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Posts by Van‭

13 posts
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Q&A Why are zip-in (fleece + hardshell) jackets so rare?

I used to work at Eastern Mountain Sports (a New-England, USA, based chain of outdoor goods). Granted, I haven't worked there in over 15 years, but I know what you are talking about. It was very ...

posted 5y ago by Van‭

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Q&A Lush meadows December time

You may have some luck in Florida. The Florida Wildflower Foundation list some things still in bloom. I'd say poke around on their site; especially the links to South Florida parks. It you're go...

posted 5y ago by Van‭

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Q&A How to shorten alpine slings into an alpine quickdraw?

If you want to make them even more compact (especially for longer slings), you can hold onto the biners, and twist one a couple of times, then continue twisting in the same direction and clip one b...

posted 5y ago by Van‭

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Q&A What gear should I carry along for winter emergencies?

Second Edit: Thanks for all the upvotes. I just want to clarify one thing: I don't think I've done a good job in answering the OP's question. I think cr0's answer is much better for winter hikin...

posted 5y ago by Van‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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Q&A Train climbing with additional weight?

Does it make sense to train rock climbing wearying a weight vest... ? To expand a bit on what Jan said: it depends on why you're training. Back when I was a solid gym rat, some of my climbing...

posted 5y ago by Van‭

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Q&A What is an efficient and effective way to test an emergency day-hike kit?

Questions like these two have made me wonder about my own answer in the first linked question. I have to admit, I haven't 'tested' the kits I put together. I have some wilderness survival trainin...

4 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by Van‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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Q&A Best practices for physical and inventory management of a ready pack/bug out bag

Maybe this is an obvious thing, but does your BOB have to be completely prepacked? (Or even, is it?) I.e. do you expect to need to grab this bag and have less than 60? 30? 10? seconds to get out ...

posted 5y ago by Van‭

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Q&A How do I slow down while snowboarding?

Like Jon Custer said, move your board so it's level (board not not pointing downhill) and then lean into the slope. I.e. you want someone downhill of you to be able to see some of the bottom of th...

posted 5y ago by Van‭

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Q&A how shelf stable is pocket (portable) soup?

This video for Portable Soup (aka Pocket Soup) from James Townsend popped up in my feed. If you don't know (like I hadn't until I saw the video) Pocket Soup is basically a shelf-stable ultra-reduc...

0 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by Van‭

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Q&A Should I do exercises for finger strength as an intermediate, heavy climber?

My answer is going to be: depends. When I started climbing, I was in a similar height / weight bracket as you are. However, my finger strength was fairly decent for a novice. I did install and u...

posted 5y ago by Van‭

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Q&A Can or should you season titanium cookware?

I have a set of titanium cookware that I use for backpacking. It's a small set for one to two people and consists of two little pots and one cover/frying pan. Mostly, this set gets used for boili...

1 answer  ·  posted 5y ago by Van‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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Q&A How much vegetation is represented by the green on USGS 7.5 minute topo maps?

According to this USGS pamphlet (last page, bottom right), solid green is "Forest". This link gives us The mesomorphic tree canopy is typically >10% cover and often exceeds 5 m in height ...

posted 5y ago by Van‭

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Q&A Most practical knots for a bend (tying two ropes together) while pulling to create tension?

(Maybe not a great answer, but too long for a comment.) I guess this would all depend on how much tension we're talking and how much extra line you'll have (and whether you have another set of han...

posted 4y ago by Van‭

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