The ultimate Road Trip: Life with Katrin and Lars Schneider

Jul 12, 2013

Katrin and Lars Schneider are living a life most of us envy—for more than ten years, they have been traveling, exploring and working together all around the world. Their photography and writing showcases a great variety of outdoor pursuits from backpacking, kayaking, freeriding, ski touring and snowshoeing, to mountain biking, yoga, trail running and bike touring. Take a look at their blog, and get inspired to take your own journey. Lars and Katrin gave us an inside look on what life is really like on the ultimate road trip:          

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MSR Backcountry Cafe: Lightweight Trail Spaghetti

Jul 10, 2013

Have you ever tried dehydrating food yourself for backcountry meals? In this episode of  CampCookingTV, Christine and Tim Conners show you an easy and lightweight recipe for Spaghetti that’s great for hiking and backpacking. Try it on your next trip! For hundreds of mouth-watering camp recipes be sure to  check out Tim and Christine Conners’ bestselling series of books. You can find more information and purchase books, on their website, http://www.lipsmackincampin.com.

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Riding our Thumbs into the North Cascades

Jul 3, 2013

Photos and Story By Ben Kunz Well you’ve probably never heard of the Toyota MasterAce. It is the original name of the Toyota van distributed worldwide from 1982-1989. These vans have a bit of a cult following , much like Volkswagen vans.  And they are equally infamous for breaking down. Recently, on a climbing trip to Washington Pass, the North Cascades granite playground, it was my partner’s turn to drive. We planned to take his beloved Tawny, a 1986 Toyota van that has its quirks. So I suppose it wasn’t a huge surprise when we broke down near Rockport, WA. Without cell phone service it took considerable effort to find a phone and get AAA involved. While we waited I reflected on how comfortable our lives are compared to our…

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Maintaining Your MSR MiniWorks Filter

Jul 1, 2013

Backpacking season is here and it’s time to get ready for the trail! Before you head out the door, check out your MSR MiniWorks filter and make sure it’s ready for another year of service. Here are some easy maintenance tips that will keep your filter working at its full potential for years to come. Need more info? The complete owner’s manual is available on our website.

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MSR Backcountry Cafe: Green Curry

Jun 24, 2013

Photos and Story By  Lindsey Kunz This dish is a welcomed alternative to freeze-dried meals and competes with freeze dried packages for weight savings and cook time, thanks to the powdered coconut milk. And I’ve yet to find someone who doesn’t love this dish, both for its taste and for the ease of making it vegan and gluten free. One pot is all you need. Servings: 2 Ingredients 2 bundles thin rice vermicelli noodles (a package of 8 can be purchased at an Asian food market for just over a buck, or you can find in the international section of your grocery store)

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American Road Tripping

Jun 19, 2013

Photos and Story By Ben Kunz The climbing road trip has become a defining part of being an American climber.  The freedom of packing up a vehicle and travelling to dreamy crags across this Great Land is part of our climbing culture.  Last year marked a chance to fulfill a dream of taking some serious time explore some of the best climbing this country has to offer. The High Sierra Galen Rowell’s amazing photography opened up my world to the High Sierra.  These amazing mountains with its excellent rock boasts some of American’s finest alpine routes! “The best alpine wall in the country.” – Peter Croft, about the Incredible Hulk Tyrolean traverse on Sun Ribbon Arete on Temple Crag:

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The Sprinter Experience: Living in a Van Down by the River…er Crag

Jun 14, 2013

Photos and Story By Ben Kunz When Daimler Benz merged with Chrysler way back in 1998, it wasn’t even a blip on my radar, nothing that I needed to worry or care about! But within a year, I started seeing the Sprinter Van, Mercedes gift to North American mid-sized cargo carriers. When I first saw this hardcore Euro-styled van, I did some research and quickly did the math on these genius homes on wheels.

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The Smallest Mountain

Jun 7, 2013

Now that you’ve climbed Everest, or at least sifted through a porter-load of stories about climbing it, you should take a break and do something different. Something completely different. That desire led us to Mount Wycheproof, the world’s smallest registered mountain. Located in Australia’s Terrick Terrick Range, Mount Wycheproof stands 486 ft (148 meters to the rest of the world) above sea level, which is not bad as far as small mountains go. The catch is that it only rises 141ft (43 meters, I suppose) above its surroundings. The mountain is located in the town of Wycheproof. It could also be said that the town is located on the summit, it’s hard to tell. However you choose to see it, the mountain/town is home to a population of 686, which…

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