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I generally use stuff till it wears out, or even after it wears out. Hence, the duct tape on the behind of my hiking pants, on the crampon zone of my gaiters, etc. I can only think of a handful of items that I've upgraded straight up; most new stuff is bought because it has different...

Thinking through some upcoming plans, I discovered a dearth of adequate hiking terminology to describe to a friend what I was planning. Deeply saddened, I turn now to VFTT. After all, what better place for some creative terminology creation than VFTT? Or perhaps these terms already exist...

Whenever I hike on a public trail in public lands that isn't maintained by me or a hiking club of which I'm a member, I think I'm obligated to considered the public good. Admittedly, not as catchy as "hike your own hike".

The snow depth on Moosilauke is quite impressive, I would estimate 6-7 feet deep along the Carriage Road ridgeline between the main and south summits. Along the Glenclif Trail, there was a dramatic increase in snow around the 2000-2500 elevation line, going from a few inches to several feet in...

I've been thinking about doing a day hike in the northern Prezzies, hitting all of the little-used trails, and trying to figure out a way to link them altogether so that I can hike ~15 miles, never get above 3000', and do as little backtracking/doubling up as possible. Visit the waterfalls and...

Agreed, polls are difficult to word well, and people may not be entirely truthful about what they actually carry vs. what they think they ought to carry. Still, it implies that over 20% carry a sleeping bag every time, and another 40% carry ample overnight gear on more challenging dayhikes...

As informative and interesting as the discussion has been, what I think is most interesting is that about 60% of the poll respondents said that they typically carry sleeping bag, etc on either every hike or on the most challenging hikes. Now, there's no way that 60% of the people I come across...

Terrific! That's an area I've wanted to explore for some time, but haven't yet. Thanks for the report and the pictures.

21" of wet snow in downtown Woodstock, VT. Varies quite a bit as I drive around the Upper Valley. Power went off and on a half-dozen times already, and quite a few branches and trees are down. Sounds like more rain than snow for the next round; hopefully the mountains will see all/mostly snow.

Great trip report. I was wondering how things were in the Prezzies that day. I was on Franconia Ridge, getting blown over a dozen times by the wind. The three of us on the ridge spent a lot of time on our butts or even belly-crawling along sections near Little Haystack. Certainly an...

Pretty nicely packed out from trailhead to Cooper Lodge. Especially with the new snowfall coming, snowshoes will be needed. Above the lodge, the steep trail was a bit icy to the summit. We managed on snowshoes points, but microspikes would be handy.

Lincoln Gap Road closed, of course. About 1 1/4 mile road walk from the east (Warren/Roxbury/Rt 100) side -- packed by snowmobiles, skiers, hikers. I pulled my backpack up in a sled, which I used for a quick descent from the summertime parking lot. 1.8 miles on LT to Battell Shelter -- I...

Lots of rime on north and west-facing rocks, trees, signposts today. But no snow. Alas. The ice line was probably around 4000 feet in Castle Ravine early this morning, but had melted all the way up to the highest summits by late afternoon. Pretty treacherous climbing icy rocks, actually...

That's another major reason I hike with poles at all times. Twice I've had knee injuries while backpacking and had to walk 8 and 17 miles respectively to get back to the car (yes, solo). Had I not had poles, I'm not sure I would have made it without a rescue.

Time Argus article Burlington Free Press article

I own three helmets -- bike, ski, and climbing/mountaineering. I've never considered a helmet for hiking just for tree branches or whatnot. I could see taking an awkward fall on some icy, rocky areas where a helmet would be nice, but I can't imagine really wearing one for the vast majority of...

I have a hard time believing there would be an avalanche on Lowes Path below treeline. After living in Colorado a while, my internal avalanche awareness is pretty acute and I've never passed through Lowes Path thinking that there was any avy danger below treeline. The only place on Lowes I...

Hi Cath, Thanks again for letting me tag along the other day on the southern Prezzies. That was a great day in the outdoors! I have a couple of pics I took of you and Andy; I'd love to pass them along if you have an email address. I wound up breaking trail in deep snow on Flume Slide today, so...

Nice report! I was one of the two soloists who took the Flume Slide Trail. The other guy turned around near the top, but I made it over Flume and Liberty and agree with you on the goofy trail conditions. I snowshoed from the Flume Slide/Osseo junction all the way back to the car, but it was...

I hate to be the turd in the punchbowl, and I'm glad you were able to turn this into a positive experience, but let's review a few salient facts... 1) it was a big holiday weekend 2) you arrived after dark 3) you were a group of five, with kids I mean... what did you expect? Most people don't...