Exploring Ice Caves in Juneau, Alaska
“Brice, what is one thing you would want to do in Alaska?” Me: “Crawl in an ice cave”. Now this wasn’t an ‘ice tunnel’ but it was pretty great adventure out at Mendenhall Glacier. Hiking through Time...
View ArticleGoats and Glaciers on Cairn Peak
On my first day off in Juneau, I told Sadie I wanted to climb a mountain in a long day. Unfortunately with Sadie’s broken thumb still healing we would be unable to heli-climb one of the esthetic...
View ArticleMulti-Sport Alaskan Volcano Island Adventure
While in the previous capital of Russian-America (Sitka, AK), we took two full days to kayak 14 miles through pristine SE Alaskan islands, backpack 14 miles (3000 ft) up the Mt. Edgecombe volcano and...
View ArticleEstablishing the New “Hole in the Goat” Mountaineering Route in Alaska’s...
Wrangell-St. Elias National Park is America’s largest park, “it is the same size as Yellowstone National Park, Yosemite National Park, and Switzerland combined.” Additionally, it contains 60% by volume...
View ArticleAn Adventurers Guide for Driving to Alaska
My recent trip to Alaska had a lot going on. I worked as a digital nomad for three weeks and took three weeks off, established a new mountaineering route, hiked, kayaked, climbed and played around with...
View ArticleClimbing Bear Creek Spire – North Arete to 13,700 feet
Bear Creek Spire is found in the Eastern Sierra past several alpine lakes and a mile of talus where the North Arete (5.8, 10 pitch) starts above 12,000 ft. It was also my first date with Sadie Skiles...
View ArticleMountain Project Admin Meetup at The City of Rocks
Every year the good people at Mountain Projects (now the Adventure Projects branch of REI) put on an informal meetup for all their Admins. We pick a place, our hosts grab a campsite and bring a cooler...
View ArticleA Lamb, Oz & the Hobbit Walk into a Bar
Tuolumne Meadows is the alpine granite wonderland sibling of Yosemite Valley’s long aesthetic crack climbs. Tuolumne is known for its easy moderate alpine climbs like Cathedral Peak as well its runout...
View ArticleFrozen Legs in Yankee Doodle Hollow
I typically don’t do wet canyons which is why I shoot for B rated canyons at maximum. However, Yankee Doodle Hollow had a rep: beautiful photos, RoadTripRyan listed it as A/B and a wonderful slot...
View ArticleWeird Adventures at Whipple Cave
The drive east across Nevada is desolate and mostly sand. Fortunately, Sadie and I the interesting and rare Whipple Cave on our route from Mammoth Lakes to SLC. A vertical drop into an unregulated cave...
View ArticleScrambl-eering on the Island in the Sky Traverse
Inside one of the best hidden gems in Utah is a sandstone behemoth called Island in the Sky. Most climbs go part way up its face, but there is a traverse which gains its summit and traverses a...
View ArticleUltimate Crack Glove Review
Ocun was the first, Outdoor Research (OR) was the second and then in March 2020, Black Diamond (BD) came to the table with their offering of crack gloves. Now with three options, its time to review the...
View ArticleBattle of the Big Gear: An Off-Width Protection Review
The ultimate buying guide to big gear is here! In this review, these burly pieces of protection chicken wing, arm bar and leviathan their way to the award podium. It makes me dream of an offwidth...
View ArticleGood Bye Social Media, a Digital Trashcan Fire
This week I am deleting my Facebook accounts and will no longer post to instagram. These platforms haven’t worked for small unique contributors like Backcountry Nomad and have lost their ability for...
View Article[1] Finding that Cliff to Develop
This story is the first a part of a series on Route Development. Click on this tag to see all. Route/Rock/Crag/Cliff development, is the unsexy cousin of the super fly First Ascent everyone wants a...
View Article[2] Cliff Development Tools of the Trade
This story is part of a series on route development. Click this tag to see all. I started with the basic tools and after blowing out a couple pairs of gloves, banging my knuckles, struggling to clean...
View Article[3] Work Smart, Not Hard. Route Development Techniques and Tips.
This story is part of a series on route development. Click this tag to see all. One of the things I realized from my first development project is how much repetitive work you have to do if you go back...
View Article[4] Drilling, Bolting and Learning
This story is part of a series on route development. Click this tag to see all I was excited, it was my first time… hauling a dense and heavy pack containing a 36V hammer drill, two charge packs and...
View ArticleOh Shit, The Anchor Blew on the Rope I was Ascending
I had a near accident in the Spring of 2020 while I was out developing my crag. I already had a fixed my static line in the Welcome to Nightvale area. However, I wanted to start working on a 30m crack...
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