Author: Alpine Stewards

Posted on

The best ways to repair your outdoor gear and keep it lasting longer

Have a backpack that is starting to wear out? Puffy jacket with a small rip and leaking some feathers? Asking yourself “How do I repair my ……..?” Here is your go to place to learn about different do-it-yourself gear repair options and other commercial services.

Why repair your gear?

1) $$$, outdoor gear is expensive and you can save hundreds to thousands of dollars over the course of a lifetime keeping gear alive longer.

2) It’s better for the environment. A ton of outdoor gear is made from plastic based material and we all know less plastic is a good thing. By repairing gear and not buying new you can significantly reduce how much lifetime plastic you consume.

3) I personally enjoy knowing the many adventures that my gear has been on me with and take pride that some of my stuff looks a little beat up. It’s also great to learn another skill to maintain the things you own.

Repair Tools and Materials

Shoe Goo is a staple for short term repairs on both my climbing shoes and regular hiking and mountaineering boots. It it is really easy to use and for my climbing shoes has definitely extended the time in between getting them resoled. I end up using it on the toes a lot as I still somehow seem to drag my toes while climbing.

Here you can see where I have applied the Shoe Goo on the toe to keep any slight dragging from wearing down the toe further. Eventually I will have to get them resoled but this allows me to use them longer till then.

Tenacious Tape by GEAR Aid is my second most used gear repair item. It is also extremely easy to use. Simply clean the area around the rip, apply the tape, then stick down. GEAR Aid also has precut round patches available as well. If you have any questions on which one to use GEAR Aid has a great page here to determine the best one for your application. There are also some fun precut patches available as well in outdoor themed shapes.

Here you can see the patch on my Mountain Hardware South Col 70 backpack that I bought used. The only thing wrong with the backpack was a small rip there, I patched it after purchasing and it has held up for over 3 years now through some serious abuse.

Seam Grip by Gear Aid is also another amazing tool to have in your gear repair kit. This is used for sealing the seams on your outdoor gear to restore it’s waterproofing. They also have a model that works for your tents as well to keep them lasting longer. The seams are generally the weak area where water will intrude first so this is a great way to fight that.

Outdoor Sewing Kit by Gear Aid, once again Gear Aid has a nice and compact kit with almost all of the essentials on sewing together any of your gear. The only thing it doesn’t have is something heavy duty enough to punch through some of the really thick material out there. That is where the next tool comes in handy.

Speedy Stitcher is the best tool for sewing when the material gets really thick. This kit also includes several needles and course thread. One small tip I also found online is that you can also use dental floss for a thicker and potentially longer lasting sewing material.

Leather conditioner for gloves, whether this be for ski gloves, climbing and belay gloves, or any regular leather gloves. Hestra Leather Balm is a great option but I have even been known to use some regular kitchen olive oil to keep the leather supple on my scrambling gloves.

*Years ago I found the Chasing Mastery website while looking on the internet about how to repair my gear. Sadly the website is no longer still up but many of the ideas I found there live on in this post.

Don’t feel up to repairing it yourself? Check out my other post here where I list out some of the great privately owned gear repair shops around the country. Also if you have any other go to products to keep your stuff lasting longer let me know and I can add it to this post!

Reach out to me at alpinestewards@gmail.com to be added to the mailing list to be updated when new posts come out.

Posted on

A quick visit to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks in 2020

What to do with a week off in October in the middle of a pandemic and mostly dreary looking forecast? Normally this would have probably involved a flight to somewhere warm and sunny but that was off the table for safety reasons. @hungryjewlz and I decided instead, that a road trip was probably our safest option, and allowed for more locations depending on how the forecast went. Several options were discussed but ultimately we decided on visiting Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks.

The drive to Yellowstone was thankfully uneventful and soon we arrived in West Yellowstone and spent the night. We had grand visions of dirt bagging it in the truck for most of the trip but forecasted temperatures in the teens drove us to warmer accommodations.

