If you are an adventurer who goes out on adventurous trips often then you must know about the areas of consideration before selecting the size of the backpack as it is the most important item of your trips.

Many times people bring inappropriate sizes of backpack in which their items do not adjust. Then they have to bear the consequences such as carrying things in their hands, taking other bags along, etc.
There is a wide range of backpacks available in the market and now you can even purchase a backpack online. It can be quite confusing for you to decide which backpack to buy so following are some tips that will help you in making the right decision: -

1. The first aspect of the backpack that you should consider is how comfortable is it for you. At the back of your body, you have spinal cord, which is one of the most important bones in your body. If your backpack gives pressure on the spinal cord then you will have a lot of pain at your back. It will be wise for you to purchase a bag that has two handles so that you can easily hang it over on both of your shoulders. This will distribute the burden of your bag away from your spinal cord. The handles should be foamy so that the handles do not give marks on your shoulders or pain. If there is a waist belt also attached with the backpack then it will also help you to adjust it on your back correctly. So consider those bags.

2. Then is the size of the backpack. There are different sizes available in the market and it will be a daunting task for you to decide which size will suit your needs. Women need larger backpacks than men because they have more items to keep. First you should make the list of items that you want to keep inside your backpack then estimate how much space do you want and how many pockets the bag should contain? Remember, a very large back can become difficult to carry at long journeys.

3. Next is the price of the backpack. When looking at the price you should consider the material and the style of the backpack. If you are spending good amount of money make sure that it is worth that amount. You should also make comparisons between different backpacks and then choose the item that has reasonable price according of its quality.

For the next 2 days, Google Offers has $25 for one lift ticket at Mission Ridge Ski & Board Resort.

The guns are blazing on the eastern side of the Cascade Mountains… the snow guns, that is. Come ski and ride at the Washington resort that receives 300 days of sunshine annually coupled with amazing powder: $25 gets you one lift ticket (up to $51 value) to Wenatchee’s mountain playground, also known as Mission Ridge Ski & Board Resort.

You can check out the deal here

Google Offers has a great deal for the next 2+ days, if you’ve ever wanting to go snowshoeing.

Here’s the deal: If you’ve always wanted to go walkin’ in a winter wonderland, you’ll need the proper equipment. Strap on a pair of snowshoes and journey through the snow-covered Cascadian peaks: $62.50 gets you a half-day snowshoe tour with EverGreen Escapes ($125 value).

* Explore the Cascade Mountains
* Includes snowshoes & lesson
* Knowledgeable naturalist guides
* Hot cocoa, tea, scones & fresh fruit
* Featured in Conde Nast Traveler

You can get the deal by going to Google Offers

Updated 11/18/2011

Mount Baker Ski Area will be open 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Friday at both base areas with six chairlifts operating. Snow depth Thursday afternoon was 36 inches at Heather Meadows base, and 45 inches at the Pan Dome base.

Crystal Mountain Resort was open well into July, mostly thanks to a huge snowpack last winter and the recent addition of the high-speed Mount Rainier Gondola. Crystal reopens Friday, with the gondola and Green Valley lift running 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Skiing is limited to Green Valley, which is intermediate to advanced terrain. It had 30 inches at the summit, and 16 inches at the base Thursday.

Stevens Pass opens Saturday for daily operations 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., with limited terrain on the Daisy and Brooks chairlifts. Stevens had 25 inches of snow at the base and 32 inches on the upper mountain Thursday.

Summit West at Snoqualmie will be open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Pacific Crest, Little Thunder, Dodge Ridge and Julie’s lifts will be running. . Summit West will be closed Monday and Tuesday and reopen Wednesday. It had 23 inches at the base Thursday.

Mission Ridge will be open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, then reopen Nov. 25-27. It had 9 inches at the summit, 7 inches at mid-mountain, with no base snow depth Thursday.

The White Pass Ski Area will not open this weekend but plans to open by Thanksgiving.

Thanks to this latest storm (and more snow in the forecast) we’ll be opening Summit West on Saturday & Sunday from 9am-4pm with limited operations. Chair lifts in operation will be Pacific Crest, Little Thunder, Dodge Ridge and Julie’s.

