Have you heard the term “just put one foot in front of the other?” This is a psychological helper designed to help us get through the mental challenges of hiking and similar activities, but hiking, mountain walking, or tramping as some say, is so much more than simply plodding along dragging our carcass behind us. There’s actually a science behind how we move. Many if not […]
Every serious, quasi-regular hiker should have some level of first-aid knowledge. Specifically, unless you’re a guide and have your Wilderness First Responder (WFR) or Wilderness Emergency Medical Technician (WEMT) card, you should probably test for your Wilderness First Aid (WFA) card, to include Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation/Automatic Electronic Defibrillator (CPR/AED) training. This will empower you to better tend to yourself, others in your party, and anyone you may […]
Go or no-go, that is the question. You’ve been hiking and climbing for hours. You’ve gotten to treeline. Now you have a choice to make. You hate to give up after all the time, effort, and money you’ve invested so far — which might also include air fare, hotels, even your coveted vacation time — but the conditions on the mountain are what we might call […]
The winter hiking season is just around the corner. Soon we will be pushing through slick leaves and the hazards they conceal — as if that isn’t dangerous enough — and almost immediately after that we will be making our way through snow, dealing with winter’s inherent dangers. As many prefer, actually. The walking, after all, is generally easier (unless you’re packing out a trail through […]
The “Ten Essentials” as is known to hikers young and old, first appeared in print in the third edition of Mountaineering, Freedom of the Hills, Mountaineers (January, 1974), according to Wikipedia. The original list was modified in the seventh edition, and has since undergone many modifications over the years for a variety of reasons at the hands of various groups such as the Boy Scouts of […]
This is a copy of an article I wrote last year. I thought it might look nice here. You may have been tossing the idea around, perhaps debating with yourself — you know, about Climbing Mt Washington in the Winter. Maybe you’ve been wondering if you have what it takes, physically and mentally. Perhaps you’ve had concerns about the mountain’s well-documented dangers (it is one of […]
