Posts by Charlie Brumbaugh
Say you are in the middle of a desert where there is lots of sunshine, and you are trying to signal for help with a signal mirror. Either in the distance there is a person, or there is an airplane...
It could just be a difference between how the companies calculate it. From an article about kayak weight capacity, There's no industry standard for determining the maximum weight capacity of a...
If a climber on top rope, takes a fall, there isn't much force at all compared with the forces that are generated when a lead climber falls. That force has the potential to pull the belayer into so...
The tips that I can think of are, Keep your backpack organized and place things into the same pockets each time. Try to avoid pulling everything out of your backpack if you don't have to. If you ...
When car camping, I use a solar charger to charge my electronics. Sometimes I can place it outside, and other times I will stick it on the dash to charge things. I can tell that putting it on the ...
The simple solution is to take the rope (both strands if rappelling on a doubled rope) below the device and wrap the several times around your upper leg and hold your upper leg perpendicular to th...
Sometimes people rappel without a backup prussik, such as when canyoning and sometimes an auto block needs to be adjusted. In either of these situations, is there a way to stop yourself in the midd...
Here is what I don't like about your plan, the less experienced people will be tying themselves in without you present and the last person won't have a second pair of eyeballs to double check that ...
I have seen a lot of trail signs and one thing I noticed is that sometimes they have the distance from one point to another like, Phelps Lake 4 miles Death Canyon Shelf 8 miles and somet...
Sometimes climbers/mountaineers will say that they are getting an alpine start. What does this mean and why would they want to do this?
One of the arguments made against PLBs is that people will use them in non-emergencies and put rescuers in unnecessary peril. This definitely does happen from time to time as in this case in the G...
There are foam sleeping pads with a reflective surface on one side like this one with instructions to use the reflective side for maximum warmth. I don't doubt that it is warmer, but I do wond...
Currently bicycles are prohibited in federal wilderness areas in the United States. However there is a bill in the House of Representatives that would remove the prohibition. As one can imagine, t...
There are a couple of differences. Visibility is reduced during the night which makes it harder to see landmarks or where you are in relation to them. This also makes it much harder to measure yo...
I would say that the alternatives in the the answers to the linked question would be a better idea, but if you had to use a flare then there are a couple of things that could lessen but not elimina...
In increasing order of complexity and price you have, Personal Locator Beacons Personal locator beacons are high-powered (typically, 5 watts) devices designed primarily to send out a personal...
The warning sign of balling up is that your boots will be noticeably heavier due to the snow sticking to them. Once that happens your options include Lift up one boot at a time and knock the sid...
It looks like the gear you need is what is called a "sit ski" Individuals that are unable to stand will ski using a “sit ski,” which comes in a variety of sizes from wide, stable skis to narrow...
If you had a climbing rope anchored above you on either a sheer cliff or a really steep incline, what is the minimum amount of gear that a person would need to ascend the rope without assistance fr...
It looks like because you are in the UK, there is a power restriction, which means that you can either go high velocity, lightweight pellet or a low velocity heavy pellet. If that restriction wasn'...
It looks like for mil spec (military specification) 550 parachute cord, The paracord sheath is rated at about 300-pounds 14 inner strings, each of which has a rating of about 17.5 pounds ...
550 Parachute cord is a very small kermantle rope (has a core and an external sheath) as you can see in this image. The minimum breaking strength of the cord is 550 pounds, hence the name. It i...
The Textbook/Bible of Mountaineering: The standard book is Mountaineering: The Freedom of the Hills. That book covers all of the basics for rock climbing and a lot more topics. From the chapter ...
Basically, it is using compass headings and distance traveled to navigate to points without intermediate known locations. For instance if you were to start from camp and travel directly east for 4...
There is a technique for navigation known as dead reckoning, what is this technique exactly and when would it be useful?
