Pocketed dolomite, long routes, and fingers that feel every one of them.

A summer canyon in the Bighorns.

Ten Sleep Canyon climbs the west side of the Bighorn Mountains above the small town of Ten Sleep, Wyoming. Its walls are Bighorn dolomite, a hard, pale cousin of limestone covered in pockets, edges and long vertical seams, and nearly all of the climbing is sport. The canyon sits high enough to stay climbable through the summer, when much of the West is too hot.

The rock is kind to skin until you've done a few days of pockets. Pockets load one or two fingers at a time, so the tendons need a warm-up and rest days. The high, dry air and the sun bake the tips until they split at the edges. Keep water in the skin, warm the fingers up before every hard burn, and rest when they ask. We pledge 1% of sales to nonprofits, and the Wyoming Climbers Alliance is one of them.