Posts by Fred the Magic Wonder Dog
I spend a lot of time in the snowy wet Sierra's and the only way I know to have a dry pair of mittens at the end of the day is to have two pairs of mittens. Goretex et al can help, but only if the...
I have had the best results "waterproofing" gloves using Snow Seal which is a wax like product. Putting the gloves in the dryer for a few minutes before you apply the wax seems to help in getting g...
The American Alpine Club does provide some rescue insurance as part of its membership. It's the only group that I know of that does. As I recall it's fairly limited. In the United States, rescue ...
The reality is that if there is a trail, there will be human waste improperly deposited near that trail. Recent heavy rain will wash this waste into the stream. Also, stream beds are where gravity ...
My 2 Cents: Winter camping requires two pads, one inflatable and one foam. The reason for this is that not having any pad at all looses a lot of heat into the ground if you are camping on snow. E...
Shoelaces... At least according to James Bond. https://youtu.be/8FDX6_BSas8
Something I've done in the Sierras where it can get quite hot at lower elevations during the day is to use the "siesta" method. Get up early and hike until about noon. Wait out the hot hours of t...
The altitude sickness sounds like the most likely explanation to me. However, one other factor is that snow reflects light. On a sunny day in the right circumstances, a snow slope can act as a gi...
There are two considerations ( if you don't include cost ). Breaking Strength The rule of thumb for rigging is that the breaking strength of the rope should be roughly 15x the static load. That...
I think this is one of the biggest myths in outdoor gear. No insulation is "warm even when wet", the real difference is whether it's life threatening or just really unpleasant when wet. The usefu...
I have mostly commonly heard those two terms used together in skiing. Frontcountry is lift served skiing inside the resort boundaries verses backcountry skiing where you ski up the hill first befor...
The minute you have any doubt about it. There really is no other way to answer this question. There are so many different devices with different levels of mechanical complexity and different use ...
These are just my personal rules of thumb for WB gear care. It goes in the drier after every trip. If there is dirt on it, it gets rinsed first, but not washed. If it looks dirty after it comes...
Personally, I can easily see how this unintended loading can happen. Second gets to a tricky part, asks leader for beta, leader moves over to get a better view of second. This question is an ex...
I've hiked all over the USA and the general rule is that on public land, you can hike anywhere you want, unless there are specific rules for a given sensitive area. Generally these rules are poste...
Goretex does two things well. It's a very light completely windproof layer. Properly cared for it's waterproof. There are many places it's used where it's completely inappropriate and just ad...
TL;DR - It will help, but it's no magic bullet. Spray on DWR like nikwax or granger's will help the water bead up for a while when applied to knit fabrics. But the garment will still wet out with...
I have the Gerrig system and for me the primary advantage is the ability to spray water. In really hot weather sometimes the most effective use of water is to spray it on you, rather than drink it....
All these are well and good, but "No training plan survives contact with real life". Doing something vaguely aerobic that you enjoy doing for several hours at a stretch one or two times a week is...
6 of one, half dozen of another. A lot comes down to how easy it is to hike in the ski boots you are using. The problem with hiking is that it only takes a short stretch of unpacked trail to lose...
These are generally known as glacier glasses. They are rated as Category 4 on the CE scale and you aren't supposed to drive while wearing them. Sunglasses in Category 4 only transmit 4-8% of avai...
Have you ever done any weight training? This kind of "delayed onset muscle soreness" is very common for people beginning a weight training program. This wikipedia page attempts to explain the mec...
If you can only run 2x a week and only have limited time, then running 10k as fast as you can is a reasonable training plan. However, you will rapidly reach a plateaux and see no improvement in res...
There are actual standards for this. If you are going somewhere where snow blindness is a real possibility, you should have sunglasses that meet the standard. The most common standard used in outdo...
The accepted answer has lot's of useful info, but misses the mark. The problem is that the term backcountry is so overloaded, it can mean anything from a simple tromp through the woods to the most ...
