Duane Raleigh

Sleeping under the stars is magical except for one thing: the ground.

If this isn’t fast enough, cook over a volcano.

It is always the hit of the trip. Fights have broken out over who gets to live inside.

Dean Potter said he could fly. That was 10 years ago. Maybe he could fly. Who knows? He made so many spacey statements and did so many dreamy things they could seem as natural as a flower opening its petals.

The Edelrid Wing is everything I desire in a harness. It is easy on the wallet, two ounces lighter than competing models yet comfortable, and fully and easily adjustable.

Splitter Gloves are synthetic-leather “tape” gloves for hand jamming. As someone who has used real tape gloves on and off, and on and off and on and off, I can attest to the Splitter Gloves’ worthiness and utility.

The first crampon of this sort, the Snaggletooth has one front tooth: a wide, almost spoon-like monopoint that protrudes like an extension of your big toe. A stubby, secondary frontpoint rides shotgun.

The Blade Runner may be the most technically advanced, versatile crampon yet devised.

The Grivel Tech Machine has a steeply bent shaft and an ergonomic grip meant for technical dry tooling and ice climbing.

The Penta is CE and UIAA certified, and has a plastic veneer that protects the exterior. It is as light on your wallet as it is on your head.

My Wife is having my head examined. "It isn't normal," she said, "to shower in a raincoat." She doesn't get that a shower is the acid test for determining whether a shell jacket is waterproof. I can say with authority that the Mountain Equipment Lattice jacket doesn't leak.

This is the best-fitting boot I’ve yet worn. The stretchy foam inner boot sucks onto your foot like an eel’s throat, and by itself makes a nice camp bootie. When the inner is in the outer, the package feels soft and accommodating, but crank down the laces and the Velcro ankle strap, and the AR will frontpoint with only scant heel lift, the mark of a hardcore climbing boot.