I did a late winter campout in a super shelter, demonstrating the basic contents of my shelter kit. I'm not sure what the temperature was overnight, as I forgot to take along a thermometer, but the forecasted low was 17. There was a little bit of snow and graupel throughout the night also, but fortunately little wind. I wore wool socks, thin polyester/cotton pants, a long-sleeved polypropylene undershirt, and a knit cap, while sleeping in only a lightweight emergency bivy bag. When the fire died down every couple of hours, it got somewhat uncomfortable (though not once to the point that I shivered), but when it was burning well I was not cold at all. I did not wear my coat at all during the whole campout, other than when I walked back in to my site after dark, and when I got up to break camp in the morning. It did, however, hang from the tree and make a nice cover over most of my pack to keep the snow off! Sorry once again for audio issues and shaky camera work. There are a couple of segments when I thought there was enough ambient light to film, but obviously I was wrong. I also know I need to use a tripod more often in order to stop jiggling the camera and to get things in frame, and I may possibly get a wireless microphone someday to capture decent sound quality when moving around. Meanwhile, it is what it is. Hopefully this video will be of some use and help to clarify some of the things I said in my shelter kit video. If you have any questions about any of the gear or techniques shown, feel free to ask away in the comment section.

More fun times and variety in my training. The first ladder set was six reps with 90 pounds in hand. The second set, four reps with 90, and an added 40 pound vest. I followed that with three rounds of alternating loading a 126 pound natural stone and a 175 pounder. By the final rep my grip was just about gone, and my legs felt a bit weak. On a positive note, the 126 pound stone that I used to struggle with felt quite light in comparison to the other. It would be fairly easy if it wasn't for the jagged edges on it. After these sets I did some slow cardio on the cross-country ski machine, and split a bunch of firewood. It may not be a very conventional workout but I'm enjoying myself (and really hammering my core stabilizers)!

The promised follow-up to my original East-Side Cascadia video, this one discusses some of the effects a massive CSZ quake would have on the east side of the Cascades. I apologize for the unexpected battery failure and the subsequent delay in filming the postscript. Life happens. :-)

This was my third time doing high-rep squats with 205 pounds. In my second attempt on May 2nd I managed 30 total rest-pause reps before re-racking the bar. The mission today was to use the same weight but get more total reps. When I took my first short rest I knew I had at least a few more reps in me than last time, simply based on my increase in unbroken reps to start off the set. Then I just had to keep grinding, ignore the pain and fatigue, and get it done. By the time I hit 30 reps my quads were trembling quite a bit, I was struggling to get adequate air, and my back was raw from the knurling. That's when I had to dig deep and knock out just one more, and then another and another... There's really nothing I have experienced that I can compare to the full-body agony of high-rep squats. Stairs may be a challenge tomorrow, which makes things interesting, since my office is in a basement. If you want to skip the talking and jump straight to the squats, go to about the 3:20 mark.