Posts by zoul
I would love to spend a few winter nights with my friends in a winterraum (winter room) in the Alps; officially, with the owner’s permission. Are all the winterraums meant for emergency only, or ar...
We have recently hiked in Slovakian mountains where bears live. I’m not too concerned about the bears during the day, as we make enough noise to avoid an encounter. But I am not sure about sleeping...
The hardshell/softshell distinction doesn’t mean pretty much anything today. It used to be that hardshell was completely waterproof and windproof, implying limited breathability, and softshell was ...
I usually take just a bar of plain soap. It’s universal, can be used to wash hands or hair, shave, or wash the clothes. And plain soap is friendly to the environment. I guess that a special desinfe...
People who work with children are usually very happy to take any old ropes for non-climbing purposes (marking playing fields, tug of war, anything really). Even an old rope totally unfit for climbi...
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 ...
All self-inflating mats I have seen are self-inflating in the sense that you’re supposed to inflate them yourself. [That is, the mat self-inflates a bit, but mostly you have to breathe the air in.]...
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...
There’s a special “winter” gas mix available for gas stoves. How is it different from the usual propane/butane mix and why does it work better in low temperatures? (Does it work better in lower tem...
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...
I would buy a headlamp, it’s so much more convenient to have your hands free and the light always pointing where you look. I would go for two/four AA bateries. My current headlamp uses three AAA’s...
The title really says it all, is it legal to swim in the lakes in the Austrian Alps?
I don't mean to use a tent, just a mat + a sleeping bag, or possibly a bivy sack if the weather is foul.
I have quite a lot of items with built-in magnets in my backpack, like a mobile phone, an iPod or headphones. How easy is it to destroy my compass by putting it too close to these items?
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...
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?
I like being out alone. Generally you have more time for introspection, for getting calm and enjoying what’s around you and inside of you. Of course there’s times when you have to deal with yourse...
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...
