Blog

Views: 0

If you thought wing-suit base-jumping was cool, wait till you see the stunt by Swiss aerial daredevil Yves Rossy.

With a jet-powered pack strapped on his back, the dashing Jetman jumped from a helicopter and flew across the Grand Canyon, a feat more dangerous than his previous adventures with the backpack.

The jet pack does not have any controls except for a grip throttle and the only instrument on it is an audible altimeter. Rossy is the only man alive who can control it.

It’s a red bull culture spoof with a stupid but death-defying stunt. I love how the dinghy bounced.

via The Goat

It was a marketing stunt by the shoe company Hi-Tec that gave them a lot of attention after the video was launched. This of course is a good thing (for them) even though the company later had to admit that it was all a hoax – a well intended one. Here’s part of the press release that attempted an explanation to what they were trying to do:

“We wanted to create a piece of entertainment around our hydrophobic footwear and get people talking and thinking about the brand differently.  The idea was to take a traditional form of marketing and totally turn it around on its head, in the process of capturing the fun spirited side of our brand.  The reaction to the viral has surpassed all expectations; with people all over the world debating whether this could indeed be possible or not and even trying to do their own Liquid Mountaineering.  We’ve seen a number of entertaining attempts appear on YouTube and other places on the Web.

“After the initial buzz and well over 4 million views on YouTube to date, we thought it was finally time to come clean and unveil to the world that Hi-Tec were behind the viral.  Whilst our shoes have some amazing liquid repellency features, even we still can’t walk on water…it was all a well intended hoax.”

Here’s the video which has now attracted more than 8 million views on YouTube:

Here’s a great compliment to the video above (they call it hydro-sprinting instead – pretty hilarious):

Doug Scott, arguably the UK’s second most famous mountaineer after Chris Bonington, is on tour in Scotland over the next few days. His illustrated talks, Himalaya Alpine Style and Life and Hard Times, can be heard at venues such as Portree and Livingston, and he will also be in Edinburgh and Glasgow as part of a Greater Ranges supergroup along with Peter Habeler, Tom Hornbein, Hamish MacInnes and Paul “Tut” Braithwaite.

More info at Caledonian Mercury

There were rumors that Oprah was going to go camping. It turns out that rumor was true.

Oprah and the ever present Gayle King went on a two-day camping adventure at Yosemite where among other things she did fly fishing, learned the fine art of camp cooking and went on a trip to a Fresno REI.

The Mission:

via Backpacker

Backpack chairs have been around for quite a while but not like this one. Two students created a backpack chair that you don’t have to take off your back to sit on it.

David Hirsch and Brendan Isbell will share the $10,000 scholarship awarded by the national 2010 Innova Awards which recognizes outstanding imagination, innovation and learning in science, technology, engineering and math.

More info at Gazette.com

Getting into an outdoor sport on your own can be extremely difficult and sometimes dangerous, even for low risk activities like backpacking and fly-fishing. You almost always need someone to introduce you to an outdoor activity and there’s an unwritten etiquette that needs to be followed by the beginner so that they won’t make their first a trip a bad one for everyone.

Here are some of them:

• Always be kind and courteous
• If in doubt, ask
• Don’t just stand around watching; Ask with smile on your face what you can do to help
• Take a stance of humility
• Don’t butt others out
• Be enthusiastic or try very hard to be
• Don’t ask the same thing multiple times. Pay atention the first time, ask for clarification the second time and do it right the third time.
• Don’t expect your hand be held the entire way

Following these rules will increase your chance of getting invited to the next trip.

Full post at The Daily Evergreen

For the Glenns, summer began the middle of May when they set up camp and hung their official “Campground Hosts” shingle on a tree in front of their campsite.  In an arrangement with the US Forest Service, the Glenns agreed to spend the months of May, June, July, August and September as liaisons with campers who come to the campground to spend anywhere from one night to two weeks.

And their reward? A free campsite with electricity, water, sewer and phone for their 28-foot camper.

