Can You Say Heck Yeah

This sweet little movie titled Women of Dirt will be making it's Boston debut on April 21st. Check out the deets here.

New Wants

New season, new wanting, perhaps some new backpacks. I've been eyeing Osprey backpacks for years and I think this might finally be the season for a new backpack. The few times that I got out last year with my old gigantic clunker really made me realize how old-school my packs are.

Anyway, here's what I've been loving lately: The Osprey Women's Ariel pack 75 (pictured above, found here). Perfect for longer trips.

The Osprey Women's Aura backpack 50 (the 35 is pictured here, found here).

I'm even loving this mini backpack- Osprey Talon 22 (here).

I tried the Aura 50 on this weekend at a store and let me tell you people- like butter. The pack fits like a glove because of all the adjustments on the straps. They come in several torso lengths. And my favorite part, that backpack designers of the world need to know- the top torso strap that goes across the chest is fully adjustable. So, you can decide exactly where you want it to rest. Perfection I tell you. Perfection.

A Thing Called Mountain Biking

Remember when I used to ride my bike and write about it? I barely do myself it has been so long... I think I'm back to blogging again. Blogging has always come in fits and bursts for me, but this bike season is looking promising as I suit back up and head back out again.

I've been mainly road biking for the past month, trying to build back up the biking legs. Yesterday, I went on my first legal mountain bike ride- whoo-hooo! Legal in the sense that many of our trails here in New England are closed until mud season is over. One by one they are starting to open back up again. So it looks like more mountain biking and less road.

Hope your season is looking fun and starting early!

Shoot Em Up

Hope you all have a shoot em weekend.

Winter Sports

I stumbled across these great winter sport photographs on flickr yesterday. The photographs are from Nationaal Archief. I must admit that these sports look wildly fun.

I've got a sheet...maybe I should give this a try...

Perhaps I can attach a sail to my scooter..

Now this looks fun, but it's my policy to never do things head first..

Gaiters

Another piece of gear that I can't live without- gaiters. They make a 5 inch tall boot a 50 inch tall boot--- preventing pesky snow and rain from getting inside the boot. I mainly wear gaiters in the winter, but if I ever get around to buying a shorter pair I would consider wearing them through other seasons.

More Snowballs

The Weekend. Lots of this.

Vintage Backpacker

photo source

I'm now completely addicted to searching for old Backpacker magazine covers. The stuff is just too good to pass up. Plus, Misty's been begging for a doggy backpack like that one.

Winter Hiking: Traction in Snow and Ice

Before I started winter hiking, I thought that I would need the best crampons/snowshoes/ what's a majig. Turns out after years of sliding around on that white stuff called snow I learned that I really didn't need all those things. Here is a brief overview of winter traction such as snowshoes, crampons, and other traction devices.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/surfzone/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Snowshoes

Snowshoes are great if you can be the first one out to break the trail. Most of the time, I can't make it out first and since all the other snowshoers have already broken the snow down significantly- I hardly ever get to use my snowshoes. A few times I've made it several miles down a trail to find that others had not hiked the whole trail- then I wished that I had brought them along. So the verdict- they're handy to have- but they may not get a ton of use.

Crampons

If you are above treeline frequently in the winter- crampons can be a nice addition to your winter gear. If you're more of a small to medium size mountain person (which I'll confess to being most days) than you might only use them a handful of times a year.

YakTraks

This is where I would put my money if I wanted to start winter hiking more. I use my YakTraks all winter long. YakTraks are great for hitting well worn winter trails- the kind where the ice has almost turned to ice it has been so well packed. They're also perfect for that in between snow and ice zone-- not enough ice for crampons and not enough deep snow for snowshoes.