Category Archives: Beyond The Bunkhouse

Stories, events and contributions outside of the NEM guided services.

Top 5 Beginner Winter 4000 Footers In New Hampshire


Not long ago, A friend of mine asked which 4000 footer should he tackle as his first winter 4k peak. He already had his winter equipment figured out from local lower elevation hikes like Mount Monadnock. He is also a decently experienced “fair-weather hiker” looking to extend into the winter months.

That’s a tough question to answer! So, I decided to write this article about it. I tried to approach this as a progressive 5 step program instead of just listing off the easiest 4000 footers. If I could do it all over how would I plan it? I’d Start off easy, and lead into the tougher stuff to round it out. It’s important to remember that this is purely my opinion! So here they are, the top 5 winter 4000 footers for beginners winter hikers. Continue reading →

So You Want to Ski In the Chic Chocs?

Over the Border and Through the Blizzard to The Chic Chocs We Go.

CONTRIBUTION FROM NEM GUIDE, COBY JACOBUS

SOMETIMES, YOU JUST GOTTA GO. WITH PERMISSION OF COURSE.

We all have that one friend who shoots out a random text about some crazy trip to a far away place with mystical blower powder. Well…that’s Ryan Gibbs to me! His Instagram name is @powdergibbs for god’s sake!

Right after Christmas he texted me about this crazy idea to ski some amazing Canadian powder in the Chic Chocs. The drive he said is only eight hours…from Orono, ME. I don’t live in Orono though, so tack on another 2.5 for me! Great!!! 10.5 hours of driving with only a guide book, some random online searching and words from friends and friends of friends! This is a stupid idea I thought. I even told Ryan, “Ryan, I don’t know man, my wife will kill me, I’ve got a dog and a 7 month old at home. Its a lot of driving and we don’t even know if the snow is gonna be good.”

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Three Options to Keep Your Hands Warm This Winter

We spend a lot of time thinking about which layers to buy for our legs and torso, but often times the hands get left out of the mix. Since we layer our clothing on the rest of our body, it makes sense to do so on our hands as well. Here are a few options for layering a combination of gloves and mittens to keep your hands dry and toasty in the backcountry.

Although we use the word “layering”, we are really referring to the different glove and mitten layers that we wear throughout an adventure. Unlike our torso, we rarely add one layer on top of another. Why you ask? The answer is simple. Our hand is the one source of heat so the glove or mitten is doing it’s best to trap the heat and warm the air space around your hand. If you fill that air space with glove material, there is less air to heat and your hands will actually become colder.

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