After a week of increasingly alarming weather forecasts, we ended up having excellent weather for our summit attempt on Mt. Washington today. Temperatures were only 10 below zero with winds of 38 miles an hour, gusting to 50 miles per hour. That’s …

I have never been a fan of sports recovery drinks or powders like Gatorade and don’t normally use them for 3 season backpacking because I feel that frequent all day snacking with unprocessed foods provides me with adequate calories and sodium. However, I …

If you’re not careful, it’s very easy to become dehydrated in the winter particularly if you’re engaged in sports like snowshoeing, backcountry skiing or mountaineering. Under these conditions, it’s not enough to be on the lookout for yellow pee; you need to …

Mt. Greylock (3,491 ft.) is the highest peak in Massachusetts. Located in the Berkshires near New York State, the Mount Greylock land form is composed of a north-south oriented central ridge: Saddle Ball Mountain (3,247 ft ); Mount Greylock, the high point (3,491 …

This weekend, I rented a pair of plastic mountaineering boots to try out in preparation for my upcoming Introduction to Mountaineering Course. This is a 3 day class that I’ll be taking with the International Mountain Climbing School in North Conway, NH …

For many years, my primary motivation for hiking and backpacking has been to experience a form of meditation practiced by Buddhists called walking meditation. This differs from sitting meditation because the practitioner is moving outdoors with their eyes open, paying close attention …

I bought the Mountain Hardware Phantom Down Jacket on sale about 2 weeks ago because I needed an exceptionally warm coat for winter camping and mountaineering. Since then, I’ve worn it everyday and I am amazed at how warm it is. The Phantom’s …

This article is in response to Jason’s Klass’ post In defense of the knife. Jason believes that a knife is important to carry in the backcountry. His preference is a 2.6 oz. Spyderco Delica 4. A perfectly logical choice, except maybe the …

I have a reader, named Randy, who contacted me recently seeking advice on 3 season synthetic sleeping bags. He’s adopted a vegan lifestyle and doesn’t want to use a goose down bag. This will be his first sleeping bag so I volunteered …

This is NOT a backpacking recipe! It's a technique I learned for warming an hypothermia victim during my Wilderness First Aid certification class in Vermont recently. The Human Burrito is based on vapor barrier survival techniques that I've written about in the …

If you go winter backpacking, snowshoeing, or mountaineering, you are going to want to bring at least one pair of mittens. Some people will even bring two pairs in case one gets wet. Personally, I bring a pair of mittens for warmth …

I just got back from an inspiring certification course on Wilderness First Aid taught by SOLO and sponsored by the Green Mountain Club in Vermont. SOLO is one of the leading wilderness medicine education groups in the US and has trained over …

I hope you never have to deal with a life and death situation in the wilderness. But the odds are good that you will, sooner or later, if you spend significant time in the backcountry by yourself or with groups of backpackers, …

A lot of hikers contact me about gaiters, so I thought I’d write a post about high and low gaiters, when they’re appropriate to use and why you might use them. First off, there are high gaiters and low gaiters. High gaiters …