According to Hemingway, “There are only three sports: bullfighting, motor racing, and mountaineering; all the rest are merely games.” I just learned that last one. Here’s how you can too.
At less than 500g, these new Salomon S-LAB X ALP CARBON GTXs are the lightest mountaineering boots ever. That means they’re uninsulated, lack ankle support and aren’t compatible with traditional crampons. Can you still climb a mountain in them? We summited Rainier to find out.
This is a brutally honest account of my first Himalayan climb — an attempt on the 20,305′ Imja Tse — more popularly known as Island Peak. While it’s a baby by Himalayan standards only a few other points on earth outside of Asia reach a higher altitude.