Search
My personal favorite for tying two ends of a rope together is the Flemish Bend. It's simple, strong, does not slide, does not require stopper knots (unless used for life-critical applications), all...
Spotting scopes are used for all sorts of things in the outdoors, from watching climbers on big walls to observing wildlife. Usually, the reason for using one instead of a pair of binoculars is the...
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...
If a climber completes a route without using their protection that is called sending. What is the term if one completes the route but had to depend on the rope either for a rest or for a fall? Le...
I am, ahem, itching to camp on the Bruce Trail (Ontario, Canada) in July. I have two kittens at home. What should I use as mosquito repellent? I am afraid to use the ubiquitous DEET-based spray as...
Some of my climber friends are pretty fast climbers with a speed of about 20s for a 10m long route. The really fast ones use auto-belaying-systems seen on speed climbing competitions. Those auto-...
It has been suggested to me in a comment, about an answer of mine that suggests using a hip belay, that: There's a reason ATCs, plates, GriGris, etc got popular: they're safer. I know I stopp...
I am relatively new to climbing, and so far I have only done bouldering climbing. The hardest route I have climbed is a V5, and I am a solid V4 climber. My question was, to anyone who has climbed E...
There are a number of "survival" products on the market that integrate "extra" strands into the standard paracord (US MIL spec, ~4mm accessory cord, usually 7 strand nylon or cotton) Most of them...
I'm in the process of setting up my overland vehicle so that it has "essentials" in it at all times. I've got a kettle and ways to boil the kettle etc. I am interested in having the basics in my v...
I live in Charleston, SC, and found this very large spider chilling in a very large intricate web in our gazebo this evening. Below are all the pictures (apologize for the quality...it's the best I...
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...
In recent years, my wife and I completed a few long distances hikes together, for instance: Kungsleden from Nikkaluokta to Abisko, 105 km (Sweden) Landmannalaugar to Skogar via Laugavegur and Fim...
Strike indicators are basically the fly fishing version of bobbers and they come in different colors white, yellow, orange, etc. When fishing streams that have a big of disturbance and the sun is ...
This National Geographic article describes how feeding ducks bread is actually harmful. Among the items listed as safe to feed to ducks it lists corn. Does this mean that cornbread is an acceptab...
Smaller streams are easy to tell where to cast when fly fishing given fish's tendency to hang out in pools or hole or undercut banks. It easy to decide where you need to cast and approximately wher...
I've just recently moved to Europe (southern Germany), so this might be a common sight to someone who has been living here for longer. Yesterday I noticed dozens of these insects walking on the si...
Most fly fishing with wet flies is done with just single wet fly and a strike indicator but it's also possible to do it with a dry fly instead of a strike indicator (this lets you do both at the sa...
Sometimes people will keep notes or things they see in the outdoors or keep a journal and paper getting wet and then wrecked is a big problem. The other obvious use is printing maps off from the...
I was reading about off-roading just now, in particular best practices for conservation and safety, and I ended up on the Wikipedia page for fording. But that page deals mostly with either natural ...
Me and my wife have never done camping before and always wanted to do it. This time we are planning to go for a small camping trip but have no idea how to prepare for it. We like to hike and are be...
What is common way how to transport personal belongings while swimming? I am talking about scenario when I need to cross a lake by swimming. I would like to take my stuff (wallet, cell phone, shor...
Which dog breeds are best for backpacking? I know malamutes do well in the cold and on mountains, but what if I'm backpacking in the summer? Which dog breeds are good for daily trail runs? I wo...
For my holiday planning, I've been trying to perform what I thought was a simple task, but which turned out to be more complicated than I'd thought. For a given geographical location, defined eith...
Are there any specifics about how to differentiate a Pass and a Col in terms of mountaineering? For non-mountaineering and non-geographical interests it's all the same.