West will shut down Monday and Tuesday before re-opening Wednesday.

When the winter comes, the nature shows its other side which is also very captivating, especially in those areas where snow falls. The lakes freeze and offer a great ground for ice-skating, the hills are covered with snow offering grounds for skiing, the chair lifts show great ice capped mountains worth watching etc. There are innumerable beautiful sites when winter falls in many countries. It feels like heaven on earth.

When people get winter holidays, they get an urge to camp outside in winters and witness the beautiful sites. When winter campers camp out, their first priority is to keep their bodies warm and they have to take every necessary precaution for it. However, still many people forget taking essential measures in excitement. Below, are some points that will help people pack carefully and properly for winter camping.

1. It is not a good idea to take canned food or already cooked meals in the cold weather because the food freeze easily and then you will be left hungry. You should keep food that you can easily cook within few minutes in the boiling water. Moreover, you should take your vitamins and minerals pills, fish oil pills, etc. that will provide you with necessary nutrients and fats because fats keep the bodies warm. When camping in winters, the requirement of food in our bodies increase as compare to camping in summers because in winters are metabolism is working fast to burn the calories and give heat to the body so that we can carry out the actions in cold weather. Therefore, you should keep a lot of food items with yourself so that you feed yourself whenever you are hungry.

2. Before purchasing items such as tents, heaters, stoves, etc for winter camping. You should carefully check them and make sure that they are safe to use. For this reason, you will have to spend a lot of money. However, when you will purchase good quality items then they will not give you support for one trip but with other trips also. Hence, it will be worth spending a good amount of money.

3. In winter, it is not a good idea to sleep or lay down on grounds or cots because you are directly contacting with the cold winds that can make your body freeze. There are many insulator bags available in the market especially designed for people who wish to camp in winters. You have to wrap and hide yourself in this bag so that the cold air does not touch you and your body is still warm.

After many hours and work we have finally completed the new WildWashington site!

My name is James and I purchased WildWashington a few months ago. Yes I know the site has been neglected a little bit, but we are coming back stronger then ever. But we have big plans for the rest of this year and looking for a stronger 2012.

So you maybe asking yourself what’s new?

Whole new blog redesign and cleaned up alot of back-end code
Upgraded the forum to vBulletin, we fell this is an easier forum for our members
Upgraded the calendar and made it easier to submit events.
Updated the submit an article and made it easier to submit an article.

We’re currently looking at the directory and how to make it integrate better with the over all site, so currently it is under construction

Also we are trying to locate the former owner so we can get access to the Zazzle information, where the t-shirts and gifts are sold. So please do not order anything until we can get everything squared away. If you do order something, I can not guarantee that you will get your order.

Are you a writer/blogger? We’re looking for a few people to write content about the great State of Washington.

Do you have an upcoming event? You can start helping us fill up our events calendar.

We would love to hear from you guys on what else you would like to see added.If you have any questions, please feel free to post them or send us an email.

Thanks and looking forward to hearing from you.

The Beal Top Gun- surely one of the best single ropes around

Last week my elderly and much loved climbing rope had to be retired. My faithful 50m Top Gun had been with me for five years and during each one of those it took a pummelling- heavy indoor use, top roping on gritstone slabs, anchors built over sharp limestone corners, and of course, dozens upon dozens of redpointing whippers. Although it’s now fuzzy and the core is disturbingly distorted in a couple of places this rope stood up to rough treatment for a very long time.

The Beal Top Gun (or Top Gun II to be more precise) is a 10.5mm all-rounder. The width gives it extra durability and also allows beginner belayers a little more stopping power. It won’t run through a belay device nearly as fast as an ultra-modern 9.8mm redpoint rope. While I wasn’t a beginner all those years ago and I’m certainly not now, this rope served me well on any climb that called for a single rope.

Beal ropes are generally nice to handle. In my experience they feel softer and more pliable than the equivalents from other leading brands. Compared to the 10mm Mammut single rope used by my climbing partner over the last few years the Top Gun definitely has nicer handling. It twists less and ties off very snugly, although on the other hand it is slightly harder to undo should you take a big fall on a figure eight knot.

