Winter climbing trips are often extended from one to two day affairs, or even longer. Trailhead access can be further away as only main roads remain open. And then approach hikes take longer due to difficult conditions, as well.  If we need more time out in the backcountry, and now need to set camps, we may want to haul, rather than carry in all that bulky, winter gear. The full video goes step by step building a Pulk Sled that is light and efficient enough for those local trips but also robust enough for expedition rigors.

The idea of taking off our boots and dipping our feet in water during a winter climb, hike, or camp may feel unpleasant, but it might actually be more important that we take care of our feet in winter than any other time of year.

If I'm going to be winter camping, on snow, in the same place for a while - think an expedition basecamp or a long-weekend outing - I will often make a dedicated kitchen in camp. With appropriate snow depth, a pyramid tent kitchen is my preferred version to make because it grants shelter, mobility, and better ergonomics. The full video provides more on why, and a lot more on how, I build them.

As a reminder, I do not have any product sponsors. If I talk about a product, it’s because I have spent my own money on it. Here’s a little item I now keep in my winter first aid kit because super glue in an open wound stings and this does not.

Some of our winter climbs will have an approach hike in before we ever want to have our crampons on our feet. Here is a way to bundle our crampons together so that the spikes are less exposed and therefore less likely to damage our other gear.

We are learning more about the potential health downsides stemming from the ubiquitous plastic water bottles that so many hikers, backpackers, and climbers use. New technology is allowing new, and more complete, measurements of how much plastic is degrading into the water we drink from them. The science is evolving and scientific studies are starting to triangulate around the potential health impacts. So, I’m watching this evolve and reconsidering my use of these normally standard pieces of adventure equipment.

If we only eat when we are hungry and drink when we are thirsty, we might not be taking in enough food or water to keep our energy up and to fend off dehydration. Here's why we try to eat and drink frequently and on a regular schedule.

No climbing, backpacking, or trekking expedition goes perfectly. We get some things in planning and executing the expedition just right, but we also don’t do enough of some things (like, maybe, communication) or too much of others (like, maybe, overtraining). So, this previews a facilitated retrospective on a completed expedition. What we learn from everyone's unique perspectives helps leverage strengths and avoid pitfalls when we head out on the next big trip.

I have no affiliation with the company, but I have been very happy with my purchase of the Culo Clean portable bidet. It’s a low cost, low weight item I have added to my adventures, and you can see the video to find out why. You can find the item, should you want it, here: https://sovrn.co/ph0rir7

Trust is key to any team endeavor, and belief in our teammates is just as key to an expedition's success. It doesn't matter if we are climbing, backpacking, or trekking. Multi-day adventures in the outdoors can hinge on our ability to lean on one another. Our family's trek of the Tour de Mont Blanc proved to be one example. The full video describes how the training we put into fitness and shared systems, which we have to do anyway, can be multiplied in the value they bring to expedition teams.

Modern expeditions and lengthy backpacking trips often demand high effort and, therefore, massive calorie burning. In order to even come close to putting back the calories I burn on a big outdoor adventure, I make sure to bring some very calorie-dense snacks with me on my trips. As a rule of thumb, I look for some foods that have over 150 Kcal per 30g when considering a food to be particularly calorie-dense.

For any expedition, whether to climb, trek, or do anything else, we’ve got to get ourselves and our gear to the right places at the right time. What we need for the travel segments will be different than what we need during the adventure portions of the trip, and we need to make sure that - as silly as it sounds - the people and the gear meet up when needed. That’s logistics. And there is a lot that goes into logistics planning for an expedition. The full video offers a mental model to help get us started.

Most modern belay devices now offer the ability to brake assist, either through camming mechanisms like a GriGri or by pinching the load strand onto the brake strand like an ATC Guide. Should we need a brake assist and do not have a suitable belay device, one option would be to make an auto locking Münter hitch. Here’s how we construct one.

In Marc Chauvin and Rob Coppolillo’s book “The Mountain Guide Manual,” they discuss various systems designed to speed parties along technical terrain, including options for improving communication. When in blocky terrain, where a lead climber at a belay stance may not normally be able to see or clearly communicate with a following climber, they provide an option the full video goes through step-by-step for safely moving the belay back from the anchor when in an exposed position, keeping both the leader and the follower secure and with better line of sight and communication.

Should we find ourselves belaying or lowering our climbing partner on a Münter hitch, we may also need to lock that partner off as they either come up to the new belay stance or stop their lower, below. One option is to convert our Münter to a clove hitch by following this procedure.

In Ian Nicholson’s excellent book “Climbing Self-Rescue,” he provides a description of this stretcher you can make even if you have no additional materials other than the climbing rope that you already have with you. When we are climbing fast and light and aren’t taking trekking poles, skis, or other solid objects with us, this is a handy technique to have available should an accident occur.

While there are many considerations we climbers must address when we are making a haul system, limiting the loss of mechanical advantage due to friction is often part of that list. The materials, like carabiner types and pulleys, will play a big role in that regard, but also where we position our most efficient materials can also have a big impact.

I was asked if I could think of a way to ascend a single-strand, fixed climbing rope, using nothing but that rope. Well, I thought of one. The full video goes into the mental approach I took to solving the problem, along with a step-by-step guide. It serves no practical purpose, but it might be an interesting look at how we can take knowledge of system components and build a whole new system.

The “quad” anchor has certain characteristics that many climbers value, but traditional ways of building that anchor rely on having only a two-piece anchor. Well, we can make a quad using three pieces by following the technique in this video.

The proliferation of new light-but-strong materials has led to some questions about just how skinny and light a tag line (a static rope used just to retrieve your main rope) can be when used for a rappel (abseil). Well, there are some considerations that we need to keep in mind if we decide to save weight by going super light with a tag line. The full video goes into the risks we add as well as how to mitigate them.