• Happy Discovery of DNA Double Helix (1953)! 🧬

Recent content by Mason

  1. M

    Photo of the day

    They're cruiser (4x32) specced, so they should be close to an Advantage. A bit fuller though. Apart from depth, they paddled similarly to the 17 C1F, which preceded the Advantage racer (current Advantage is detuned from first model).
  2. M

    Photo of the day

    I've loved mine for over 40 years! I'll probably get buried in it (or cast off as a pyre).
  3. M

    What's changed for better or worse over your canoeing lifetime?

    Benson, your knowledge and research are greatly appreciated! I remember the term Warsaw Rocket but had no idea its origin, and was around Blue Hole and MR boats in the 70s (sorry, Old Town wasn't as popular in the southeastern rivers then. I did sell and own Old Town in the PNW in the early 80s...
  4. M

    Getting in and Getting out

    Put your butt in first, then swing your legs around. Works in solo and tandem.
  5. M

    What's changed for better or worse over your canoeing lifetime?

    What's gotten better? Having money and time. I bought my first solo canoe in 1983--even as a dealer getting it wholesale, I couldn't afford Kevlar. However, at 51 pounds, it's still useable and is a delight to paddle. I'd rather carry my current 36 pound Kevlar boat. Wood bent shaft paddles...
  6. M

    Thawing out on the Eno River, NC

    I paddled the Eno while in college in 1979, with my geology professor (and wished I had taken more geology!). And then went to the Eno River Festival and listened to Doc and Merle Watson, may they rest in peace! Fun times.
  7. M

    Best Navigation Apps for 2026

    Very true! However peering from x thousand feet over rapids of interest sure is fun! Here is the rapid that killed Art Moffatt on the Dubawnt River in 1955 (see "Death on the Barrens", by George Grinnell, or Skip Pessel's "Barren Grounds: The Story of the Tragic Moffat Canoe Trip"). With lots...
  8. M

    Best Navigation Apps for 2026

    Good info. For those of you interested in the variety of satellite images for planning, here's an interesting comparison. I'm looking at a series of lakes with a thin stream (aka river) connecting, wondering how reasonable this trip is. Here are three available satellite images referenced in...
  9. M

    Best Navigation Apps for 2026

    I use printed maps almost exclusively for onsite navigation. A standalone GPS is used only for lapses of befuddlement. However I'm currently planning a long trip in Nunavut for this summer. For this planning, I've recently started using CalTopo (on my desktop), as one of the other paddlers...
  10. M

    Obsolete Stuff

    But can you do it in semaphore?
  11. M

    Back Country Skiing

    He also skied down K2, a much more technical mountain. K2 Ski descent. And Jim Morrison recently skied the north side of Everest (Morrison ski), after his partner Hilaree Nelson, died skiing Manaslu with him. And for the old timers, there's The Man Who Skied Down Everest (Everest ski) about...
  12. M

    Back Country Skiing

    And then there's ski mountaineering (not to be confused with skimo!). Ropes, harnesses, ice axes and crampons come to mind. Oh, and sometimes carrying your skis, perhaps for miles......
  13. M

    Back Country Skiing

    More Yep. BC skiing can take you to some wild areas! And to think all that snow eventually turns to water, which flows into rivers and lakes. Everybody wins.
  14. M

    Back Country Skiing

    Yep!!
  15. M

    Cimarron vs CCS Lean+

    I've used a pyramid tent (Black Diamond Megamid, similar to the Seek Outside) as a backcountry ski trip cook shelter, and the largest CCS Lean on long canoe trips as a bug/rain shelter. The pyramid tents are popular for winter ski trips and mountaineering, where you can excavate under the tent...
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