Hi everyone! My name is Bailey Swain, I’m a student at Mississippi State University, and my marketing class is conducting research on wilderness medicine. We would really appreciate your help by completing our survey! Your responses will help us better understand people’s interests and preferences regarding wilderness medicine courses.

Thank you for your time and for supporting our class project!
https://msstate.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_ddjWTaALuDoG514

Hey guys, not sure if this is the right sub for this, anyways I need help finding a backpack for day hikes only, I'm not really into overnight camping and all that so I figured that narrowed me down to around 20-25L backpacks.

The Main Goal for this pack should be that it can be used for Day Hikes, Mountaineering such as climbing Matterhorn, and can be used also for Skiing and such. Which pack would you guys recommend for all these activities, I'm looking for only 1 bag that can vary between the 3. I do understand multiple bag for different activities are recommended, but I don't want to buy multiple packs.

I've been looking at the HMG Elevate 22 and the Gregory Alpinisto 20, but arent sure if these are good bag.

The Elevate seems good but its frameless so it seems a bit unstable as well as the features are not that great considering its around 300 USD

The Alpinisto seems like a good bag just that its made of nylon and doesn't come with a rain cover.

TLDR: What bag is around 20 L and can be used for Hiking, Skiing, and Summiting Mountains (1 day :Ex Matterhorn).

Hello! Me and my friends will be summiting Quaddary Peak using the east ridge in colorado in late November. This will be my our first 14er and I am worried about the wind chill and temperatures. I have a marmot pertex windbreaker but I am planning on getting something cheaper and returning it. Any other recommendations?

I also need to find an insulation layer like a puffer( i have one already i just need a new one). Could you guys please let me know some recommendations that would be good to summit for the day.

what is some advice to take when going on this 14er?

Prepare for a long and rambling post but here goes....

Im in my mid 30s in a stable loving relationship with someone is a casual climber, capable outdoors person and who wants kids. I have a flexible career that allows for lots of time to climb, train and adventure, and between me and my partner we have plenty of resources to live an adventurous life (even with kids). Heck, I even have family with the resources and desire to help me raise kids.

My problem is my climbing dreams just won't go away, and worse they keep growing... Ive been a climbing addict for most of my adult life - years in a van, current life built around adventure outside, live far from family to be in a place where I can play outside as much as possible. Ive spent the last 8 years trying to get good enough at alpine climbing to do the Cassin Ridge. I am finally at a point where its more of a question of logistics/weather/partners than ability. Im also at a point where in my relationship and life, where I feel like I need to decide if I want to have a long term partner (possibly with kids) or if I want to spend all of my resources trying pursuing my climbing dreams. 10 years ago the technical alpinism dream seemed unattainable, but now I feel so close, and instead of feeling satisfied, the goal post just keeps moving - the infinite spur, cerro torre, pakistan, putting up a new alpine bigwall route in a remote place, the list never stops. Ive met alot of older climbers who seem pretty unhappy, lives littered with failed relationships and selfish decisions. I am afraid of that path, but I also feel like these dreams are so inspiring and make life so much richer. I also feel like personal relationships, love, and family are major factors in having happiness throughout your life. I worry I am going to ruin this relationship because I can't stop selfishly pursuing childish climbing dreams. Im also at an age where it seems hard to have both. Im already old for my climbing dreams, my climbing partners are often a decade younger than me. Its also not my profession, just a hobby and lifestyle.

Ultimately this post is just to hear advice, stories, and how other people have dealt with these feelings. Looking for some perspective from people who have made one choice or another...

I’m looking to climb Mont Blanc next year with someone, my climbing(trekking) experience consists of the uks 3 peaks, 3 2000m+ and 1 4000m being mount Kinabalu.

My psychical endurance isn’t a problem however I’m ideally wanting to do it un guided. Since I have no real mountaineering experience would this be do able if I put the training in for this? I have no experience with crampons, ice axes or rope skills.
I don’t want to be someone that under estimates a mountain so I’m just wondering if this do able because if it comes to it I would just do it guided but would like to try to without.

I’m 23 from the uk if anyone would be up for climbing in march drop me a message and any tips or recommendations about doing this would also be great!
Cheers

I’m David Greif, founder of HEPOX, an engineer and former professional road cyclist. I started developing HEPOX because altitude camps and tents were out of reach for me, and I wanted to explore a more portable way to get hypoxic exposure at home.

HEPOX is a portable device designed to lower the inspired oxygen concentration of the air you breathe while sitting at rest. The device has reached professional cyclists, including Tour de France riders, and mountaineers pre-acclimatizing for trips to Kilimanjaro and Ojos del Salado. A recent pilot-study also just finished on a professional cycling team training for the Tour de France Femmes with promising preliminary results.

