Category: Tech
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Shills and ambassadors
Seek Outside BT2. Didn’t pay for the mid, and Seek Outside fast-tracked a prototype nest so we didn’t get munched by sandflies last winter. Such treatment is both a privilege and a burden. Getting free stuff is awesome. And not primarily because you don’t have to buy it yourself, though as someone who went down a not…
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The Best Snowshoe binding yet
Snowshoes have two reasons to exist: miles which cannot be skied due to terrain, circumstances, or lack of skill; and trips where the snow miles are exceeded by non-snow miles, as snowshoes should not require anything other than ideal hiking shoes. Because this second reason accounts for the overwhelming majority of my snowshoe use, I…
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610 pack, the evolution
My best, conservative, estimate is that since 2009 I’ve built roughly 30 backpacks, and owned a further ~20, which were either purchased retail or given to me for review or prototyping. This is a large number, especially considering that at the moment we only (!) have eleven packs in house, a mere two of which…
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Why we chose a Double Duck
There are more expensive, more practical, as well as more blingy or more frequently used gifts, but from the day over 5 years ago, when I unwrapped my first, to today I’ve not found a more exciting thing to unbox than a new Alpacka raft. Our newly expanded family got a Double Duck for a…
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Tips for winter
The essential guidelines I put down four years ago are still a good foundation, but with the snow beginning to pile up it’s a good time to mention some specifics which have proven constant from then to now. The most useful tip for being outside in the cold is to HTFU (harden the fuck up). …
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4 months
At the second snack stop Little Bear had a fit; screaming as often as breath would permit. Was he hungry? Cold? Sick of being bounced over potholes and rocks in the bike trailer? Four month olds can’t answer these questions, not because they can’t talk but because they can’t parse concepts from emotions, so I…
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The 2015 pack fleet
I’ve been doing the pack thing for a while now. After owning and especially building so many none of them can retain nostalgia for long, with any and every little detail subject to scrutiny, revision, and destruction. That said, the novelty of cutting and sewing has also waned significantly in the last year, and it’s…
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The 610 pack, diaper version
I’ve made this pack, or one to fulfill the same role, 6 or 8 times now. Most for my own use, a few for friends. It continually evolves. The most recent version got axed because the back panel taper got too funky and resulted in a subtle narrowing pinch point in the middle of the…
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The 2016 BD Alpine Start Hoody
As I’ve mentioned here and elsewhere, the Black Diamond Alpine Start hoody is one of the better pieces of outdoor clothing one can buy. The original version had a fabric which was as perfect as current technology allows; mine has stood up impressively well to lots of use in the past 20 months. The only…
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Fuzzy longevity
Yesterday I finally retired* my Rab Xenon (*cut up for parts and usable scraps of material). I received this jacket in early 2012 for a BackpackingLight project, and for the better part of two years it got the snot beat out of it. Starting last spring it stayed in the closet more often than not…
Bedrock & Paradox 
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