“Why I Don’t Use Ski Pole Straps” The past few winters, I’ve spent a lot of time with a few guys who never ever wear pole straps. They have their reasons and I always assumed I understood them. Today during a conversation, my buddy Patrick said he had skier thumb and he was accused of wearing pole straps. “You know what would fix that skier thumb? Stop wearing pole straps!” – Nick “Nick, I haven’t skied with pole straps for 14 years.” – Patrick Right then I realized how serious these guys were about not wearing poles straps so I stopped their conversations and […] Avalanche Miles Clark | February 10, 2021 31 Comments
Why Does San Francisco, CA Rarely See Snow? Interestingly enough, the San Francisco Ballet recently asked this question to the California Academy of Arts and Science in San Francisco: “Why does San Francisco rarely see snow?” What’s cool is that San Francisco does get snow occasionally and there is great photographic evidence. We nearly saw snow last week with temperatures dipping below freezing in San Francisco. So, why does San Francisco so rarely see snow? The answer, says the California Academy of Science’s Curator of […] Brains SnowBrains | December 10, 2013 3 Comments
Brain Post: Why Are These Goats on This Dam in Italy? This image of goats (actually Alpine Ibex) impossibly walking on the near vertical Cingino dam (80º) in Italy has been going viral on the interwebs. This dam is located in Northern Italy’s Gran Paradiso National Park and these great photos were taken in 2010. It’s an impressive and death defying feat that they’re performing, but why? Why are they risking their lives to walk on this dam? The answer is simple: Salt. Park officials have stated that the goats are walking out onto the dam to lick salt and minerals off the dam’s stones. But, there’s another answer: Safety. When these goats are on this 80º dam, they don’t have to worry about predators […] Brains SnowBrains | December 6, 2013 1 Comment
Brain Post: Why You Eat When You’re Drunk We’ve all done this.  You have a few drinks (or more) and you come home and eat like crazy.  It makes sense because it seems to help dilute the booze, help you sleep, and make you less hung over in the morning, right?  Not exactly. Amazingly, researchers in the UK, Holland, USA, and Spain have been looking into this stuff […] Brains SnowBrains | June 19, 2013 1 Comment