge and Pisgah forests, I learned something the spec sheets won't tell you: […]

I still remember the morning I clipped on my first trail running headlamp for a 5 a.m. start on a technical ridge in Oregon. I had 14 miles of roots, rocks, and creek crossings ahead of me in pitch dark, and my cheap headlamp dimmed to a sickly yellow at mile 5. That run taught […]

If you have ever finished a hot summer run with cramped fingers and a forearm that feels like it ran its own marathon, you already know why handheld water bottles for running matter. After 90 days of testing eight different models across 5Ks, long weekend runs, and a hot marathon training block, our team learned […]

I remember the first time I tried running a 30K trail race with a handheld water bottle and my phone stuffed in my shorts pocket. By mile eight, the bottle was slipping, my phone was soaked in sweat, and my gels had bounced out somewhere on the singletrack. That miserable day sent me on a […]

I have logged over 2,000 trail miles across the deserts of Arizona, the rocky high alpine of the Rockies, and the loose scree of the Pacific Northwest, and I can tell you one thing without hesitation: trail running gaiters changed how I run. Before I started testing them, I would stop three or four times […]

I learned this lesson the hard way on a Boundary Waters trip in 2024. My camera gear got soaked in a sudden rainstorm while portaging between lakes, and I watched $3,200 worth of equipment die a slow, silent death inside what I thought was a "waterproof" bag. That disaster pushed me to spend the last […]