Lyra is a Certified Rock Guide pursuing further certification with the American Mountain Guides Association, as well as an AIARE avalanche instructor. She has been using and abusing climbing and skiing packs for well over a decade, taking them on expeditions to Alaska, Antarctica, and South America, scraping them up steep rock faces in Yosemite and the High Sierra, hauling them up steep snowy slopes in Washington’s North Cascades, and nitpicking their weight and features for long ice climbs in Canada. Lyra currently calls Washington home but spends half the year traveling to various mountain ranges. The other half of the year, you’ll find her eating lots of farm fresh food and coaching climbers at a small gym on her favorite Puget Sound island.
Author Profile
Credit: Lyra Pierotti
Lyra Pierotti
Review Editor
Showing 1-15 of 176 by Lyra Pierotti
Best Budget Down Jackets for Women of 2022
Want a nice down jacket that won't break the proverbial piggy bank? We're with you. Down jackets are among the best warm jackets around. Dive in with us to find the best budget down jacket...
Best Hardshell Jackets for Women of 2022
Our testers live and breathe mountains - and guide them, too. We researched over 40 women's hardshell jackets before putting the top 5 through the wringer. We hope our years of experience...
Best Mountaineering Backpack of 2022
For this review, our seasoned field testers took out a collection of the industry's leading mountaineering backpacks and assessed their performance in the terrain for which they are...
Best Down Jacket for Women of 2022
As you venture into the mountains or around town, a good lightweight down jacket can do wonders to make your adventures more accessible, fun, and safe. With modern styles, they're still...
Best Mountaineering Boots For Women of 2022
Are you a woman in search of a mountaineering boot? We tested some of the best mountaineering boots for women, climbing steep ice routes, rugged rock routes, and challenging approaches...
Editors' Choice
Feathered Friends Eos - Women's
A remarkably warm jacket for its light weight and compressibility, it's also incredibly versatile. It performs well in the mountains, on coastal adventures and even looking nice enough for...
Best Rain Pants for Women of 2022
We analyzed over 30 models before purchasing the best 10 to put through extensive testing, so you don't have to. There's a saying in the Pacific Northwet: There's no such thing as bad...
Best Barefoot Shoes for Women of 2022
Barefoot shoes got a bad rap shortly after their introduction to the mainstream. In this review, we talk about ways to approach this style of running, and how your footwear choice can help...
Best Buy
Rab Microlight Alpine Jacket - Women's
A reliable workhorse for a broad range of activities, it strikes a good balance of all our metrics and is available at a reasonable price. Rab has really improved the style of the jacket...
How to Choose Barefoot or Minimalist Shoes for Women
Footwear has evolved over several hundred years, and today running shoes often feature lots of cushioning and bulky features. Compared to the thousands of years of evolution that formed...
Best Buy
Merrell Vapor Glove 5 - Women's
This is the latest in a long line of excellent minimalist shoes. These are true to the name, feeling nimble and light on your feet like a sock with a rubber sole.
Top Pick
Vibram FiveFingers KSO EVO - Women's
This barely-there shoe is one of the lightest and simplest of the FiveFingers line available today. It is streamlined, extremely lightweight, and every bit as fun as running around barefoot.
Top Pick
Xero Shoes HFS - Women's
This is a highly versatile minimalist shoe. We enjoyed it for running on and off road, as well as for workouts in the gym or on the court.
How to Choose a Mountaineering and Alpine Climbing Backpack
If the ice axe is the posterchild of mountaineering, the backpack is our unsung hero. Mountaineering backpacks must carry everything, climb comfortably, and hold up to miles of abuse, all...
Editors' Choice
Rab Neutrino Pro - Women's
This is an impressively warm lightweight sewn-through down jacket that is appropriate for both high alpine and summertime use.
Next >
Ad-free. Influence-free. Powered by Testing.
GearLab is founded on the principle of honest, objective, reviews. Our experts test thousands of products each year using thoughtful test plans that bring out key performance differences between competing products. And, to assure complete independence, we buy all the products we test ourselves. No cherry-picked units sent by manufacturers. No sponsored content. No ads. Just real, honest, side-by-side testing and comparison.
Learn More