The weather wasn’t look great for sunrise but we got up early and headed to the Lamar Valley knowing it is generally a good spot to see wildlife. We didn’t luck out for a sunrise but the valley itself it is a beautiful place. The wide open valley was such a contrast from the Cascades where peaks jut into the sky and the valleys are steep and narrow. We soon started to see some wildlife and quickly realized big zoom lenses are necessary here.

We stumbled across a big group of vehicles parked alongside the road and a fairly large crowd gathered on the hillside. These were the wolf hunters and we excitedly learned there was a pack of wolves relaxing across the valley. As you can see in the photo below my 300mm lens was nowhere near big enough. Oh, the wolf is that tiny black shape….. Soon we got bored and decided to see what else we could find in the park. A herd of buffalo stopped us on the road and to our surprise a coyote lingered in the background of the herd for a few moments.

Next we wandered around Mammoth and the Mammoth Hot Springs area and enjoyed the out of the world terrain that the hot springs creates there. While challenging to photograph the textures and shapes were alien yet organic at the same time.

The next day we headed in to try for sunrise and again were thwarted by heavy clouds and little light. We made an unplanned stop along the river were we found a herd of elk slowly starting their day too. It had been years since I had heard a bull elk bugling and it brought back fond memories of my childhood hunting with my dad.

Old Faithful was next and proved to be on time, though the rows and rows of empty benches was another reminded of the pandemic. We soon headed to the Grand Prismatic spring and were blown away by this one. The fleeting views between gaps in the steam revealed colors that were mesmerizing and hypnotic. The brilliant blues reminded me of glacial ice but instead of a cold frozen world, it was boiling hot. On the way back to our vehicle we had a to close encounter with a grizzly, I won’t go into too much detail but always carry bear spray in Yellowstone!

We continued south making our way towards the Tetons but a quick stop at the West Thumb Overlook trail proved to be one of our favorite part of the visit. The elevated boardwalk was fun to walk on and see the multitude of smaller hot springs from all angles.

Soon it was time for my first visit to Teton National Park and as we drove closer the Tetons proved worthy of their praise. The jagged skyline revealed itself slowly as we headed south and soon the iconic range dominated our westward view. We stopped at several places along the way to draft out our plan for sunrise and sunset shots. There are some classic viewpoints including the famous Snake River Overlook where Ansel Adams took his classic photo. Our favorite stop though was when we pulled over and spent some time with a herd of horses as they grazed in pasture with the Tetons in the background.

https://jacobmchenryphoto.smugmug.com/Yellowstone-and-Grand-Teton/i-37Vh67H/A

Over the next two days we explored the area, taking photos, and appreciating the beauty of the park. Finally on the last evening of our time in the park we got the epic sunset we were searching for. The video below is from the time-lapse I took on my iPhone X and below are some of the shots from the sunset. All of these are available on my photography website.

This was just a small taste of the Tetons and I can’t wait to go back. I am slowly considering adding to my bucket list the goal of reaching the high point of all of the National Parks so climbing the Grand may certainly be in my future.

To check out these photos and others in much higher quality follow this link to my photography page. Thanks again for following along on my adventures!

For further reading I recommend:

Yellowstone National Park History

Grand Teton National Park History

Grand Teton Mountaineering

Posted on

Best Gear Repair Companies Including for Climbing Shoe Resoles

One of the best ways to take a step of stewardship is by keeping our gear alive longer. Gear repair is something I didn’t think of much and while yes it can take a little bit of work it can save a ton of money and be much better for the environment. Most of the environmental impact of our gear and outdoor clothes are in the production of them. So why not buy less and keep our gear working longer? Rocking climbing shoes are probably my worst offender and waiting too long to get them resoled. So having a place where I can drop off to get them resoled is crucial. Check out the links below for places to get your resoled.

Climbing Shoe Resole

Vertical Resole based out of Yakima, WA and at this time is offering drop off services at Vertical World Seattle

The Rubber Room out of Bishop, Ca with some fantastic reviews. Check out the video below to see how resoling works.

Greater Tahoe Gripworks is La Sportiva’s exclusive Authorized North American resoler and specializes in some of their fancier rubber like the No-Edge style shoes.

Gear Repair

Rainy Pass Repair another Seattle based gear repair shop. They have several corporate partnerships and are an authorized Gore-Tex repair shop.

