Posts by zoul
Bears don’t really hibernate, although they lower their activity during winter. Here’s one sample study of Black Bear winter behaviour in Sierra Nevada, California: Thirty-nine (62 %) bears wer...
Sounds like a myth to me. The only thing that could possibly come into play is the pressure inside your head. But in order to hold the pressure inside your head constant, you would have to plug you...
The main problem with any ratings is that the insulation degrades pretty quickly, at least the synthetic one. Down holds its insulation properties longer, but it’s not perfect either. So the only r...
One option is to take them with you into the sleeping bag, just as anything else that needs to keep from freezing (like gas or batteries). I feel like my sleeping bag already takes enough beating a...
The bowline knot is very safe if loaded correctly. This is the usual, safe way to load it: The chair foot is the body (sorry for not offering naked models), the part of the rope leading away fro...
The bowline knot (picture below, source) has a great reputation as a very safe knot. Is it really completely safe in all situations and loads, or are there use cases where it may fail?
Trying to stuff your gear into a plastic bag will only give you a lower bound on the pack size. As with many parameters, the backpack size in litres is more to compare different models, not to be t...
This doesn’t really answer the question, but it’s good to know that waiting for the mountain rescue team to dig you out of an avalanche is wrong, because there’s preciously little time left. About ...
Some ice axes are labeled as “B”, others as “T”. What’s the meaning of these letters and what are their practical implications?
Climbing and Mountaineering in Europe Pit Schubert: Sicherheit und Risiko in Fels und Eis (Safety and Danger on Rocks and Ice). This is essentially a huge catalog of all the mistakes you can m...
My Ventile jacket is getting a bit dirty. Is there anything special I need to know when washing it, or will a regular washing liquid and low temperature do?
The title really says it all, is it legal to swim in the lakes in the Austrian Alps?
Are there some numbers on how much vertical distance can people make in a day’s hike? I know that greatly depends on fitness and other factors, but I’d be happy with some statistical curve that wou...
One thing that should be obvious, but still is worth repeating: If you’re out alone, make sure you can get help when you need it. I recently went on a solo trip into the mountains in the winter and...
I don’t think that will work for heavy rain. The waterproofing coating will make the water slide away from the garment (this is the so-called lotus effect), but that’s just one part of keeping the ...
Recently I came across pour and store bags. They seem a bit similar to the bags for trekking freeze-dried meals like Travel lunch. That gave me the idea of preparing the meals myself beforehand and...
Water is also an option, especially if there are no leaves of desirable properties. Deeper puddles, streams, etc. (That you should think twice about consequences for other people goes without sayin...
As already stressed by others, the backpack has to be comfortable. If the back system does not fit you, other features won’t make a difference. But there are plenty of good back systems and therefo...
I’m not sure where this came from, but I can assure you that on some nights people are glad to put on whatever extra layer of clothes they find in the backpack! In other words, according to my exp...
Gore-Tex is a family of products and even DryQ isn’t a single fabric. Probably a better comparison would be between Gore-Tex Active Shell and DryQ. Both are a new generation of waterproof fabrics t...
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