Category: Racing
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Moonlight on Mount Ascension race report
The number of items on my lifetime outdoor to-do list is no longer especially long, viewed from a discipline perspective. In a few years I went far enough with mountain biking to know that continuing to progress would require many hours a week training, and involve a high probability of more concussions. I can go…
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2018 Bob Open unofficially official report
The 2018 Open took place on a long course, and during extraordinary conditions. A record winter saw the entire Bob complex at over 150% of normal snowfall, with certain areas in the Scapegoat exceeding 200%. At 2.5 weeks until the start the road to the scheduled start at the Indian Meadows TH was still snowed…
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Holy snow
Central-western Montana has had an extraordinary winter, which is necessarily leading to an extraordinary spring. Massive amounts of snow means massive amounts of water, and in the last month temps have yet to get too warm (which is nice, as upper 60s feels stifling at the moment), and have been punctuated with big storms which…
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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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Shit that works week; again
We’re back! In the season of flash sales and emails, where impulse purchases push companies into the black and fill our closets with things that aren’t strictly necessary, it behooves us to step back and take a break. As I wrote three years ago: “A lot of gear upgrading is malarkey, born of boredom or…
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Hydration for multiday backcountry pursuits
15 years ago the hydration system revolution was in full swing. Hoses and bladders were ubiquitous for day hiking, mountain bikers, backpackers, and even runners. Bladder tech has only gotten better since; after holding out for years against more gadgets I must admit that the quick disconnect that came with the latest Osprey is darn…
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The 2017 Bob Open
One of the best, if not the best, thing about the Bob Open is that it isn’t about me or anyone else. It’s about everyone, going out and battling with their demons and desires on their own terms and hopefully learning what they wanted. The Bob itself is just a canvas, though not all canvas’s…
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Bob Open 2017; midterm analysis
Add: The stories are piling up over on the BPL forums. As ever some fantastic stuff, with maybe a bigger dose of happy suffering than usual. Massively inspired; thanks everyone. With 18 starters we did set a record for participants this year, and beyond that we certainly set a record for the number…
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Not that, hard
It is easy for me to remember the night before my first Grand Canyon Double Crossing (aka Rim-Rim-Rim). Early December of 2005, living out of our Xterra, driven south and west by cold and the Grand Canyon as our last stop before the true lowlands of Vegas, Death Valley, and J Tree. We slept outside…
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You are all going to die
Nothing is certain and a lot can change in three weeks, but right now conditions for the Bob Open are shaping up to be as or more challenging than they’ve been, for any years of the formal event or for the two years prior when I did solo trips that weekend. Compared to three weeks…
Bedrock & Paradox 
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