The Top Gun comes in a variety of lengths and with standard dry cover or Beal’s Golden dry treatment. With the standard option a durable water repellent coating is applied to the sheath. Golden Dry ropes have a treated core too. It makes the rope less prone to soaking in sea water or rain and less likely to freeze in icy conditions and also more durable, although mine only had the normal dry cover and it held up beautifully.

It’s stretchier than some of the competition too. In some ways that’s great. It means less of a jolt on long falls and reduced stresses on the pieces of gear that hold your fall, but on the other hand greater rope stretch means it’s easier to deck because you fall that little bit further.

These days you usually get a free rope bag with a Top Gun- something of a bonus as they aren’t the cheapest ropes around. Like most of the Beal range they fall at the more expensive end of the spectrum. However, if I had the choice over again I would still splash out and spend the money on a quality rope like a Top Gun over something cheap. The climbing rope should be strongest part of any protection system and you’ll use it more than any other single piece of equipment except your harness.

I’d recommend the Top Gun to anyone wanting a strong workhorse single rope, whether they’re new to the world of climbing or they’ve been cranking out hard routes for years.

About the Author

Jess Spate is a keen sport and trad climber from Wales, United Kingdom. On this side of the pond she works for Appalachian Outdoors, an outdoor gear and climbing equipment retailer.

Have an outdoors article you’d like to submit for publication? Just fill out our form. If you enjoyed this article, please share it below.

I and fellow Bellingham Men’s Group member, Ron, set a goal to climb Mt. Baker on the 4th of July, 2010. It was Ron’s idea to set a goal to climb Mt. Baker and he brought this idea to the table at our initial Men’s support group. The idea of climbing Mt. Baker was instrumental in the development of our group’s Mission Statement:

“We believe that CHALLENGING ourselves to constantly stretch our minds and bodies to reach new goals is a critical part of who we are. We are unwilling to let MS stop us from doing exactly that. MS may present limits in our lives that can redefine the challenge, but it cannot force us to stop pursuing challenges. Be it climbing a mountain or simply lifting a finger that refuses to obey our demands, we will set challenging goals and fight to achieve them. In addition to challenging our bodies to fight MS, we challenge our minds to learn more about MS and utilizing all available tools to help in the fight. We do this together in order to help support and hold ourselves and each other accountable to achieve goals.”

With our mission statement in hand and a lofty goal of climbing Mt. Baker, we charged into this adventure with our ultimate goal of reaching the top on the 4th of July.

Something to note about climbing Mt. Baker – you don’t just decide one morning to get up, put on your pack and climb to the top of the mountain. It is a 2-3 day event, climbing to the top of a 10,600 ft. glacier covered mountain. It requires specialized gear and a very experienced mountaineering guide. It also requires every member of your climbing team to be in good shape, as accent day is a 12 hour grueling climb to the top of Mt. Baker starting at 1 a.m.

Ron and I started planning the climb about six months prior to the actual climb. Ron found a fantastic local mountaineering guide, Peregrine Expeditions. We met with our guide and planned out a training and climbing schedule. He was made aware of our current medical conditions and he adapted his climbing style to meet our needs. Specifically, during our training climbs he would take more frequent breaks than with ‘normal’ climbers; encourage us to hydrate constantly; stopped for food breaks and encouraged us to eat as often as possible; and lastly, he really stayed on us throughout the six months prior to the climb about getting in good physical condition.

I work full-time 50-60 hours a week, so getting in training time was really difficult. Also, I suffer from fairly significant joint/muscle pain from my MS, so I needed to find a program that would fit into my schedule as well as meet my physical limitations. I discovered a fantastic workout program through a website that sends text messages of the 30 minute workout to your cell phone. Ron got in shape by taking these incredibly long hikes every weekend (15-20 miles in a day). Through all of this training and preparation, we both had to be very aware of our illness and to rest when we needed to rest and to workout when our energy was good.

