General Q&A about the great outdoors and outdoor pursuits.
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I often need to tension a rope between two trees, usually 20-30 ft apart. I am not skilled with knots so it is often sloppy and the tension doesn't hold even very modest weight (such as clothes or ...
I am reading Three Among the Wolves by Helen Thayer, who is best known for walking and skiing to the North Magnetic Pole accompanied only by her husky, Charlie. In a subsequent trip, she and her ...
I was wondering if there is a way to sight in a rifle scope without firing a shot. There are some reasons why I think it would useful to be able to do this. One depending on the scope you may hav...
I have a set of titanium cookware that I use for backpacking. It's a small set for one to two people and consists of two little pots and one cover/frying pan. Mostly, this set gets used for boili...
I have Osprey Atmos AG 50 and I am trying to buy a rain cover for it. There are two sizes in Ultralight rain cover model.One is 'M' size (upto 50 L) and another is 'L' size (50-75 L). Have anyone b...
I know that hundreds of black bears roam around Yosemite, however they are considered harmless and an attack towards humans has not been reported so far. However, are there any other possible dange...
I use pierceable butane canisters for cooking outdoors: Given that butane boiling point is 30 to 34 °F, is it safe to punch a hole in the canister when the outside temperature drops below 30 °F ...
My team at work has occasional outings and one of the activities we've talked about for the future is kayaking or whitewater rafting. I've never done either and am also dependent on expensive pres...
I've only just started bouldering, and we have been using the easiest to grades VB-V1. I find V1 are moderately challenging but the next step up, V2, I just entirely struggle with. What can I do to...
I asked a question about marking trails and one of the answers suggested nailing markers to the trees. Does this damage the trees? I'm mostly concerned about long-term infection or rot that will ev...
I'm looking for a good longer rope (e.g. 70m or so) to use for rappeling during canyoneering trips. Most of the ropes on Amazon or REI are dynamic, and my understanding is that static ropes are gen...
Went on a snow trip this weekend at Fall Creeks(VIC), it was my first time in snow and first time skiing (cross-country) , the only problem I had was my feet started getting cold occasionally and f...
I have a propane/120 volt refrigerator/freezer in my camper. For safety reasons I turn off the propane when moving. I keep the freezer section mostly full of the blue ice containers, which keeps t...
Say, I want to tie a rope between two trees, and I want it to have as little sag as possible. I have attached the rope to one tree and I'm trying to tie it to the other tree while pulling it to cre...
Can I view OS maps for the UK online for free? I want to see both the Landranger and Explorer maps if possible.
I got some 1/2" steel-thimbles for my climbing-rope but sadly I'm not sure how to safely use them, I'd thought "I can just tie a knot at just the right spot so that the thimble is securely nested i...
The reel seems to jam when I reel it around and then if I put pressure on the reel handle, or the line, the bail flips open. I’m sure there’s something I am doing wrong. Video attached for referenc...
In principle, it is known that full body harnesses are useful for situations where the center of gravity is higher - e.g. for children, or for Alpine situations involving carrying heavy loads. A fu...
This video for Portable Soup (aka Pocket Soup) from James Townsend popped up in my feed. If you don't know (like I hadn't until I saw the video) Pocket Soup is basically a shelf-stable ultra-reduc...
If the cooler is packed full of frozen food, does it need ice to stay frozen for 3 weeks or does ice somehow stay colder longer than frozen steak, sausage, hamburger etc.? I'm going on a 18 day Gra...
For trip planning and navigation during my outdoors trip, I would like to load a track into my GPS (or GNSS) receiver. Where can I find websites that gather user-contributed GPS tracks?
Here is a scary scenario: Let's say you were in a ship or submarine that sunk to the bottom of the ocean. No scuba gear, no oxygen tank, nothing. The depth of the ocean is such that nitrogen le...
So I have wanted to catch sharks like 7 gill in california and I have some questions about reels and rods. So I want to be able to cast my bait out to where the sharks are but most people seem to ...
I was doing some target 22 target practice and had three different brands of ammo, supersonic Thunderbolt 35 grain, Aguila 40 grain subsonic and Aguila 60 grain subsonic. The Thunderbolt was the l...
