Hike/Climb Devil’s Tower

by Erik Olsen on

Are you one of those who sits down to a meal of mashed potatoes
and immediately see the shape of Wyoming’s Devil’s Tower in the pile of frapped spuds? Well, then you’ve likely been
contacted by aliens and you need to hustle there now because you’re ride is waiting.

But even if you don’t have visions of the tower embedded deeply in your skull, you still might consider climbing this
b*tch, cause I understand it’s a lot of fun. Rough work, but fun. To do so, you need to hook up with an outfitter like
Devil’s Tower Climbing, and pick up yourself a guide. For years they
have helped even neophyte climbers ascent the 1,267 foot stumpy pillar that was featured so prominently in Close
Encounters. Once up topp, you can walk around the flat-topped summit and catch the glorious views below. And if you’re
real lucky (and can hum the right tune), you might get yourself a one-way ticket to Alpha Centauri.

Northwest Mountaineering Journal

by Erik Olsen on

As I was cruising around the Web checking out Northwest-related outdoors stuff, I stumbled upon a real jewel. The
Northwest Mountaineering Journal is an online, annual
record of mountaineering in the Pacific Northwest whose mission is to documents “the events, people, history and spirit
of climbing and other mountain sports in this region”. It’s published by a
few NW faithful in conjunction with one of the biggest and
best known groups in the region: The Mountaineers.

Sadly, I could only find one issue online, but it is a
really fine piece of work. The articles here cover some of the best
routes in the region, as well as climbing/outdoor
personalities and a bit of
history. I’d love to see them do another issue or
two, but if that doesn’t happen, what they have up is still pretty sweet.

Mt. Rainier Primer

by Erik Olsen on

A buddy of mine just got back from summiting Mount
Rainier in Washington, and the effort gave me the idea of posting some Rainier resources here at gadling for folks
who might want to tackle this monster. To many folks in the Northwest, climbing Rainier is a right-of-passage, the must
do thing before you slip into the cloudy and mountainless netherworld. But it ain’t easy. The weather is harsh, at
times deadly, and the mountain’s 26 glaciers make it a seriously dangerous climb. Other dangers are altitude (the
summit reaches 14,410 into the sky), True paranoids might also be concerned that Rainier is an active volcano, and some
scientists have predicted it could blow, a la sister peak Mount St. Helens, any day now. But rookies have done it and
lived to tell the tale.

But let’s say you want to take on the beast of the Northwest. How do you go about it? Well, two of the best
outfitters in the area are Rainier Mountain Guides and
Mount Rainier Alpine Guides, run by Eric Simonson and Paul Baugher, both
long-time climbers. RMI is owned by Peter Whittaker, the nephew of Jim Whittaker who was the first American to summit
Everest. So you know you’re in good hands. Check out these places and plan the best time to try the mountain. Summer is
obviously best, with June, July and August being prime months.

Now, if you want to scope out the mountain itself, and figure out the best route up, here’s a list of the
best routes from
the folks at Mountainweb, a site I recently discovered and like a lot.

So that’s our Rainier primer. Happy climbing!

National Parks: The Best and Worst

by Erik Olsen on

I have raved here so often about how great our National Park System is in this
country that I sometimes get tired of hearing myself. I apologize for the drumbeat, but if there is one thing we should
be proud of in this country when it comes to government, it is the NPS. That said, there are some parks that rule and
some that suck. Some National Parks or Monuments or whatever, get their designation as a result of pork, because some
Senator or Congressman wants to dedicate the place that taffy was invented as a National Historic Site to please his
constituents.

So as consumers of the National Park System’s goods, to put things in strict economic terms, it is important for us to
know which parks are good and which are not. And that is where
this list by National
Geographic Traveler comes in handy.  This is serious stuff. They’ve got some of the best folks in the world to
help them rank the parks: scores of park staff, scientists, environmentalists, etc. The
folks who know
what they are talking about. They rank the parks from best to worst not just in terms if whether the park is great or
not, but also according to whether the park is facing pressures from over-visitation, pollution, infrastructure
degradation and so on. Parks
like the Grand Canyon, Yosemite and Carlsbad Caverns, the list suggests, are being loved to death.

This is an excellent piece that really shed some light for me on what is going on in the parks system, and it could be
used as an excellent guide to help you determine which park to visit for your next vacation.

MSR Whisperlite Internationale Stove

by Erik Olsen on

I’ve been wanting to write about
this stove for a while because I love Whisperlite products
and because it’s one of the first to be very small, yet burn different fuels.

The WhisperLite Internationale stove was designed to
keep up with hard-core mountain and camping types who want to carry as little as possible when they are out (and
doesn’t this pretty much apply to everyone?), but who still like a good hot meal. To meet this demand, MSR
devised this solid multi-fuel burning version of the WhisperLite Shaker Jet Stove. This is a great
multi-purpose stove that gets the job done, and packs very tightly into a bag about the size of a fist.

You can use MSR White Gas, kerosene, jet fuel or even auto gas…not bad.  Thankfully, MSR added a
larger-diameter fuel line just in case you are4 forced to use poor quality fuel. And MSR’s Shaker Jet technology
ensures that the stove jet can be cleaned by simply shaking the apparatus.  Still not sold? You can check other
reviews of the
stove
here.