General Q&A about the great outdoors and outdoor pursuits.
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I've been going climbing (indoor bouldering) for about six months, using shoes I rented at the gym, and wearing socks (and everything was fine). I've recently got a pair of climbing shoes, and want...
The Norwegian directorate for nature management publishes a map of wilderness showing how far away a particular area is from heavy technical interventions, such as roads, electricity lines, hydro l...
Considering the following options: watertight: because caves are often wet or muddy stiff sole: to provide more grip and protection from the rocky bottom. durability What is better, a rubber bo...
I'm currently looking to buy a new tent. The old one had a floor that was said to withstand a hydrostatic head of 10000 mm, but the tents I find in the stores here go to at most 3000 mm for the flo...
If I'm hiking in the wilderness and my shoelace breaks, what's the best way to go about fixing it assuming I have no spare?
As in the title, when going Geocaching what are some standard implements and tools I should carry with me to get started so I'm not caught out?
I often find when Geocaching ordinary pencils don't seem to leave much of a mark at all, especially if the log is wet, and especially on the smaller logs pens are difficult to "get going" without a...
I was lucky enough to be given an almost new double skin popup tent. Where I'm camping right now it's got windy a couple of times and rainy a couple of times. A friend of mine who is camping in h...
I was given my current tent and I have to admit to being pretty ignorant of tents, having not done much camping since I was a kid some decades ago. Now when it came time to use the guy ropes I not...
About a year ago I was given a three person dual skin popup tent. Almost new but possibly a factory second. (It's made by "Vango" and I think it could be a "reject" because one of the four guy rop...
I'm looking to buy a new trekking tent, a good quality one, e.g. Hilleberg, Fjällräven, Vaude, etc. At Vaude they categorise tents in 2, 3, 4, or 5-season. What's the difference between a 4- and a ...
When on holiday, I want to get as far as possible from civilisation — the furthest I've come is seeing only a single cairn during a full day. In Scandinavia, hiking and camping is permitted unless ...
We didn't always have the weather forecast available everywhere, and there's times when it would be useful to be able to be able to take a good guess at weather conditions in the near future by loo...
At a casual look, grass with a bit of surface water on it can look very similar to a potentially deadly marsh, and in many rural places there can be lots of both after it's been raining! In dry wea...
I have a longer 2nd toe than the big toe (Morton's toe or royal toe). The major problem is finding boots or sports shoes that fit properly. If I didn't have this longer toe I would wear a 9 or 9.5 ...
Is there a special way to avoid the layer of ice that forms inside a water bottle during winter activities?
I have seen a handful of methods and devices on the market: http://www.rockexotica.com/products/downloads/belay.html But its not clear to me that any of the these devices do a better job than a si...
So when I hike, usually I get a small pebble or two, or sand in my boots. How can I prevent this? I already wear pretty tight boots, and stopping every so often to take off a boot and get a rock ou...
I've been whitewater rafting (and inadvertent whitewater canoeing ;) a couple times, and I'd like to get a bunch of friends together to go with me. I'd bring enough people to fill a raft (5 or 6), ...
We have couple Coleman 5 gal. water carriers. They are nice sturdy canisters, but they have major weak spot: their taps are of poor quality and easily broken — both ours are, and seems like a lot o...
About 3/4 weeks ago I bought some Karrimor Traveller Supa Men's Walking Shoes and I've noticed that the insoles are starting to move around inside the the shoe. After a few hours of wearing them, t...
I'm looking to buy a used backpack in the near future. What are the key things I should look out for/avoid when inspecting used paks?
I love hiking and I'm starting to love longer cycling trips too. I've done combined cycling/hiking trips (cycling to the trailhead of a hike). Last summer I met someone who carried an inflatable ra...
Is it safe to go backcountry hiking in the Tundra's of northwestern Russia, e.g. the Kola peninsula, such as the Khibin mountains? There is some heavy industry around there; can one safely go aroun...