Rather than shining in all directions, lighthouses usually produce a directed beam of light that continuously sweeps in a circle. This allows: the light to be more concentrated and so appear brig...
If the topographic map is to be believed, there are plenty of streams in Grasslands National Park, but apparently they are saline. Last and Ginn report that there is no other area in the world th...
I'm assuming that if I bought a 15 meter slackline, I could actually tie it between two trees at any length less than 15 meters apart and use it. Please tell me if that assumption is wrong. So what...
I have heard on this forum and others the difficulty of finding a suitable fuel since meths is illegal or hard to find, so im trying to think of alternatives, i know Americans use HEET and i have u...
I am climbing for quite a while now and would consider myself a beginning-intermediate climber. I feel my technique has significantly improved over the last year. I am very heavy (1,80m and ~100kg)...
What are some slackline vendors or brick and mortar stores in the state of Maryland with people who actually know how to slackline? I agree that some vendors of slacklines from Amazon may be selli...
Once, I had the opportunity to walk on a floating mat on a guided tour with a nature organisation in De Wieden (Dutch: trilveen). On the surface, it looked (to my amateur eye) exactly like other p...
I'm trying to make myself a foot-loop that's connected by rope to one's handled-ascender (alongside an opposing-foot's ankle-ascender this allows rapid ascension up a single leg up of rope!) and ha...
If I go fishing in the UK (West Yorkshire), am I allowed to eat the fish I catch? I was told that you’re not allowed to eat/kill the fish and must return it to the water after the catch. Any help...
I forage for food as a hobby, and noticed that the attaching parts of sumac stays with the berries sometimes, so it got me to wondering if the wood of edible sumac is poisonous for human consumptio...
One of my flashlights that has a black anodized aluminum housing has a couple of scratches on it, all of the way through the anodized coating. How can I cover up the scratches so that its complet...
I am considering a late October trek through the boundary area between Ticino (Switzerland) and Verbano Cusio Ossola (Italy), including the Valle Cravariola. This takes be along several bivouacs a...
Last September my wife and I went surfing in Peniche (Portugal). We took a beginners course there. We had a lot of fun but I found the greenwaves and their strength when they come crashing down on ...
Looking at buying additional accessories or making some for my car's roof rack, which uses Whispbar brand crossbars. I'm wondering if other brands use the same size t-track slots and whether they'd...
I'm starting to go through the book "freedom of the hills". Somewhere in the initial pages, it states that a climbing party must consist of a minimum of three members. A bit later it states that du...
On longer climbing sessions I like to keep my cell phone close by, but most of the time I have no backpack with me. So I would like to pack the cell phone in a little case that I can put on my clim...
In answers to a recent question, ultrasonic dog repellers were suggested as a means of self defence against stray dogs rather than weapons. I'm also concerned with loose farm dogs, and live somewhe...
Once a hummingbird feeder is set up and the hummingbirds know about it they will come back over and over again on a regular basis. They even seem to remember after the winter and will come to check...
There's a dispute in my climbing group whether a "large" eye of the tie-in knot can be considered dangerous. While I don't see a problem with a loop that is about 10 cm across, others argue that th...
The Outside Online article How to Fuel for a Solo, Unassisted Antarctic Crossing starts with "Colin O’Brady thinks it’s possible—but just barely—to haul enough calories to traverse the continent. H...
Twice now I have been out winter hiking with a guide and another person and I'm trying to work out what knot they used to tie the middle person onto the rope. Let's say the guide is in front, my c...
I need to bring two branches of a palm tree/bush together. So I need a knot that is secure under tension but can also be progressively tightened. What knot would you recommend?
While doing some research for my answer in are ski areas shutting down? I was a bit shocked by the American prices for lift tickets. Vail is at $220 and while this may be an exceptionally expensive...
I am considering a solo three-day trip in the Uinta Mountains in Utah in August. I have lots of experience backpacking but I've never soloed before and so am thinking of ways to shed some weight. M...
On a hike a while back, I was going up the less favored side of a large hill. Due to recent geological activity, the hill side had sort of cracked/split creating a 5-10 foot wide pathway along the ...
In Dean Potters and Sean Leary's 2010 attempt to take the speed record of The Nose at El Capitan in Yosemite, Dean Potter has something white on his legs (and arms?): What could this be, and whi...
