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For climbing the 115 in winter, I was probably 90% in snowshoes, microspikes, or bare boot. In that other 10%, the majority was crampons with trekking poles, in a tiny percentage of other hikes, we carried a whippet which was more than enough to feel secure where a slide might occur. If you...

The other really nice thing about Minus33 is their sizes are reasonable. I've found Icebreaker and Ibex are a full size smaller than what I wear in street clothes (i.e. for most shirts/jackets I'm size large, but in their stuff, I need to be XL to fit reasonably). I also have a longer torso, so...

Yes, limestone as a rock is soft and will easily degrade with wear, but the surface is very sharp (almost like a rasp). The mountains out here (Bear River Range in Northern UT) chew up shoes much faster than the Whites/Adirondacks ever did (both the rock itself and the moon dust getting into the...

It's been at least 10 years, but I used a service (don't have their name in my phone and I can't find it) to get from the Pemi to Galehead trailhead for a Twins/Zealand/Bonds traverse. Driver was professional and had a large commercial 12 passenger van and did a lot of service with AT hikers...

That's a great solution. I built one out of an old external frame pack and a plastic milk crate (holding the crate to the frame with some hose clamps). It lasted for a few years (and stored in the garage full of tools) until the plastic on the milk create gave way. If I were to build another...

For hiking I'm still a strong proponent of 2 liters of water for all but the longest days. One in a bottle coozy on the shoulder strap, and one wrapped in my layers in the pack. Now that I do more backcountry skiing than winter hiking, I have a dedicated backcountry ski pack with integrated...

This one woke us up when we were backpacking in Idaho on July 4th weekend: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgemc7hw6mk

Having volunteered at a few SCCA/RallyAmerica events, I'm fairly confident there were course marshals at any trail crossings. At the rally events, they would send sweep cars through to open/close the course and would shut down the event if people were in places they shouldn't be. Most of the...

You specifically mentioned Central NY - Have you researched the finger lakes trail? Lots of hiking though NY state forests (though also a lot of fields). I've hiked on it a bunch, and also biked nearby, it's a nice walk in the woods...

I use the paid CalTopo and have a pro account which gets me up to 36x48 maps in 400 DPI. I use this often to 'print' (to PDF) maps with better than USGS quad resolution (sometimes 1:4000) and then import into Avenza (I use the free option, which is limited to 3 imported maps, so I always have to...

FWIW, I've had really great success with the Galaxy S7 series for waterproofness, including one stint where it fell out of my pocket while jumping off rocks in the Green River where it spent at least 10 minutes submerged under 4-6' of water while we made repeated attempts to swim to it and grab...

This is one of my two systems. The the other is a paid app (one time fee) called Backcountry Navigator Pro which allows me to download maps (24k topo equivalent) to my phone for offline use. Very happy with this combination.

Not a company, but I've had lots of great experiences buying used off Mountain Project (rock climbing forum), Poshmark, and (for Women's clothing) ThreadUp

A few resources for people who want to take the first step towards avalanche awareness. * KBYG Classes and Videos - A lot of the avy centers (USFS sponsored) out here have put together training materials for first-time backcountry travelers to understand some of the risks and dangers of...

Speeding up your transitions is one of the biggest ways to have a more enjoyable day in the backcountry. Lots of really good videos online. A few thoughts: * My buddies showed me how to get my skins off without taking off my skis - Big time saver, especially in deep snow. Requires less...

6.5" of rain! That's crazy. https://cbs6albany.com/news/local/avalanche-damages-lodge-at-belleayre-mountain-ski-center

Great question. I actually had to go look at my Amazon order history to see when I bought them (May of 2018). For most of my winter hiking I went from winter boots to gore tex trail runners (Sportiva crossovers, which run narrow and are expensive...). I bought the socks for the purpose when I...

I have a pair. Only wore them on one hike of ~4 miles. It was a long time ago, but for that distance, they did what they were supposed to do. I was wearing normal trail-runners and hiking in a wet-rain/snow-soaked trail (depth under the height of the socks). FWIW, I wasn't totally confident in...

I use "dancer's pads" which have a cut out for the ball of the big toe. https://www.amazon.com/PediFix-Pedi-gel-Dancers-Pads-2-Count/dp/B004G8L36W I still have pain barefoot, but with the pad, its tolerable for the usual outdoor activities.

I've been a big fan of campsaver so far. I had not heard of them until I moved to the area (UT), but so far they've taken care of me. They'll have 20% off full priced item sales pretty frequently. Their retail space here in Logan is actually a small display floor and then a set of computer...