Trailspace Blog

If you watched the 2000 "climbing" movie Vertical Limit and wondered — like me, and every other viewer with at least a basic understanding of climbing, physics, or common sense —why the characters kept doing inane things (like climbing K2 with nitroglycerin or that crazy chasm leap by Chris O'Donnell) then this video is for you.

via American Alpine Institute - Climbing Blog

Thankfully this is not a video of me singing.

Recently I was hiking with my toddler. We were having a nice time looking at trees, touching boulders, eating snacks, when for some unknown reason she was suddenly and furiously done with the hike. Food, drink, walking, carrying, warm clothes, none of it made a difference.

The problem was, we still had a mile and a half to go back to the trailhead, a short but suddenly monumental distance.

So, I stuffed her back in the carrier and speed hiked/jogged as fast as one can with 25+ pounds of crying kid on your back, while navigating a rocky, leaf-covered trail and trying to distract her with songs.

Thus arrived my second problem. Despite having 3,000+ songs on my computer and iPod (back at home), I could no longer think of anything decent to sing for longer than a single verse. I blame my initial brain freeze on the sobbing behind my ears.

I eventually managed to recall:

• “The Wheels on the Bus” (pros: I know all the words, and my toddler was mollified; cons: I was not allowed to stop singing it);
• “Loch Lomond” (pros: I genuinely like the song and the chorus is about walking —  “you take the high road and I'll take the low road”; cons: I have trouble remembering much beyond the chorus, and my Scottish accent needs work);
• “The Titanic” song, despite (or because of) its morbidity factor, thanks to summer camp;
• and my own rendition of “Val-deri,Val-dera, with my toddler on my back.”

Not my most impressive of playlists.

Back at home I Googled hiking songs and quickly found some of the worst (I'll spare you further suggestions, lest I'm guilty of planting “earworms”) and many camping/hiking/marching songs. However, there's no consensus on what, if anything, makes a song a good hiking song, versus a song about hiking (à la “The Happy Wanderer”), or just a song often sung outdoors (“Kumbaya” comes to mind here).

I think a good hiking song needs to:

• be a good song to begin with (an annoying song will not become better due to a change of scene);
• stand up to repetition (lest you ruin a good song forever);
• be easy to sing (in your head or, in certain dire circumstances, out loud);
• be appropriate for all ages (folk songs have an advantage here);
• and, be easy to recall in full (even when someone, who you're carrying, is sobbing for you and you're descending a field of leaf-covered boulders).

I'm now working on a mental play list of good hiking songs that I can (hopefully) recall without much prompting. First up, full rounds of “Loch Lomond” and “Ob-La-De, Ob-La-Da.”

Got any other suggestions? Or am I doomed during times of duress to remember only tunes that were locked in my memory back at Grange camp?

Hikers and backpackers know there are a lot of different land management agencies out there: National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, USDA Forest Service, US Fish & Wildlife Service, Army Corps of Engineers, state parks, local municipalities, and so on. Then there are various land designations: Wilderness, national park, national preserve, wild and scenic river, national monument, to name a few.

It can seem confusing, and you might be tempted to say, "who cares? I just want to hike."

As users of these lands, we all need to care, because the rules of the land determine what activities you, and your fellow outdoorspeople, can and can't do. For example, you can hunt on Forest Service and National Preserve lands, but not in National Parks. You can mountain bike on lots of BLM land, but not in federally designated Wilderness.

For outdoor recreationists, knowing the rules of the land is an essential part of being prepared.

via Leave No Trace

FYI, the map above, comes from nationalatlas.gov, which has a wealth of printable, customizable, and dynamic maps with data like terrain (naturally), precipitation, volcanoes, vegetation growth, congressional districts, invasive species, and more.

A vintage McKinlay's bottle of the same era. Shackleton's may a bit worse for wear.

Shackleton buffs take note. Two crates of McKinlay's “Rare Old Whiskey” have been buried in the Antarctic ice for a century, 97 miles shy of the South Pole. Adding to the aptly-named Scotch 's prestige is the fact that it was left behind by legendary explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton when he was forced to abandon his South Pole expedition in 1909.

The crates originally were found in January 2006, encased in ice under the floorboards of the Nimrod Expedition hut Shackleton built, but were not moved at the time, due to being deeply embedded. Whyte & Mackay, owners of McKinlay and Co, have asked a team of New Zealand explorers heading out on a January 2010 expedition to return a bottle or sample of the whiskey this time around.

New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust will use special drilling tools to retrieve a sample of the vintage Scotch, which they'll turn over to Whyte & Mackay's master blender. The rest must remain where it is, according to Antarctic conservation guidelines. Word is the distillers will try to recreate the original whiskey from 100 years ago.

Al Fastier of the Antarctic Heritage Trust said he would not be tempted to sample the Scotch, preferring to allow the spirits to retain their mystique. “It would be terrible to sample it and find that it was off,” he told Radio New Zealand. “I personally think they must have been left there by mistake, because it's hard to believe two crates would have been left under the hut without drinking them.”

