Backpacking Hacks

Winter hiking, backpacking, and camping in snow and mountainous terrain requires additional skills and experience that are hard to come by unless you do it and make a few mistakes along the way. I was fortunate to have some excellent mentors who taught me the basics and I picked up …

There is really no substitute for experience when it comes to winter hiking, backpacking, and camping. You can read about it in books and watch videos, but the best way to learn is to go out with an experienced friend who can teach you the ropes. Here are a few …

A wet rib is a high volume accessory pocket that hangs from your backpack’s shoulder straps, below the padded part, in front of your ribcage. It’s super handy for carrying extra hiking gear, like a map, compass, gps, extra gloves, or hats, especially in winter, because it doesn’t interfere with …

The CAMP Corsa Ice Axe (8.8 oz) is the lightest weight walking ice axe available today, which explains its popularity with thru-hikers, ultralight backpackers, and ski mountaineers. It’s a straight-shafted walking axe designed to stop uncontrolled slides down snow and ice covered slopes, as opposed to a curved and shorter …

MSR’s Ascent and Trail Series Snowshoes have a binding that closes with ski-style straps along the top and rear. The binding has four elastane straps, three that loop over the top of your winter boots and one around the heel. It’s designed that way so that the straps lay flat when …

Many of us shy away from eating dried pasta on backpacking trips because it takes so long to cook and uses too much stove fuel. But did you know that you don’t have boil dried pasta using the amount of water recommended on the package or for the entire boil time? Simply …

I have torn holes in the side pockets of many backpacks, enough that I now ding manufacturers in product reviews that include them on backpacks because they’re not durable enough. External mesh pockets are nice to have, but the only “safe” place to put them so they don’t get ripped up …