I've seen walking poles range from <£10 to >£100 - and to a casual observer there doesn't often seem to be much to distinguish them, with both having good grips and shock relief / suspension....
I just moved to a new place (Edmonton, Alberta) and I wasn't really prepared for the strange weather here. My room is really hot right now and I want to sit outside for a bit in the rain where it'...
I am going on a Ski trip with two days in the snow. Given that I am unlikely to go skiing again for a long time, I would like to minimise the amount of gear that I purchase. The minimum temperature...
I quite like my pillows to give a lot of lift - I usually sleep with two relatively beefy ones. Unfortunately I haven't been able to find a good equivalent whilst camping, with the normal pillows p...
The steering on my Yamaha 50TLR outboard motor is very stiff. What can I do to make it easier to steer?
Is there a good rule of thumb for number of people in a boat? I looked on the Hull Idendification plate, but it only had the HIN and max horsepower on it.
I just acquired a used Yamaha 50TLR. I'd like to know what kind of routine maintenance I should preform to keep it in good working order.
Is there a relatively reliable way of calculating the time until sunset, without any specialist equipment, when I'm in the wilderness?
I want to buy a large group tent. I want it to be our communal cooking/dining tent. I'm look at things like the Mountain Hardware Yurtini or Space Station but it won't be used at altitude (so the l...
The accessories I'm looking for are things like propane trees and hoses, and obviously stoves, heaters, and lanterns are self explanatory. Nobody seems to talk about where things are made anymore, ...
How is two-strand cord braided? What shape cordage material works best for this technique? Do you need to start from relatively round cordage or can something strong but more flat (like a tough gr...
One thought led to another and I started wondering how effective wax paper would be to bring along as tinder to start a fire. I've seen suggestions of using paraffin in conjunction with other mate...
Are there some numbers on how much vertical distance can people make in a day’s hike? I know that greatly depends on fitness and other factors, but I’d be happy with some statistical curve that wou...
When trad climbing I have seen many people wrap their rope around a tree and then rappel, and then yank the rope down at the next belay station or tree. I have also seen the scarring as a result of...
Often, while hiking, my companions and I treat the very early/late sun as being less harmful (as far as skin cancer and UV radiation are concerned). For example, we might not apply sunscreen immedi...
I have a boat lift in my boat house. I'm concerned that leaving the lift in the water will cause the carpeted bunks and metal cross beams to deteriorate more quickly. Should I keep it up or down w...
My wife and I recently bought an inflatable, tandem kayak. I grew up canoeing and we've had many enjoyable outings on the water together, so I thought two-person kayaking would be relatively easy....
According to the scale on this Wikipedia page (the International Scale of River Difficulty), what are the types of kayaks in the following list that are suitable to occasionally handle class 1 and ...
I came across the following comment (From durable 3-season bag.): don't forget that synthetic doesn't last nearly as long even if you take extremely good care of it (i.e. never compress it) – R...
So I know that most swimming in rapids should be defensive, on your back feet together and pointed downstream. However, there are times you need some good aggressive swimming to get to an eddie or ...
I'd like to start identifying trees in my area as a project with my kids while we are hiking. What is best for tree identification? Is it a good color book such as the Audubon Field Guide to Nor...
I've met often with the concept that rotten meat and carcass is inedible because of bacteria and toxins. The most harmful is the botulinum toxin. However, in the question Can any waterborne pathog...
For years I used a product called Polar Pure for water purification when weekend backpacking. It was an iodine based solution, so not great for a thru-hike, but fine for a week or less. Specificall...
Will the boiling of the water itself be enough to decontaminate water taken from such standing water reservoir as that: This water looks horrible, and probably drinking it raw would cause serial ...
How much garlic should I use in the mountain kitchen during backpacking camps? I'm asking from the perspective of the person who wants to plan such a camp and the menu on it. Walking a lot with a ...
On my trip I've been accompanied by a few wasps. I don't know what attracted them but they were trying to sit on me, which wasn't comfortable to me, since a bite of a wasp is causing by me a swelli...
