Shelby Carpenter is a freelance writer and professional mountain guide based in Berkeley, California. Her work has appeared in Outside, Rock and Ice, Alaska Magazine, and Powder.com. She’s also the author of Denali National Park and Preserve (Images of America Series), a photographic history of the park. In her spare time, she enjoys climbing mountains and unstoppable Netflix binges. REI Member since 2010.
Diedre Tanenberg grew up exploring the outdoors. The 33-year-old REI Outdoor School instructor was raised on the West Coast, where she acquired a passion for pu...
Backpackers looking to enjoy their time in the wilderness face a perennial question: What’s more important, having comfortable gear or lightweight gear? Your ba...
Being in the outdoors with others pushes us. Not only do we face physical and mental challenges from long days on the trail, but there can be interpersonal chal...
When you’re out for multiple days on the trail, it can be hard to stay clean. Your body, your clothes and your gear will have to contend with the elements, and ...
I’ve tried to climb Mount Shuksan twice, and had to retreat both times.
The first time was while guiding, when I had to turn around and descend with a client...
“It just feels like I’m riding a whole different bike,” my friend Caitlin said as we finished up a day of mountain biking.
We regularly bike together on a ni...
As a former Cascades mountaineering guide, I’m used to coping with wet conditions in the mountains. Over time, I’ve come to believe that there’s no such thing a...
Being a mountain guide is tough. It takes experience, grit and the ability to constantly put others' needs before your own. I've been a mountain guide for three...
There’s nothing like rainy season in Northern California. Despite the drought that’s hovered over us for the last several years, El Niño has come this winter wi...
Home for the holidays in Ohio, I found myself faced with typical Northeastern Ohio weather: cold and gray, with a blustery winter wind blowing in off Lake Erie....
One of the most intimidating things about starting to lead outside is all of the gear involved. There are a lot of systems to learn and a lot of gear needed to ...
At a certain point, climbing indoors can cease to hold the same thrill that it used to. As you pull down on plastic holds, you may find yourself yearning to fee...