Our first test prior to our Mt. Baker climb was climbing the North Twin Sister here in Washington state in March of 2010. This was an all day accent in the snow, with snow shoes, crampons, ice axes, ropes and climbing harnesses. The weather wasn’t very cooperative either, as it was blustery and snowy on the day of the climb. This day proved to be a valuable learning experience and also gave us an indication to our fitness level, which appeared to be on track for the Baker climb. Thanks to our guide we were able to make it up a significant part of the mountain that day even in bad conditions. With his coaching he was able to keep me hydrated (I get over heated very easily) and good food in my stomach for energy. I was exhilarated after this climb and it encouraged me to train even harder.

Well, the big day finally arrived, but it wasn’t without some drama. Our beloved guide couldn’t be our guide due to some unforeseen circumstances. We were assigned a new guide that was completely unaware of our illnesses. Both Ron and I are quite stubborn and neither of us told our new guide about having MS and that we might need some special accommodations (i.e. more frequent stops and very consistent hydration and food intake). The first day was an accent up to base camp. The climb was fairly easy, even though we were carrying 50 lb backpacks with all our gear and food. The climb on the first day followed a route called the Railroad grade. The weather was OK, but in the Pacific Northwest your really never know what you will get. The first day climb took about four hours and we set up base camp on the snow at about 6000 ft. After camp was set up we started preparing for an Alpine start (1 a.m.) the next morning. We ate really well, drank a ton of water, stripped our packs down to only the essentials, made sure our headlamps had fresh batteries, our water was full and ready to go, that our survival gear was packed and that we had the right clothing to deal with the unpredictable weather that Mt. Baker could throw at any would-be climber (Mt. Baker holds the world record for most snow fall in one calendar year).

Our guide woke us up at 12 a.m. on the 4th of July and told us to eat breakfast (who can eat breakfast at 12 a.m.?), double check our packs, and to put on our crampons, helmets, headlamps and climbing harnesses. Man, was it cold outside of my tent. When I stepped outside my tent I could see numerous other camps along the ridge that were also preparing for an accent. It was very interesting seeing all the climbers’ headlamps across the ridge getting prepared to ascend the mountain. I couldn’t believe how many camps there were and I thought it was going to be a traffic jam on the way up, especially at the most difficult part of the climb, The Roman Wall, which is the last 1000 ft. and is a very steep accent on glacier ice. We all met outside of our guide’s tents. Our group consisted of our guide, Jamie, who was 5′ 5″ tall and as strong as an ox. He had led climbers on accents all over the world, so we felt very confident in his ability to get us to the top of this relatively small mountain. Also joining us was Ron and his eighteen-year-old son, Derek. Lastly, Ron had invited a very close friend and his nineteen-year-old son to join us. Jamie had us rope up and we departed camp at 1 a.m. sharp. The weather was perfect and a half moon lit up the night sky for us. Jamie led the way up the mountain with all following at 20 ft. intervals behind and tied together with the rope. The first three hours of the hike were difficult, but pleasant. At one point when it was really clear weather, we stopped and looked back down the mountain and we could see the lights of my city, Bellingham, in the distance. We could also see the headlamps of approximately 20-30 other climbers heading up the mountain below us, and every once in while up ahead of us we could see another 10-20 headlamps, all heading up the mountain. During this time we only took one break. I was aware that Jamie was setting a really fast pace, so I was constantly trying to stay hydrated and also trying to eat and climb at the same time. It is really hard to do when you’re breathing so hard, but I knew that if I didn’t do this I would definitely get dehydrated. I had brought 1 1/2 gallons of water with me in preparation for my body’s inability to control its temperature. I thought I was well prepared.

As the sun started to peak in the eastern sky, the weather turned ugly. The wind began to blow and it started to snow. We were at about the 8000 ft. level when our guide made a stop and suggested we put on another layer of clothing as the temperature was well below freezing (remember – this is the 4th of July!). This was the last thing that I wanted to do as I was already soaking wet from sweating for the last four hours climbing up this darn mountain, but upon stopping and drinking some water and my breathing and heart rate dropping, I immediately began to feel the effect of the cold, and boy oh boy was it ever cold. I quickly took my pack and helmet off and got out some of my cold weather gear to put on another layer, which included a stocking cap under my climbing helmet and an additional base layer under my Gortex jacket, then a pair of wool gloves.

