Search
I occasionally design or lead hikes in areas with multiple trail junctions. I attempt to be thorough in the planning by having several different ways for hikers to follow the trail. (Maps and GPS ...
In this answer about mountaineering on a glacier, @StrongBad mentioned 4th and 5th class belays. I have never heard of belays being classified into such classes. In what context are these classes u...
For reasons of time-saving and avoiding retie figure 8 knots all the time, can I clip the figure 8 knot via two carabiners each clipped to either loop of the harness? This way there will be no cros...
A recent question made me wonder how a running belay is really done. Suppose you are climbing an alpine route, maybe of difficulty UIAA 5. You encounter a stretch of 100m of UIAA 1 terrain with n...
When birds gather into groups, they fly in a variety of different formations and patterns. Some birds fly in a formation that looks like the letter "V". Several species of geese, pelicans, and ib...
I have experience in backpacking but have no climbing experience. I am trying to learn how to camp on top of mountains after class 2 or 3 climbing. My motive is to take sunrise and sunset photos. A...
During the winter I travel long distances over 25 miles into forest, lakes, rivers and mountains. I always worry that when it's time to leave I'll find myself trapped by tree laying over the road. ...
A recent comment Cows eat grass, doesn't mean you can! got me thinking. Corn, wheat, rice, etc are all grass that we eat regularly. I am not sure the human race could survive on the planet...
After using tape gloves for crack climbing, I always have some tape gunk left over on my skin. While it doesn't hurt and goes away a few days of rigorous scrubbing, it doesn't look super great at t...
Humans differ in their food preferences. One person loves oysters, another can't stand them, etc. What about animals? Are there any rabbits that don't like carrots? Lions that don't care for zebra...
Obviously, the solution to this problem is to pack food that everyone enjoys eating. However, according to Murphy, this doesn't always happen. Also, sometimes the best tasting food is ruled out by ...
I have a 1972ish sunfish I am planning to re-gelcoat the entire bottom of the hull. I made one fiber glass repair where there was a crack through the hull, I took that area down to bare fiberglass...
I was chacking a map to see access rights on a particular route I know. I was checking if a path was a bridleway or footpath as I know Mountain Bikes should only use bridleways. Studying the key cl...
I am watching a video about a climb of Annapurna. To acclimate the climbers head up from base camp to another camp higher up, stay for a day or two, then return to base camp. They repeat this pro...
A lot of the fatal accidents in Yosemite National park come from people getting swept over waterfalls. Yes, the falls in Yosemite have fences and warning signs and yet people still ignore them. If...
The easiest way up Half Dome is the cable route (rated Class 3), which looks like this. As six people have died on this route since it was put in place, and it looks really steep and scary, how ...
We're planning to do a dayhike on a mountain almost two thousand meters above sea level (Mt. Tapulao). The trail is almost 20 kilometers to the summit, and me and my fellow hikers are pretty slow...
I have been reading some "make your own gear" forums, and making waxed canvas bags seems to be a popular craft. I recently did a little research into ripstop nylon (for another SE, here), and it s...
I thought about asking this question on English Language and Usage, but decided not to because I want answers from people who are familiar with cascades and waterfalls in reality, not just in the a...
TopHat has two roving points in its range. One is the Roving Crown... ... and the other is called Charly Point. They seem to have an identical concept but still the Crown costs three times a...
A woman in a semi-rural Maryland neighborhood was injured by a black bear sow a day or two ago. See The Washington Post. She heard a dog barking, went out with her dog on a leash to investigate a...
What gear do I need to climb buildings? Can I use a suction cup lifters? Or is it a safety risk, since this piece of equipment was clearly not developed to climb buildings?
Aversion to snakes, or at least a predisposition to strongly avoid snakes, appears to be deeply rooted at the genomic level in primates. See, for example, The Human Evolution Blog. Be warned, the...
In mountaineering, the turnaround time is the point in time at which the party will turn around and head down the mountain regardless of how close to the summit. This is typically done to make cert...
I do know that if your elevation rises while staying in the same position, the pressure is decreasing and that it is a sign of bad weather incoming and a decrease in elevation means that the pressu...