One of the things I’m exploring is how portability could make pre-acclimatization more practical, especially for climbers traveling long distances before a major expedition. The current device is in beta, and I’m developing Gen 2 with acclimation sensing and session tracking. I’m not claiming it replaces gradual ascent or established altitude-illness precautions, and I want further validation to establish what benefits it can provide.

HEPOX is designed to lower the oxygen concentration you breathe, not cut off your air supply. For anyone unfamiliar with altitude tents, they create a reduced-oxygen environment around a bed so an athlete can spend hours sleeping in a hypoxic state. My vision is to make hypoxic exposure portable, accessible and more responsive to the individual. The current device is a working proof of concept with a monitored/alarmed spo2 and quick hose/disconnects. For the commercial version, I'm aiming to go beyond a basic altitude-tent setup by integrating breathing rate, blood monitoring with automatic adjustment, alerts and a fail-safe return to room air.

I’d be interested in hearing from experienced climbers here:

Do you use altitude tents or other pre-acclimatization methods before major ascents? What does your protocol look like?

Have you heard of or experimented with intermittent hypoxia exposure?

Would tools for tracking exposure sessions or acclimatization progress be useful? What measurements would you actually want?

When traveling internationally for a climb, would a portable preparation tool make a meaningful difference?

What kind of evidence would you need to see before considering a device like this?

I’m interested in honest feedback, including skepticism. I want to understand what climbers actually need and what evidence would be necessary for a device like HEPOX to earn a place in their preparation.

For anyone curious about the hardware, you can find more information at https://hepoxtech.com/

Hello everyone,

My friend Noé and I created a website to address our own needs to have a good website for finding a mountain hut, guesthouse, or cabin.

While some websites that list these places already exist, we wanted to add a few features and thought this might be useful to others as well.

refugesdesalpes.fr

Your feedback would be a great help to us, and you can submit it directly on the website using the button in the bottom left corner.

We hope you find this tool useful.

Have a great day, everyone,

Noé and Amaury

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for my first ice axe and considering the Petzl SUM’TEC and SUMMIT EVO.
I’ve done technical 3,000 m peaks in the Alps and the Pyrenees, but always without snow. I have some rock climbing experience, but no hands-on experience with an ice axe and crampons yet.

My short- to mid-term goal is to tackle relatively easy 40–45° snow couloirs, eventually progressing towards more technical mountaineering.
I’m looking for a versatile axe that suits my current objectives without overspending on features I won’t use. I may eventually buy a pair of technical tools.

Which would you recommend, and why? Would the SUMMIT EVO be enough, or is the SUM’TEC worth the extra cost? Would either remain useful alongside technical tools in the future?

Thanks!

I want to vent and share an experience I had involving climbing 3,000-meter peaks and encountering people who have absolutely no business being there.

This weekend, I took my younger sister with me to climb Aneto, the highest peak in the Pyrenees. We started the hike in the early hours of the morning and came across other mountaineers along the way, as you'd expect, until we ended up alone with some guy who was hiking by himself.

This man, who was in his mid-forties, turned out to be extremely extroverted. At first, he was asking the usual questions: where are you from, where are you heading, do you have much mountaineering experience, and so on. When he found out we were planning to climb Aneto, his face lit up. He told us he just wandered around the mountains without any particular plan and hadn't intended to climb Aneto, but since we were heading there, he'd follow us and, if the terrain allowed it, try to reach the summit (he had neither crampons nor an ice axe and was carrying the bare minimum: water, nuts, and trekking clothes).

I didn't mind him following us, but little did I know just how unbearable and shameless this guy would become as we went along.

He started talking about his life without anyone asking him about it. He was documenting his mountain hikes because he wanted to develop a mobile app, a social network for adventurers. He traveled around in his camper van and planned to visit lots of places. He'd been on sick leave for a year after having an accident with his truck (he was a truck driver), and he was dragging out his leave for as long as possible because he didn't want to go back to his old job. Anyway, the guy just wouldn't stop talking our ears off. My sister occasionally asked him questions because, admittedly, the guy was quite articulate, but I preferred to keep my distance because something about him didn't sit right with me.

By that point, I was wishing he'd just leave us alone. I had no interest in playing mountain guide for some random stranger who apparently had nothing better to do and kept asking me questions every five minutes about the route, how much farther we had to go, or the surrounding area. My intention was to enjoy a hike alone with my sister, not to adopt some jobless chatterbox.

