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Silky and Fiskars are household landscaping brands. A great choice for folks who are happy to carry a little more weight in exchange for less vulnerability to human error. Gerber's target market is tactical/survival gear. They go for max performance with minimum weight. For example, the Silky...

The preferred direction in winter is Lafayette to Flume. This puts the typical chilly prevailing winds at your back. Depending on conditions (i.e., if there's copious bare ice), the Flume Slide can be technical in a couple of spots, so gear up accordingly. The obvious alternative that avoids...

Yes, it's the exact saw that I have. It is vulnerable to a particular type of misuse. Its structural integrity (long-term and short-term) depends on proper operation of the tightening screw. You need to remember to loosen it when flipping out the blade jackknife-style, wait for it to click...

The weapon of choice is definitely a saw -- but not just any saw. To deal with spruce ensnarements, narrow is key. With a bow-style saw or shovel edge, the odds are pretty high that nearby branches (or your leg or your snowshoe) will block you from getting to the branch you're desperately...

+1 for Osprey. Across their multiple lines, you're likely to find whatever combination of functional features you're looking for, and typically with amazingly effective back ventilation. Since my first Osprey pack 10 years ago, "wet back syndrome" (I HATE IT, esp in cold conditions) has been...

I can't give you first-hand beta on the OBP, but did lead trips to the Kinsmans and Galehead/Twins this weekend. Above 3000', lots of ice flows mixed with bare rocks, sometimes under a few inches of snow. Several instances in our groups of folks slipping on canted ice flows where MicroSpikes...

There's a fine line to be drawn between 'adventure enhancement' and stupidly irresponsible and inconsiderate (of the folks who are forced to wreck their own plans in order to come to your aid) conduct. While it's not possible to hike with industrial strength preparedness for each and every...

A few more items: - thin ice/snow over water - cliffs on ascent causing unforeseen delays and/or extra distance - cliffs on descent causing stranding - illusory/failing support/footing from unstable plants/rocks - unwillingness to change the plan - groupthink in decision making -...

I agree that there's value in thinking about causes and effects separately: causes are the things that work to avoid/reduce/eliminate, and effects are the things you need to be prepared to resolve/mitigate/tough it out with when you experience them. I also agree there are items that fit in both...

Let me consolidate the AMC-related options mentioned thus far and broaden the range -- after all, the club offers literally thousands of activities each year. Most are volunteer-led, and some are staff-led (and therefore cost more), e.g., Mountain Leadership School. At 19, your daughter is an...

Hey Beth, nice report! Along with a friend, I visited SW Twin in August 2013, 5 days after John, on a gorgeous weekend. We also had a hard time deciding whether to do the Franconia Brook approach or the Twinway approach. Rather than decide, we opted for a traverse. Beyond what you reported...

It's possible that whatever happened didn't happen at a crossing. Above where the old and new routes rejoin is an outlook with a view eastward across the ravine to the Twins. Right at the edge of the trail at that point is a steep, 50+ foot drop to the stream.

Rab is good stuff. Relative to the other high-end brands, their chief distinction is that they work in eVent. I don't have a jacket yet, but have very much enjoyed a pair of heavy duty eVent winter pants - superior air exchange to their GoreTex predecessors. Hikers who crave ventilation and...

Relative to the trails you mentioned, I'd say that the steep section of Beaver Brook (pretty much the first half-mile) is most similar in character to the steep section of Fishin Jimmy. There's some steep ledge to deal with, but the placement of steps and rungs pretty much removes the 'scrambly'...

Not necessarily true, Jon: many of the distances on the AMC maps are reportedly determined by surveyor's wheel rather than map projection. So were it an actual trail, not only would it wrest the "most difficult regular hiking trail in the white mountains" title away from Huntington, it might...

That route is on my list to explore from 13 Falls, likely as part of a loop with one of the steeper approaches from the east side. So I can't report on the NNE ridge of the Owl yet, but *can* report that as of two summers ago the NW ridge was very doable, with only moderate inclines and just a...

I saw an advance showing of the film a couple of weeks ago and liked it. Without issuing any spoilers: - To make a coherent movie, they had to make the storyline a lot more coherent than it was in the book. That meant a number of significant omissions, and in some cases, alterations. It's...

Sue, I had almost the identical 30-mile experience last month (although MadGulf was involved rather than Osgood) and share his frustration. Amid my circle of H2Hers, it's a really common scenario. Nice and dry (both air and ground) is definitely the right formula. Because of competing hike...

I'm with you. Totally apart from whatever the time/cost/environmental tradeoffs are, it somehow feels wrong to toss something whose failure has a really minor root cause, simply because the design doesn't provide for easy mitigation of that minor root cause. While I think the pro's and con's...

Hey, good on you and your doc for not taking any chances. Still, I believe it highly likely that the workups will come back normal. I think it's simple fainting, wherein your veins dilate a bit more than appropriate, in turn reducing blood pressure and the amount of oxygen getting to the...