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Just catching up on this Agatha Christie plot twist thread. In the century-old tradition of "The Perils of Pauline", in which each episode ends with a damsel-in-distress cliffhanger, Erica punches out the best cliffhanger closing lines I've ever read in a trip report, including the "wrong...

Gamma, I think you mentioned in another thread that you make wine but not from grapes. Did I get that wrong? Anyway, could you explain what you will do with all that wine, especially if you keep making more. Do intend to use it all, sell it, give it away?

Thanks for the interesting snow trekking and camping report, Michael. The fluid colors in this photo create a surreal effect:

Thanks for the mid-winter paddle report and the pictures. Were you in your MR Explorer or what?

While the headline uses the word "navigation," the text of the article doesn't claim Apple iOS Compass is a navigation app. Here's what it says: "The compass app installed on every iPhone is accurate and handy. Teaching navigation to college students, I often deal with students arriving to...

I'm not familiar with these kind of apps, but this article reviews seven of them. Chip in if you have experience with these apps or others. https://paddlingmag.com/gear/accessories/electronics/best-navigation-apps/ Best for topo types: CalTopo Best for river trippers: NRS PaddleWays Best...

Interesting. He skied down K2 in 2018, seven years before Everest. I watched the movie. The drone photographic technology was not nearly as good as it is now. Here is a version that edits out all the narration splices and history and just focuses on the descent. I like watching climbing...

Non-skier here, but you ski folks are amazing and your photos are awesome. This reminds me of an impressive video I watched last week of Andrzej Bargiel, who summited Everest in September 2025 with no oxygen and then skied all the way down from the summit to the base camp. His slowing, turning...

Indeed technology has advanced exponentially during my lifetime, but tempus fugit. 1956 was three generations ago.

Not photos of my father's originals . . . But when I was 12 in 1956, I was communicating with all of you at 5 WPM with this device. A year later, when I qualified for my general license, I was communicating with you at 15 WPM (or faster) with this much more modern device—a "bug"—which had a...

Thanks for that video. I've never drilled or used a canoe with lining holes, but my understanding is that they should be low enough so that they are just above the cutwater when the loaded canoe is being lined or tracked. Robert, your DF 15 is so customized that I don't recall whether it has...

The most spectacular water freeze I've ever seen was from an airplane in the mid-1980s. I took off from Albany, NY, airport to get a connecting flight in Chicago. The pilot deliberately flew low over Niagara Falls and even dipped his wings so we could see it better. The whole thing was frozen...

Tom, you have significantly changed your tune since the OP. There, we had "aging canoeists" looking to shave weight from their Curtis Northstar and asking whether the NS Polaris is less stable than the Curtis Northstar. We still don't actually know the answer to the stability question. I'll...

The 2026 annual Assembly of the Wooden Canoe Heritage Association (WCHA) has been changed from its usual location at Paul Smith's College in Paul Smiths, New York, to Keuka College, which is in the Finger Lakes region of New York. It will be held from July 14-19. Paul Smith's College is...

The Malecite may not meet the lightweight objectives of the OP, @tketcham. Many years ago, when I was in the market for a composite tandem, I test paddled three 16'-6" canoes (among others): the Mad River Malecite, Bell Northstar and Wenonah Solo Plus. At the time, I was not nearly as obsessed...

I assume the Northstar Polaris hull is simply a slightly stretched version of the Bell Northstar hull. One reason I assume this is that the webpage description of the Polaris says: "Skilled paddlers raved about the performance of its predecessor and we named our company after it." The second...

Tom, you seem committed to the Polaris, which sounds like a fine canoe to me. My general musing about tandem couples progressing into an old age tier, a tier which you are not yet in, was not directed at the specific tandem canoe choice topic of this thread. Just a tangent, close to home. I'll...

I lost track of this thread when it took a long carve into skiing, which I've only done once in my life (in Yosemite). But I've sat in lots of ski resorts while I paid through the nose for three kids' rental equipment when we lived in the Catskill Mountains for eight years. What do I do in...

A long pedestal would be possible but sort of heavy and klutzy. Sliding seats have been common for many decades, including ones that can slide over 12 inches or more. When you slide the seat off center, you will have moved your body weight fore or aft but, unless you adjust your gear load below...

I'll offer a different perspective for a useful and desirable tandem canoe—just in general, not focusing on specific brands or models. The perspecive is that of an empty nest couple who are in their 70s through early 80s. In particular, where one paddler is a lot more experienced than the...