We'd been walking for an hour with this guy following us, with nobody else around, when he suddenly announced that he absolutely loved drugs. Out of nowhere, he started telling us that he'd been doing drugs his entire life and that he loved every bit of it. He said he'd smoked two joints and eaten a handful of magic mushrooms that very morning before setting off, and that this was something he did regularly. He also claimed to be Eduard Punset's nephew (which, according to him, explained why he experimented with drugs so much), among plenty of other random facts. He even told us that he offered services through Instagram where he'd take people into the mountains and give them hallucinogenic drugs as a treatment for depression or any other mental disorder. The guy was euphoric from being completely high, which explained why I'd been getting such bad vibes from him.

As we gained altitude and started encountering more technical sections, we gradually caught up with other groups of mountaineers who were also climbing Aneto. That gave me some breathing room because the lunatic now had other victims to inflict his delusional ramblings on. I was surprised to hear him openly telling everyone else that he'd taken drugs that very day. The guy had absolutely no shame and no filter whatsoever.

He wouldn't shut up and kept shouting at the top of his lungs. He seemed to think he was the leader of the expedition or something. He kept an eye on everyone to make sure they were scrambling safely and encouraged people to keep going so they could enjoy the experience. He insisted that if we all worked together, we could all make it to the summit. You have to be a special kind of fucking asshole to say that when you don't even know where you're going and haven't bothered to bring any safety equipment for yourself.

My sister and I reached Aneto's foresummit, and so did this guy. He asked if he could borrow my crampons to reach the summit, and when I refused, he got angry and walked off without saying a word. Luckily, we lost sight of him and didn't run into him again on the way back. By then, I'd had more than enough of him. I think you have to be an absolutely shameless, inconsiderate piece of shit to latch onto a group like that and spend the entire hike pestering everyone with your drug-fueled delusions. Fuck him and everything he stands for.

Never in my life would I have imagined experiencing anything like this, nor would I have thought that people like that existed in a place like the mountains, at nearly 3,000 meters above sea level. I sincerely hope I never run into someone like him again.

Hi all, thanks to everyone in advance!

I’m planning a ~1 month long trip to Nepal where I’m planning to attempt a couple of 6k (e.g., Lobuche East, Island Peak, Mara Peak) - not yet decided which ones. I’m coming mostly from alpine climbing and my heaviest boots are the Nepal extremes which to me seems a bit too light for the temperatures at 6k meters.

I tend not to suffer cold too much, except on occasion in my right food due to an ankle injury causing severe ankle pronation and contact with the boot wall! (Custom insoles help with my Nepal but idk with a double boot how they would work)

My question to you all is about which “type” of boot should I be aiming to rent? Something like a La Sportiva G-Summit or more on the heavier side like a La Sportiva G2?

Thank you so much!!

Cheers :)

Please enjoy. Let me know what you think ☺️

​

Hi there, i am searching for some people who have experience with climbing the sonnespitze in the start of winter (final days of december). I can hardly find info over this matter online so i thought i would do it this way.

For starters i know what i am getting myself into. This will be my 4th mountain that i will climb. I already did the Allalinhorn, Zugspitze and Wildspitze all in winter from wich the Wildspitze i did solo. Physical endurace is no problem, for example i climbed the wildspitze for 31 hours straight. Technique could be beter but i do alot of reppeling and rope work in my free time and also have to do deal with this stuff at work. Now for my question.

Are there people who have done this and so what are your experiences? Was the climb so much more technicus because of the snow, was it do able? Did you use a lot of rope on the decend and where there even anchor points?

I am planning to take the easiest route on this and might even decent via the same route if that is easiest. I hope i can rely on my felow mountainers who have a lot more experience than i have for some information about this beautiful mountain!

Also how physicaly tough was this climb? I had in mind to climb the gulderstock the day after for a less technical climb. This since i always have to drive around 15 hours to the nearest mountain for me...

The Vorderrhein usually powers through the famous Ruinaulta canyon in Switzerland with white water (50–80 m³/s during summer snowmelt/rain).

After the 2026 drought, the flow hit a historical low of just 2.8 m³/s. We went down the canyon in packrafts to document the exposed riverbed. The white limestone cliffs are still imposing, but the river itself has shrunk to a tiny stream.

It's wild to see landmarks like this completely transformed by extreme weather.