FYI, the expedition's main purpose is to carry out restoration work on Captain Robert Falcon Scott's Terra Nova hut, not to drill for whiskey.

via NPR

For more info: BBC, Telegraph, The Associated Press, Daily Mail Online (original 2006 find)

Need to resole your backpacking boots or rock shoes, fix a broken tent zipper, modify a backpack, sharpen some ice screws? Once you have the right outdoor gear you still need to maintain and occasionally repair it. And sometimes that calls for a professional.

If you know of a company or individual who offers high quality gear repair or maintenance services, please share their info with other Trailspace community members. I've set up a thread just for that purpose at the top of the Gear Repair and Maintenance forum.

How to maintain and repair outdoor gear is a popular topic in the Trailspace forums. Now, you can tell everyone about that amazing backpacking seamstress, tailor, or cobbler, and keep good outdoor gear going strong (instead of into the trash or recycling bin).

Share your gear repair/maintenance service recommendations here.

Do you know the proper angle for placing an ice screw? It's 10-15 degrees upward (that is, with the ice screw pointing up into the ice).

In the video below (how to place a bomber ice screw), Arc'teryx ambassador/Black Diamond sales rep Roger Strong shows the proper placement, angle, and method to placing an ice screw.

via GearFlogger

It's November and for most of us there's not much significant snowfall — yet. But, you can prepare now for ski season by practicing locating a partner's avalanche beacon.

According to the Colorado Avalanche Information Center, people who regularly use their avalanche beacons are 30 percent more likely to find buried people alive. So, practice searches by you and your companions are essential for a fast and effective search and rescue.

While avalanche safety skills are serious, practice searches can be fun. Time yourself and your friends for a competitive incentive. Get the kids involved. They love treasure hunts and gladly will hide a zip-locked beacon in unexpected backyard spots, like the blackberry bushes. Let them help search too (think of it as training a future backcountry ski partner).

When you've got the snow coverage, practice your probe and shovel techniques too (Backcountry Access has videos). According to the Utah Avalanche Center, 93 percent of avalanche victims can be recovered alive if they are found and dug out within the first 15 minutes, after that the numbers drop catastrophically.

In 90 percent of avalanche incidents, the victim or someone in the victim's party triggered the avalanche. So, make decisions that help you avoid an avalanche in the first place. If you're a winter backcountry traveler, particularly a skier, find and take an avalanche safety course. I'll be doing that this winter.

For more info:

Forest Service National Avalanche Center

Colorado Avalanche Information Center

Utah Avalanche Center

Backcountry Access

Product Reviews and Info: 

Avalanche beacons

Probes

Snow shovels

Organizations involved in building and protecting hiking trails can apply to the American Hiking Society's 2010 National Trails Fund. Now in its ninth year, the fund has awarded nearly $466,000 to 128 grassroots organizations nationwide working to establish, protect, and maintain foot trails in America. Awards range from $500 to $5,000 per project.

Online applications must be submitted by midnight on December 15. Grants will be awarded in April 2010.

The American Hiking Society considers projects that:

• have hikers as the primary constituency, though multiple human-powered trail uses are eligible;
• secure trail lands, including acquisition of trails and trail corridors and the costs associated with acquiring conservation easements;
• will result in visible and substantial ease of access, improved hiker safety and/or avoidance of environmental damage. Higher preference is often given to projects with volunteer labor; and
• promote constituency building surrounding specific trail projects — including volunteer recruitment and support.

For more information: www.americanhiking.org/Our-Work/National-Trails-Fund/Application/

Does Trailspace's series of articles on planning a thru-hike have you dreaming of tackling a long-distance trail like the venerable AT? Whether you're in the dreaming, planning, or done-that stage, you may want to watch America's Wild Spaces: Appalachian Trail on Tuesday, November 10, at 8 p.m. (EST) on the National Geographic cable channel.

The documentary explores the landscape and regions of the 2,175-mile trail, as well as its hikers, volunteers, angels, agency staff, and scientists. The program will air again at 11 p.m. on Tuesday, November 10, and at 4 p.m. (EST) on Tuesday, November 17. 

For more information and video clips: National Geographic Channel

Are you tired of all the connectedness around you? Want to get away from it all? Unfortunately, truly getting away from civilization can be tough, even with the will and time to head off to an otherwise inaccessible spot.

An interesting map of connectedness published in New Scientist back in April factors in road, rail, river, and shipping networks, as well as terrain and access, to calculate how long it would take to travel to the nearest city of 50,000 or more people by land or water.

Just how hard it is to find a relatively inaccessible spot?

• Less than 10 percent of all land* is more than 48 hours from the nearest city via ground-based travel (according to the map, created by the European Commission's Joint Research Center and the World Bank).
• Many areas considered remote are not as far off the beaten track as we might think. In the Amazon, river networks and expanding road systems mean only 20 percent of land is more than two days from a city. That's about the same as Quebec province.
• So, where is the most remote spot? It's at an altitude of 5,200 meters on the Tibetan plateau (34.7°N, 85.7°E, to be precise), and is a three-week trip to the cities of Lhasa or Korla — one day by car and 20 on foot.

