Category: Skiing
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Solo is safer
First, let us define our terms: solo mean alone, and safer means less likely to die. Most discussions of safety in backcountry activities are based on a naively passive and fundamentally flawed understanding of how accidents happen. Show me 10, or 20, backcountry accidents and 9, or 19, times I’ll show you situations where bad…
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The killing hype
Photo by the Colorado Avalanche Information Center. I’m not going to say I told you so. I’m not going to say much of anything, other than that anyone who does serious backcountry travel, no matter the season, should read this incident report and the commentary and discussion here. Avalanches may or may not be the…
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Acquisitionalism and the lure of the insider
The internet drives gear geekery, this much we know. I recall, back in my elementary school gear geek days, the excitement when the quarterly (and no more!) Patagonia and TNF catalogues arrived. Online “research” has sped up information dissemination, and decreased our attention spans. That this has led to gear fetishization taking the place of…
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2012/13 ski gear review
Plenty of skiing yet to done this spring (once it stops raining), but my gear focus is already on the fall hunting season, so it’s a good time to discuss what worked and what didn’t. I skied the above four skis this winter. 200cm waxable Fischer E99s (60/50/55), 176cm BD Currents (more here), 150cm Trak…
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Rossignol BCX11 warranty resolution; and BCX12 snap judgement
When Campsaver referred me to the manufacturer after this incident, I wasn’t especially optimistic. Thankfully Rossignol was slowish but responsive, and this afternoon a brand new pair of BCX12s showed up. Campsaver I’m ambivalent about, but I’ll buy Rossi again without hesitation. They’re quite different than the old ones. 2 pounds 7 oz a foot,…
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The applicability of the wilderness serape
I’ve become a convert to what I’m calling (and with all due homage to HPG) a wilderness serape. A synthetic blanket/overbag/poncho with a light, but not too light, DWR coated nylon shell. You can find the specs on the ugly one I made this past autumn here. It’s been indispensable ever since. The serape is…
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Things unseen
There are many places road should never have been built. Park Avenue and the Courthouse Towers in Arches are one. Yosemite Valley beyond El Portal/Big Oak Flat is another, as is the south rim of the Grand Canyon. Many Glacier valley would also be high on this list; digesting the view above should require that…
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The best reason to buy new gear
There are three sorts of gear purchases: banal stuff you need, fun stuff you don’t need, and fun stuff you need. I suppose there’s banal stuff you don’t need, but why would you do that to yourself. Banal stuff you need is primarily the little things which wear, or whose upgrading is unexciting but will…
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The Rocky Mountain Front Heritage Act
An interesting example of what I wrote about a few days ago is currently afoot here in Montana, the Rocky Mountain Front Heritage Act sponsored by our senior senator Max Baucus. The Front is a spectacular location, where the Bob Complex meets the prairie without mediation in a tangle of limestone reefs, broad valleys, and…
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The third way: morals in recreation
Last week Lou Dawson of Wildsnow, who like most is best when he lets himself off the leash, wrote a worthwhile piece about the future recreation and those interested in it might play in shaping how public lands are governed in the United States. It’s not useful for me to summarize the many salient points…
Bedrock & Paradox 
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