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Edward Whymper is most known for his sweeping ascent of the Matterhorn 150 years ago. You can read about the competition with J.A. Carrel and the struggle to find a path to the top in the famous bo...
I used a regular curved helmet mount for my GoPro on my recent snowboarding trip, which comes self-adhesive. At one point I fell on my back and hit the back of my helmet, the shock of which unglue...
I saw this article recently. I also know that human solid (not sure about liquid) waste is collected in buckets on river trips down the Grand Canyon. What are some basic guidelines for determinin...
So winter is well and truly over in Wales. Pretty much all the snow has melted and the weather is improving. So it's time to retire my winter gear until next winter. What should I do with my Ice ...
Senario: I am leading the climb with 2 ropes. I reach at the first pitch. I put myself on the self anchor and built a master point. Now I want to top belay 2 climbers at the same time. They both w...
We will be in New Zealand in April, the adventure capital of the world, but supposedly I can't do anything because I'm 5 months pregnant. I can't hike (was planning on doing the tongariro crossing...
I used to use a liquid hydrocarbon-fuel stove for backpacking, but I hated it, one of the main reasons being that the stove and/or fuel bottle were always leaking and stinking up my car and pack. M...
I broke my friend's ATC, and am trying to find a replacement, but I don't quite know what to look for. It was a somewhat unique unit, at least among those I've seen; it was a standard "basket" ATC...
So my toddler just barely fits the smallest child's harness on the market, which of course means she's big enough to go climbing and rappelling with daddy ;) I've been playing around with differe...
I am moving to Boulder, CO for my PhD and am interested in doing a lot of hiking on the weekends. To get to trailheads near Boulder and Rocky Mountain NP, all year around, do I need: High clearan...
I recently gave a belay from above to a group of five people who were all doing the same single-pitch climb and then being lowered off. (In this case the reason for belaying from above was that the...
When on slightly peaty ground, (i.e loamy forest rather than very peaty heath) is there any possible safe way to light and tend a small fire? I'd envisaged scraping away the top soil, dousing below...
What are the fundamental principles of leaving no trace in the backcountry?
Say you're camping in the backcountry where there aren't any developed campsites or fire rings. What methods are there for building a camp fire that will leave absolutely no trace afterwards?
Does a tent need any special care after camping on or near ocean beaches? I know that salt can corrode metal (e.g. metal in the poles, stakes, zippers, etc.) and sand can mechanically abrade many p...
How can I prevent (re-)infecting myself from my barefoot shoes? The obvious answer would be not to wear them while I am infected, but taken that aside, are there possibilities to clean/disinfect th...
Is it safe to burn any kind of wood as campfire if you are going to be cooking on it directly? Like broiling a steak on a grill over the fire where the smoke and the flames will touch the meat. Can...
It seems that all campfire cooking (grilling meat/veggies, not boiling water) can be done by building a decent fire, wrapping meat/veggies/potatoes in a aluminum foil, setting it next to the fire a...
According to my jacket instructions, it performs best when clean (gore-tex pores need to be clean from sweat, skin oils, and whatever else from the outside). Also, they instruct to tumble-dry the g...
We are a reasonably athletic couple who enjoy hiking and being outdoors. We will be in Austria for a wedding in August so we decided to make a week of it, stay in a couple of towns, but also do a c...
I put some used Superfeet insoles in my new Danners and they slipped just a little on the downhill part of a hike (1/4in to 1/2in) but they're very prominent insoles. Is this a huge problem as far ...
I normally use cheap, lightweight water bottles to carry my water when I'm hiking. However, sometimes I'm with people who use bladders such as a CamelBak, and I offer to go and fill water bottles, ...
I've been looking at big wall harnesses and I've been noticing that a lot of them come with two belay loops: I know that it isn't there as a back up. What's the advantage of having two belay ...
My current harness has these single-piece buckles: (source: http://www.mountaineeringmethodology.com/harness/) It might be due for replacement in one or two years, and I really like these buckle...
I'm training currently for a long distance walk (the welsh 15 peaks in 24 hours) and I'm doing some long days (12 hours plus). I'm having some real trouble though with quite painful chafing in my (...
