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Dustin Byrne is a silent sender who guides in Washington, Nevada, California, Utah, Colorado, Alaska and Canada. He is a seasoned AIARE instructor, a Leave No Trace Master Educator and an AMGA Certified Alpine Guide. In his off time he enjoys climbing, skiing, and writing. @dustinbyrne This is his typical kit for a day of backcountry skiing in the Cascades: Mammut Alugator Light shovel - I always use a lightweight metal shove for touring. Works for avy rescue and building shelters in a pinch. Sometime if I know I am snow camping I may take a slightly bigger one for moving snow more...

Picking the correct gloves for your climb is essential for the comfort and well being of your hands when dealing with changing weather conditions and applications. With so many brands, styles, and fabrics on the market, finding the best pair of gloves can be a daunting task. The reality of choosing the perfect glove is that there is no one perfect glove. 

With our last summer trip in the books and a beautiful weather window in the forecast, we decided to close the Equipment Shop for a few days and explore our own backyard. If you've ever driven the Mt Baker Highway, you've surely seen the Twin Sisters range and taken awe at it's jagged ridges and [in winter] snow capped peaks. The objective on this day would be the North Twin's west ridge. At 6640ft, the North Twin rises over 5000ft from the Nooksack river valley below, at less than an hour drive from Bellingham. The approach is most often done by biking...

"I lost a boot!" "What do you mean?" I shouted back. "My ski!" Mallory exclaimed. "It must have popped off when I fell." "Shit," I thought to myself.  We had just spent the last 5 hours skinning out to Barometer Mountain, two ridges over from where we had parked our car. Due to the stormy week and freshly fallen, unconsolidated snow, it had taken us longer than expected to break trail out to our destination. On the summit ridge, the easterly winds were lashing at our faces, and beckoned us to quickly transition and begin our downhill descent. We had originally planned...