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Comments at a recent question How many tea light candles are needed to equal the heat output of a person? suggest that burning a candle can produce water vaper that masses twice as much as the cand...
Take a look at this knife: Notice that the edge start very far away from the edge of the blade, if that makes sense. The question I'm asking myself is whether, when sharpening this knife, do I ...
I rent out a lot of alpine touring (AT) skis. We advise people not to use these skis for downhill resort skiing. Part of that is because we don't want people renting out the skis (which we rent at ...
I went ice climbing the other day at an exposed climb in gale force winds. This place is notorious for wind, and the gusts we were getting that day felt like they were up to the 80-90km gusts range...
I don't think of myself as being a paranoid individual, but I am cautious about people I meet when hiking. For example, if I am eating lunch at a site less than a mile from an infrequently used tra...
I just got this backpack but noticed that the waistband can't be concealed when not being used. It is the one with a large buckle in the bottom of the picture below. Since I plan to use it snowb...
Context: I'm planning to take my self-inflating sleeping pad on a bike trip this year. The bike doesn't have any mounting points for a rack, so space is somewhat limited. Currently, my plan is to s...
Sometimes when setting up rock climbs for people you will have climbers of various abilities and yet not have enough resources to set up enough climbs so that everyone has something that is hard en...
Freezer bag cooking refers to cooking by boiling water in a pot, add the boiling water to a zip-lock type freezer bag filled with the meal, placing the filled bag in an insulating cozy, and letting...
Thanks to @Ken Graham, I just heard of an activity called rail biking. It involves riding a certain type of bike along sections of abandoned railroad tracks. It sounds like a lot of fun, and my hus...
Has your city seen a noticeable decrease in population of common sparrows? And, on the contrary an increased population of common pigeons? As per my opinion prime suspects appear to be stronger ce...
Is it possible (read, can I spend a restful night sleeping?) By using a quilt, bivi bag and ground sheet? Quilt I'm looking at is here, the idea being that I can take an ultralight bivi bag and gr...
I just looked at our sleeping bags, which we bought in 1972. They are in pretty good condition, with only a few small patches. Is it unusual for a down sleeping bag to give service for 45 years a...
I want to go hiking in Sweden this summer with a few friends (forming a group of about 5-7 people) for one or two weeks. The goals we targeted were mainly Kungsleden and Sarek. While a hike on Kung...
If I do a certain hike or run, it's going to cost a certain amount of effort, which could be measured by how many calories I burn. How does this effort depend on the amount of climbing? Is there a ...
We're heading to the Ardèche in France in spring, an area with hundreds if not thousands of campgrounds. Many of those are massive with lots of entertainment provided by facilities such as multipl...
I have often checked into the Ahwahnee in Yosemite Valley after emerging, filthy and undernourished, from the backcounty. A hot shower in one of the cottages, an Ahwahnee Burger, a glass (or three...
How can I use horsetail as a indicator plant to find gold while gold pannig? What are Indicator Plants? Indicator plants are peculiar to a certain place. Though they aren’t necessarily rar...
I like to go camping in the forest, mostly in summer, sometimes also when temperatures drop to about 0°C/32°F during the night. I have a three-season sleeping bag (T-comf: -2°C, T-lim: -8°C, T-ext...
A flintlock rifle is a weapon that can be indefinitely reloaded without any reliance on infrastructure. Gunpowder can be made from resources commonly found in the outdoors (urine as the nitrate sou...
What equipment should I carry in case of emergency on a coastal kayaking trip? I normally do short trips (1 week or less) around the islands of northwest Scotland. I tend to travel solo (sometimes...
Sulfur has been used for centuries to get ride of nasty little bugs that infest the warm places we like to sleep. Assuming I have found natural sulfur sources can they be used to effectively and s...
I may have reacted without thinking to the question about dealing with lice because I have never worried about getting lice on a wilderness trip. Upon reflection, I find I am genuinely interested...
I am preparing for a Himalayan Expedition which requires trekking pole.Trekking altitude 16000 ft and melting snow. I haven't used any aluminium/carbon fiber poles yet. I usually find a wooden hik...
They say prevention is better than cure, so for beginner hikes, especially dayhikes, how can one try to ensure that their bowels are empty and they won't suddenly need to poo? Are there proven ways...
