Podcasts
- GEAR • Gear Reviews
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- GEAR • Gear Guides
- GEAR • Gear Checklists
- GEAR • Make Your Own Gear
- GEAR • Gear Testing & Research
- SKILLS • Tips, Tricks, and Hacks
- SKILLS • Wilderness Skills
- SKILLS • Training
- SKILLS • Trip Planning
- SKILLS • Food Preparation
- PLACES • Trips
- PLACES • Routes
- CULTURE • Essays
- CULTURE • Stories
- CULTURE • Issues
- CULTURE • People
- CULTURE • News
- CULTURE • Media Reviews
- ARCHIVES (Before 30.Nov.2015)
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- TRAILHEADS
Episode 146 | Dirtbag Rich with Blake Boles
Ryan Jordan interviews Blake Boles, author of Dirtbag Rich, about redefining wealth through time, purpose, flexibility, and outdoor freedom. They explore dirtbag culture, careers, housing, relationships, risk, and the pursuit of a life built around adventure, simplicity, and meaningful time outside before retirement.
Episode 145 | Backpacking at Altitude
How altitude affects backpacking performance, sleep, fatigue, acclimatization, and AMS - with practical strategies for planning safer trips.
Episode 144 | Trail Steepness vs. Difficulty
How physiology and biomechanics shape hiking effort across terrain - and why slope doesn’t predict time or energy linearly.
Episode 143 | Managing Fatigue
This episode presents an operational framework for fatigue management in backcountry travel grounded in a non-circular load–fatigue–capacity model. Load is defined as external demand, fatigue as accumulated physiological and cognitive degradation, and remaining capacity as current ability. Risk is treated as the ratio of current load to remaining capacity. The discussion emphasizes field-relevant behavioral levers that reduce load, slow fatigue accumulation, and improve recovery.
Episode 142 | The 72 Hour Backcountry Reset
Why 72 hours in the backcountry delivers lasting mental reset: attention, stress, sleep, and decision-making—plus 24-hour options.
Episode 141 | Hiking at Night in a Blizzard
Critical winter layering, handwear, footwear, lighting, and navigation systems for safely hiking out through a sub-freezing blizzard at night.
Episode 140 | Winter Storm Decisions
Use a six-question framework to decide whether to stay put or bail when winter storms, terrain, and fatigue raise backcountry risk.
Episode 139 | Repair Kits
Learn how to build ultralight repair kits using context, consequence, and capability. Ryan Jordan compares short-term and expedition trips and addresses how to fix shelters, packs, footwear, lighting, and water treatment without carrying excess gear.
Episode 138 | Plan-Focus-Trust
Learn the Plan–Focus–Trust framework and discover how preparation removes fear, presence builds clarity, and trust turns small wins into lasting confidence - a mindset for wilderness travel and life goals.
Episode 137 | The Risk Control Continuum
Learn how to manage backcountry risk using the Risk Control Continuum framework: use hazard triggers, control layers, and field tools like the HEAT and ECG checklists to detect drift, make better decisions, and stay safe in the backcountry.
Episode 136 | Fringe Season Layering
Debunk wicking myths, optimize thermoregulation with hydrophobic base layers & utilize shell layers effectively to help with fringe season layering in the backcountry.
Episode 135 | Field Notes – The Metabolic Cost of Bushwhacking
Understand how brush work, impedance work, and hazard work explains the true metabolic cost of bushwhacking and how resistance, rhythm, and stability impact energy.
Episode 134 | Sleep Quality in the Backcountry
Disrupted backcountry sleep affects recovery, judgment, and safety. Learn how altitude, stress, and gear impact rest, and discover strategies for better sleep.
Episode 133 | Human Waste Management
In episode 133 of the Backpacking Light podcast, we challenge traditional cathole practices, advocating for pack-out systems in alpine, desert, and high-use areas based on science and LNT ethics.
Episode 132 | Satellite Messenger Weather Forecasts
In Episode 132 of the Backpacking Light Podcast we talk about satellite messenger weather forecasts.
Episode 131 – Ultralight First Aid Kit Strategies
Learn to design ultralight first aid kits for backcountry travel, matching modular kits (Overnight, Weekend, Expedition) to trip demands. Avoid errors, maintain your kit, and understand the medical rationale for each.
Episode 130 | Bivy Sack Camping
Discover Ryan's discreet bivy sack camping methodology for alpine environments, encompassing essential gear, requisite skills, and a critical analysis of tent practicality. Embrace the experience of open-air slumber.
Episode 129 | Field Notes – The Limits of Wilderness Minimalism
Ryan Jordan examines wilderness minimalism under stress, using physiology, psychology, and Stoic philosophy to analyze five high-risk scenarios.
Episode 128 | The Metabolic Cost of Carrying a Backpack
What does it really cost your body to carry a backpack in the backcountry? In this episode, we explore the science behind the metabolic demands of load carriage - how pack weight, load distribution, terrain, and walking speed impact energy expenditure. (included: interview with pack designer Dan Durston.)
Episode 127 | Field Notes – Shelter Fabrics
In episode 127 of the BPL Podcast, Ryan Jordan explores shelter fabrics: strength-to-weight, waterproofing, coatings, pitch stability, storm resilience, strength-to-weight ratios and waterproofing to coating quality, pitch stability, and storm resilience.
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Garage Grown Gear Hidden Gems
Discover under-the-radar ultralight gear from small brands.