Their duties? Locking and unlocking the gate to the campground each night and morning, cleaning the restrooms, and, most importantly, serving as a focal point for campers in this remote area where there is no cell phone service nor any of the conveniences we take for granted in less remote areas. If there is a medical emergency, or a situation needing law enforcement, the Glenns can make a call to get the necessary help.

Story at the Daily Mail

Fall always strikes me as a reflective time in the year. Often people get together for one last big camping trip, hiking trek, weekend jeep expedition, or mountain bike ride. Stories are passed around the camp fire. Memories of summer are recalled. Lots of laughter and reminiscing happens as the sun sets in the west and the marshmallows catch fire over the flames. I always remember fall trips with the family to see fall color in the mountains, riding in the back of the pickup truck, or camping in a canyon in the mountains of Utah. Or memories of deer season, hunting with dad, blaze orange vests contrasting with yellow and crimson leaves in North Canyon, and slices of spam sizzling in the pan over the Coleman stove. Good times indeed.

Taken from Cibola Beacon

1. Walking Weekeng, Isle of Wight – The Isle of Wight is 500 miles of well-maintained, signposted footpaths aimed at making walking accessible to everyone including children
2. Enchanted Forest, Perthshire – Renowned for their autumnal displays of color which coincide with the Highland Perthshire Autumn Festival from October 22 to November 7
3. Cycling the Fens, Cambridge – A new cycle route, The Lodes Way, has opened up inaccessible tracts of Wicken Fen, Britain’s last remaining area of undrained fenland.

See the rest of the activities at Telegraph.co.uk

If there’s electricity, it’s not an off-grid cabin. Here are the positives and negatives of one off-grid camping experience in particular.

Positives:

• It’s cold and raining outside but we’re dry, safe, and cozy in a private cabin.
• We have a wood stove and collected plenty of drywood before the rains came.
• We just ate a delicious dinner.
• Our laptop has enough stored energy to write this blog entry.
• We have each other.
• We have a living room.
• There’s an area rug.
• We have a refrigerator.
• We haven’t seen a mouse yet.

Negatives:

• We have no electricity.
• We have no indoor toilets, and it’s raining outside.
• There was no dessert.
• We have no hot water.
• With only one candle, it’s kind of hard to read.
• It only has one chair.
• Said area rug is a flattened piece of discarded cardboard.
• We found mouse droppings inside.
• There are loads of indoor insects.

via The Huffington Post

If you think the near future is going to be a disaster, you need something like this –

It’s called Shelf Reliance Thrive, and it consists of 5,011 servings of freeze-dried or dehydrated white rice, winter wheat, green peas, diced onions, sweet corn, sliced apples, ripe raspberries, lima beans and elbow macaroni with a shelf life of thirty years, not to mention 30 litres of imitation bacon, beef and chicken. These are constructed out of something called Textured Vegetable Protein, the taste and texture of which, Costco promises, “is consistent with real meat.”

This is advertised as being enough food to preserve one person against famine for one year, or to keep a family of four alive in its suburban home (or in its Chevrolet Suburban) for three parlous months, counting down the lima beans to doom. Price: $799.99 US.

Now that’s a lot of food and hopefully you won’t be needing it, ever, but no thanks to what’s happening in the world today and the “Republic-like hyper-inflation”, the Shelf Reliance Thrive seems to be doing quite well.

Read more of the scary stuff.

Tracy Williams went on a camping trip her family and connected to nature but not without the convenience of modern technology. While high tech camping gear can be quite expensive, she still saved a lot of money compared to last year’s World Disney World vacation (at least $4,000).

Here’s an excerpt of her story:

Camping. Isn’t it all about getting back to nature, the intimacy with grass and trees and rivers while stripping down to the bare necessities of our modern day lives.

I am the outdoorsy type. I can “rough it.” Or at least, I use to could.

In my younger days, going tent camping, “primitive camping” it is called, was considered recreational. It was also a great way to have a cheap vacation with the kids.

