Click to listen on your favorite podcast app! In this episode of Gear Abby , host Shawnté Salabert and producer Colin True kick off the year by easing back into listener questions with a mix of thoughtful ethics, practical physiology, and a healthy dose of bureaucratic reality. What starts with reflections on winter safety and outdoor education quickly turns into a wide-ranging conversation about fires, fluids, permits, and the fine line between optimism and logistical hell.

Click to listen on your favorite podcast app! In this special end-of-year episode of Gear Abby , host Shawnté Salabert and producer Colin True ditch listener mail in favor of interrogating each other. The result is a wide-ranging, deeply nerdy, and occasionally unhinged conversation that blends wildlife biology, outdoor industry reflection, and a full-blown gear-of-the-year showdown. Equal parts reflective and ridiculous, the episode feels like a campfire conversation where t

Click to listen on your favorite podcast app! In the latest episode of Gear Abby , host Shawnté Salabert and producer Colin True tackle some of the most quietly judgmental corners of outdoor culture—those moments where people wonder if they’re doing the outdoors “right,” hoarding too much gear, or willingly subjecting themselves to freezing misery for a good cause. The result is an episode that dismantles outdoor status games, celebrates thoughtful decluttering, and offers a

Click to listen on your favorite podcast app! In the latest episode of Gear Abby, host Shawnté Salabert and producer Colin True take on some of the most gloriously niche problems an outdoor brain can produce: climbing chalk ethics, poncho pride, and the logistics of dropping a deuce when everything is frozen solid. “The Great Chalk Debate, Poncho Town & The Snow Poop Protocol” leans hard into the mix of humor, gear-nerdery, and real talk that’s become the show’s trademark. Qu

Click to listen on your favorite podcast app! In the latest episode of Gear Abby, host Shawnté Salabert wades into the big emotional, existential, and extremely practical questions of outdoor life. From what happens to our ashes in national parks to whether love really blooms on long trails, how not to die (or freeze) while ice fishing, and what rain shells are actually worth obsessing over. Spreading Ashes, Ice Holes & On Trail Meet-Cutes! is equal parts tender, nerdy, and d

Click to listen on your favorite podcast app! In the latest episode of Gear Abby, host Shawnté Salabert wanders from bookshelves to snowfields to elk harems to satellite signals. “Sexy Elk, Big Decks & Women Adventure Writers!” serves up exactly what it promises: big feelings about representation in outdoor literature, practical beta for winter curious folks, real-talk wildlife etiquette, and a surprisingly heartfelt ode to non-phone electronics in the backcountry. Question 1

Click to listen on your favorite podcast app! In this episode, Gear Abby comes in hot with two spicy debates (permits and tent footprints), cool everyone down with plein-air watercolor wisdom from guest artist Latasha Greene (Jitterbug Art) , then map out U.S. options for European-style hut hiking. As always: humor + hard facts + actually useful takeaways. Question 1: “Permits are stupid.” (…and how to talk your brother off that ledge) A listener asks for ammo to convince her

Click to listen on your favorite podcast app! If you’ve ever wondered whether it’s possible to enjoy nature and  your creature comforts at the same time, this week’s episode of Gear Abby  is for you. Shawnté tackles some of the most delightfully disgusting, oddly profound, and completely necessary outdoor questions yet! From redefining what it means to be “outdoorsy” to dealing with backcountry water hazards and an untimely trail shart. Question 1: Can I be outdoorsy if I’m b

Click to listen on your favorite podcast app! In the latest episode of Gear Abby, host Shawnté Salabert and producer Colin True celebrate double digits (episode 10) with a mix of trademark chaos, honesty, and hard-earned outdoor wisdom. From spooky trail stories to frisky trailhead advice, this installment swings (sometimes literally) between fear, therapy, and freedom. Question 1: The Scariest Outdoor Moment Listener Jess  asks about Shawnté’s scariest outdoor experience. Th

Click to listen on your favorite podcast app! When British explorer George Mallory was asked why he wanted to climb Everest, he famously replied, “Because it’s there.” But what if the real answer is simpler and potentially more beautiful? Today on Open Container , Doug  explores the deeper meaning behind Kilian Jornet’s “States of Elevation” project , a 3,200-mile, human-powered journey linking all 72 fourteeners in the lower 48 states . Jornet ran, climbed, and biked his way

Click to listen on your favorite podcast app! In the latest episode of Gear Abby , host Shawnté Salabert and producer Colin True explore everything from elite mountain running to backcountry bidets and dog-friendly tick prevention then wrap with a deep gear dive into a very fuzzy fabric. Pre-Question: Mindfulness, Meditation & Messy Feeling The show opens with Shawnté confessing that she’s back in therapy and newly into meditation... sort of. Colin teases her about doing it o

Click to listen on your favorite podcast app! What happens when you build trails that everyone  can ride? In this episode of Open Container , host Doug Schnitzspahn  talks with Berne Broudy , writer, filmmaker, and director of Best Day Ever , and Greg Durso , adaptive athlete and Senior Program Director at the Kelly Brush Foundation . Together, they share the story behind Best Day Ever, a film and movement that began when a few friends realized their local trails weren’t acce

Click to listen on your favorite podcast app! In the latest episode of Gear Abby , host Shawnté Salabert  and producer Colin True  tackle the full spectrum of outdoor awkwardness: from trailside wildlife encounters to underwear performance reviews and the ethics of inflatable flamingos. Episode 8 manages to slither, shimmy, and splash through a set of questions that perfectly capture the mix of humor and hard-earned wisdom that makes Gear Abby  such a must-listen. Pre-Questio

Click to listen on your favorite podcast app! On this episode of Gear Abby , Shawnté Salabert juggles listener backlash, bear safety,...

We go to the outdoors to find healing, to find resilience. But how resilient is the natural world on its own? I often think of Gerard...

Click to listen on your favorite podcast app! On Episode 6 of Gear Abby , Shawnté Salabert and producer Colin True dive into another set...

Click to listen on your favorite podcast app! Welcome to Open Container, where we unpack the most urgent issues facing the outdoor...

Click to listen on your favorite podcast app! On this episode of Gear Abby , Shawnté Salabert and producer Colin True fielded listener...

Can time in the mountains make you a better person? I think about this question often. My time in wild places—on peaks, in the beautiful...

Click to listen on your favorite podcast app! Welcome to Open Container, where today we're discussing one of the defining features of the...