Posts by Andrew Skurka
Ten most popular how-to articles of 2012
This website was re-launched in early-January, in advance of the release of The Ultimate Hiker’s Gear Guide in late-February. Its front-end and back-end were both greatly improved: new layout, improved navigation, blog, social interactivity, and professional online store, all managed with a slick Wordpress content management system. I hope visitors have appreciated the new website, and…
Imagine if REI & Priceline merged: start-up BUYSTAND lets consumers set their price for outdoor gear & apparel
A few weeks ago I was made aware of BUYSTAND, a start-up with a unique outdoor retail model: it lets consumers offer a price for gear and apparel that they want to buy, instead of the customary take-it-or-leave-it price system. This could be a win-win-win for consumers, manufacturers, and brick-and-mortar retailers, and I’m interested to…
Make your own: Fancy Feast Stove + Twig Stove Hybrid
By Matthew DePan I want to thank Matthew DePan for sharing with me his creation, and then generously submitting this article and the photos. His hybrid alcohol/twig stove (“the DePan Stove,” perhaps?) is an elegantly simple solution to addressing the pitfalls of each stove. If you have feedback or questions about Matthew’s design, please leave them…
Novel idea: Ultimate Direction co-develops products with some of the world’s best ultra-runners
The story of Ultimate Direction‘s recent and anticipated success, centered mostly around its Signature Series running vests, interests me on a number of levels. It’s good for runners, of which I’m one; and it’s good, too, for UD’s brand manager Buzz Burrell, a longtime friend and mentor, as well as the runners involved in the…
Trail running fall on Bear Peak: Why do accidents happen?
Costco does it again: two 21-oz telescoping aluminum backcountry shovels for $20!
This past summer I was delighted to find Cascade Mountain Tech trekking poles at Costco for Amanda. The twist-style locks are failure-prone, but for $27 they were by far the best value on the market, featuring carbon fiber shafts, faux cork grips, carbide tips, and several types of baskets. This past weekend I found another fantastic…
Seeking organizations & venues to host slideshows & clinics in 2013
I have finalized my speaking, guiding, play, and recovery schedule for 2013, and I’m ready to begin scheduling events. I’m currently seeking organizations and venues that are interested in hosting an entertaining and thoughtful slideshow about my Alaska-Yukon Expedition and/or an informative clinic on backpacking gear, supplies, and skills that is modeled after my book,…
“Essential Gear” article for Geographical magazine
In the June 2012 issue of Geographical, the official magazine of the Royal Geographical Society (IBG), I wrote about the gear I used on my Alaska-Yukon Expedition. But the article is not a colorless evaluation — the model for this “Essential Gear” series is to embed a discussion about gear within a story narrative, which makes…
What inspires you to backpack? The hiking, the camping, or both?
Earlier this week I cheered the death of the “lightweight backpacking” label, along with its misguided ultralight (UL), super ultralight (SUL), and extreme ultralight (XUL) derivatives. With this post, I hope to offer a more representative, more useful, and more inclusive framework for thinking about backpacking and backpackers. For those of you who have read…
Is the “lightweight backpacking” label dead, along with its UL, SUL, and XUL derivatives? I hope so.
Recent posts by Martin Rye, Dave Chenault, Mike Clelland, and Jaakko Heikka on the state and future of “lightweight” and “ultralight” backpacking have given me the motivation — and a good opportunity — to dust off two related posts that I first drafted six months ago but that never went live. This is the first. When I…