These days, my back craves memory foam, my hot flashes crave an air conditioner, my hair craves a shower, hair gels and ceramic hair dryers, my breakfast food requires a coffee pot and a toaster, making my comfort zone high on my priority list. Anything less is miserable. Camping is, and can be— miserable.

However, I am all for an adventure and when the fall break vacation trip was planned, three pairs of eyes starred hungrily at me when the dirty word ‘camping’ was pitched. Flashes of memories made by a campfire, the best tasting eggs and bacon, the sound of quiet made me say yes, but my enthusiasm waned quickly as hubby began announcing plans. Happily he exclaimed, “It’s going to be in the forties at night, maybe thirties.” Great, I thought, cold camping. Had to be better than hundred degree camping which I endured during the summer for one night, but thirties? Must camping be always in the extremes?

Read the rest here.

Some pretty high tech gear you might be interested in:

Below is your typical camping experience:

As novices to camping holidays our gear was pretty basic. We had a borrowed tent, two air mattresses, decent sleeping bags and a fold-out table and chairs. Our travel stove and gas lantern were about as luxurious as we got, and even then the gas ran out on our lantern about three bites into dinner the first evening.

Here’s glamping, South African Style:

Within hours the campsite filled with Landrover Defenders dangling jerry cans, seven-man tents the size of small houses and children so accustomed to camping that they have no problem hooking up the Cadac gas canister to the three plate stove while Mum peels the potatoes for dinner. One couple told us tales of camping across Zimbabwe where they peered from their rooftop tents as wild game walked beneath them. Their entire family is hooked on camping and all sixteen of them were pitched in the same area with a large circle of camping chairs in the middle for the evening bonfires.

It’s not the glamping I expected when I first saw the title of the article, one that involves a huge luxurious tent with comfy beds, expensive furniture and high tech camping kitchen but it’s glamping all the same. It’s probably the reason why camping is so popular in South Africa especially with so many wild and wonderful places to explore.

Read more at the Telegraph

1. No beer around the campfire – for a lot of people, beer around the campfire and having a good time with friends is the best part of camping. A big No-No when you’re pregnant.
2. Uncomfortable beds – for a pregnant woman, probably nothing is good enough to sleep on, not even a really good air mattress on a good camping cot.
3. Pregnant women pee a lot – a camping toilet in a privacy shelter helps but it’s no fun especially when they’re already having a hard time trying to sleep.
4. Mosquitoes – it turns out that most insect repellents are harmful to pregnant women. Always check the label.

via CafeMom

p.s. Two camping chairs that might be great for pregnant ladies are the Brobdingnagian Chair (used with a stool if too tall) and Alps Mountaineering King Kong Chair

Autumn is not the end of camping season. For some people, camping season has just started and you’ll love autumn if:

• you find camping in a hot tent uncomfortable
• mosquitoes annoy you
• you agree that being outdoors in cool weather is much more comfortable
• the backcountry seems fresh
• you love the sounds of autumn
• you think a hot mug of coffee tastes better in cool weather

According to the guys at Bellingham Herald the best places to camp in autumn are as below:

• Upper Payette Lake
• Grouse Campground
• Bull Trout Lake
• Bear Valley
• Wood River; o
• Heyburn State Park

For more info, go to Bellingham Herald.

Have you ever wondered how it feels like to be rescued after a climbing accident? The most important thing is this type of situation is to keep calm.

Rescue on Valhalla Traverse from getungrounded on Vimeo.

Trailhead Coffee Roasters is a company, based in Portland, Oregon, that sprouts from the love of great coffee, the outdoors and doing good for the world. It is committed to supporting the women, families and communities where the coffees are grown.

On a recent 7-day, 450-mile cycling event called Cycle Oregon, Charlie Wicker, the founder and CEO of Trailhead, took his custom-designed 110-pound Rolling Cafe’ and coffee delivery bike for the challenge. The bike has a wooden box that serves as cargo space and cafe’ mounted on a Metrofiets bike. It even has custom inlay LED lights on the trailing edge of each side.

