General Q&A about the great outdoors and outdoor pursuits.
Filters (None)
I don't know how to actually put a title to this one here. But, the question is, Why do those high altitude porters haul heavy stuff (pretty heavy) on their back and with support by means of a st...
I am an avid snowboarder and I have noticed that socks made of merino wool are incredibly good at wicking away moisture while keeping my feet warm. However, I was wondering about other textiles tha...
I'm looking for socks for the following conditions and to complement the following footwear. My wife frequently spends several hours driving a car (setting car temperature to stay around +20°C) , ...
Does anyone know the strength of an ATC when used in a multi-pitch set up? It occurred to me that the entire weight of a climber is resting on the strength of the ATC clip and not on any carabiner....
I recently was given some old Chouinard hexes my uncle used back in the 70s. They look great, and I see no reason why I can't re-sling them and use them as perfectly safe protection. I've found so...
I have a large, cubic object and I wish to tie a rope around it so that the rope is very snug and tight around said object. In a picture, my question is as follows: Moreover, the path of the rop...
My answer to How to carry a bicycle in a canoe? includes the image below. The following question was asked in a comment, and to give it a decent answer, I am posting it as a new question. ...
I am contemplating a river journey from Pittsburgh to the Gulf of Mexico. 981 miles on the Ohio river and 2340 miles on the Mississippi River. The current plan calls for completing the journey in ...
I'm getting ready to make a pretty big move west and I'll basically be driving across the whole US. One state I'll pass through is New Mexico, and I'm looking at heading through the mountains there...
What is the possiblity of getting rabies bitten by a street dog in Berlin. By street dog I mean the dog of a homeless person. Is there a high chance of rabies from that. I must say that I didn't pr...
I did some hikes in the past but I'm way from calling myself experienced. Now, since I live in an awesome region surrounded by Alps, I decided to take a "one hike a week challenge", hiking mostly a...
In addition to Mosquitos, many of us northwoods campers have been made victim to the vast swarms of biting flies. Despite slathering myself with DEET, they don't seem deterred, and they especially...
I live with my parents. I love bird watching, and would love a bird feeder, but my mother does not want to keep one fearing it will attract rodents which may carry lyme disease. We've had bad exper...
There is a local shop that sells small brand name gear for pretty good prices. I am looking at their harnesses and quickdraws and would like to know: 1) Whether the equipment is safe - say compar...
I get to travel a lot in the richly biodiverse western ghats of India. While hiking, one of the most difficult tasks I face is to identify birds that I come across. I'm not a professional or even a...
I admit that this is not intended exclusively for the great outdoors. In truth I rarely venture into areas that are wild and overgrown with vegetation, tending to stick to more sub-urban excursion...
Last month, in February, my husband was walking on a trail in the woods in Massachusetts, alongside a fresh-water lake. The temperatures had been fluctuating a lot over the winter, so some areas we...
I use a backpack to commute on foot. It has one vent channel on the back to cool the back, but the problem I think is my shell. Heat builds up on my back and I get sweaty. As a cyclist, I have a n...
I just finished a 22.4 mile hiking trip, which was spread of two days and it's the furthest I've ever hiked. When I finished my body was killing me, apparently taking long day hikes is not a replac...
I have a 1972ish sunfish I am planning to re-gelcoat the entire bottom of the hull. I made one fiber glass repair where there was a crack through the hull, I took that area down to bare fiberglass...
I've been crafting a longbow from ash and am about ready for tillering. By tillering I mean: stringing the bow loosely and drawing the bowstring back little by little to give the bow some flex, mak...
Recently I saw a podcast of Alex Honnold with Rich Roll where Alex speaks about deliberately eating up and gaining weight before going on an Antarctic expedition (I'm assuming this is because of th...
This is my assortment of lures/bait: (The can is Gulp! Earthworms) I went fishing and caught my first fish today with the golden spoon in the red box to the 2nd far right (below the daredev...
Sometimes in the United States private land won't be marked clearly or there won't fences along the lines or maybe there aren't any "no trespassing" signs. Especially in the western parts with big ...
I'll be backpacking Europe in the winter (snow and rain) and parts of my trip will be outdoors, such as hiking in Dolomites, Italy. For purposes of packing light and risk of losing expensive gear, ...
