Posts
Yesterday Andrew and I hosted the second of this week’s Ask Us Anything. Our special guest was Brian Robinson, one of Andrew’s original guides who was the first person to complete the Calendar Year Triple Crown, in 2001 and the seventh Barkley Marathon finisher and former course record holder, and who completed the John Muir…
Last night Andrew and I hosted an Ask Us Anything with Dan Durston. Dan is best known for designing the X-Mid tents through his company Durston Gear. He’s also a five-time fastest finisher in the Bob Marshall Wilderness Open and the first person to yo-yo the Great Divide Trail. This is the first of three…
Our 2024 trip schedule has been released! To view it, click here. The season will start again in mid-April in Escalante, Utah, which greets us with mild temps, wildflowers, and long days. In addition to our normal Adventure 5-day and 7-day trips, we’ll offer 5- and 7-day technical canyoneering expeditions and one 11-day thru-hike of…
In fall 2021 and fall 2022 my guide team offered free one-on-one “office hours” appointments to discuss all things backpacking. They were wildly popular: we hosted 320 calls over the two years, which amounted to nearly 107 hours of time! Katie Gerber and I will be running this program again next week. The details: 1.…
Since 2014 I’ve asked our clients to complete a post-trip survey to gather feedback about our guides, locations, meals, and curriculum, plus their overall satisfaction. Reviewing the results is a time commitment — this year the document runs for 138 pages, plus a few more pages of tables with quantitative data! But it’s entirely worthwhile,…
This dinner recipe is flavorful and filling, making it ideal for long days and late in a trip, when appetites are big. At home it would be best with the creamy and porridge-like consistency of risotto, but we use rolled oats because they cook much faster and provide a similar texture. I want to thank…
In June and July, Christy Rosander and I guided two 7-day trips in Alaska’s Brooks Range. This is our marquee location, and at the end I felt exceptionally thankful for the experiences that this wilderness had provided. Christy put together videos for each trip. They’re not polished or narrated, and don’t have any drone footage,…
In 2022 we offered two 11-day trips in the High Sierra, with one resupply in the middle. The guides and the clients rated the experience very highly, because they had so much time to explore and connect with the area, so for this season we offered this trip length in Alaska, again in California, and…
Last week I wrote about the High Sierra’s record-breaking 2023-23 snowpack and its implications for trip planning, gear selection, and essential skills. In short, this season will be far from normal. Are you ready for that? This week Katie Gerber and I are hosting an “Ask Us Anything” online event to answer your questions about…
As atmospheric rivers crashed into the High Sierra during the 2022-23 winter, I had two primary reactions. I was: In 2023 backpacking trips in the High Sierra will be more difficult and risky than identical itineraries in past seasons. However, it’s possible to accurately predict, entirely avoid, and/or safely manage the challenges. Personally, I think…