Author: DaveC
-
The second chalet
The avalanches this winter were impressive. Having visited the other chalet back in January, it was high time to complete the pair before the snow melts. Granite and Sperry are justifiably popular destinations in summer, matching great architecture with fabulous, shocking location in a way we humans cannot resist. It’s cool to see them in…
-
Big
The tallest mountain, at center frame, is Jackson, in Glacier Park. Also seen here, and from a different angle, here. This week has been a fantastic week to live here. The clear weather has persisted, cold at night, warm during the day. The skiing has been perfect each afternoon. You do not take this weather…
-
Kokopelli Packrafts
Alpacka raft is about to have some competition, and it’s about damn time. Almost a year and a half ago I lamented the lack of direct competition in what was obviously the sweet spot in the packraft market. Over a year after they first popped up on the ‘net, it seems that Kokopelli Raft Company…
-
The Heart of the Continent
Looking east and south from the summit of the Big Mountain ski hill. Glacier and the Bob are visible in the left half, the Mission Mountains at far distant center, and Whitefish Lake at far right. Today was an exceptional day to live here. Below freezing in the morning, bluebird and fairly warm all day,…
-
Blame Major Powell
Four square miles may be considered as the minimum amount necessary for a pasturage farm, and a still greater amount is necesary for the larger part of the lands; that is, pasturage farms, to be of any practicable value, must be of at least 2560 acres, and in many districts they must be much larger.…
-
‘Lining for real folks
Friday evening I finished a BPL article on training for backpacking. The research for the article gave me ample cause to reflect on my laziness over the past few years. I returned from the Grand Canyon trip pretty worked over physically, which was to be expected. Aerobically I had plenty of juice to get things…
-
10 years a geek
10 years ago we were living in Moab. There was not a mountain bike in the house. Oddly enough, it was only after moving away that cycling became an interest, the gateway drug to the obsessive world of endurance athletics. (Sports is just not the right word.) In the fall of 2004 we moved back…
-
No bears
This weekend I headed over the continental divide to the Sun River, to go bear hunting. Why? I’ve never shot a bear, never butchered a bear, and never eaten bear. Maybe once I have, I never will again. I have a number of hunting ambitions later this year, for which I need some training up,…
-
The penultimate pack
Just like with beer or coffee, every one is the penultimate. I wanted to do a couple things with this one. First, experiment with 5.3 oz/yard hybrid cuben fiber. Second, fix the mistakes/things I didn’t like about this pack. To whit; a too-short torso length (you’d think I would know better), less than ideal shoulder…
-
Ex post facto
A different, unexpected racial argument has taken shape. Race, always the deepest and most volatile fault line in American history, has now become the primal grievance in our politics, the source of a narrative of persecution each side uses to make sense of the world. Liberals dwell in a world of paranoia of a white…
Bedrock & Paradox 
You must be logged in to post a comment.