Posts by Chris Mendez
I have noticed a slow but steady rise in the number of campers using roof-top tents like these and those, among many others. What are the advantages and disadvantages of these over conventional...
I regularly take my two medium-sized dogs car camping and keep them inside the tent with me. I initially took them on a practice trip to a nearby park and let them sleep in the tent with me. The do...
I've recently learned about tree tents such as Tentsile and while they certainly look interesting and fun, they seem to combine the drawbacks of hammocks (heat loss due to wind and need for trees) ...
What are the advantages/disadvantages and typical use cases for different sizes of locking carabiners? For example, a Black Diamond RockLock Screwgate vs a Mini Pearabiner Screwgate (or the differ...
I have climbed indoors and outdoors for several years, both top rope and sport, and I somewhat recently took an outdoor trad climbing class. In the class, we placed protection while on top rope and...
Having watched several Bear Grylls shows, I was curious if anyone has any practical uses for a "commando rappel", as he calls it, or an "Australian rappel". It seems like they're only used for ente...
Rock climbing and canyoning/canyoneering are very different. However, it seems like the two disciplines would also have significant overlap in skills and gear-- knots, rappel techniques, harness, r...
Whether you run out of rope or just can't complete the route, you have to bail as safely as possible. As soon as your belayer reaches the rope's middle mark, he should double check that there's a ...
According to Backpacker, and the National Park Service, peeing attracts some large predators because animals like the salty taste: ...urinate well away from camp on rock, sandy areas, or duff. ...
If I'm out on the rock and I come across a pair of hangers, how can I tell the difference between rap hangers (the kind you can directly thread rope through to rappel) and regular hangers (the kind...
Everyone knows redundancy is chief when building climbing anchors. However, I have seen several types of anchors that don't appear to be fully redundant due to a single ring providing the master po...
While out fishing on a popular gulf coast pier, I've seen some people pull in fish left and right using only a crumpled soda can as a lure tied to a hook and line. Meanwhile, I was using normal bai...
It depends on the location and temperature of the water. Generally, speckled trout can be found in shallow bays and estuaries near grass flats and oyster beds. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department ...
Sometimes when descending with a GriGri, I get the urge to pull hard and zip down the line. Safe reasoning returns and I continue descending with a safe, steady pace. However, I would like to know ...
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