At this point I realized that I was fairly tired and we still had 2600 ft. left to climb, including the most difficult part of the climb, The Roman Wall. I took advantage of this quick break to suck as much water down as possible and to eat a couple of power bars, as my tank was on empty. The mountain seemed to have a life of its own and for some reason it seemed to be a little upset with the climbers that were on it that day. The wind started blowing harder with every foot of elevation gain. By the time we reached the 9600 ft. level and took another break before hitting the Roman Wall, our guide estimated the wind was blowing at about thirty miles per hour with gusts to fifty. He also stated that the temperature was at 20 degree F with the wind chill at somewhere around 0 degrees F. The snow was blowing sideways and it was immediately freezing to our clothes and our packs. Jamie didn’t need to tell us this time to put on more layers. We quickly got into our packs and got out more layers and put them on. I was still sweating, but was a bit cold at this point. I also knew that I wasn’t taking enough frequent breaks, but was confident that I had been hydrating well and felt fairly good about my condition heading to the Roman Wall.

We were almost to the Roman Wall and I was taking a drink from my hydration tube when I heard a gurgling – oh no – I was out of water with the most difficult part of the climb right in front of me. I had brought an emergency backup liter of water that was in my pack, so I thought I would get this out at the next break and dump it into my hydration bladder. Well, we ended up not taking any type of scheduled break the rest of the way up. At this point we started to see teams heading down the mountain, each team stating that the weather conditions were too bad and that they hadn’t reached the top.

At 500 feet up the Roman Wall I was completely spent. I could feel that my energy was the bottom of the charts as I hadn’t been consistent with my food intake as well as hadn’t taken consistent, short rest breaks on the way up. Also, I knew my water supply was very limited. Doubt started creeping into my head about making it to the top. Heck, healthy and active ‘normal’ people had turned around and couldn’t make it on this day. How in the heck were two guys with MS supposed to make it to the top of this mountain? Ron gave me a pep talk at this point reminding me about our group’s mission statement, ‘CHALLENGING’ ourselves to constantly stretch our minds and bodies to reach new goals is a critical part of who we are. We are unwilling to let MS stop us from doing exactly that. MS may present limits in our lives that can redefine the challenge, but it cannot force us to stop pursuing challenges.’

We decided at this point that we would ascend the last 500 feet one step at a time, as we had made it halfway up the Wall at this point. The wind was blowing straight down the mountain into our faces with the wind chill well below zero and about every ten minutes we had to hit ourselves to get the build-up of ice off our clothing and packs. We were the only group on the mountain that was attempting to summit that day. I have never been that spent in my life. I was breathing so hard that I couldn’t talk, my heart was beating so hard that I could hear it clearly in my ears, and to top it off it was freezing cold and we were ascending an ice wall – wow, what had I gotten myself in to?

I had to set a new goal every ten seconds or so. My goal was to take the next step up the mountain. I would do this and rest 10 breaths, then take another step and then my goal was to do that again. I wasn’t going to let this mountain or MS stop me from taking that next step. Ron was ahead of me doing exactly the same thing. I figured that if I had 500 feet left to the top and I did six steps a minute, climbing six feet per minute I would get to the top in about 90 minutes – so every six steps that I took I clicked off one less minute left to the top and celebrated a little victory. So this was my agonizing routine for the next hour and I kept taking one step every ten seconds and kept clicking off the time in my head and internally celebrating that small victory. I kept repeating to myself that this mountain was not going to beat me. Then, over the wind I heard Ron in front of me yelling something. I pulled out of my internal world and became aware that I was really close to the top. I could barely make out Jamie, but I thought he was sitting at the top of Baker about 50 feet up the mountain, and Ron making his last push to the top. All of a sudden I discovered new energy and my immediate goal became to sit on the top of the mountain with Ron. I was able to do the last forty or fifty feet in less than five minutes. It is amazing what your body can do when you put your mind to it. I sat down next to Ron on the top of Mt. Baker and looked over at him and he was crying. I immediately began to cry as well. Here we are, two big guys, sitting on top of a mountain and hugging each other and crying like little babies. It was one of the best moments in my life. I realized that I could do things that I thought my body couldn’t do. It was a matter of breaking it down to immediate and attainable goals which led to the ultimate goal, in this case, summiting Mt. Baker.

