Activity for Steed‭

Type	On...	Excerpt	Status	Date
Edit	Post #41009	Initial revision	—	about 4 years ago
Answer	—	A: Why is it unsafe to handle metallic equipment with bare hand at higher altitude? Gloves protect your hands from a couple of hazards: Cold (cold air, cold metal, cold rock/ice). Rain and snow, which make it even colder Sunburns Scratches and wounds The latter is a very serious reason. With gloves off, if you stumble and fall on rocks hands first, you can easily get massive scr... (more)	—	almost 8 years ago
Answer	—	A: How can I survive multiple days in cold environment? One point besides being warm (which is a really tough task by itself), is having something to drink - it's not easy in below-freezing temperatures. You'd want to have a reliable stove or you'll be forced to share your body heat with this show filled bottle. Another option is using sun light to melt s... (more)	—	about 9 years ago
Answer	—	A: What are creative uses for retired carabiners? Give them to those who need them. First of all, novice students in your gym or mountaineering school will be happy to use a bit heavier/older gear, but ease the burden of buying everything for their first trip. Just make sure that carabiners are safe, because the newbies can't tell themselves. The... (more)	—	almost 10 years ago
Answer	—	A: How to preserve cheese while backpacking? Avoid Putting cheese in plastic bags. Ever. Mold guaranteed. The cheese should receive enough air and shouldn't get wet. Cutting a big piece into smaller pieces (for easier service, you know). First, you break the wax or vacuum bag, second, now you have much more surface and much more to cut if mol... (more)	—	almost 10 years ago
Answer	—	A: How to carry water in freezing temperatures? Why exactly do you need to carry frozen water? If the temperature is about 0 C, the water will not freeze for a long time anyway. If it is way below 0 C, than you are probably having snow nearby, which you can perfectly use for cooking. You can melt snow during your breakfast, lunch and dinner. I... (more)	—	about 10 years ago
Answer	—	A: What do I do if I lose my belay plate? This topic will be incomplete without mentioning the good old dulfersitz method used by our fathers when there were no belay plates and no carabiners. This method doesn't require any equipment other than the rope itself. And, well, sturdy clothes. The method is to pass the rope around your body in ... (more)	—	about 10 years ago
Answer	—	A: What do I do if I lose my belay plate? Curiouser and curiouser! /Alice in Wonderland/ DISCLAIMER: this is definitely not a proven advice from the book and may be suitable only for experienced climbers, who do it on their own risk! Wonder what to do if you have no spare carabiners for the carabiner brake and need to descend many rope... (more)	—	about 10 years ago
Answer	—	A: Trekking poles: Collapsed or fixed? I don't know of what quality are the poles which you are using, but it's a fact that the better the quality, the better the joints. It's one of the most important components of the price. For me, a good pair of poles from BlackDiamond behave pretty well under my 90 kg weight with a 30 kg backpack, w... (more)	—	about 10 years ago
Answer	—	A: Roping together on an icy path? As other posters said, roping together is not a good idea, at least if you are not an experienced mountaineer. Now on how you can do your trip in safety. When walking on ice and frozen dirt, don't rely on self-arrest. You can self arrest on the steep (>5-10 degrees) ice only by hitting it hard wit... (more)	—	about 10 years ago
Answer	—	A: Is it really that unsafe to touch a stranger's wound? My wife is a doctor and she always wears gloves when dealing with wounds, even with friends outside of clinic. But when I ask her if I should wear gloves, she says it's not necessary. The reason is that the probability to catch a disease in, well, developed contries is quite small, so if you do it ... (more)	—	over 10 years ago
Answer	—	A: Carry a larger water bottle or a smaller water bottle for backpacking? Use common plastic bottles from sparkling beverages. They are lightweight. When they are empty, they can be smashed thin and take almost no space (you can do the same which a half full bottle, pushing out all the air). When you need them again, you inflate them back with water. So you can have a good... (more)	—	over 10 years ago
Answer	—	A: To stuff or not to stuff (the rain-fly of a tent) LBell has neatly summarized, that folding leads to smaller pack and stuffing is just faster. I'd like to add some considerations here (being an adept of stuffing). Sometimes you have to fold (and carefully!) because of a tight bag supplied with your tent or tarp. The bag will be too small to stuff y... (more)	—	over 10 years ago
Answer	—	A: At what point do I need snow goggles or glacier glasses when hiking? In Europe your will be hiking on altitudes less than 5000 m, and on these altitudes you can go with sunglasses without heavy specialized equipement. However not any piece of sunglasses will do. First, they have to be either made of glass (which stops UV rays) or special UV-proof plastic. Not every... (more)	—	over 10 years ago
