Search results

Always. Even when doing winter ultralight overnights or a day snowshoe, I carry a SnowClaw. It can serve as a seat or anchor (for a tent/tarp) in addition to being just fine for digging. If we're doing a group snow camp and will be digging out a snow kitchen, or if we're going into...

Actually, that means that it takes almost twice as much energy to melt the snow: 80 + 100 = 180 calories to get snow to boiling. Only 100 calories to get water to boiling. If you're just melting the snow to 0° water, then you can just use the stream water at 0° and use no calories, compared...

Yep - figured it was you! We're still hoping for a December 17th trip on Glacier Point Road...but the snow's not cooperating yet - let's keep our fingers crossed for a few storms...

Hi Tom - welcome! (From another California interloper and former Adirondacker.) I was thinking the same thing about Glacier Point road and also Lassen. I love my showshoes, but watching folks glide down to Glacier point and back in a day makes the skis tempting, and the hybrid, if it works...

I adjust the heel straps on my Northern Lites at the start of a trip and leave them fixed at that setting, as they tend to collect moisture and freeze up. I don't find it a problem since the other straps are so easy to use (pretty much the same as the MSR ones). Have you had other problems with...

I tested them along with two other folks for backpackgeartest.org. You'll find the reviews here: http://www.backpackgeartest.org/reviews/Snow%20Gear/Snowshoes/MSR%20Lightning%20Ascent/ They're not my favorite snowshoes, though I think they're a fine choice. I still prefer the Evo Denali...

Not a 100% fit, but here are a few ideas from Benchmade: http://www.benchmade.com/products/product_detail.aspx?model=556 http://www.benchmade.com/products/product_detail.aspx?model=100SH2O And from Spyderco: http://spyderco.com/catalog/details.php?product=74...

Interesting - I am completely the other way on this. I adjust layers a lot on the trail and in camp, and see that as the prime benefit of a layering system. I can strip down to softshell pants and a thin poly top when snowshoeing in milder conditions; I might wear a softshell top or wp/b shell...

Interesting...I snowshoe in the Adirondacks (whenever I can get back) and here in the Sierra Nevada, often with our local Sierra Club's ski touring group. I've found that, except on plowed roads and long, open downhills, I easily keep up with the skiers on our trips. On uphills, in dense...

I took a nine-day WFR course this past December and feel it's one of the best things I've ever done for myself and my fellow hikers. My particular course was through NOLS/WMI in Flagstaff, AZ; we did practical scenarios outside in weather as cold as 4° F, and it really drove home the critical...

Here's another: www.backpackgeartest.org

I have a pair also - I like them. They're particularly good in fresh snow (I use MSR's for crusty and consolidated stuff). The traction is better than you'd think because, in addition to the claws under the footbed, the clips that hold the decking to the frame have tabs on them that give some...

Chemicals with melted water Here's another way to do it: I just melt the snow until it's completely liquid, but only lukewarm at most. Then I add Micropur tablets for purification. Saves fuel (but not time).

Bring your mud boots...but man, is it gorgeous up there. Have a great time!

I did a quick trip on the Northville-Lake Placid trail this weekend (for an overnight, after continually-changing work/family plans kept shifting the date); also stopped in Blue Mountain Lake the day before and got some nice fall color pics and visited the Adirondack Museum. The trail was muddy...

Snow picture OK - I was out there this weekend and took this (not the best picture, but it shows the snow falling on the Northville-Lake Placid trail southeast of Spruce Lake; it kept switching between snow-sleet-hail-rain all day, but the snow didn't stick down at that elevation): I took a...

Another trash picker-upper (and grumbler) here. This weekend I was on the Northville-Placid trail from Piseco to West Canada Lakes and back, and I came across a really annoying string of garbage. Every hour or two, there was a wrapper from an energy bar, shoved partly into the mudholes on the...

Yeah - that's the first time I've seen anything like that either. It was really striking in person - the picture only does it partial justice. We were on the John Muir Trail between Wallace Creek and the Bighorn Plateau, up at about 10,000'. Guess everything lined up just right to make that...

More pics - east and west I've really been enjoying the pictures - thanks everyone. Here are a few of mine from this past year: Rainbow clouds over the High Sierra Valhalla Sunrise on Panther Rime Ice and Santanoni Llamas heading up Forester Pass Ponderosa Pine flower in Snow Mountain...

Thanks for the extra heads up on the Tirrell-BML trail, everyone. Work issues caused me to postpone my hike to next week, and I'm probably just going to go from Piseco to Tirrell Pond, Wed. - Sat., hiking out Sunday to Blue Mountain Lake (that is, if possible!) I'll try to get more information...