Up a Mountain / Down a Beer

When choosing a site for your shelter you need to take into account a few different things. Remember that you want the entrance of your shelter to be facing either east or south east (in the northern hemisphere). The coldest part of the day is usually just prior to dawn and that early morning sun will set you right. You also want to avoid due west facing due to the fact that the direction the predominate weather patterns travel in the U.S. is west to east. The last thing you want is to have a front blow through and your shelter to be turned into a wind tunnel!

You never want to set up your shelter in an area next to a water source. Place it a few hundred feet away. This will ensure you are out of the way should the area flood as well as keep you far a way from the heavy dew that usually settles on everything come early morning.

Make sure you find an area rich in shelter building materials. There is nothing worse than having to travel a great distance to find materials. [Read more →]

Teeing off at the course in Frisco, CO.

It’s actually one of the fastest growing sports in the US, and contrary to popular belief, it isn’t just for dirty hippies.

Disc golf (known to many as Frisbee golf, although Frisbee is actually a brand name) is one of my favorite ways to burn off an hour or two on a fair weather afternoon. I’ve been playing quite a bit this year due to the advent of a 9 hole course at the community college across the street from my place. This is the third time in my life I have lived within a few blocks of a course. I swear I don’t plan it like that, it’s just that there are courses popping up all over the place.

Check out the PDGA Course Directory to find a course close to your place.

For those that haven’t tried playing yet, disc golf is very much like regular golf, minus the snooty attitudes, greens fees, and large monetary equipment investment. It is rare that anyone will ever question or complain about your skill level as a disc golfer, whereas on the ball golf course I have been cruelly made to feel inferior by complete strangers on multiple occasions. (I no longer like ball golf, do I seem biased?) Rather than a multi-hundred dollar set of clubs, an accompanying bag, a $30 box of balls, tees, a collared shirt, and some spiky loafers, a disc golfer really only needs a disc or two and at least one arm.

Tough shot through some brush. Of course I nailed it.

Golf discs are a little different than your run-of-the-mill, front-yard Frisbee. They tend to be a bit smaller in diameter, heavier, and more streamlined. Many are designed to travel a long distance when thrown, or to follow a certain path such as curving to the right or left, flying low and straight, etc. A beginner (or a seasoned player that likes a minimalist game) would really only need two discs to play a solid game; a driver disc to throw long distances, and a putter disc (usually a heavier, softer disc designed to fly short distances in a straight line and drop off sharply) for approaches and putts.

I’ve been in school full-time this semester so my outdoors time has been a bit limited, but heading over to the park or school for 18 holes is a great getaway for anyone who needs to stretch their legs and squeeze in an hour or two of outdoor time in the middle of a busy schedule. Enjoy.

It has been quite a while since I have posted anything concerning survival so I am going to start a series on the subject. The series will cover various topics ranging from the mental aspect to firecraft, shelter building, food and water procurement, and others, as well as list some of the books on the subject I have utilized in the past.

Please feel free to ask questions if you have a particular question on survival. I will try to get at least a post a week on survival for the next coming weeks, this of course will be mixed in with the rest of the mindless bantering I usually spew.

For now these are some of the posts from the past:

• Universal Edibility Test
• Pitchwood, Fatwood, Lighterknot
• C.O.L.D.
• Rules of Three
• Ten Essentials
• S.U.R.V.I.V.A.L.

Imagine a great night camping, you’ve had a nice hike in and enjoyed the sunset with a warm meal and you snuggle into your sleeping bag to snooze, your dreams shift from that pristine crystal clear alpine lake to wildfires and carnage, bunnies with singed fur and all. Suddenly you wake realizing it is your hair that is singed or your highly flammable sleeping bag!!!! This is no joke and it could happen…

I just got this notice concerning the fire hazard of a few of these very popular headlamps.

Do not use rechargeable batteries with any of the Petzl MYO series headlamps sold from Feb 2003 thru Aug 2008. When the lamp is used with rechargeable batteries, if a short-circuit occurs in the cable connecting the battery case to the lamp, the cable can spark, melt, or catch fire. This poses a burn hazard to the user.

Apparently there were at least 13 separate cases of melt down, one of which burned the users hand and a few others that singed hair.

US Recall News has a complete list including model numbers for the warning which covers around 322,000 units so please if you or some one you know uses a MYO or MYOLITE3 check the numbers.

If you own one of the headlamps it is safe to continue using it WITHOUT rechargeable batteries. It appears that Petzl plans on sending out a warning sticker as a means to remedy the problem. However I will gripe a bit more and trade mine in where I bought it. Fire is scary stuff!!

CONSUMER CONTACT: FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION, CONTACT PETZL AMERICA TOLL-FREE AT (877) 740-3826 BETWEEN 8 A.M. AND 5 P.M. MT MONDAY THROUGH FRIDAY, OR VISIT THE FIRM’S WEB SITE AT WWW.PETZL.COM

The above Petzl site has great info about the warning as well as a brief Q & A to help with some concerns.

For years daredevil Eric Scott has been dreaming of flying, but not by plane, or hot air balloon or even catapult. Eric Scott has dreamed of flying using a thing of sci-fi legend, drum roll please…A Jet Pack!!

This weekend he realized his dream by piloting his hydrogen peroxide powered jet pack at a speed of over 75 mph. While not exactly Eric’s first flight, it was his longest and definitely the most dangerous, this flight took Eric over the Royal Gorge!! The total flight time was 21 seconds and covered a distance of 1500 feet.

Fortunately Jetpack International has offered the T-73 model up for sale for the measly fee of $200,000 but that comes with comprehensive training! The T-73 is their top of line model that can lift a 180lb person and carry them in flight for 9 minutes covering a distance of 11 miles!! How would that be as a way to get around!

Yeah I know this breaks from the over all theme of UpaDowna but come on, seriously who hasn’t dreamed of owning their very own jet pack??? Maybe one day I will really get to be Boba Fett!!

I stole this off of Brownie’s blog and thought it was UpaDowna worthy.

rocks

No shit, there I was (fantastic, incredible, tell us about it muthafucker!) down at the rock gym. Minding my own business, thinking I’m a total badass because I’m working my way right up through all the rec routes.

Ex-stalkee girl sneaks up behind me and says, “hey, could you come help me with this problem I’m setting?”

I figure she wants me to tighten a fake rock to the wall or hold a ladder or something, so I follow her. She leads me over to the hard part of the gym, which I only visit if I’m cutting through there to get a drink of water, and says, “climb this and let me know what you think.”

So as I’m getting into the sit down start, which is already above my skill level, she tells me the route is a V5. I’ve completed V0 before, but it hasn’t been very pretty. Being an idiot, instead of letting her know I’m in way over my head, I try the route. I actually made it three moves into the problem in my lame attempt to impress her (by far my best three moves ever), but then on the fourth I fell hard to the real rocks below with a thud.

She looks at me pathetically and says, “Oh…well…it’s an easier route for shorter people.”