One of the stars of January’s Outdoor Retailer trade show was the The North Face Polar Hooded Jacket and a remarkably similar Outdoor Research jacket called the Lodestar, both of which were touted as replacements for puffy down jackets. Indeed, some breathlessly dubbed these “puffy killers.” And it’s true that the new Polartec Power Shield [...]
mountaineering
Most of us have been there — up a mountain, going high, going fast, only to be debilitated (or inconvenienced) by the misery of altitude-induced headaches, sleeplessness, and perhaps nausea. And what many of us have discovered by experience is now being confirmed by science: How well you do at altitude has little to do [...]
The talent-packed team of Russians attempting a bold winter ascent of K2 suffered the death of Vitaly Gorelik today in base camp, apparently from a heart attack, and has decided to end its expedition. “Today on 11-30 am Vitaly Gorelik died in BC. Condolences to Vitaly’s family and friends from the whole our team,” they [...]
It is arguably the most dangerous climbing on the planet, conducted in the harshest, most brutal conditions and in the death zone of elevation where the margin for error if infinitely small, and yet the mountaineering world in the midst of a renaissance of high-altitude winter climbing. There’s less daylight, more cold, more snow, more [...]
The story on ski area growth in North America is simple: It’s slowed way down. Skier numbers are flat, real estate has gone bust, and the only place skiing and snowboarding are seeing participation numbers rise significantly is in the sidecountry and backcountry. And that really doesn’t mean there are more skiers, it just means [...]
Italian alpinist Hans Kammerlander this week completed a quest that was little heralded and hardly celebrated, but nonetheless very cool and worth noting: On Tuesday, he topped out on Antarctica’s 15,916-foot Mt. Tyree, thereby become the first person to climb the second-highest summit on each of the world’s seven continents. Kammerland was the first to [...]
There are four spires of rock that make up the Fitz Roy/Torre Massif of the southern Patagonia ice field. The second highest, at 8,809 feet, is Torre Egger. And while it’s been climbed before, it’s never been taken on the way Norwegians Bjørn-Eivind Årtun and Ole Lied ascended it last week, heading straight up the [...]
Wallpaper Wednesday: New Zealand Dew
Solar-Powered Catamaran Makes 1st Circumnavigation
The Daily Bike, May 16, 2012
Street Artist Pastes Healing in Navajo Nation
Dirtbag Gourmet: Margaritas with Climber Kelly Cordes
Links We Like, May 16, 2012
Shelter Co. Is A Sweet Way to Camp
Fracking, Congress Endanger America’s Rivers
The Daily Bike, May 15, 2012
Declination: Dancing With Unexploded Bombs in Laos
The List: 10 Famous Bears
Links We Like, May 15, 2012
Why You Should Row Across the Atlantic
Gear Review: Chris King Coffee Tamper
Yellowstone’s Grizzlies are More Dangerous Than Glacier’s