Hey, I’m trying to put together a good light and fast style setup for three season climbing (3500m max), light glacier travel, not steep ice climbing, no technical climbing with crampons. But still I need to have a reliable pair of crampons that are compatible with good boots. As of now I have a LaSportiva trango tech leather and blue ice harfang tour. Both of them are amazing and they work together just fine, but the boots are a little overkill for summer approaches and via ferratas, so I’m looking to get a bit lighter pair of boots and I fell in love with the LaSportiva aequilibrium speed gtx, they fit me like a glove and I have heard so many good experiences with them, but combined with “traditional” crampons with steel/alu middle part, not with ultralight cloth middle part as in harfangs. I tried this combo in a shop and it fits and they look stable, but in ashop there is no way to test them in proper conditions. Long story short, I would love to buy the Speeds for via ferratas, light glacier and all, but I want to be able to combine them reliably with the harfangs, because if not then I will have a very expensive via ferrata/approach shoe. Guys what do you think? Will they hold on? Do you have maybe an idea of lightweight and packable crampons I could safely use with the Speeds instead of the harfangs? Thank you very much.

Hello, I’m 18m and looking forward to climb an 6000m peak in october 2027. So far I have climbed many 3000m peaks made a glacier course and climbed one 4000m peak in winter conditions and some 2000m peaks also in Winter. Of course I’m going to summit a bit more 4000m peaks in the spring 2027 but after that I would like to gain my first high altitude experience. I asked some friends and they told me to do Mera Peak in Nepal. So far I know this is a trekking mountain, but I would like to have a little bit more technical or should I start just small? And what other things you need to look at?

Thank you.

1. Kangshung face at sunrise

2. 1988 "Neverest" route 35th anniversary poster

3. Photo taken near the summit of Qomolangma, the ridge seen in this photo is the "Fantasy ridge"

I feel like I might not be getting the most optimization out of the current training that I have going on, and I'm looking to make any improvements possible.

My current schedule is:

Monday: Leg day
Tuesday: Pull day
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: Push day
Friday: 1 hour stair machine with a weighted pack
Sat/Sun Hiking with weight, aiming for around 3 hours of total walking.

Each day of the week I only have around 1 hour before school to do my workouts, so whenever I have a bit of time left over, I try and just run on the treadmill until my 1 hour is up.

After I finish school, I am typically unable to do anymore training, since I start work most days of the week at 3:00 pm and go until 10:00 pm.

I am just wondering if I should be switching things up to add more cardio focus, strength focus, endurance, and what not with my limited time during the weeks.

I feel like I should've mentioned earlier, but currently my closest goal that I am working towards is Mt Washington this upcoming winter, but I wouldn't mind just growing my physical health and fitness besides that.

any help is so appreciated 🙏

* absolute purist/self-supported style constitutes the following (failure to comply with all of them at any point during the attempt invalidates the attempt (descent included)):

• fixing lines yourself (or if you climb with a partner, both of you need to fix lines and follow pure style and achieve the summit. That way you’re not able to get like 20 people to fix lines for you and you fix a meter of lines and then they don’t summit and return to BC with bottled O2 and everything and you claim the technicality of having being a “part” of fixing lines together). If you or your team don’t adequately follow that and you follow already placed ropes it’s invalidated
• No O2 used (self explanatory, you must face the real elements of the mountain)
• You must stock your own base and high camps (this might be controversial, but if someone is stocking your OWN equipment in your OWN camps that YOU or your purist partner works with you to do) I.e. no HAP
• No Sherpa or others carrying your load (if you carry with a purist partner as aforementioned, obviously you don’t need to carry their load as well and it can be valid, but your partners needs to follow the pure style, and you can’t have people who carry your expeditions load just for the sake of helping only you summit, I.e. similar principle to the 1st and 3rd rule)
• Important alpine-style caveat: This pure style shouldn’t necessarily be used interchangeably with alpine style. This pure criteria doesn’t constitute a necessity for a lightweight alpine style procedure and can employ siege tactics as long as you follow the previous rules. Also it often differs from alpine style as you don’t need to open a new line or follow a route different from the standard one, as long as the rules remain in place.

The closest achievers to this (however, missing the base camp rule perhaps which is an excusable one, as it’s technically not part of the climb if you haul your own things to base camp and pitch your own equipment, which most close-to-achievers presumably did as they mostly opened new routes in alpine style on the summits they qualify for) I understand to be Alberto Iñurrategi with 10/14, as he is missing criteria for Lhotse, Cho Oyu, K2, and manaslu (although he meets the criteria I believe, he didn’t hit the true summit). Meroi and Benet seem next with 9/14 missing Everest, Lhotse, Cho Oyu, Makalu, and Manaslu under the criteria. Messner falls around 5/14, maybe 6 depending on Annapurna summit or not. He has the ‘80 Everest obviously, G1-G2 combo, Nanga Parbat, and Xixiabangma.

I know all this is very fringe (because the extreme difficulty) and hypothetical, but when one thinks about it no one has truly done them all entirely self supported (mostly due to fixed lines issue). Let me know what you think or any objections.