Answer	—	A: Are there 1-person 4-season tents? There is at least one option from Ferrino, but I am sure there are more from "mountain" brands. Maybe you should stop looking for "4 season" and start looking for extreme/mountaineering/alpinism solutions, because high mountain expeditions usually imply low temperatures and high winds. But make sure ... (more)	—	almost 11 years ago
Answer	—	A: What range should I expect for a reasonable set of walkie-talkies / two-way radio? The range mostly depends on the power of your radio. 500 mW is OK, 5 W is much better. You should study what frequency ranges and what maximum power are allowed in your country for public, and go for the max power. Ranges may include FRS, GMRS, LPD, PMR. E.g. in Russia FRS is prohibited and LPD is al... (more)	—	almost 11 years ago
Answer	—	A: Why do many climbers appear to not trust their belay loops? I can agree with DavidR - it's the heritage of "old school". Some (like, 10) years ago, materials and sewing technologies were less perfect. My first harness had a much less durable belay loop, than my current one: it was thinner and made of less "dynamic" material than a rope. That is why there was... (more)	—	almost 11 years ago
Answer	—	A: Whats the best way to abseil off a ledge with the anchor at foot level? I was always using and teaching the method, which Ben Crowell described very well in another answer, and it was standard in our club for a long time. However, over time it showed some important disadvantages. First, it doesn't work reliably on slippery surface. When you "sit down", the force applied... (more)	—	almost 11 years ago
Answer	—	A: What are the properties I should look for in running shoes? Make sure the problem is in the shoes first. First, if you run on asphalt, try running on dirt trails. They are softer and provide much less shock to your joints. Second, make sure your running technic is correct. I would recommend the book from a world champion Gordon Pirie, which is very understa... (more)	—	almost 11 years ago
Answer	—	A: Why can't a Figure-of-8 descender be used for SRT? First, if you remove the descender from the harness, you can accidently drop it down (this really happens sometimes). Second, you have one more connection, which you need to control. This can increase the risk, if you are tired and/or do a lot of descents in a row. Third, and the most important, fi... (more)	—	almost 11 years ago
Answer	—	A: What are the minimum set of shoes required for hiking outdoors You can do most one-day trails with a pair of sneakers. It's much more comfortable, than any type of "hiking boots". And also much lighter (you spend less energy lifting it up many thousand times a day), and more blister-proof. IMO, there are three situations, when you need something heavier: Hard... (more)	—	almost 11 years ago
Answer	—	A: Light-weight emergency overnight-gear The most obvious thing is an emergency blanket. It will add a lot of extra insulation per gram. It'a good to have one in you bag on any trip. However, a mere blanket is definitely not enough for all seasons, elevations and weather conditions. When planning at home, you should ask yourself a question... (more)	—	almost 11 years ago
Answer	—	A: Identifying named peaks from the summit of a north-american peak Identifying peaks using a topo map may be difficult, because you need to reconstruct the 3D landscape in your head and decide which mountains are hidden behind others. So you can fly to the top of your mountain in Google Earth and adjust the tilt to see the panoramic view. This way you get a view, w... (more)	—	almost 11 years ago
Answer	—	A: Tips for outdoor during the dark winter? "How can I still enjoy outdoor life when daylight lasts only a few hours?" There is a plenty of ways: orienteering (on skis/snowshoes), skiing and multi-day ski trips, training in emergency/rescue operations. A certain change of mindset is required to keep outdoor activity an night, because it prov... (more)	—	about 11 years ago
Answer	—	A: What is scientific relation between body weight and backpack weight in mountain climbing? Though there is no scientific answer, you can make use of some experience-based guidelines. They vary much and none is "true". There are some of our local considerations: Our club's empirical threshold is 30% of you body weight. Which simply means, that if your pack is heavier than that and you don... (more)	—	about 11 years ago
Answer	—	A: How to warm up your cold toes and fingers? I'm answering my own question to share some knowledge. First, cold toes/fingers is serious. You start feeling discomfort, then a little pain, then you stop feeling them and forget about them, then you get them amputated. So you should constantly check if you can still feel toes and fingers, and if n... (more)	—	about 11 years ago
Question	—	How to warm up your cold toes and fingers? In winter your hand and feet (especially toes and fingers) may get painfully cold or you may even stop feeling them. How can you warm them up? This usually happens, when it's below 0°С or when it's slightly above 0°С and your hands/feet are wet. This can happen if you are not properly dressed/booted... (more)	—	about 11 years ago
