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When tying my autoblock knot my cord keeps twisting, and it does not end up looking nearly this nice: I use a double-fisherman loop of cord that stays permanently tied, and it lays flat. How can...
There is a story I have heard about climbers who confused "take" and "safe" and I am wondering if it has actually happened. The story goes like this, The climber is out of sight of the belayer an...
Last fall I bought a sunfish, best I can tell is built in about 1974 (43 years ago) and has all original sails, sail rings (hold the sail to the spars), tiller, etc. Everything but the lines seem ...
I am going to do a climb that has a long lateral traverse I drew up three options, and Option #2 seems to me to be preferable to the other options. What do you think the best option is for this ...
I live in Northeastern United States, where it's spring at the moment. We keep bird-feeders throughout the year, so those that over-winter always have something to eat. As is usual at this time ...
I just found that I can get free geological map overlays for Google Earth for all of the individual states in the United States from here. For instance, this is what a good deal of Yosemite Nation...
I own a cheap but relatively effective solid metal bowl-shaped fire pit: (football [soccer ball] provided for scale) We sometimes have difficulty getting it lit - the smallest kindling takes we...
This question made me wonder how one should be pulled up in a rescue situation, e.g. when lowering is not an option. This answer explains a Z-pulley when in an alpine/glacier environment. I'm mor...
My yard gets overrun by mosquitoes every summer, due to there being a lot of woods and sitting water areas in the neighborhood. Unfortunately, many of these areas are outside of my yard, and/or pro...
Basically, I have one large backpack and if I end up going for a much shorter trip, say for 3 days instead of 2+ weeks, I am going to end up with empty space in the backpack. From a stability and ...
Explanation of why my question is not a duplicate of What is the best way to store my tent?. I am specifically asking about an aspect not addressed in the earlier question or any of its answers: ...
Many many years ago me and my brothers used to go rabbit hunting with air-rifles. I was pretty young TBH and the details are not sharp in my mind. It occurred to me that the .22 calibre air-rifle t...
Apologies for the word problem. I'm sure there's a simple solution or two, but I'm trying to work out a real world scenario. We used to indoor top rope belay but that was years ago in boy Scouts so...
I'm part of a group of disabled people who'd like to learn, or at least experience, water skiing. Our disabilities vary, but none of us are able to support our legs enough to stand on water skis wi...
I have noticed a few people are using blue light bulbs for the front porch and/or walk way. The light is not very bright and does not cast what I would call sufficient lighting. On some streets ha...
When wood is heated, the first thing to ignite are the "burnable gasses" released by the heating process (producing flames). Some time later, the combustion of these gasses heat the wood to the po...
This summer I will be taking a rather inherently dangerous multi-day hike by myself. I was considering buying a flare gun since I will be out of cellular range unless there is something more moder...
Sometimes while backpacking you have to cross streams, and from a weight point of view, it would be nicer to just cross in your bare feet, instead of bringing an extra pair of shoes along. These ...
I was out camping recently, and found that the bottom foot or so of my sleeping bag had gotten wet ( in part due to one of the stakes for my rain fly coming loose, but that's another story). As no...
I recently picked up bouldering and bought my first pair of shoes as well as chalk and a bag. I've only been climbing in the gym for now and handled the equipment like any other gym-sports-equipme...
Recently we visited the alps in Bavaria. We hiked near a lake which had a lot of foam swimming on it. It was not spray from the water but rather a really dense dirty foam. Comparable to shaving foa...
The "Lech Fall" in Austria is a huge waterfall with a small peninsula on its inflow. This picture gives a nice overview: From Wikimedia I was standing on that peninsula and experienced extremel...
We visited Neuschwanstein lately and since we were with kids, picked the common tourist path up to the castle. The hike is extremely stressful (for me at least) because you wander on a tarred way w...
We use Coghlan's Camp Soap when camping, it is available in handy containers at most stores that have any amount of outdoor supplies. But we can only find it in the 4oz bottle, we would like to ...
Climbing ropes are UIAA rated for so many falls of an 80kg weight. After that number of falls–or a specific period of time based on amount of use–you are supposed to retire the rope. But what if ...
