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A water knot is the best knot for joining two ends of webbing, I wouldn't recommend any other knot except for maybe the beer knot, but that's certainly not going to save you any time. You don't nee...
Source: John Baldwin: Slope Angles from Map Contours View this page for a refresher on how to do the maths to calculate slope on a topographic map.
IMHO, up to a certain level in mountaineering, friends that you make in mountains or at a base camp are likely to be good/close friends for life. So, If I were the guy with the lesser experience in...
I'm not an expert, however I can give you general direction. The reason why you want run slower to run faster is for one: less risk of injury and second: training to stay in aerobic zone, avoiding...
Ice blades are designed for penetration, mixed blades are modified to help you also get a good bite on rock without doing to much damage to your tips. Will Gadd–who is considered to be the best i...
Aluminum has a crystal structure and can be hardened using a process called "work hardening." Long story short, you've hardened your pole by causing dislocation movements in the crystal structure o...
I see lots of people using bow and stern lines but really they are not required. I have travelled 600kms in a single journey with my 18ft sea kayak on the roof using only two centre straps. Bow a...
Plantar fasciitis is a degenerative (not inflammatory) repetitive stress injury (RSI). Studies using radioactive tracers have shown that the rate of tissue replacement in connective tissues is ofte...
I would say that its vital to let someone know your route & radio in at a set time of day to let them know where you are & how you are coping.
No, it will not. A bear will smell your food regardless of what container you put it in. A dry bag may reduce the distance from which a bear can smell your food, but will not make it impossible to ...
Bears have a seriously sensitive nose. I can't remember the correct values, but they have magnitudes more smell receptors than a bloodhound (I just looked it up, a bear's nose is estimated to be 7 ...
While I'm not too familiar with this brand, a 2013 article on BackpackingLight (largely paywalled) discussed recent developments in canister stoves, most of which are now manufactured in Asia. I t...
You sharpen the secondary / backbevel (the 15 degrees) when you do not get that hair-popping sharpness form the 20 degree angle. Or you use the 15 degrees to get a knife with a thick bevel to razo...
Make a big fire. This may sound silly and couterintuitive, but the reason is pretty simple. If you make a small fire you need to put your stuff pretty close to it to have any chance of drying it i...
I only wear hiking boots if there is significant off trail or heavy scree. The last dozen or so expeditions (1 week + trips ~50 lb pack) I did I mostly wore MEC reef boots, or divers boots, sized ...
Real examples abound. The best one from a story perspective is Wallace's "Lure of the Labrador" An entertaining read for so many bad decisions. They were out 5 months, expected to live by huntin...
To my knowledge, all popular routes in the United States require packing out all waste. Here are the rules for Yosemite, which has good guidelines applicable everywhere: http://www.nps.gov/yose/pl...
First, a good place is where you can fit your tent's guy lines. What is the weather (forecast)? good weather: sunny, clear, stable distance to the fireplace, water and toilet go close to the ...
I wouldn't label this as a "myth" tout court because it may depend on the very single piece of gear, I mean it's material, design, and manufacturing. While one carabiner may not suffer from being d...
Project Remote was started by a scientifically-minded couple to quantitatively determine the most remote locations in each of the 50 states mainly using the distance to the nearest road or town and...
Most of the "untouched" places left in North America are that way for a reason, no one wants to touch them. There are loads of barren desserts in Nevada, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona that people do...
This is a broad question, so here's a broad answer: The coastal ranges north of SF are heavily forested and have narrow steep valleys.... and hillbillies and marijuana farms. Although as you go in...
Two other answers have given methods for measuring this on-site. The trouble is that there's a lot of behavioral and sociological research showing that this doesn't really work. Once you get to the...
TL;DR: Look for manufacturer standards associations (UIAA, CE, ISO): Climbing Gear Strength Rating and Testing Standards The general rule of thumb about gear in Rock Climbing is when you have a...
Etiquette varies a great deal according to locality. In the same way that trad/bolting ethics does. Best practice would be to see if your guide book has advice for the area you are climbing in and ...
