- Grizzly bears will also usually move along if they sense a human nearby. Try to make your presence known as often as possible when you travel through grizzly territory. Human noises work best, so try to keep a conversation going, or shout “Hey, bear! Coming through!” if you see signs of a bear in your vicinity.
- When surprised, grizzlies attack more often than black bears, but the same “threat” mentality applies. Back away, speaking in a strong but soothing voice, showing the bear that you mean it no harm. Read More …
Gear Articles tagged ‘outdoor survival’
Dealing with Grizzlies: How to Prevent Attacks
By: Genevieve Mount and Toni Isom | June 23rd, 2010Mountain Lion Tips
By: Genevieve Mount and Toni Isom | June 22nd, 2010- Make noise while you hike. Most mountain lions will leave if they hear people coming.
- If you see a mountain lion, do not run. Running will stimulate the “chase and attack” instinct, and four powerful legs outrun two human ones.
- Do not approach the lion. Give it a way to escape. Most mountain lions will avoid confrontation (unless they have cubs with them or are very hungry).
- Maintain eye contact and face the mountain lion. Make yourself appear larger by raising your arms, opening your jacket, or holding your backpack over your head.
- Speak in a firm voice.
When You Hear A Rattle: Rattlesnake Safety
By: Genevieve Mount and Toni Isom | June 22nd, 2010- Keep your distance from the snake – most rattlers will leave you alone.
- Go around the snake at a safe distance if the terrain allows. At best, rattlesnakes can strike a distance of two-thirds their total body length (this means a three-foot-long snake can snarf a bit of your leg within two feet of where they lie). Play it safe and give them a wide berth.
- If you can’t go around, throw a few small pebbles around the snake from a safe distance (this is not a squash-the-snake game, you’re just trying to get the snake to move).
Black Bear Attacks: What To Do
By: Genevieve Mount and Toni Isom | June 21st, 2010- Most black bears will high-tail it when they hear or smell a human. While being loud and ripe with B.O. is a social no-no in the human world, it’s a good idea in bear country.
- If you surprise a bear on the trail, back away while speaking calmly and choose a new route or wait for the bear to leave the area.
- Avoid eye contact. This is perceived as a challenge to bears and may change their attitudes from “What’s that weirdo doing?” to “What the hell are you staring at? I’ll rip you apart, smartass!” Read More …
Preventing Animal Attacks
By: Genevieve Mount and Toni Isom | June 21st, 2010
Happy Solstice, everyone. Now that warm weather is officially here, we implore you to be careful out there. Because along with heat of summer comes something else: deadly animal attacks!
To kick off the summer season, we’ve compiled some tips (and some shockingly realistic videos) on how to handle animal encounters. Over the next few days, keep an eye out for the advice and the video that just might save your life. Read More …
How to Stay Safe in a Lightning Storm
By: Catherine Greenwald | June 1st, 2010
It's getting to be that time of year
To date, two people have been killed by lightning in 2010 and 24 have been injured. As we head into the summer, those numbers are destined to spike thanks to the increasing prevalence of afternoon thunderstorms and the simple fact that more people are spending time out of doors. In fact, June, July, and August account for 73% of reported lightning strike incidents.
True, your odds of getting struck are fairly low (about one in 500,000 in any given year) and much better if you don’t live in Florida, Michigan, New York, or Texas. If you get unlucky, you still have a nine-in-ten chance of surviving the strike. However, lightning strike survivors are very often never the same as before, suffering ongoing symptoms including memory loss, headaches, fatigue, depression, joint pain, and insomnia. (Heightened extra-sensory powers have also been reported, but don’t count on it.)
So how do you avoid becoming a statistic? You’ve probably heard all this before, but as a public service we’ll run a few reminders by you. Read More …
When To Purify Water
By: staff | May 24th, 2010
The difference between water purification versus filtration is that purification eliminates viruses, whereas filtration does not. Most purifying systems use a chemical component to destroy viruses in addition to regular filtration. Read More …
Avalanche Rescue: 4 Questions with a Guide
By: Justin Mool | May 18th, 2010
Photo courtesy: Petra Cliffs
Last month, three unlucky skiers were caught in a large avalanche in the Alaskan backcountry. Guide Steve Charest of Petra Cliffs and one of the skiers were taken for a ride and partially buried. The other skier was fully buried and nowhere to be seen. Read More …
Buried Alive – Conversation with an Avalanche Burial Survivor
By: Justin Mool | May 18th, 2010
Photo by: Steve Charest
A few weeks ago I was on the last leg of a red-eye from Los Angeles to my home in Vermont. I was haggard. As I was zoning out at my window seat, a young woman sat down next to me, looking equally as tired. “Are you as ready as I am to get back to Burlington?” I asked.
“You have no idea.”
With a knowing smirk, I waited patiently for the typical sob story of missed connections, bitchy airline employees, and lost baggage.
“I’m coming back from Alaska … I was caught in an avalanche.” Read More …
Avoid Altitude Sickness: How to Acclimatize
By: Adam Riser | May 13th, 2010
Mt Rainier (14,411ft) as seen from sea level
Proper acclimatization allows your body to adjust to both the lack of available oxygen in the air and the lack of barometric pressure experienced at high altitudes. There are a few different ways to acclimatize, but your decision on which strategy to use depends greatly on your chosen route, climbing style, and personal genetics. Read More …
Avoid Altitude Sickness: Threats of Altitude
By: Adam Riser | May 12th, 2010
Andy Chapman above 6,000-meters in the Cordillera Blanca, Peru.
As a result of the lower barometric pressure at high altitude, the air (and the oxygen in it) becomes less dense (fewer molecules per unit of volume), so you cannot get as much of it into your lungs. Have you ever put a bag of chips in your car and then driven over a pass? The bag that was about half full of air will be bursting at the seams by the time you’re a few thousand feet higher. Though the amount of air in the bag hasn’t changed, it’s under less pressure than it was at a lower elevation. That expansion is similar to what’s happening to the air around you when you climb a peak. However, while the atmosphere around you is expanding, your lungs are the same size, so each breath you take has a lower percentage of oxygen than it did at a lower elevation.
As you near the poles, the atmosphere becomes less deep (there’s less distance from sea level to the edge of the toposphere at the poles than there is near the equator). So, comparable air density decreases happen at lower altitudes at the poles than they do at the equator. As a result, altitude changes have larger physiological impacts near the poles. For example, 20,000 feet in Alaska feels higher than 20,000 feet in Peru.
No matter where you are, you have to take more breaths at a higher elevation to make up for the lack of oxygen in your body, so even just walking around feels like you’re running. This lower barometric pressure and decreased oxygen may cause a number of life-threatening illnesses, so proper acclimatization is key on any trip to a big peak. Read More …
