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A snow shovel will make your life a lot easier, yes - it gives you the option to dig out snow to use as a windbreak, and to lower the tent a little into the snow, reducing the wind. Digging down a...
If you are in extremely cold climes, setting a fire inside your shelter may be essential. Key issues are around getting enough oxygen in to it, and getting the smoke out. Taking these in reverse o...
A long time ago, before people had consistent access to Lye or any of the oils we use in soap now, they made it out of what they had on hand. A common one would be wood ash and rendered animal fat ...
What I do is carry a small microfiber cloth. First I rinse my dishes, then I swish with a small amount of boiling water (usually left from our post dinner coffee), and wipe with the cloth. Voila,...
One of the big differentiators in the past between hard and soft bottles was that soft bottles would absorb some of the flavor from drinks. I'm not sure how much that affects soft bottles on the m...
It sounds like you've tried lacing them tight, loose, and everything in between. Other than different socks, you might try the following when you tie your boots. When lacing the upper portion of ...
It sounds like you need a way to keep the entire shoe tight while not tight directly over the bend in your ankle. There are Lacing techniques that can accomplish this. The easiest would be to gap...
Yes, some sources create toxic smoke/fumes, notably: Oleander Rhododendron Poison Ivy (smoke can cause lung damage in some cases) I'm not sure of a comprehensive list, but be wary of any poison...
It sounds like the problem that you're getting is that your ankles are swelling up too much. This could easily be caused by wearing boots that are laced too tightly. It could also be caused by ot...
There's no safe wood I've found that's made food taste really bad - generally if it does taste absolutely foul I'd be wary that something else was up. In the grand scheme of things though, it depe...
Many pine woods will leave your food tasting of turpentine. Depending on the wood, it won't be enough to be toxic, but will still (imo) be a very unpleasant flavor. Generally, due to my experien...
I learned how to build a cooking fire in Boy Scouts. Build the fire, and then let it burn down. The bright dancing flames are more fun for recreation, but are not helpful for cooking. When you h...
From the Nikwax link you provide: For best results remove all non-washable parts and always clean item(s) first with Nikwax Tech Wash®. No need to dry item(s) before waterproofing. ...
A really simple, but effective fire is the 'Hunters Fire'. Basically you make a 'V' shape with two logs with the point in the same direction as the prevailing wind. The V shape allows you to su...
One benefit to a soft bottle over a hard bottle is: You can compress a soft bottle as you drink from it to reduce the sloshing of water in the bottle as you walk.
Personally I wouldn't! You run the risk of losing/breaking your blade. Better to use the blade to sharpen a stick and fire harden the tip (till it goes brown, not black) it or attach something you...
I usually stomp the area with snowshoes until it's reasonably packed, and that's good enough. If it's windy and very cold I may dig down 3-4 feet for protection from the wind. (If you're in the mou...
The answer is in your bowing action - the travel comes from your arm movement not being in a straight line each direction: there is a bias one way or the other. Usually the bias is in the direction...
I use "Wet Ones" instead of soap (if there's no convenient place to bathe). There's not a lot of weight advantage, but they're good for washing yourself in the tent. Since they are antibiotic, they...
Climbfind.com is a great place to find a local partner.
How cold are you talking about? When you woke up, was there ice on your tent? Or was it 50F outside? Anyways, to sum it up, sleeping bags generally boil down to this tradeoff: Pick Two: Warmth, S...
I'm going to assume and interpret a little, and forgive me please if I put words in your mouth. What you really seem to be asking is: "Do I have to spend mad cash to stay warm?" I would say, in 5...
The only time I lit a fire in a cave we had to evacuate due to smoke and a billion spiders dropping from the ceiling. This isn't a 'danger' for me in the UK - we do not have deadly spiders. Elsewh...
An alternative to building a fire inside your shelter is to heat some rocks in a fire outside, and bring them inside (don't burn yourself!). A fire can sometimes be the best thing, but the heat fro...
I find that a pair of poles are very handy for climbing over stiles. We have a lot of stiles in the UK, I'm not sure if they are a feature in US trekking. They are also good for controlling the s...
