“Thermarest? Don’t they just make sleeping pads? How would they know anything about a good sleeping bag?” Those were my thoughts when I first heard that Thermarest had released a newly-designed “Fast and Light” line of human warmth burritos (sleeping…
As a premature baby with struggling eyes for all my life, vision is something I don’t take for granted. Having lost it twice in my life, it’s something I appreciate fully down to the smallest details. Taking in every view,…
I woke up in complete darkness to the sound of my border collie, Riggins, panting and shifting around in my sleeping bag. Unzipping, I helped him emerge from the down cocoon and got smacked in the face by the odor…
I’m a big guy that loves light gear and often times those two things don’t go together. At 6’1”, 225 lbs (and being a side sleeper who actively rolls from side to side at night), I can easily become the…
William O. Douglas recalled fondly of his friend Roy Schaffer in his book “Of Men and Mountains,” “He slept in a bed with white, clean sheets and commented, ‘Never slept inside but what I caught a cold. Wish I had brought…
In recent years, I have been on several expeditions to the Alps, Rocky Mountains, Cordillera Blanca of South America, and Himalaya. Access to drinking water has been a concern on every trip, especially when in developing countries where clean drinking…
With 700+ down fill the bag felt light and fluffy, like a nice duvet, but slipperier. The storage bag for this sleeping bag is easy to manage and has mesh sides so your bag can actually air out after several…
The best-laid plans often go awry, and climbing plans are no different. I had grand plans to test out the Outdoor Research Interstellar Bivy on a trip to Mt. Katahdin in Maine, but due to permitting problems I was forced…
Water is often scarce in the desert (if you haven’t heard). I’ve been in some pretty sketchy circumstances on 100+ degree summer days 15 miles into the backcountry only to realize that the promised spring at my destination had run…
I had a chance to test out one of MSR’s newest stove systems, the WindBurner Stove System, over the course of 3 months in Colorado and Utah. The version of the stove I tested is a remote canister stove that…