Conventional wisdom suggests that more padding, a wider swami and adjustable leg loops yield a more comfortable harness. But that’s not always true....

Out of the box, the Myo (billed as an “expert slipper”) looks like a high-end shoe. Stiff, downturned, with a talon-sharp toe, I expected them to edge fiendishly and hurt like the dickens. For about a month, the Myo delivered on both counts. ...

The Triple Cracks alcove at Enchanted Rock State Natural Area near Fredericksburg, Texas, is an open space not much bigger than a good-sized living room. Shaded by huge oaks, with a natural granite bench and housing three moderate, tall, clean cracks, the alcove can be a popular site for climbers to congregate. ...

What’s the most impressive unclimbed line on an 8,000-meter peak? Before July 15 many climbers would have said it was the Mazeno Ridge on Nanga Parbat (8,126-meters/26,660 feet). ...

“Hi Jeff, you don’t know me but my name is Wade Fairley. I’m an adventure photographer and I’ve secured some funding to climb a peak in Irian Jaya. Just to give you an idea, we want to climb a 2,000-foot limestone wall on Ngga Pulu, a sub-summit of Carstenz Pyramid."...

I’ll never forget my first real gun, a seven-shot Ithaca .410 pump shotgun. It was a surprise Christmas present from Mack, my alcoholic grandfather who, in the 1950s, had murdered a black musician with a ball peen hammer when the guy rolled into Mack’s Paris, Texas gas station asking for a battery charge after hours. Apparently, the man had been rude. ...