Backpacking Skills

Freezer Bag Cooking is a great way to reduce your pack weight and helps eliminate the need to wash your cooking pots after a hot meal like breakfast or dinner. The principle behind Freezer Bag cooking is simple. You prepackage all of …

Here are 10 MORE winter hiking and backpacking hacks, tips, and tricks that you can try the next time you get out in winter conditions to see if they work for you. If you missed the first set of 10 Winter Hiking …

The MSR Revo Explore Snowshoe is a recreational snowshoe that features the new Hyperlink ratchet binding system (also available on the MSR Lightning Explore Snowshoe) which is much easier and faster to put on than the plastic strap binding used on MSR’s backcountry snowshoes, …

< Over-Pronation Defined Pronation occurs when the foot rolls inwards and the arch compresses as part of your normal walking motion. Pronation is necessary for shock absorption to transmit forces up and down our legs. When someone over-pronates, the foot rolls inwards …

Wool vs synthetic baselayers: which is better? Wool baselayer garments feel warmer than synthetic baselayers, but synthetic baselayers dry more quickly than wool. What are the pros and cons of each and which should you buy for winter hiking, snowshoeing, or skiing? …

Winter hiking burns a lot more calories than hiking the rest of the year because your body has to work harder to stay warm in the cold; you have to wear more clothing layers and heavier insulated boots; you need to carry …

Here is a crampon bag hack I’ve been using for the past few years to protect the front mesh pocket of my winter pack from sharp crampon and microspike teeth. It requires the use of a simple poly bubble mailer (those white …

Switching to a shorter torso-length sleeping pad is a good way to reduce the weight of your ultralight backpacking gear because your legs don’t need the same amount of insulation as your core in three-season conditions. If you have a short torso-length …

Is it better to buy a winter sleeping bag with a waterproof/breathable shell fabric or to just use a waterproof/breathable bivy sack instead? The idea of covering a sleeping bag with a waterproof/breathable shell fabric is appealing because it would mean that you don’t need …

How would you like to eliminate the weight of your backpacking stove and the fuel container (canister, liquid fuel bottle, or alcohol bottle) that you use to carry your cooking fuel on backpacking trips while still being able to boil water and …

Wilderness navigation requires planning routes across terrain that doesn’t have pre-defined trails or roads to follow. While following a route using a map and compass, GPS, map-to-terrain association or just dead reckoning is required, those tools and techniques don’t provide you with the …

A few years ago, I wrote a series of posts on how to lighten your backpack, that outlined the basic principles of lightweight ad ultralight backpacking: weighing your gear, cutting the weight of your big three, selecting gear that can serve multiple …

Here are 10 hiking and backpacking gear maintenance tasks to put on your to-do list this November. With the three-season hiking and backpacking season winding down, it’s worthwhile to maintain your hiking and camping gear before packing it away for next spring …

Outdoor Research Phosphor Down Mitts are warm down-insulated mittens for people who get very cold hands during winter hikes or when downhill skiing, snowboarding, or snowmobiling. They’re insulated with 600 fill power goose down and made with Goretex Infinium with Windstopper. While …