Category: Skiing
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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,…
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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…
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A road back
For the first 10 days after getting home from the Grand Canyon I sat around and did nothing physical, except taking a few walks around town. Energy was low and everything was a bit sore, with knees and achilles being particularly creaky. There is no way to shortcut this process; when your body needs to…
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The bearable weight of backpack features
A backpack should be a sturdy bag to hold your stuff, with a suitable suspension system, and just enough straps and/or exterior accoutrements to not impede efficiency. Efficiency in the backcountry has more to do with knowledge and experience than equipment, which makes the question simple: how little exterior stuff on your pack can you…
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La Sals ski traverse
This doesn’t get done very often, and even less often in a day, with what looks like as close to ideal conditions as that very windy mountain range ever gets. Another account here.
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Bud Moore’s Land Ethic
“Given the knowledge we had, we did the best we could.” -Bud Moore A unique generation is in the process of dying. People born in the lower 48 around a century ago could have, in a few cases, grown up firmly in the 19th century; without electricity or running water, without a reasonable chance of…
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RIT die for synthetic garments
I have issues with hats. This is mostly a performance thing. While the scientific robustness of the old claim that you loose an outsize amount of heat through your head is coming into question, the fact that temperature regulation via hats is fast and easy remains unassailable. As readers will know, I have a brain…
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The River Paddling Protection Act
The River Paddling Protection Act has passed the house, and is currently under consideration by the senate. If you have opinions about wilderness paddling in Yellowstone National Park, now is a rare occasion when speaking up might have an effect. The bill is very simple. It nullifies several existing regulations prohibiting boating in Yellowstone and…
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’13-’14 ski stuff review
Big Mountain summit @ 3pm on a Saturday, with -40 windchill. It’s been a great winter for snow sports. In addition to my fatbike, I’ve been using two separate ski rigs since things got going in earnest after Christmas. All the modes of transit have been used a lot, often competing for attention, and almost…
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The horror of Tomorrow
Thus far I’ve spent the weekend chasing deer. Snowbiking Friday afternoon the packed trough winding through the thick forest was covered in deer tracks, and as I did laps on the short loop kept spooking and respooking the same critters. They’ve been using the skier and biker packed trail to commute from aspen patch to…
Bedrock & Paradox 
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