At the event, Wicker served stovetop coffee to riders who were lucky enough to be at the right place at the right time, particularly in the mornings. Laurie Robinson, who was one of the lucky ones, said that is was the best coffee he ever tasted.

Would you let something as beautiful as this spoiled by oil drilling?

Backpacking America’s Last True Wilderness from Eric Rorer on Vimeo.

A two-week backpack in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge offers a glimpse of what’s at stake if this remote wilderness is opened to oil drilling.

Photo courtesy of Sea to Summit

John Muir (not the American naturalist) is a mountaineer, polar explorer and desert survivor. He has gone solo in some of the most serious mountains in the world including Everest and five other summits. He’s what I would consider an epic wanderer. When he says he’s going out for a walk, don’t expect him to come back for dinner.

Is he really tougher than Bear Grylls?

Well, I don’t really know for sure but some people say so. I don’t think the two have been tested side-by-side and I think that’s the only fair way to compare the two. The next best thing would be to compare their achivements:

Jon Muir

“Muir climbed extensively in Australia and in the Alps of southern New Zealand in the late 1970s and early 1980s. His first big climb was in 1982 when he climbed the Changabang Mountain in the Himalayas. But in 1984 tragedy stuck when Muir was on the West Ridge of Mount Everest as part of an expedition of six climbers on their way to the summit. It was summit day when two in the team fell to their deaths. “My first thought was I didn’t want to follow them … I had to concentrate on the task at hand,” Muir says. He reached the peak of Everest in 1988.
In 1998 Muir and his friend Eric Philips were joined by Peter Hillary, the son of the great Sir Edmund Hillary, on a trek to the South Pole. It was to be the first unsupported trek from Ross Island to the South Pole and back. While completing the outward leg, the 84-day journey established a new route to the South Pole through the Transantarctic Mountains via the Shackleton Glacier.

The bearded adventurer also made it to the North Pole in 2002 and again he was teetering on the brink of disaster. Muir plunged through the ice into the Arctic Ocean in 2002. “I had just four minutes to get out or freeze to death,” he says. “Everything happened in slow motion and I think I was sinking slowly. There was a moment of horror as I was breaking into the water.” After the initial shock of realising he had fallen into the ocean , Muir’s survival instincts kicked in. He developed a technique in those first few seconds to extricate himself. “The only way to describe it is as the funky walrus maneuver…. I have never experienced anything like it in terms of going into cold water but I had to focus on getting out. I am scared of water and what’s lurking below.” Fortunately Muir’s partner threw him a rope and he scrambled out and onto the ice.

Muir also made a solo trek across Australia in 2001, walking some 2,500 kilometres from Port Augusta in South Australia to Burketown in Northern Queensland. He packed the bare essentials and by the end of the trip had lost 23 kilos and his canine companion Seraphine. His trip was the basis for the documentary Alone Across Australia.

Muir also spent 52 days in a kayak in 1997, travelling from Cooktown in Queensland to the tip of Cape York. Once again he lived mostly off the land and sea” – ABC.net.au

Bear Grylls

“At 7.22am on May 26th 1998, Bear enteredThe Guinness Book of Records as the youngest, and one of only around thirty, British climbers to have successfully climbed Everest and returned alive. He was only 23 years old.

The actual ascent took Bear over ninety days of extreme weather, limited sleep and running out of oxygen deep inside the ‘death zone’ (above 26,000 feet). On the way down from his first reconnaissance climb, Bear was almost killed in a crevasse at 19,000 feet. The ice cracked and the ground disappeared beneath him, he was knocked unconscious and came to swinging on the end of a rope. His team-mate and that rope saved his life. The expedition was raising funds for the Rainbow Trust and Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital.

Previously, in 1997, Bear had become the Youngest Briton to climb Mount Ama Dablam in the Himalayas (22,500 feet), a peak once described by Sir Edmund Hillary as unclimbable’.