*Looking at the map above you may notice an arguably remote continent missing — Antarctica. Perhaps because it's already pretty far from "civilization," the mapmakers left that ice-covered land out of their calculations. Barring that entire continent, look for the darkest spots on the map above to find the most inaccessible spots. I've always wanted to go to Greenland.

New Scientist, via uncooped.com

Are the national parks primarily for preserving untouched wilderness, or for preserving the historic human imprint on the land, too?

A November 1st New York Times article examines this question in light of 70-year-old Drakes Bay oyster farm, which has been told by the National Park Service that it cannot renew its permit to farm oysters in a tidal estuary in California's Point Reyes National Seashore. The permit lapses in 2012.

The NPS bought the land from the previous owners in 1962 as part of the creation of the Point Reyes National Seashore and gave the owners the right to occupy and use it until 2012. In 1976 Congress designated the tidal bay as “potential wilderness.” The farm's current owner, Kevin Lunny, bought the farm’s lease in 2005 and is arguing and lobbying that the oyster operation is part of the historical working landscape of the area and that the NPS's scientific assertions are exaggerated.

The National Park Service says federal law requires it to return the area to wilderness by eliminating intrusive commercial activity and that oyster farming poses a risk to baby seals and flora in the estuary.

Read the full NYT article, "Debate Flares on Limits of Nature and Commerce in Parks"

Photographer Cindy Goedde's image above, of a young alpha male wolf in Yellowstone howling for his pack after feeding on elk, won the mountain flora/fauna category in the 2009 Banff Mountain Photography Competition. Other winning mountain photographs, including the grand prize winner, can be viewed onlne.

The Banff Centre also has competitions for mountain and adventure books (just announced) and films (festival happening now) and a mountain idol role model initiative. Workshops in adventure film and photography, as well as mountain writing are offered at the centre.

For more info: www.banffcentre.ca

White-tailed deer, courtesy of Wikipedia.

It’s time for your annual hunting season reminder.

First, find your state’s hunting season dates, so you know the exact dates and locations for firearms, archery, and muzzleloader seasons for various game (for example, here are Maine’s dates).

Next, break out the fluorescent orange vests and hats every time you take to the trails, woods, or even camp roads.

Below are a few safety reminders for hiking, backpacking, mountain biking, trail running, or any activity that gets you out in or around the woods this time of year. (I post these every year, but they bear repeating.)

Be Very Visible: Ideally you should wear blaze (fluorescent) orange clothing that can be seen from all sides, like a hat and a vest or jacket. Bright reds and yellows are also good color options (though on overcast days they can appear black, so use carefully). Think bright, even garish. Now’s a great time to go retro with that old hot pink jacket from the ’80s. Make sure your backpack has some bright orange on it too, like a large orange bandanna. Avoid any brown, tan, and especially white. You don’t want to look like the flash of a deer’s tail. And don’t forget to outfit your dog with its own blaze orange vest and collar.

Make Yourself Heard: Usually I opt for quiet on a hike or trail run, but during hunting season I’m far more likely to keep up a steady conversation with a partner, or avoid certain locations altogether. If you’re alone you can whistle or sing to make yourself heard, or consider a bell on you or your dog. Now is not the time to practice your stealth hiking moves.

Be Aware: Hunters are active from early dawn to dusk and in between. While you’re more likely to find hunters closer to any roads or trailheads and in valleys, expect that you can meet them anywhere at any time. Also, while bushwhacking can be a lot of fun, during the weeks of hunting season I stick to marked and maintained trails.

Know the Rules: If possible hike on trails in areas where no hunting is allowed or on days of the week (like Sunday here in Maine) when there’s no hunting. While deer rifle season typically brings the most hunters out into the woods, a variety of hunting seasons can extend the activity year-round. Know the hunting season dates and rules for your state and local areas.

Above all use common sense and do your part to share the woods safely.

If you have suggestions for safe hiking or backpacking during hunting season, please share them below.

Get ready to practice your skootchline blunt and frontside and backside skootches this winter for cross-country snowboarding, or as the insiders say, cross boarding. Adam and Dave, a Toronto comedy duo, have a whole series of Unreel Sports promo films made for Fuel TV. Crawbling is pretty funny too.

“That’s the great thing about cross-country snowboarding. It’s impossible for it to sell out.”

www.adamanddave.com

This sad, and strange, news comes from the CBC News:

A 19-year-old folk singer from Toronto has died after being attacked by two coyotes in Cape Breton Highlands National Park.

Taylor Josephine Stephanie Luciow, who went by the stage name Taylor Mitchell, died overnight at the QEII Health Sciences Centre in Halifax. She had been on tour in the Maritimes.

Mitchell was hiking on the Skyline Trail when she was attacked Tuesday afternoon. She was taken to the hospital in Cheticamp, then airlifted to Halifax in critical condition.

Park officials said Mitchell was walking the trail alone. They said other hikers managed to scare off the coyotes and call 911.

Full story

via Backpacker