Answer	—	A: What do you do if the fire does get "out of control"? In addition to great strategy advice by Kate Gregory and berry120, there are some technical points. Take a deep breath If there is no immediate health/life risk, take a deep breath and think a little. 1-5 minutes of planning beforehead will help you do important things first, and avoid doing unnece... (more)	—	about 11 years ago
Answer	—	A: What to do about slippery plastic soles of cross country ski boots Some non-tested ideas: Put rubbers/galoshas (or any other huge size boots) on your ski boots. Remove the soles of your previous ski boots (or any other of your old boots with good grip) and glue them to a spare pair of NNN bindings. Click off your skis, click on your anti slip soles. Use the method... (more)	—	about 11 years ago
Answer	—	A: What is a good material to patch holes in backpack? I believe that the best material is the same as you backpack is made of, though you may want something tougher if you are planning more scrambling over granite boulders. There is a plenty of Cordura varieties which will meet your requirements. Make sure to choose waterproof Cordura (with a waterproo... (more)	—	over 11 years ago
Answer	—	A: Apart from down, is there any outdoor material that should not be stored stuffed? If you'd broaden "down" and "wet tents" categories to "all insulators" and "all wet items", it'll cover pretty everything, I think. Also a membrane jacket might stick to itself (coalesce) and may get damaged when you unstick it (membrane layer may peel of). One could think about rubber, which take... (more)	—	over 11 years ago
Answer	—	A: What is the true risk of suffocation from different combustion sources in a tent? (CO2, CO) In addition to Olin Lathrop's great answer. What is the relative CO and CO2 output of various products? CO output depends on specific conditions: The type/model of the stove The quality of the fuel The supply of oxygen in the air to support combustion (it should be a problem in a crowded tent)... (more)	—	over 11 years ago
Answer	—	A: What can I use to label my medicine tubes? I use tape medical plaster for labeling tubes: wrap your tube in it and then write over using a pen or permament marker. The plaster just makes the surface less smooth and the writing can't be rubbed of that easily. It's not waterproof, though. The other idea which has just occured to me is to use s... (more)	—	over 11 years ago
Answer	—	A: How efficient is the Altai skis "the Hok"? If I get it right, they are using the idea of hunters, who attached a deer skin (fur outside) to the ski (e.g. like this). It's called "камус" and "Steigfell", and I don't know an English word for it. Just like you can pet your cat in one direction and can't do it in th... (more)	—	over 11 years ago
Answer	—	A: Climbing Insurance Try Atlas travel insurance from HCC MIS: http://www.hccmis.com/ It only excludes professional sports and competitions (if not speaking of death payments). All non-professional sport is included in standard price. Never had any accidents with it, though. (more)	—	over 11 years ago
Answer	—	A: What shoes keep me warm in the cold? Overshoes When the boots' warmth is not enough, you can use overshoes. Basically, it's nothing more than a sack made of cloth , which you put over your boot and fasten somehow: This helps you in two ways: It creates an air pocket around your boot, reducing heat loss. The snow now melts not on yo... (more)	—	over 11 years ago
Answer	—	A: Is it warmer to sleep naked in a sleeping bag? There is more than one reason, which makes you feel warmer sleeping with less clothes (even if it's perfectly dry): It's the same deal as with mittens, which are warmer than gloves. When you wear a lot of clothes, there is additional separation between the parts of your body and more exposed surfac... (more)	—	over 11 years ago
Answer	—	A: How to be safe on lake and river ice and what should I do when I fall through? When it's possible you will be crossing ice on your route, there is a couple of stages: Planning at home First of all, you should explore the area of your trip. The question is are the water sources frozen and how thick is the ice Small lakes in the forest, where there is no winds and no water fl... (more)	—	over 11 years ago
Answer	—	A: Near-realtime satellite snow-cover imagery via easy web-interface MODIS data is accessible as JPEG images. Sometimes it's still not easy to find an exact point on the image, but at least you don't have to bother with HDF. If you can't find today's images for a specific region, you can look back in time. We use this service to check ice coverage on big lakes when ... (more)	—	over 11 years ago
Answer	—	A: How do you know if smaller brands of climbing equipment are safe? The problem is you can't test that something is safe with your bare eye (e.g. you can't apply 2.2kN to the carabiner in the store, organize a fall, etc..). So you have 2 things to rely on: Certificates (UIAA, CE and/or specific to your country) Other people's experience The second option is not s... (more)	—	over 11 years ago
Answer	—	A: Can I heat a shelter with fire? To avoid starting fire inside your shelter, you can do it outside and use a screen (sorry for my drawing): This is view from aside. On the upper picture there is a widely used method for sleeping under a screen (a piece of fabric). Screen is set above your sleeping place at 45 degrees and the hea... (more)	—	over 11 years ago