Get access to everything we publish when you sign up for Outside+. Give your legs a break: building up your upper body is one of the most overlooked ways to improve your backpacking. Dedicating some training time to your arms and trunk will yield serious benefits for your balance, power, and comfort in more demanding
HIKING & CAMPING
Get access to everything we publish when you sign up for Outside+. For most of us here at Backpacker, camp coffee falls somewhere in between a habit and a sacred ritual. The smell of a fresh cup is a wake-up call—a transition between the part of the day where we’re bleary-eyed and blinking in our
Get access to everything we publish when you sign up for Outside+. Q: A question: Do bear bells work? The background: I visited Yellowstone for the first time this summer, and I wanted to go for a trail run. It was my first time alone in grizzly country, so I decided to buy some bear
Home » Deals » 50% Off Jack Wolfskin, Salomon, Eddie Bauer, and More Bargains Great outdoor gear at an amazing price: That’s our goal each week. Check out the bargains below and save on gear for your next adventure. Jack Wolfskin Windproof Down Jacket — Women’s & Men’s: From $91 (Up to 50% Off) If
Get access to everything we publish when you sign up for Outside+. A backpacking trip can be the experience of a lifetime—as long as you’re properly equipped. Using a backpacking checklist is the best way to take stock of your kit before heading out. Our handy list covers the essentials for anything from an overnight
Image Quest 2021 is the sixth edition of Red Bull Illume’s adventure and action sports photography contest, and this year’s finalists include some stunning images selected from over 47,000 total submissions. Congratulations to the Overall Winner Will Saunders and to the category winners. Here’s a slideshow of our 25 favorite winner and finalist images. Learn
Got a question about survival? Send it to Backpacker. Are bears, mountain lions, and other predators attracted to, or repelled by human urine? I often ‘set up a perimeter’ when camping in bear country by peeing in different locations outside of camp. Is this effective or am I just watering a lot of different rocks?
Get access to everything we publish when you sign up for Outside+. Hikers like to say that New Hampshire’s Mount Washington has the world’s worst weather. The summit is just 6,288 feet above sea level, but it can see snow every month of the year and has recorded the world’s highest land wind-speeds. In winter,
Usually, you don’t want a fun place like a ski resort to have an eerie, haunting vibe. Alas, some do. When Fortress Mountain outside a provincial park in Alberta, Canada closed in 2004, the once vibrant ski resort quickly became a remnant of the past. This season, two Black Crows skiers returned to explore what’s
Get access to everything we publish when you sign up for Outside+. Knee pain is a common hiking ailment; a weight-bearing hinge joint is not a structurally ideal setup for hiking. Walking at an incline puts two to three times your body weight of pressure on your knees, according to Harvard Medical School, and walking
Though the Puget Sound Lowlands have a reputation for mild, relatively snow-free winters, the mountains of Western Washington log some of the deepest annual snowpacks on the planet making Washington snowshoeing routes some of the best in the country. Mount Rainier in the Central Cascades and Mount Baker to the north average more than 650
Congratulations to Ross Stone for winning the recent Fall Color Assignment with the image, “Life In A Northern Town.” View the winning image and a selection of submissions in the gallery below. And be sure to check out our current photography assignment here and enter your best shots! Winner: “Life In A Northern Town” By Ross Stone
Get access to everything we publish when you sign up for Outside+. It’s been a great year for snow in California’s Sierra. Statewide, snowpack levels are 141% higher than usual. Some areas have been hit even harder: The Phillips Station near South Lake Tahoe, recently reported snow levels of 202% for that time of the
On the night of June 6, 2018, a snowstorm hit the climbers’ camp at 14,200 feet on Denali. Overnight lows hovered near 0°F that week. At around 9 P.M., a climber who had been feeling “funny” stepped outside for some air, and returned to find his tentmate in the midst of a seizure. Carbon monoxide
It’s not possible to prevent unstable snow. But you can significantly improve your avalanche safety by knowing how to avoid one. Learn when you’re in a high-risk zone and how to move across it most safely with Outdoor Research’s quick video. In this brief explainer, an avi forecaster from the American Institute for Avalanche Research
Entrance to Angkor Thom, Siem Reap, Cambodia, 2020. 590nm infrared. Canon EOS R, Canon RF 24-105mm F4 L IS USM at 47mm. Exposure: 1/1600 sec., ƒ/7.1, ISO 400. I fell in love with photography in 1974—or, more to the point, I became infatuated with working in the darkroom. My images were not anywhere near special,