Author: DaveC
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Dear Governor Bullock
I received a letter from the National Wildlife Federation recently, encouraging me to write a letter to our Governor, Steve Bullock. He can be reached at PO Box 200801 Helena, MT 59620. If you’re interested in wild bison, you might wish to send him a letter. Montana is nearing the final stages of developing a…
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A ski tour
Touring is a word which, as applied to skiing, has ceased to have much meaning. Everything from a 14 day traverse to an afternoon skinning off the lifts is touring. One, this is silly. Two, it reinforces groomed activities as skiing’s default. I prefer to restrict touring to when I’m actually going somewhere, when the…
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Review the review: OGL on Headlamps
I may have given them some shit recently, but a few weeks ago Outdoor Gear Lab atoned for any past sins and then some, with an outstanding headlamp review. I can’t think of anything they left unexamined. Breadth (37 lamps) and depth (beam patterns, real world run times) are present. Basic theory (why have a…
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Recent writings
I’ve had a few things published lately. An article about the psychological side of remoteness over at the Gossamer Gear blog, and a review of trail gaiters at Toe Salad. You might find them interesting.
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The 2014 Whitefish Whiteout
Friday night I was nervous. Incredulous, I was, but it was unmistakable; I was worried about a 150 minute race the next day. In 2011 I fought to finish the Whitefish Whiteout, doing some of the hardest skiing I’d ever done. The next year I DNF’d, with not enough skiing under my belt to manage…
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Pack materials rundown
I gave in to a somewhat unreasonable obsession with building packs a few years ago, embracing the learning process it provides and admitting that nothing will be perfect and that eventually, anything will go back under the knife to be rebuilt or just scrapped for parts. This lack of attachment helps, I like to think,…
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Seek Outside Big Sibling stove review
I am not going to discuss the theory and applicability of a backpackable wood stove here. For that, go elsewhere. If you are interested in the lightest and most compact such stove currently available, read on. The Big Sibling is the lightest wood stove on the market because it dispenses with a lot of what…
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Wind powered
Many Glacier is shaped by the wind. On even the harshest days during the kind six months of the year, you only see the obliquest angle of this. In winter, it’s full bore: wind sucked down off the continental divide down three gaping drainages and blasted out onto the lakes of the main valley. M…
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Sperry in Winter
This one goes out to my mom, who had the presence of mind to snag the last opening at Sperry Chalet for the coming summer. The chalet is one of two left standing in the Glacier backcountry. Positioned up on a bench at the head of long valley, the views could not be better. The…
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Landscape Trauma
A few days ago I read a nauseating article over at Irunfar. Nauseating in that too many of the commenters are divorced from the way in which our livelihood is intertwined with the land, in ways which should usually cause a considerable amount of dis-ease. The question of whether animal protein is a necessary…
Bedrock & Paradox 
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