Category: Backpacking
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Loving and hating the puffy
To begin with, there is the issue of terminology; “puffy” being a plain dumb word, but it is how we refer to synthetic or down fill jackets these days, so so be it. As with most lexicological nits this one is seemingly benign, but it does promulgate a one-dimensional view of insulated jackets, a problem…
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Packraft the Bob, this year
If you don’t live around here doing a packrafting trip in the Bob Marshall is a pain. Western isn’t close to very much, the regional airports tend to be expensive, there isn’t an easy way to get to the trailheads without a rental car, and even then the number of truly good loop routes is…
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Pack materials for 2018
This post and the follow-up a year later have remained among my most popular works, and with 2018 coming into focus they are at last worth updating. Not too much has changed in the world of backpack fabrics, but time has allowed for enough clarification that a few things are worth saying again. There are…
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Concerning pack weight
There remains some confusion about how to make a backpack lightweight, and yet still functional. The simplest and best way remains to raise your own bar; get better at packing, need fewer things, need lighter things, and so forth. But this can be a hard end to maintain, as I have recently been reminded, and…
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Renewing incompetence
Five or six years ago it really became clear that this whole backcountry thing was going to be my thing, one of those very few things in my life that I would be truly good at. Acute limits to my risk taking propensity and physiology had already limited how far I’d been able to progress…
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Black Diamond Mont Blanc gloves long term review
Much though I hate to admit it, you need gloves. I have good circulation and am well acquainted with just how cold I can get without it really being a problem, so I try to do without gloves as often as possible, but too often it is just too cold. Handwear comes with inherent dexterity…
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What makes a hardshell
To begin; I like the term hardshell far more than rain jacket, as it more fully encompasses the utility and meaning in question. Outdoor clothing is, or should be, part of a system, one that provides just enough protection from ambient conditions to keep you as warm as you want to be. Some clothing items…
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The year I grew up
It’s an inherently vain exercise, but if I had to pick a favorite moment of 2017 it would be late on the second day of my bike/packrafting trip along the Dirty Devil River. All the boat dragging, cold, and ambiguity had worn my mind to a jagged, dull edge. I made camp near the apex…
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Cabin essentials
Colorado is The Catcher in the Rye of western US states; there are many obvious and compelling reasons people like it, but that doesn’t prevent it from being total fucking bullshit. If you’re going to visit one of the forest service cabins of Montana there are a few things you should know. Out of the…
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2017 hunting in review
By the standards of past years I did not go hunting much in 2017, and in retrospect that proved the key to success. Scarcity fostered focus, both in picking how to use my time and in using my time well once I got there, which is why the three hunting trips further than 20 miles…
Bedrock & Paradox 
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