Thru-Hiking Stoves: DIY or Buy?

Apr 17, 2023

The hole punch sank its teeth into the aluminum side of a cat food can, chewing a hole through the wall. My ventilation system was complete. I’d just created a “cat stove”–a do-it-yourself backpacking stove–while sitting in a dank motel room along the Appalachian Trail. With a little bit of denatured alcohol, I had a new way to cook my food, and it only weighed a few ounces. After hiking for several weeks with a wood-fueled stove, I made the discovery that some environments are incompatible with wood-burning stove systems, and that in a well-trafficked corridor like the Appalachian Trail, it isn’t always ethical to collect wood anyway. These findings prompted me to observe other backpacking stoves when hikers gathered at the shelter for dinner. Some hopeful thru-hikers lugged around…

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Shelter from the Storm: Tips for Building Winter Shelters

Jan 23, 2023

In many parts of the world, finding solitude while camping in the backcountry is getting harder every year. But don’t fret; you just need to add two things to get what you’re after: cold and snow. While winter camping definitely adds some unique challenges, those extra few hurdles are precisely what filter the crowds, leaving vast swaths of the backcountry under-appreciated for months. Of those hurdles, one of the biggest is figuring out your winter camping strategy for shelter. Warmth, weight and ease are the primary benchmarks to judge your choice by, and there are two paths to travel: bring your own or use what’s there. Here’s a quick breakdown of four of the most common winter shelters and tips on how best to use and/or build them. Location, Location,…

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5 Awesome Alternatives to Ski Resorts This Winter

Nov 24, 2022

Let’s face it: resort skiing can be great, but it’s not for everyone (or the planet). With single-day lift tickets cracking the $200 mark and mile-long parking and lift lines at many mountains, maybe­—just MAYBE—sitting in a dank, humid lodge or getting turned away at the parking lot just aren’t on your to-do list for this year.  Lucky for us, winter is a total playground and there are a ton of alternatives to ski resorts for winter fun. Here’s a quick reminder of some fun to be had that doesn’t involve a chair lift. Snowshoeing I know, big surprise coming from MSR, but snowshoeing is arguably the easiest and most accessible way to embrace winter away from the crowds. You can literally go anywhere there is snow. A good dump…

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