Vibram offers a virtual cobbler experience and also works with local cobblers to facilitate getting your shoes and boots repaired. Check it out here

As always add a comment with any other shops you know of so I can add to the list or feedback on the shops above.

Posted on

Best Places to Buy Used Outdoor Gear

Seattle Area

Wonderland Gear Exchange I have sold quite a bit of my extra gear there and picked up some great deals on a few used items as well.

Portland Area

Next Adventure has a basement section devoted to used gear

Colorado

Boulder Sports Recycler is a Boulder, CO based consignment shop with 25+ years in the business. It’s awesome to see a outdoor focused consignment shop be in business that long and they proudly have the mindset of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

Corporate Options

REI is now starting to be much better about selling used gear in store and online. They also have a new trade in program as well. I haven’t used it yet but curious to see how well it works. If anyone has tried it let me know!

Arc’Teryx just started selling used gear as well. As expensive and well built as their stuff is I am very curious to see how they do.

Online

Facebook Marketplace can be hit and miss. Local options for Puget Sound area are Mountaineers Market Place and Mountaineers Gear Trade, Swap, and Sell

Isellaoutdoors is female owned and ran Outdoor Consignment business. Proceeds from their sales fund gear scholarships to combat toxic gear culture and empower women, BIPOC and other marginalized identies to access the gear they need to get out and adventure.

Have you bought used gear before? How was your experience and would you recommend? Please comment below and let’s have a conversation about how we can change the perception on used gear. Also if there are other resources I missed please let me know and I will get them added.

Posted on

Two days of bouldering in Joshua Tree NP

At the end of 2020 we started a drive down to Arizona and had two days in Joshua Tree National Park to try our hand at bouldering there. We arrived late in the afternoon of New Year’s Eve and were able to catch the last moments of the sun as they settled in the west. We got up early the next morning and headed to Hidden Valley Campground to see how well our bouldering skills measured up.

For the first part of the morning we started exploring the Hidden Valley Campground Boulder circuit and promptly got shut down hard. It was still rather cold, we weren’t warmed up yet, and the problems were much harder than we expected.

I ended up ripping open a finger tip and everyone was feeling a little frustrated with the problems so we moved over to The Womb and Manx boulders. There we had much better luck and really started to enjoy the feel of bouldering on the amazing rock at Joshua Tree.

After getting through half a winter in Seattle we all enjoyed the sunshine even if it was still a little cold.

After getting shut down so hard on some of the other “beginner” boulders in the area the Manx boulders were a perfect morale booster for us all. After spending some time there we decided to try out a new spot before the sun got to low. We ended up working on the Echo Rock Traverse which was a fantastic slab traverse in the Echo Rock area. Everyone enjoyed the fun movements as the Joshua Tree shadows stretched further onto the slab.

Soon the sun began to set and the temperatures plummeted with them. We packed up our stuff and headed into town for the evening. The weather forecast for the next morning looked promising so an early start was necessary to try and get some sunrise photos in. Our planning and lack of sleep paid off and here are some of the results.

There is just something amazing about Joshua Tree and the emotion of the place. It’s something intangible and one that I don’t have the right words to express yet but it is sublime.

We soon met up with the rest of our group and started to climb again. Actually we started to get humbled again as the “easy” bouldering circuit at Cap Rock again proved very difficult. It was a great walk around the area though and we appreciated seeing some of the classic problems there that were way beyond our skill level. The stoke was still high as it warmed up and we settled on getting some attempts in on The Hatrack boulder. None of the problems here ended up being that easy for any of us but it was fun regardless.

Soon we were hitting our time limit though which meant we needed to head out of the park and off to our final destination in Arizona. The time was short in Joshua Tree and the problems were hard but once again I left there having a ton of fun and a deep sense of admiration for the climbers there.

For those curious about the history of the indigenous peoples that came before us check out here and for the National Park history go here.

As always, if you want to purchase any of these photos check out my photography website for some of my favorites there. If you don’t see the one you like send me an email and I am happy to do a custom print for you. Thanks for reading and happy bouldering!

error: Content is protected !!