Prior to the Everest Expedition, Bear, also a Karate Black Belt, spent three years with the British Special Air Service (21 SAS). What makes his story even more remarkable is that during this time he suffered a free-fall parachuting accident in Africa where he broke his back in three places.

In 2003 Bear successfully completed another ground breaking expedition, leading a team across the freezing North Atlantic Arctic Ocean in a small open rigid inflatable boat.” – BearGrylls.com

Who do you think is tougher?

BTW, Bear’s got a new knife!

I had a good laugh watching my first Naturist video, “The Naturist: Bed Time presented by Teva, starring Gavin McInnes”. It wasn’t what I was expecting. In the video, Gavin McInnes teaches you how to make your own outdoor bedroom. I never thought he meant bedroom as in an actual bedroom complete with drawers for your clothes, rack for your boots, bed and even bed lamps but it’s great fun. Just don’t expect to learn anything from it

[via OutdoorsMagic]

Conor Pope of The Irish Times was expecting to stay at a nearby hotel, with beds, hot water and the like, when he was sent down to the Electric Picnic to “produce a daily, bite-sized edition of our Friday entertainment supplement The Ticket for festival-goers.”

Then everything changed:

“At the last minute, the Ticket editor decided it would be a wheeze if I camped, in order to, you know, savour the real festival experience. It is more than 20 years since I slept in a tent, so I wasn’t thrilled, but I was so desperate to go to the Picnic – it was my very first time – that I agreed.

She allowed me to spend more than €200 on a pitch in what is known as the Tangerine Fields. For this hefty sum, I got my tent put up by magic elves, an air bed and a sleeping bag. And I was promised a better class of showers and toilet facilities.

Now, while these might well have been better than what was on offer in regular campsites, that does not make them good. The toilets were hazardous from the start, the showers were not much better, and the queues to get into them were massive.”

Finish the story at the Irish Times.

Nothing serious, this is just too funny.

When I saw the announcement at RohanTime.com about the Readers Choice Outdoor Innovations 50/50 award, I started thinking. Which one should it be? It’s not as easy as I thought.

While there are plenty of innovations in the outdoor industry but most of them are just minor. Lighter materials, fancy features, more comfort and better efficiency are all great but it’s not the level of innovation I’m looking for. The latest camping mattress like Exped’s SynMat 7 UL, may be lighter, more robust and packs smaller but the innovation to me is still small. I want to nominate something with a WOW factor. Innovations in outdoor gear, I thought, is not that great after all.

Other questions came to mind. Do I choose the ones that started the innovation or the ones that improved on it? Why 50 years? How could something NOT in the last 2 years (or even the last year) win on innovation?

This is really difficult. Maybe I should start listing out all the backpacking and camping gear categories and choose a few products in each that qualify as “innovative”. This is going to take a lot of work.

I’m starting to think about the problems I have when I’m in the outdoors and which gear could solve that problem. I think if I spend enough time on this I might just invent some new outdoor. I need a break…

I went outside for a smoke break and decided that I need some coffee when it suddenly came to me. People have probably been dealing with crap camping coffee for the most part of the last 50 years. The one thing that made me go WOW when I first saw it was Mypressi. I didn’t know about Handpresso until a few days later and it was probably the first portable espresso maker of its kind but Mypressi makes better espresso so there you go. I’ve made up my mind. I’m going to nominate Mypressi.

And to think that I was just about to go through some tents, sleeping bags, camping mats, camping stoves, etc and list out the ones that are the most innovative in each category and then painstakingly pare down to the one gear I would think is the most innovative.

I don’t know about you but I’m going over to RohanTime.com right now for my nomination. I don’t really care if I win but it would certainly be interesting to see which gear won in November.

UPDATE

You can actually put up to 3 outdoor gear for nomination.

You can do some pretty awesome stuff at the Outdoor Retailer Show, like building your own Victorinox Swiss Army Knife for example. The Victorinox Spartan costs about $25 but making it with your own hands makes it priceless. This is one camping knife that you would probably never want to sell. Watch the guys at Trailspace build their own Spartan: