By Stephen Regenold

About
Stephen Regenold, a nationally-syndicated newspaper columnist, writes The Gear Junkie column for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Minneapolis Star Tribune, Albuquerque Journal, Greensboro News-Record, Billings Gazette, and several other publications. Regenold's writing on travel, adventure and the outdoors appears regularly in the New York Times.
See full bio here
The Gear Junkie : Daily Dose Listing
The Gear Junkie is on site at the Outdoor Retailer Summer Market trade show in Salt Lake City. This is an initial report on the to-be-released gear, gadgets and apparel that'll be seen in outdoors shops circa 2009. . .

Not your typical Stephen Regenold adventure-journalism fare here, but in today's New York Times I wrote about the hobby of rendezvous re-enactment, a gig where grown men and women dress in fur-trade period outfits, sleep in tepees or canvas tents, and turn their backs on modern civilization for a couple of days. . .

Touted as the "world’s lightest, most advanced three-season air mattress" the to-be-released Therm-a-Rest NeoAir insulates with a grid of welded-nylon air chambers and compacts to the size of a 1-liter Nalgene bottle. . .

I rode in my first Critical Mass last month, a 200-rider strong showing in downtown Minneapolis on July 25. We rode with 28 police on bicycles and squad cars circling the entire time. At least that was until the whole event evolved into a benign parade of sorts through the city. . .

Since the dawn of motorized transit, deep jungle and high mountains haven’t stopped humans from trying to lay roads through the planet’s most treacherous terrain. This article on Travel+Leisure.com highlights 10 top dangerous roads around the globe, including the likes of Bolivia’s North Yungas Road, a mountain-hugging lane lined by 1,000-foot drops. . .

Tour de France types need not apply. Look's latest "pédales automatiques" are made for the mountain biking crowd. This is my review of the Quartz Carbon line, a clipless series touted to have several simple innovations for performance underfoot on singletrack and beyond. . .

This short article features five over-the-top athletics products that'll purportedly be employed by Olympians next week in Beijing. My favorite is the Nike track shoe made with the same liquid-crystal polymer threads as used in the airbags on NASA's Mars rover. . .

Interesting story this week on Inc. magazine's website. It's a profile of Newton Running, the shoe company out of Boulder, Colo. Great background and all on the innovative business and its unlikely trajectory to success. But then I got to page No. 4 where the writer sideswipes the ol' Gear Junkie here. . .

This feature story profiles Andy Knapp of Minneapolis, a 59-year-old adventurer who's climbed Denali, biked solo to Alaska, kayaked alone across Lake Superior, and is now fighting kidney cancer with the same resolve he's applied to challenges in the outdoors his whole life. . .

Coghlan’s LED Micro Lantern looks like a trinket or a keychain toy. But this tiny light, bolstered by a 5mm LED, shines enough ambient illumination to stand in for a much larger source of light inside a tent. . .

Introducing "The Gear Junkie Scoop," a new weekly column on OutsideMag.com that will cover news, hot products, and to-be-released gear and apparel from all corners of the outdoors industry. The column launched this week with the review of a 9-ounce sleeping pad purported to pack down to the size of a Nalgene bottle. . .

This story is about a different type of adventure travel. Namely, "extraterrestrial tourism" is a broad term for any type of travel involving the weird, whacky and the unknown. In a story this week on ForbesTraveler.com, I highlight 10 top alien destinations, including a handful I have visited in person over the years. . .

A solar-charging messenger bag, a food box for Fido, and a watch that predicts when the fish will be biting. These products round out my coverage of luxury camp items this week. Oh, and don't forget the motorized margarita blender with motorcycle handlebar grips. . .

From portable hot-water spigots to tent pegs topped with pink flamingos, this is the first in a two-part column on luxury-oriented camping gear. None of this gear is essential, and roughin' it this is not. . .

Arc'teryx will release multiple collections of aerobic-oriented apparel and outerwear with its spring 2009 line. This is a sneak peek, from tights and running tops to a "skort" designed for mountain marathons. . .

Horny Toad and Instructables.com have introduced the "Invent-a-Sport" Contest, a competition seeking descriptions, photos and video clips of real or imagined fringe sports or outdoors activities. . .



It's a cord lock. It's a light. It's the Cord Lock Light, a regular spring-loaded cincher as found on backpacks and sleeping bags, just with a built-in tiny LED light source. . .

I blogged on the Jimi last month, the so-called “wallet for people who hate wallets.” But here is my full review of the credit-card-size clamshell case, which comes in nine colors and has a removable money clip in case you want to go even more minimal. . .

In one of my more strange assignments ever, last week I covered a rising form of aerobic workout that takes its cues from erotic dancing. "Strip Fitness," as the class was called, is advertised as a way to "tone your booty, legs, arms and abs with style."

Devils Tower is a 1,000-foot-high thumb of rock in northeastern Wyoming, a geologic wonder and one of nature’s most ultimate works of art. It's also a mecca for rock climbers. Today, in New York Times, I chronicle my recent ascent of the Tower, a four-hour evening climb timed to allow us to see a sunset at the top of the world. . .

The Hash House Harriers are a "drinking club with a running problem." This tradition, started nearly 70 years ago in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, has its roots in a group of British expatriates who wanted to exercise and imbibe after work once a week. This is my story of a run with a local HHH club, exercise, competition and imbibing included. . .

Hydration in the great outdoors for me now rarely involves a water bottle. Instead, the hose-sucking efficiency of a water bladder in a backpack gets me the H2O I need -- and fast. Here's a roundup review of three bladders I've been testing as of late, a standoff to see which reservoir best performs on the mountain, trail and on the bike. . .

Run with your dog. Let him pull. That's the premise behind canicross, a dog-sledding derivative that milks maximum propulsion via a canine-connected cord to rocket human-dog teams down the trail. . .

Car racks can get your gear from home to any given adventure destination. But what about keeping things straight and racked up at home? Here are two quick options for easy at-home gear organization. . .

Fresh Bath Travel Wipes are a "sponge-bath solution for the adventure set." Clean your dirtbag body dreads to toes with these aloe vera/potassium sorbate-infused towelettes, made to cleanse and "moisturize" skin while you're traveling or deep in the woods along with taking care of the de-stink. . .

Jordan Romero. Age 11. On his way to becoming the youngest person ever to climb the Seven Summits. Last week: Denali. Five summits down, two to go. That's right, and he's not even yet in junior high school. . .

I went in for a physical assessment. I got crystals and magic instead. This is my story on Chris Frykman, a chiropractor who cracks backs, wields crystals and sends thought energy in his customized version of an alternative medicine called applied kinesiology. . .

Apparel maker Nau Inc., which went out of business last month, has been resurrected with the help of a certain other apparel maker in Santa Barbara, Calif. They're calling the new brand, to be launched Aug. 1, "Nau 2.0" . . .



From gas-powered margarita blenders (no joke) to watches that predict the weather, my story today on MSNBC and ForbesTraveler.com, "The Ultimate Summer Gadget Guide," is as over-the-top as it comes. And that's not to mention the tent from Eureka with fans, lights and outlet plugs. . .

The bottle-cap-size SiGNAL light from Petzl is a "multidirectional performance safety light," according to the company. It's a backup light source and blinker made for keeping in a backpack or stored stuffed away in the seat bag on a bike. This is my review of the product, a tiny, triple-bulb L.E.D. that may well have saved my life last week. . .

Handlebar-mounted map holders are one of those esoteric outdoors items that only complete cartographic nerds and adventure racers can wax silly about. Since I fit both molds, the Rotating Map Holder from Adventure Racing Navigation Supplies caught my eye. . .



In my test of the Helios High-Performance Cook System -- Jetboil's latest camp stove creation -- the burner produced a "10-inch-tall dancing blue genie" of a flame. It also boiled a liter of water quicker than almost any stove I've ever seen. This is my full review. . .

In today's New York Times I write about northern Minnesota's Big Bog, a spongy, hard-to-access wilderness on the bed of the long-gone glacial Lake Agassiz. This is a story on my trip to the bog last month, a place where "wolves and moose roam on soft earth, plants eat bugs and otters live in rivers thick with ooze. . ."

In this feature story on the Minnesota Orienteering Club's annual Rogaine event, I chronicle a six-hour backwoods race involving swamp swimming, flag finding, brush crashing and constant map and compass utilization in the thick and buggy Chequamegon National Forest of northwest Wisconsin. . .

My goal was singular and precise: To outfit a small stationwagon with maximum equipment-carrying capacity. This included a rack, bike mounts and a cargo box on a car that can often qualify for "compact" spaces in a parking garage. . .

A mountaineering accident last week prompted Bill Becher, a writer friend of mine from southern California, to deploy a personal locator beacon (PLB) in hopes of rescue. This is a Q&A with Becher on the incident. . .

This feature story details my experience undergoing a blood lactate threshold test, where a fitness trainer put me on a treadmill and pricked my fingertip repeatedly for blood samples. The goal was to determine my lactic acid threshold, the point at which I start to "feel the burn". . .

Need to protect those secret GPS coordinates? This USB flash drive saves data in a CNC-milled, anodized aircraft-grade aluminum case that's waterproof to 600 feet under the sea. . .

This is my review of a $620 mountain biking suit from Spyder. The D3O Armored Crew and the D3O Ultimate Chamois Bike Short both employ their namesake d30 gel -- a top-secret material made with “intelligent molecules” that flex under normal situations then lock together to absorb energy once a force is imposed. Say a crash on your mountain bike, for example. . .

I blogged on Adventure Lights Inc. of Beaconsfield, Quebec, earlier this year. Now, after a couple months of playing with the company's line of esoteric emergency lighting products, this is my full review. . .

Going green is not a new phenomenon in the world of outdoors gear. But today's eco-friendly gear is a far cry from the hemp hoodies and low-tech "earth gear" of yore. This is the first in a three-part blog on gear that touts a good eco story plus performance for use in the field. . .

Just got back from an odd one. This weekend I traveled to northern Minnesota and the Red Lake Peatlands, a spongy, hard-to-access wilderness that is the lower 48 states' largest bog.

I blogged on the HexaLite camp chairs from Crazy Creek a couple weeks back. Now, after some more in-depth testing 'round the campfire, here is my full review of the two roll-able, stash-able HexaLite models made for the ultra-light backpacking crowd. . .

Just got back from Wyoming and Devils Tower, a 1,000-foot-high thumb of rock in the northeastern part of the state and my favorite rock climbing area in the country. Here's a quick trip report on the route we went up, "El Cracko Diablo," and a few images from our climb. . .

BPA is dead. After years of dragging its feet, Nalgene Nunc International has dropped the controversial chemical from its entire line of water bottles. Oh, and CamelBak did, too . . .

Signing off from the Daily Dose blog -- and life in general -- for a few days here as I pack my bags and jump in the car to drive to Wyoming, where Devils Tower awaits. The plan is simple: climb the sheer-sided 5,112-foot monolith using an arsenal of new gear. . .

After riding a self-proclaimed "Frankenbike" around the streets of San Francisco for several years, Mike O’Neill designed a new take on the stodgy old "Costanza" wallet. Indeed, the company slogan is "The Wallet for People Who Hate Wallets" . . .

In a world often bogged down by waste, outfits like FREITAG, Relan LLP and Recycling is Rad have created a cottage industry of designing messenger bags out of reclaimed materials, including sources as diverse as vinyl sheeting from billboards, highway signs, old clothes and animal feed bags from the Philippines. . .

The NSC Velodrome is a 250-meter bike track made with wood planks from African afzelia trees. Its banks provide a medium where riders pedal laps at the natural lean of a bike, eliminating skidding and defying gravity in the process. This is my story about trust, inertia, speed, centrifugal force and faith in physics the first time I rolled onto the track. . .



The Norway gear hash-out continues. In this column yesterday I covered the hard goods employed on a ski touring trip last month in Norway. For today's review, the focus is on apparel, specifically the outerwear and base layers I wore on a mountain called Kvitfjellet . . .

In this blog last month I wrote trip reports on my journey to Norway's Romsdal Alps, where I skied the peaks above the fjords near the city of Molde. Today's column, the first in a series of two, digs into the gear I used while touring said epic peaks in the alpine bliss of fjordland. . .

In 2004, Scott Cutshall was a freelance jazz drummer, a husband and a father. He was 38 years old, though not sure if he'd live to see 40. He wore size XXXXXXXXXXL pants and could not tie his own shoes. Breathing was sometimes difficult. That was before he started riding a bike. . .

Function definitely trumps form for this outdoors hat, a wide-brimmed cap with 360 degrees of solar coverage and some sort of Asian peasant aesthetic thing going on. . .

The Dream Island sleeping bag from Big Agnes -- when used in tandem with the company's unique pad system -- can feel like the simulacrum of a mattress and quilt in your tent. Plus, it's a double-wide, meaning two bodies fit side by side to keep the Island extra cozy and warm. . .

A death on a high peak -- plus personal failures in performance at altitude -- prompted Mike Farris, a 52-year-old college professor, to write a book, "The Altitude Experience," due in May from Globe Pequot Press. This is my profile on Farris' life in the mountains and a peek at the 80,000 words he wrote to answer some of his own hardest questions on performance, sanity and risk in high-altitude mountaineering. . .

I wrote a preview blog on this product last month. Now here's the official Gear Junkie review, a full testing of a bike bottle CamelBak is touting as an update to technology that's been around since the 1950s. . .

As Zen vagabond types go, Jason Magness -- a climber, adventure racer, yogi and slack-liner from North Dakota -- is the real deal. And this weekend no less than the Wall Street Journal chronicled Magness' life in a 2,000-word story featuring quotes from climbing legends, images of Virabhadrasana poses on inch-thin lines, and . . .

I spent part of last evening zapping helpless microorganisms swimming in tepid water. But it's ok, the little suckers were trying to make me sick. The SteriPEN JourneyLCD, a UV-light-emitting water purification device, eliminates common threatening microbes, viruses and bacteria that might otherwise make one ill if sipping tainted water. . .

Warning: Snark alert. I don't do this very often. But a press release just came over the wire too difficult to resist: Behold! The I-gliti apparel line, the first clothing and accessories collection designed exclusively for, um, roller skiers . . .

Preparing for outdoor adventure, be it backpacking, biking or mountain climbing, can require ample time training indoors. Here are a few pieces of apparel -- for men and women -- that make the sweaty work (maybe) somewhat easier. . .

A 5K for nudists, an Antarctic marathon, and a race that cumulates at a giant pit of mud round out my Top 10 picks for the oddest footraces on the planet. One event here features -- no joke -- paramilitary obstacles and electrically-charged whips. If you're into this type of gig, this story is your guide. . .

This 344-page textbook is a guide to all things backcountry and skiing. It covers topics from avalanche safety and navigation to gear, ski-mountaineering, fitness information and nutrition for the high peaks. . .

I think this is a cool idea. Saw reference to it on GoBlog this morning. Podpro.ca now offers download-able trail maps for your iPod or iPhone, letting you click and scroll on the chairlift to pick your route of descent from a tiny backlit screen (instead of an unfolded map flapping in your face). . .

Rite in the Rain paper has roots in water-resistant paper first developed for the Pacific Northwest logging industry in the 1920s. Today, you can write, draw and record in the great outdoors on these acrylic-coated pages with no real regard to the elements overhead and passing by. . .

The much-talked-about SPOT satellite messenger is a first for outdoors users: The GPS-based locator beacon blips text-message data and lat/long coordinates to emergency services, friends and family. What makes it so special is that it can be employed in emergency situations and for NON-emergencies alike. This is my review. . .

Bria Schurke, a 22-year-old woman from Ely, Minn., has led a life straight from the pages of National Geographic. As the first-born child of explorer Paul Schurke, Bria went to the North Pole in first grade and picked through mammoth bones on Russia's Wrangel Island while still in junior high. Oh, and she's now an ultra racer as well. This is my profile of Bria's life so far, dog sleds, Greenlandic pack ice, raw seal meat, and all. . .

Calling all campfire cooks. Redwood Creek Wines is sponsoring a unique cooking contest with a $10,000 prize. Last year's winner, Leah Lyon of Oklahoma, pulled off victory with her "Coal Roasted Chuckbox Pozole Stuffed Onions," a recipe (pictured left) that includes poblano chiles, an avocado, cornbread stuffing mix, and four sweet onions. . .



The Timberland Rime Ridge boot pulls characteristics from technical wintertime footwear as well as from the realm of the snow boot. At $190, they are not something most people will buy for tromping around the yard. But for snowshoeing, hiking and even easy mountaineering these pseudo Moon Boots offer an interesting option. . .

This final trip report about my Norwegian escape last week is photo-heavy, with Kvitfjellet and Smorbottentin, two magnificent mountains of the Romsdal Alps, grabbing most of the limelight. The skiers -- skinning up, summiting the mountains, and then (some) dropping knees to burn perfect tele turns -- don't hurt either. Makes me want to get back on that plane and do this trip all over again. . .

Last week while on a ski-touring trip to Norway's Romsdal Alps I sailed the long and narrow seas of a fjord. This is the second post in a three-part report on my trip, where we "sailed" (powered by a 250hp Volvo diesel) a ship called the Anne Margrethe to ports like Andalsnes and Eresfjord, hulking mountains towering above, icy water below sloshing by. . .

I'm back from Valhalla, jet-lagged and mind swimming (and legs aching) from a week of adventures in the high peaks of central Norway. This is my first trip report, a hash out on a mountain climb and ski tour my group did last Saturday in the Romsdal Alps, thousands of meters high over yonder fjords on a peak called Kirketaket. . .



Signing off from the Daily Dose blog -- and life in general -- for a few days here as I pack my bags and jump on a plane, skis in tow and headed to Norway. Specifically, I'll be ski-touring in the Romsdalfjorden region, where fjords snake as long slate passageways around mountain peaks with names like Ytstetinden, Skjervan and (my favorite) Trolltinden. . .

Just received issue No. 2 of The Ski Journal, the self-appointed "world’s highest quality ski publication." But indeed this glossy magazine is pretty, a bright catalogue of deep snow, mountainscapes at sunset, weird ski people, and cliff-hucking fools. . .

Skijoring is a cousin sport to dog sledding in which Nordic skis, harnesses and a short length of bungee cord form a system that can power interspecies teams to speeds heretofore unseen on flat snow. This is my story on a skijoring trip last month, where my 90-pound Weimaraner rocketed 15 miles down the trail, yours truly in tow. . .

Getting a good grip on packed snow and ice is a perpetual challenge for hikers and trail runners who brave the winter months. Kahtoola Inc. offers a frozen-ground gripping solution with its new MICROSpikes, lightweight crampons made for speed. . .

The new HexaLite camp chairs from Crazy Creek offer a campfire seating option for backpackers starting at less than 1 pound. By employing hexagonal-cored closed cell foam and polyester mesh, these foldable, rollable seats provide the clamshell comfort and back support the company is known for but in a more minimal package. . .

Coming your way in March, next week that is, CamelBak will release the Podium Bottle, a squeezable bike bottle aiming to replace a technology that's been around since the 1950's. . .

The Alpha LT by Arc'teryx is a pricey and top-end shell jacket made for mission-critical mountain situations where a thin sheen of nylon could literally separate a climber from life and death. At $499, the elements-eschewing piece employs GORE-TEX's fancy Pro Shell treatment, keeping it light and lean for fast alpine attempts. . .

Wind howls unfettered for hundreds of empty miles across the great plains of North Dakota, where this week three athletes are finishing up an attempt to traverse the entire state via the nonmotorized sport of snowkiting. This is my feature story on the group, "Sailing Across the Prairie". . .

Want a half-year supply of Clif Bars? How about a new Thule bike mount? Or a $249 REI tent? The Gear Junkie Giveaway is back. Click here for details on how to sign up. . .

The impressive spread that is Novara's 2008 bike lineup includes cyclocross rides, full-suspension mountain bikes for women and men, a foldable travel model, a "safari" bike for touring (pictured at left), and fender-equipped urban commuters ready to go. . .



The Go-More-Pile jacket from Nau Inc. rides an increasingly popular aesthetic of clean design and subtle detail that works to similar effect in an outdoors or an urban setting. . .



Adventure Lights of Beaconsfield, Quebec, makes lights for all type of flashing, signaling, attention-getting needs, including lights and L.E.D. models for law enforcement, search-and-rescue, the military, and public safety. This is a quick look at three outdoors-oriented models I've been testing as of late. . .

It's been 55 years since Dick Kelty first put a backpack on the market, welding aluminum tubes together in his garage while his wife, Nena, sewed and fit the fabric onto the frame. The result was an innovation for its time and place, and at $24 a pop Kelty's packs sold like proverbial hotcakes. . .

