Tag Archives | vapor barrier

Extreme Alpinism: Climbing Light, Fast and High

Extreme Alpinism: Climbing Light, Fast, and High is a great book that is about way more than mountain climbing. Written by Mark Twight and James Mason, it covers a wide range of topics about mental and physical conditioning, sports nutrition, and outdoor clothing systems that are just as applicable to ultralight backpacking, backcountry skiing and [...]

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More Winter Layering Experiments

We got about 6 inches of fresh powder on Saturday night, so I got to go snowshoeing on Sunday and run another winter layering experiment. I think I’ve finally worked out a clothing system that will keep me warm without a lot of bulk. It’s based on the vapor barrier technique espoused by Mark Twight and [...]

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Mountain Hardware Cohesion Pants

It was Thanksgiving day and the weather was a bit chilly so I decided to test out a pair a Mountain Hardware Cohesion Pants for showshoeing this winter in Vermont. I put on a pair of Patagonia 1 Capilene long underwear underneath the Cohesion Pants and took a two mile walk through our local forest [...]

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Hiking Poles can be used as Tent Poles

Lighten Up your Backpack with Multi-function Gear

This is the third article in a four part series that provides backpackers with a set of easy to follow recommendations to reduce the weight of their backpacks. The first article in the series, Lighten Up your Backpack: Weighing your Gear stressed the importance of purchasing a digital scale and taking the time to weigh [...]

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Hiking in the Rain: Backpack Liners

This past weekend, I did a 4 day section hike where it rained almost continuously for 3 days straight. During that time I hiked over 13 named peaks and covered nearly 50 miles through dense fog, mist, and incredible mud. Most of my gear got wet and stayed that way, except for a few precious [...]

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Sleep System Survival Tactics for Staying Warm

  Have you even spent a cold night in your sleeping bag  wondering why you are cold when you’re sleeping in a bag that is properly rated for the temperature outside? A lot of backpackers and campers have this problem and blame their sleeping bag for it, when it could be caused by a number [...]

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Vapor Barrier Clothing and Sleeping Bag Liners

If you’ve done any backpacking, you should be familiar with the practice of layering your clothing. Layering is the foundation of lightweight thermo-regulation: you take layers of clothing off when you get too hot and start to sweat and you put them back on again when you start to get cold. Layering lets the sweat [...]

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