Latest Posts

The Storage Locker

Public Storage Lockers

Some people feel like they lose part of themselves when they give away things they own. “I need to cut my monthly expenses”, said my Mom. “It’s costing me $150 a month to store my art books in the storage locker and I need to donate them all to the library. I’ve had that locker for two years and haven’t …

Read More »

Winter Fire Building Practice Trip

Winter Fire in a Snow Pit

This trip was motivated by an accident report I read about in Appalachia Magazine where the victim couldn’t get a fire started in winter conditions. The Appalachia Accident Editor recommended that winter hikers practice winter firelighting skills which is a topic that’s left out of most winter hiking and backpacking curriculums that I’ve taught. A curious omission if you think about it, …

Read More »

Granite Gear Leopard AC 58 Backpack Review

Granite Gear Leopard AC 58 at at the summit of Middle Tripyramid Mountain (4140')

This is an in-depth review of Granite Gear’s Leopard AC 58 backpack for winter use. Here’s a quick summary of my conclusions. Read on if you want the details. Summary The Leopard AC 58 is billed by Granite Gear as an alpine-ready backpack, suitable for winter use. While the Leopard can carry 30-40 pound loads easily and has external attachments …

Read More »

Frostnip on Mt Moriah

Guthook, Hikerbox, and Pam

It took less than a minute for my fingertips to freeze, but I could tell I had a problem right away from the pain. We’d stopped to put on goggles and facemasks when we encountered strong easterly winds and blowing snow on Mt Moriah, a 4000 footer overlooking the Wild River Wilderness in the White Mountains. Easterly winds in the Whites …

Read More »
Sahifa Theme License is not validated, Go to the theme options page to validate the license, You need a single license for each domain name.