You know that bleeding lung feeling you get after going out for a long run on a freezing cold night? The one where you can taste blood in the back of your jaw, and begin to wheeze and cough as flui...
So I am going on a 6 days wildness hike. I have a down sleep bag that can comfortably cover up to 3 degrees if I have thermos on. I am considering getting a sleeping bag liner. Main concerns are: ...
I'm actually shopping for a new sleeping bag and am a bit in doubt about a question that I do not find treated anywhere: By investing an arbitrarily huge amount of money I can buy a sleeping bag to...
I recently moved to CO and I want to buy a device to help me track various activities such as hiking, trail running, snowboarding, etc. Along with the general "outdoor activities", I also want to u...
I just went outside (11:30pm) and could hear seagulls screaming/cawing overhead. I looked in the direction of where the sound was coming from and could see a couple hundred of them being illuminate...
We are always camping in areas we have not been to before. We usually use Google maps (satellite) to try and guess about the appropriateness of a camp before going there. From experience we kno...
I will go hunting rabbit in a few weeks and I'm planning to tan the hide, but I don't know how.also will be nice if it explains how to make soft leather as well; as I will have multiple hides
Yesterday I took my girlfriend with me on a random 40 minute ride to stop on the side of the road to stargaze near a farm. It was a lot of fun being away from the suburbs. I've never been camping b...
There are two (main) types of front points with crampons (that I am aware of): Vertical and horizontal ones. Usually vertical is used for technical mountaineering, ice and mixed climbing and horizo...
There is a method of finding north by aiming two sticks at a star and then tracking the star's movement to find which way is north. You can read the full description here. However, there is the a ...
If I'm using two prusik's to climb a rope (one as a foot loop and one attached to harness directly) What's the minimum diameter of cord I should be looking for to remain safe?
I am confused by my new map of the Westfjords of Iceland. The geographic coordinate grid is rotated slightly, but the map indicates that true north is still the top of the page. What's going on...
I have a Brunton Truarc 3 compass. At the time I bought it I wasn't aware about declination settings or navigation basics. But recently I realized that it has offset of a few degrees (around 6 degr...
My husband and I are both avid walkers / hikers but for a long time have been wanting to get into kayaking. Both of us have kayaked in the past. Separately we did it on school trips - many years ag...
The laces on my hiking boots broke years ago, and instead of going out of my way to buy a replacement pair, I replaced them with some lengths of paracord I had kicking around, albeit with the inten...
I've been an avid lover of the outdoors for all of my life, camping in quite varied terrain, but so far in all these locations I've been able to use the usual LNT cat-hole methods to take care of h...
In my garden pond I saw a bundle of frogs seemingly smothering one reddish coloured frog. Being British and always favouring the underfrog I sprayed the "attackers" with the hose until they all wen...
I am a backcountry skier/snowshoes hiker and I finally want to do an overnight experience in the Alps. The Simplon Dorf area would be ideal (for I can access it quite easily), but any southern Sw...
I've been climbing for a few months and my gym sells old rental shoes at a discounted rate. I bought some as a cheap way to get started. I always wear socks when I climb but I've noticed the majori...
I am preparing for an expedition which is going to be in Mid-July next year. I am quite aware about the level of physical fitness that we require for such a trek, and I am preparing for it as well...
Time and again I read how climbers feel incredible fatigue on altitudes 7000+ m. Most of us have probably flown in airplanes on altitudes greater than that in pressurized passenger airplanes and di...
About 10 weeks ago, I did a 16-hour snow hike in Newfoundland (off-topic: insanely gorgeous country!). The outside temperature was still very warm for November, with highs of -5ºC / 23ºF and lows ...
Newbie here. Few days back I came to know about merino wool. This was from an article about travelling the world in just 20 lb or roughly 10 kg backpack. From the article - My socks, shirts,...
One of the more common knots in climbing is the figure eight on a bight (being tied on a bight means that it is tied without using the ends. How exactly would one tie this knot?
I have been wearing Vibram FiveFingers exclusively for three years now. I day hike in them, I exercise in them, I go to to work with them, I hit the beach and swim in them. I have tried wearing "re...
