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The Black Diamond Alpine Start Hoody
Surely, the windshirt quest will never stop. Finding an ideal active layer for days which are neither warm nor arctic, neither calm nor storming fiercely, involves delicate balancing of contradictory attributes. The shirt must be significantly wind resistant, but quite breathable. It must be light, but tough, especially given that a windshirt will be used…
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Ski gear for backcountry traverses, revisited
My original post on this subject, written over 3 years ago, has proven to be enduringly popular. I take this as a testimony to the scant material available on the subject, ever increased interest in winter backpacking via ski, and the continued intransigence of many of the issues I discussed back in October of 2010. …
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First Annual Packraft Roundup
Put on by the American Packrafting Association, the first annual Packraft Roundup will be at the Big Creek Campground on the North Fork of the Flathead, July 11-13th. A one day swiftwater rescue course will be held on Friday the 11th. Cost for the former is 30 bucks (including camping), and 75 for the later. …
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Functional remoteness
Most analyses of remoteness in the lower 48 are misleading. They ignore on the ground factors, though for the understandable reason of accessible numbers to crunch. There is the famous claim that the place furthest from any road in the lower 48 is a bit east of the Thorofare valley in Yellowstone. However, 19/20s of…
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Dark
As it turns out, civilization is strictly contextual. Glacier has a lot of gobsmacking valleys, and it’s an absurd exercise to quantify them. St. Mary in winter has a special fondness for me. The road is so crowded and hectic in summer. It’s narrow enough that looking at the scenery while driving is not really…
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Anorak conversions for blown main zippers
It is to be expected that a heavily used jacket with a #3 main zip, like the 2.1 year old Rab Xenon pictured here, will have zipper failure within the useful life of the garment. While manufacturers continue to use these zips on weekly-use pieces, for reasons of weight, cost, and pliability, repairs will be…
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Guidebooks and South Fork access issues
White River from Haystack, looking west towards the South Fork of the Flathead, Bob Marshall country. This morning I amended, with considerably reluctance, my Crown of the Continent packrafting guidebook. There are now three short paragraphs toward the beginning, right under the obligatory disclaimer, encouraging present and future boaters to be mindful of their visual…
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On turning 33
Monday morning I awoke in the surprisingly warm loft of a forest service cabin, went down the ladder in my socks, blew coals back into life, and put a pot for cowboy coffee on the stove. I was 33 years old. The afternoon we had skied in, done cabin stuff like chopping wood, melting snow,…
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Envy the wind
It started with the wind, and ended with tea. Walking the mile downtown in ski boots, early in the morning, was just as introduction. I drank a macchiato in the coffeeshop, the slowest such in the valley, with all my gear leaning against the brick wall. Amber arrived, and we caught the free bus up…
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A good winter
This morning I deemed it too cold to ski. Temps at our house were right around negative 30F, and seemed like a bit much. So I swapped; hiking around the neighborhood with a 40 pound pack in the morning, skin and ski the mountain in the afternoon. The upside of the last 48 hours, when…
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Bedrock & Paradox 
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