Category: Skiing
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Islands of moisture revisited
“…under duress the most important characteristic of your clothing system is not the ability to keep external moisture off you, but the ability to allow internal moisture to escape efficiently without chilling you excessively.” –Me In the ~five years since I wrote the above post, and since Sitka popularized the concept of the rewarming drill. […]
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Evolution of the Tamarisk: features
Or; as few things as possible.Backpack features don’t make up the majority of a packs weight, but they do make up the overwhelming majority of the weight which is easily negotiable. There is only so much weight to be shed with material (before you sacrifice durability), only so much with suspension or frame elements (before […]
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The perfect winter
April had a good trick for us here in Montana, 4 inches of snow in our yard, and twice that in the mountains, with a nice wind chill well below zero. The skiing was fantastic, the snow sifted light enough that the air of skinning moves waves before you, the air cold enough for visible […]
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Panic
This began two days ago as a hopefully un-trite post about how parks, mainly national, should not be closed during the current Coronavirus crisis. I wanted to point out how both explicible and sad it was that Yellowstone closed Tuesday. How parks, however grand, are generally in someones backyard. Moab had an entirely reasonable request […]
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The Open 2020
I updated the information for the 2020 Bob Open just now. Removing the mass start option seemed to be the most responsible solution for the uncertainty surrounding the virus. This means that I encourage everyone for whom the circumstances in two months time make it safe to do the walk, be it the circumstances of […]
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Things I’ve broken lately
Last month Little Bear and I went backpacking. In and of itself this was not unusual, though it was the first time just the two of us had walked in to camp under a tarp. It was noteworthy because it was February, and we were in shoes, walking over a inch of crusted snow and […]
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Evolution of the Tamarisk; side pockets
Side pockets which are easily accessible on the go and large enough to carry a significant percentage of the days gear (water, food, rain gear, maps, etc) are the defining element of a modern backpacking pack. Belt and shoulder strap pockets can play supporting roles here, but my last three years of testing has heavily […]
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Clouds of our own
I can find no direct evidence that Theodore Roosevelt ever said that comparison is the thief of joy, but there is in the modern idiom a truthiness to it. If he did say, or more likely write (he penned around 50 books and over 150,000 letters) that, I like to think he was speaking both […]
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Evolution of the Tamarisk; load carriage
I am delighted to report that the Tamarisk is finished. If by finished I mean that the prototype I completed a month ago and have been testing exhaustively since requires almost no changes. The patterns can now be set in stone, and the road towards production begin. This may not be a short road: I’m […]
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OR Ascendant Hoody; at last
Since the original Rab Strata I’ve been looking for an active insulation mid/outer layer that can do both with minimal compromises. That is: provide substantive static weight/warmth, as well as balance breathability and weather protection coherently. The Strata was more on the outer layer side of things, while somehow not providing as much static warmth […]
Bedrock & Paradox 
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