Posts by Pepi
Do hang the food (or use a bear can, etc.) In my experience, wild animals are not deterred by dogs very much. A bear that lives close to humans might even be attracted to dogs: dogs frequently have...
BTDT I think, but I don't remember ever having a 'problem'. As a guy who camps and also gets to use squatty potties once in a while, here's my advice: First, ditch the shorts/pants it'll be much m...
I haven't been to Nepal but I currently live in Sichuan, near another edge of the Tibetan plateau. So here's my answer: Nepal, and everything near it, is in the monsoon climate- rainy in the summe...
Going along the "homebrew supply" route, peracetic acid AKA PAA/peroxyacetic acid is a reasonably safe and very effective sanitizer. It's used in hospitals and by veterinarians, as well as in the b...
For AT/Randonee on mountains, you'll need to go up steep (~30°) slopes on skins. You'll need a skin will cover nearly the whole ski base, and that won't slide easily at all (I think my skins requir...
It's not necessary, but neither is using two non-lockers really. People usually use two carabiners because they will bend the rope less sharply, reducing friction when loaded (also reducing wear o...
Propylene glycol is allowed in alcoholic beverages up to 5%, and this would get you to about 29°F. You could probably throw in a little sugar, salt and good old ethanol to kick it down further. Re...
Leather is awesome for standing up to sparks. Just ask a welder. And some people think it's good for going outdoors too.* *But not me.
Addition to ShemSeger's answer, from way back in my mind: A concave spot in the ice is stronger than a convex spot, given equal ice quality. The ice should be deeper than the screw is long, so th...
I've found wearing them to be very effective. Just put them on in the morning and do whatever you were going to do. I've put on hiking boots that were soaked from wet grass, or soaked & frozen ...
Short answer: stay near the edges of a big concave slope, near trees or rocks that could stabilized the snow pack, or at least on a convex ridge where the snow should be less deep. Long answer: th...
If you've missed by only a little bit, then you should be able to rap down anyway. Removing the knots, plus the rope stretch, will add a some length. But it would be best to have a plan B in case y...
Climbers have traditionally used redundancy for metal objects rather than ropes/slings/etc. because a piece of metal can fail completely, and instantly, from one crack. This is the same reason th...
Layers of fleece plus a very wind resistant outer shell. Anything else (Carhartt type clothes, leather, Mongolian reindeer skins...) will be heavy as heck. Full face coverage would be smart, but it...
Without some kind of ground anchor, you'll have to adapt your belay setup. First of all, the belayer doesn't have much choice about where to stand. Stand as close as you can to the first clipped d...
This isn't a scientific evidence based answer, but I think that line should not be changing much, as it should have more to do with snow cover than temperature. This article on the history of sno...
I'm pretty sure bears can distinguish fresh food from year old residues. Otherwise nothing you own could ever go into bear country. Our clothes, cell phones, wallets etc have all been to so many mo...
Liam hinted at the method that was popular in the US while back, and probably still is: follow an experienced climber and clean their gear. You'll get to see actual placements & find out how ha...
Take the batteries out and use them to start fires. You won't even need to encode your lat/lon in smoke signals, that feature is built in. follow up (edited again - note that the question does n...
Avoiding the word 'ethical', I'll ask: Is it good for the forest to stop all fires, and let fuel accumulate? In North America this has led to many very destructive fires that kill every tree in t...
Another benefit of a close knot is less rope movement at the tie in. This is the rare case of nylon-to-nylon contact in the safety chain, abrasion will happen with heavy use. Also, +1 for getting ...
The problem probably won't happen again, assuming you tighten down the kayak with reasonable force. The glass in most cars is (was originally) installed with some flexible material around the edg...
It might be overkill, but welding shops sell (at least) up to #5 shades as lightweight plastic glasses. Kinda ugly and very green, but the way darker than sun glasses. And you can still see the gro...
Been there, done that, can't remember why it happened.. It will go away in a few days. Eating few apples, or maybe some dry, high-fiber crackers will probably help.
Most ski gloves will have a waterproof/breathable layer (Gore-Tex or something similar, they should be labelled to say what it is). In my experience new gloves also seem to have a water repellant o...
