Wilderness Skills

Ditch Your Stakes: A Guide To Alternative Shelter Anchors

Mike Clelland! has gone stakeless!

Packraft Rating (PR) System

Roman Dial demystifies whitewater for the packrafter wanting to understand the natural progression of learning to packraft in the context of increasingly difficult whitewater.

An Ultralighter Paddles on the Dark Side: Packrafting a Remote Canyon “Heavy” Style

Packrafters need to limit their gear so it fits on the bow of their six-foot-long craft. This means dehydrated food for dinner, sleeping under a tarp and wearing wet clothes dry. What is river running like when big rafts haul the food and gear...Can an ultralight packrafter be enticed to the dark side?

Decision-Making and the Lightweight Pack

Carrying a lightweight pack has consequences, but they might not be what you think.

Hypothermia

Avoiding and treating hypothermia in the backcountry with ultralight equipment.

Trekking Techniques for Early-Season Conditions

Andrew Skurka's insights and techniques for early season trekking can dramatically increase the length of your normal hiking season.

Reducing Winter Pack Weight: Wood Fire Cooking in the Snow

For the hardcore ultralighter, cooking over wood fires in the winter offers a way to substantially reduce pack weight on longer trips, adds a bit of warmth around camp, and forces you to learn fire skills that just might save your life someday.

Backcountry Cookfires: Overview and Techniques for Cooking Over an Open Flame

Bill Stadwiser explores the practical and emotional rewards of cooking over wood in the backcountry.

Ultralight Gear and Techniques on the Edge of Winter with Backpacking Light’s Wilderness Trekking III Program

The gear chosen by the Wilderness Trekking III course participants and leaders

Take the Load Off: Using Pulks to Travel Over Snow

Pulk techniques for winter travel over snow

A Lightweight Guide to Backpacking in Sustained, Cold Rain

Techniques, gear and clothing to keep your pack light and a smile on your face during continuous days of rain.

Camera Selection Basics for the Lightweight Backpacker

Features for a lightweight backpacker to look for in a digital or film camera.

Backcountry Fly Fishing: Lightweight Gear and Style

Outdoor writer Larry Tullis brings a lightweight ethic to backcountry fishing.

Can A Sane Person Truly Enjoy SuperUltralight Backpacking?

SUL for the masses? Perspectives on comfortable gear - with a suggested gear checklist - for a non-technical canyoneering backpacking trip requiring less than five pounds of gear on your back.

An Old Dog Learns New Tricks – How Lightweight Technology Keeps me on the Trail at 70

How lightweight backpacking gear has kept the author on the trail at 70.

Considerations for Selecting a Lightweight Backpacking Stove

Backcountry Hygiene for Ultralight and Long-Distance Hikers

A short primer on the topic of backcountry hygiene to help you minimize the risk of contracting stomach-borne illnesses while in the backcountry.

Packrafting: An Introduction to Wilderness River Running with a Packable Inflatable Boat

Fast and Light with Gary Scott: Lightweight Backpacking and Climbing Strategies

Wireless in the Wilderness: An Overview of Communications Technologies for Backpackers