Whenever I go to trade shows or industry events, I’m shocked at how solidly, stubbornly pink the women’s outdoor gear options are, even gear for truly extreme sports. Women’s gear often lacks features that are available for men—and for some sports, equipment isn’t available in women’s sizes at all.

We're walking through a wash in the desert in the dark, and we're thirsty. We've been hiking since five a.m., and left our last water source a few hours after that. In the interim we climbed ten thousand feet cross-country up and over a ridge, stopping on top to look back down at our starting point in Death Valley, then hiked down the other side. The last of the light has long since gone. I'm…

“Do you have Barbara?’ I asked my friend Anne. “Let me see what she says about this.”

We were standing in Anne’s kitchen in Syracuse, surrounded by backpacks, bear canisters and socks. It was a broiling July evening and we had a 4:30 am start the next morning. Anne put down the Clif Bars she was counting out to toss me a brown-coloured book. Page 264: Marcy Dam to Mount Colden, 5.15 miles, 4

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