Real Food for Mountaineering

Nov 1, 2022

When I began my journey of exploring the wilderness, initially I didn’t put much emphasis on meal prep, primarily focusing on the physical activity.  During one college summer, I was working as a volunteer for the National Forest Service and my meals consisted mostly of Top Ramen® and Mountain House®. I had a personal stove, which I only used to boil water, and a variety box of Clif Bars® to fill in the gaps. I’m certainly not the first to survive on such a diet, but over the years I have learned to value quality nutrition and I now enjoy real cooking as part of my outdoor experience. These days, I train quite frequently for skiing, climbing, etc., and my body craves more legitimate nutrients. I am also a creature…

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​​How Much Does a Thru-Hike of the Appalachian Trail Really Cost?

Sep 30, 2022

When I first heard about the Appalachian Trail, I knew it’d be a tremendous undertaking. But I had no idea how to quantify it. With very little backcountry experience, I kept wondering: How much does a thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail cost? Would it take five lost toenails, an injured knee and a sore ego to make it to the end of the trail? Would I have to exchange years of my life to make it to Katahdin? Or could I get by with my life’s savings, and call it complete? The internet told me that a standard hiker should expect to spend about $5,000 on their journey. But I didn’t want to leave my potential success to chance, so I stuffed $10,000 away before allowing myself to hike. By…

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Shoulder Season Bikepacking in Europe

Sep 15, 2022

Spring and autumn should not be ignored for cycle travel. There’s a real joy and satisfaction that you can find with “out-of-season” travel that you’ll never get if you think of summer as your only option for cycling and adventure. However, the moods of the weather and route choice need thought, so I compiled a few ideas and tips to maximize the enjoyment of shoulder season cycle travel. I’m Andy Cox, creator of the European Divide Trail bikepacking route, and I’ve been bikepacking mostly around Europe for the last five years. Before I started out on this Grand Adventure I’d done quite a few shorter trips around the UK and into Europe, but I was always focused on the summer as my main travel season. While I don’t often travel…

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MSR Backcountry Cafe: Tomato Pasta

Sep 8, 2022

Though it was early September when my husband and I were cycling through the Po River Valley region of Italy, the summer sun still blazed, dry and scorching, lending a golden light to an already golden landscape. As well as being oppressively hot, the afternoon was also deathly quiet. We were used to this Italian riposo by now, that time between about two and four in the afternoon when shops closed, the buzz of activity at the local café dwindled, and the wooden shutters on everyone’s homes were shut tightly against that flaming sun. And so, it was with some surprise that I happened upon an elderly man who was up and about, despite the riposo. He was standing in a field that was parched, barren, and brown, walking carefully through the…

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Why Rest Days Matter

Aug 30, 2022

The ache in my toes was subtle at first. I came off of a multi-pitch climb in California, unlaced my shoes and noticed a new tenderness in my joints. But I was rock climbing. Didn’t something always hurt while I was rock climbing? Cramming my feet into narrow blocks of rubber was just part of the process. Over the following weeks, I alternated between taking rest days and partaking in light activity to give my feet the chance to recover from their ailment. But it wasn’t long before I was back on the wall, exploring the limits of my body. Early on in my life, I learned that if you just put your head down and move forward through the pain, things usually get better. In my experience, doctor’s visits…

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Gear Archives: Trusted Source—The Evolution of the MiniWorks EX Microfilter

Aug 23, 2022

In 1991, MSR took the plunge into water products to answer the needs of backcountry travelers asking for more user-friendly and trustworthy solutions to gathering safe drinking water. One of these initial offerings was the MSR Dromedary™ Beverage Bag, a rugged, collapsible bag to tote your water as you roamed. The other was the now-legendary WaterWorks Total Filtration System—a highly engineered pump filter that was more effective than other filters of the day and so easy to use it changed how people filtered water. The MSR MiniWorks EX Microfilter is its evolutionary descendent and remains the world’s favorite backcountry filter for its plain and simple workhorse reliability. Four Filters Are Better The WaterWorks filtration system was built with four progressively finer filters that delivered pharmaceutically sterile water, without chemicals. The…

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