Mountaineering

Slip Into Some Winter Traction

In this review of traction devices for winter hiking, we present four products that were designed primarily for use on hard-packed hiking trails with some ice, when snowshoes are not needed to prevent postholing.

A Greener GMC

How should we measure the carbon footprint of a hiking club? As the Green Mountain Club approaches its 100th birthday as maintainer and protector of Vermont’s beloved Long Trail, should we be worrying more about the ecological impact people have when they drive to trailheads, or more about combating the recent decline in percentage of time children spend outside in nature?

Lower Latitudes, Higher Altitudes: High Altitude Mountaineering in the Bolivian Alps

Editor’s Note: This article is the first in a three-part series about high-altitude mountaineering in the Bolivian Andes.

Muscles Not Motors Gear Review - March 2010

I just got back from the Outdoor Retailer Trade Show in Salt Lake City, UT, where 40,000 or so outdoor industry types like me converged for a week-long gear summit. By the last day, I was dehydrated from drooling. Here are just three of the items that I found particularly tasty.

GSI OUTDOORS VORTEX HAND CRANKED BLENDER

Thank You, Ken Burns

Several years ago, I was intrigued and bewildered to learn about a young documentary filmmaker who was scheduled to present 13 hours of antique, black and white photos of the Civil War on PBS. It sounded about as exciting as watching paint dry, but I watched the first episode and was hooked.

Lateral Ankle Sprain and Chronic Ankle Instability

The commonly occurring lateral ankle sprain, also called an inversion sprain, can be the precursor to painful and disabling chronic ankle instability. The ankle twist, rollover, or sprain may be the most overlooked athletic injury, and for that reason may also be amongst the worst. A common ankle sprain can lead to ankle instability, cartilage damage, arthritis, and a lifetime of ankle pain.

Honing Your Heart Rate?

For years and years we’ve been testing people in our Human Performance lab at UVM for all kinds of studies ranging from fluid intake to heat tolerance. One thing that has always plagued me is the accuracy of the maximal heart rate numbers we get. For the most part we don’t really question the data as it’s all carefully collected and monitored.

Poke-O-Moonshine Mountain: 2,162 feet

Poke-O-Moonshine Mountain is a cliffy little mountain in the Adirondacks, about 15 miles due west of Shelburne. In this eleventh article in a series on the Adirondacks, we cover the hike to the fire tower on Poke-O-Moonshine’s summit, and give a brief overview of the rock climbing found there.

How to Hike the Long Trail: Tips from thru Hikers

Think you’re ready to tackle the 270-mile Long Trail?

Muscles Not Motors Gear Review - July 2010

Whether you’re a snowboarder or snowshoer, mountain hiker or mountain biker, Nordic skier or Nordic walker, you need gear. Each month, I review, right here, three items that I personally feel are especially cool. Here are my picks for this month.

vtsports.com Launches The Vermont Sports Gear Exchange

vtsports.com is launching a website for outdoor fitness and adventure enthusiasts to buy, sell, and trade new and gently used gear and equipment online. The company has set-up and is testing gear.vtsports.com as an auction site.

Radical Ridgeline Trail Running

Trail running in Vermont is like dancing through a scenic minefield of roots, rocks, puddles, and fallen trees. It forces you to leap, twist, and scurry in order to keep a smooth line and stay on the ever-winding trail. It’s at once exhilarating and peaceful, and some trails require a level of focus that leaves no room for dwelling on anything in life but the 20 feet of trail before you.

Earning Your Turns: A Day of Bike-Supported Skiing Adventure

It’s rare that our trips to the ski hill or trailhead don’t involve a few errands, a visit with friends or family, or a longer drive to a not-so-local spot. This, combined with other realities, such as snowy roads, cold weather, and limited daylight, make it challenging to use our bikes to go skiing.

18th Annual Holiday Gift Guide

We are pleased to present the Vermont Sports annual Holiday Gift Guide. The goods we recommend on these pages were reviewed by members of the VS editorial staff (Jules Older, Brian Mohr, and Kate Carter) and are their picks for most interesting, impressive, and thoughtful gifts for people who spend time in the outdoors.

Lower Latitudes, Higher Altitudes: High-altitude Mountaineering in the Bolivian Andes, Part 3

Editor’s note: This is the third and final installment in a series of high-altitude mountaineering in the Bolivian Andes. In part one, the author and his wife, Kelli, made final arrangements to climb three peaks in the Bolivian Andes. The first was Pequeño Alpamayo and the second was Huayna Potosi. This month we learn what happens when they get ready to climb the third, Illimani.