By the way, we all made it down the mountain safely and hiked out the next day. We later found out that we were the only group on the entire mountain to summit that day!

About the Author, Keith Terry

I am married to my wonderful wife Debby and we have a sixteen year old fantastic daughter, Madison, who attends Bellingham high school. We are a very active family with high school sports, snow skiing, water skiing/wake boarding, and hiking. I have been living with MS for nine years now. I find that staying active (physically) really helps me manage my illness along with medication. I started a Men’s MS support group in Bellingham about two years ago with the support of the National MS Society.

Have an outdoors article you’d like to submit for publication? Just fill out our form. If you enjoyed this article, please share it below.

The folks at Stevens Pass are sponsoring our February giveaway. Winner will get a 2 Lift Tickets for a day on the slopes.

You can enter up to 5 times by doing any of the following (If you use the blog, tweet or facebook method to enter then just reply to this post so we can properly associate each entry.)

First, register on our forums then you can enter by doing any of the following (each counts as one entry unless otherwise specified):

• Participate in our forums, either asking or answering a question.
• Submit an outdoors article to our site for publication. (We’ll give you 2 entries for published articles)
• Link to this post, on your website/blog.
• Tweet about this contest.
• Share this contest on facebook,
• Watch for our tweets for one additional entry opportunity

This contest runs February 1st, 2011 through February 28th 2011. At noon on February 28th we’ll take all of the entries and randomly select the winner. Good luck to all!

Note: Contest is open to US Residents only, 18 years of age or older. Employees of WildWashington and/or Mindraven may not participate in this contest. Click here for the Offiicial Rules.

Located 78 miles east of Seattle on the crest of the Cascade Range, Stevens Pass is a Washington day-use playground. Averaging 450″ of snowfall a year, Stevens Pass offers plenty of in-bounds steeps, cliffs and chutes along with easily accessible backcountry, allowing for some serious variety of terrain. Stevens Pass is characteristically Northwest, encompassing everything from old growth tree skiing to terrain park features that will make the most veteran riders quiver.

Knowing that the mountain environment is a resorts number one asset, Stevens Pass is also committed to environmental sustainability. Setting a precedent in the northwest, the resort runs off 100% wind power and offsets all climate polluting emissions.

In keeping up with the times Stevens Pass has embraced technology and implemented RFID ticketing into their repertoire. This new technology allows for a decrease in ticket window and lift lines, as well as purchasing daily tickets and passes online.

SPECIAL OFFERS THAT ARE RELEVANT:
Stevens Advantage Pass is a must! This “pay as you go” pass is $69 and comes with your first lift ticket included as well as significant discounts ($7 off on Weekends & $12 off on Weekdays) on each ticket thereafter. Also back your Advantage Pass with a credit card and enjoy direct-to-lift access at Stevens Pass.

WHAT MAKES YOUR RESORT DIFFERENT FROM OTHERS?
Stevens Pass has it all from easily accessible backcountry and heaps of pow days to one of the finest terrain parks in the Northwest.

IF YOU COULD GIVE SOMEONE ONE REASON TO VISIT WHAT WOULD IT BE?
If you’re into that whole powder fad you should definitely check out Stevens Pass.

WHAT SPECIAL EVENTS DO YOU HAVE PLANNED FOR THE YEAR?
Our signature event is Retro Fools Day which takes place on April 1st. Competitors bust out their retro gear and take on a downhill slalom course. The older and more rad your gear, the more time deductions you receive. Check it out it’s epic. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fclO8tx-eBY

PHYSICAL ADDRESS:
Stevens Pass
Summit US Hwy 2
Leavenworth, WA 98826

WEBSITE:
www.stevenspass.com

AREA FEATURES (restaurants, bars, shops, activities): Stevens Pass features 8 dining options including 3 bars. Check out the Foggy Goggle in the Tye Creek Lodge for a post day brew. Try the Stevens Pass Amber or the daily beer special, most likely PBR. With live entertainment almost every weekend, this is favorite spot for locals and employees.

STATS:
SNOWFALL: 450″ annually
CHAIRLIFTS: 10
VERTICAL: 1,800
ACREAGE: 1,125