MSR Backcountry Cafe: Romanian Stir Fry

Nov 20, 2013

Story and Photos By Tara Alan  A few years ago, my husband Tyler and I were bicycle touring in Romania. We’d just pedaled through the gypsy village of Glod when we decided to free-camp for the night, stopping to set up our tent in an idyllic, secluded forest on a hilltop high above the town. Tall trees towered above us as we made our home for the night. Tyler got a fire going, while I set about making a tasty supper to satisfy our ravenous appetites. Despite the fact that we were deep in the heart of Eastern Europe and I should have been craving cabbage rolls and hearty Romanian soups, all I wanted was food like I’d find in a Chinese restaurant back home. And thus, I decided to concoct…

Read More

Graduating From Harvard: Partnership on Mount Huntington Part 2

Nov 18, 2013

Story and photos by Aili Farquhar Daylight greeted us as we awoke, brewed up, ate, and started moving once more.  Stanislav took the aid lead on the Nose pitch.  As I belayed his lead up the tiny overhanging crack threading up the wall I recalled our days practicing our aid climbing in Leavenworth in a slight drizzle.  We were ready for this.  So far our training had paid off.

Read More

Graduating From Harvard: Partnership on Mount Huntington Part 1

Nov 13, 2013

Story and photos by Aili Farquhar The voice over the phone was nervous.  I was barreling down I-94 somewhere outside Miles City, Montana, going about 90 on my way to the Bakken oil patch and already tired.  I was telling my climbing partner Stanislav, who had just completed a bone dry ascent of New York Gully on Chair Peak, about the hip-deep powder my friend Tess and I had found on Teton Pass. “I’m worried you are doing too much skiing and not enough ice climbing.  I don’t know if you will be adequately prepared for Huntington.” This worry voiced made me the kind of mad that promotes a flurry of training.  Up at work in the oilfields I ramped up my workouts.  I camped for days at a time…

Read More

The Lunchroom: An Interview with Jim Meyers, Senior Copywriter

Nov 11, 2013

By Ryan Hayter The Lunch Room (TLR): You don’t hear of too many brands having dedicated in-house copywriters. What exactly do you do? JM: We now have three full-time copywriters and basically, if it’s got words on it, one of us wrote it. Up front, a considerable amount of time goes into planning and strategy. We work with the division directors and marketing team to determine where products fit into the line and ensure we develop messages that convey what the engineers had in mind when they created the product. We even sit-in on line-planning sessions, talking about products that are still just a glimmer in an engineer’s eye. We’re all “users” too, so we can all offer feedback that helps shape the products we create. On the other end…

Read More

MSR Backcountry Cafe: Basics of Dehydrating food

Oct 30, 2013

In this episode of Tim and Christine Conners’ Camp Cooking TV, they dive into the basics of dehydrating food for the trail. They cover the reasons for dehydrating your food and explain how to prepare some of your favorite foods for the trail. If you want to lighten your pack and make great tasting food on the trail, dehydrating your food is a great technique. For more of Camp Cooking’s mouth-watering camp recipes be sure to  check out Tim and Christine Conners’ bestselling series of books. You can find more information on their website, http://www.lipsmackincampin.com.

Read More

MSR Backcountry Cafe: Camp Style Lablabi

Oct 9, 2013

Story and Photos By Tara Alan, A few years ago, my husband Tyler and I were bicycle touring on Kerkennah, a desert island famed to be Kirke’s isle in Homer’s The Odyssey.   It was there, just off the coast of Tunisia, that we first tried the dish lablabi. This satisfying soup was vaguely reminiscent of the chili I grew up eating in North America, but it was far simpler, made of yesterday’s baguette, a scoop of hearty chickpeas, and an ample amount of spicy chili-garlic paste. Though the dish didn’t win any awards for beauty, the hearty meal was humble, delectable, and inexpensive.

Read More

MSR Backcountry Cafe: Bacon and Beyond

Sep 30, 2013

Story By Laurel Miller Bacon makes everything better. This is hardly news. What causes some confusion, however, is how best to pack your meaty treats into the backcountry. Food safety, while perhaps not of highest concern to those of us who live the dirtbag lifestyle, is still important. Raw or cured/aged/preserved protein products such as meat, poultry, dairy, and eggs can cause serious food-borne illness, so choosing the right products and packing them properly is key before heading out on an adventure. I spoke with David Katz, chef, salumi-maker, and owner of Napa’s Salumeria Sub Rosa, about what safety precautions hikers should follow when taking cured meat products on the trail. Despite the fact that frontiersmen have been packing bacon for centuries, “If it’s not a shelf-stable product, unlike most…

Read More

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:          

Read More

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.

Read More