Reader Athlete March 2010: Joshua Hardt

Age: 30
Residence: Hubbardton
Family: Wife, Astrid; sons River Henry, 3, and Leif Blake, 3 months
Occupation: Outdoor Education Coordinator for The Moosalamoo Center; adjunct professor in Outdoor Leadership at Castleton, and wilderness guide at Vermont Adventure Tours
Primary sport: Split-board mountaineering, fly fishing, wilderness living

Muscles Not Motors Gear Review - November 2009

Whether you’re a snowboarder or snowshoer, mountain hiker or mountain biker, Nordic skier or Nordic walker, you need gear. Each month, I review, right here, three items that I personally feel are especially cool. Here are my picks for this month.

Swix 2 in 1 Split Mitt

Hike, Bike, or Kayak to Celebrate History

Four hundred years ago, Samuel de Champlain became the first European to paddle the Almost Great Lake that now bears his name. This year, both states and the province bordering Lake Champlain are scheduling a variety of events to celebrate the Quadricentennial. While many events fall into the historic or cultural categories, several involve sports and recreation.

2009 Summer Sports Camp Guide

The Vermont Sports 2009 Summer Camp Guide lists over 30 camps in Vermont that focus on outdoor sports-related activities. Most are the same sports we traditionally cover in our editorial content, such as running, mountain biking, canoeing, kayaking, hiking, climbing, adventure, and outdoor skills. This guide includes a basic description of each camp’s offerings.

Andean Adventure

I suppose it’s sacrilegious for an intrepid hiker to go to Peru for the first time and not trek the Sacred Valley to Machu Picchu, but it was a conscious decision which I don’t regret. Hike the famous Inca Trail to a famous world heritage site with hundreds of people?

Summer's Eco-Friendly Outdoor Gear

It’s no news that outdoor gear companies are making better use of eco-friendly fabrics, energy-efficient manufacturing techniques, and low-waste marketing and packaging practices. This approach is not only increasingly economical, but essential for keeping up with the eco-conscious consumer.

2010 Summer Sports Camp Guide

The Vermont Sports 2010 Summer Camp Guide lists camps in Vermont that focus on outdoor sports-related activities. Most are the same sports we traditionally cover in our editorial content, such as running, mountain biking, canoeing, kayaking, hiking, climbing, adventure, and outdoor skills. This guide includes a basic description of each camp’s offerings.

The Ice Festivals Cometh

New England winters, I find, can be a bit bipolar. Depending on the year, you’ll get one personality… or another. In some seasons, conditions may favor skiers. In other seasons, they may favor ice climbers. Sure, in any given winter I’ll partake of my share of both activities, but conditions will certainly favor one over the other.
This year (2009/2010) happens to be an El Niño winter.

Cliff Hangers

The cliff was small, maybe 10 feet wide, though it seemed to shrink as I neared the edge. I felt dizzy and terribly heavy, as if gravity pulled harder on me the closer I got to the abyss. I sat down with my feet toward the drop-off, then slowly inched forward. The white-capped waves 500 feet below looked like dotted lines traveling across the deep black water.

Green Gear for Summer, May 2009 Issue, by Brian Mohr & Emily Johnson

It is refreshing to see so many businesses and manufacturers in the outdoor industry finding creative ways to reduce their environmental footprint. While we feel that the most environmentally friendly gear is that which has been previously used, neglected, or otherwise restored, we still occasionally have to buy something new.

Chic-Choc Wow!

Let’s be honest. New England can have a reputation for icy skiing. Anyone who grew up skiing in the east knows that’s true. And so is another rule: the farther northeast you go, the better the powder gets. This is no secret to backcountry skiers, who’ve schussed the slides of the Adirondacks, glades of Vermont, and bare summit cones and open bowls of New Hampshire for years.

Lower Latitudes, Higher Altitudes: High-altitude Mountaineering in the Bolivian Andes, Part 2

Editor’s note: Last month the author took us to La Paz, Bolivia, where he and his wife, Kelli, made final arrangements to climb three peaks in the Bolivian Andes. The first was Pequeño Alpamayo. This month, we learn about the second, Huayna Potosi.