My story today in New York Times covers a 5,000-foot ski descent I did with a group of locals last month in Ogden, Utah. The backcountry line -- which begins near the summit of Mt. Ogden -- courses downhill through the narrow Banana Chute, then into valleys and powder fields before scooting into a riverbed where you ski to the residential grid of a mid-size American town. . .

Many a foul face was generated in my ice climbing days from knuckle bashing against the hard white sheen of a frozen fall. Swing the ax the wrong way over a protrusion and -- BAM! -- you're in for some hurt. But Black Diamond, working with d3o lab, a U.K.-based chemical engineering company, has introduced a handwear innovation that might just alleviate this knuckle-crushing phenomenon altogether. . .

And they're off! The 2XtM Expedition kicked off Monday of this week, three athletes snowkiting south from the Canadian border on a three-week-long journey in an attempt to traverse the entire state of North Dakota via the non-motorized sport of snowkiting. . .

Deep snow and icy trails are upon me here in Minnesota, my home state and an ideal proving ground for footwear made to take on winter. This is my test of three winterized trail-running shoes, namely new models from Salomon, La Sportiva and Vasque. . .

Just got off the phone with Don Mann, the CEO of Primal Quest. He's ramping up for Primal Quest Montana, the 5th edition of the world's toughest adventure race, to be held June 21 to July 2 this year. But my conversation with Mann was about next year's event, the 2009 race, where Mann's company plans to take the PQ international, potentially with a race that climbs one of the Seven Summits as part of its course. . .

BPA is in the news again. That's short for bisphenol A, a controversial compound that mimics the hormone estrogen and is found in polycarbonate containers, notably in those ubiquitous cylindrical water bottles from Nalgene. But this time around the news, which was picked up yesterday by every major network, revolves around a study about baby bottles and the presence of this chemical, which some researchers say has been linked to obesity, diabetes and developmental problems in lab animals. . .

QUESTION: What do products like Zinetic Pocket Slippers, Brave Soldier athletic lube, the Alpha LT Jacket from Arc’teryx, and Guyot's Squishy camp bowl have in common? ANSWER: They are all featured items among the nearly three-dozen new gear reviews added to the Gear Junkie Archive today. . .

What do 2,000 clams get you from Spyder in the realm of high-end ski outerwear? How about a shell jacket with RECCO avalanche-transceiver reflectors? Included. GORE-tex Pro-Shell fabric with 3M Thinsulate insulation? You bet. Morse code printed on the jacket lining? Check. A whistle. . .

It's been 25 years since Glacier Glove of Reno, Nev., started selling its line of stretchy, spongy, hand-molding gloves that have the same water-tolerating qualities as a wetsuit. To be sure, the company founder incorporated neoprene into his handwear design, a first at its time, creating a glove that could get wet and still provide warmth and enough dexterity for swinging an ice ax or spinning a fishing reel. This is my test of one of the company's original standby models. . .

As ultra races go, the Arrowhead 135 is an odd fish, more akin to an Alaskan sled dog epic than the Ironman. The race, which kicks off for its fourth running today, requires competitors to combine athletic strength with survivalism, sending cyclists, trekkers and skiers solo and unsupported on the race's namesake 135-mile course through the frozen North Woods of Minnesota. . .

In this final blog on gear from this year's Outdoor Retailer Winter Market trade show in Salt Lake City I look at recycled backpacks, heated gloves, "sock-less" shoes made for the sport of triathlon, a wool sports bra (!), a Swiss Army Knife of a backpack, and a sleeping bag system that you can wear around the campground. . .

Last weekend, after two days at the Outdoor Retailer trade show in Salt Lake City, I snuck off into the mountains to try out some new ski gear on a big descent. Indeed, at more than 5,000 vertical feet, the Banana Chute off the west side of Mt. Ogden is among the largest sustained ski descents in the region. . .

I meant to lay down this blog on Friday after two days of snooping the halls of this year's Outdoor Retailer Winter Market trade show in Salt Lake City. But skiing, in the guise of big backcountry descents in the Wasatch Range, got in the way this weekend of me doing much of anything productive. So now, without further ado, here are a few more hot items from the show floor, backpacks, water booties, jackets, electrolyte-laced hot cocoa and all. . .

Today begins the Outdoor Retailer Winter Market trade show in Salt Lake City, where hundreds of companies announce thousands of new products for the $289 billion outdoor industry. The Gear Junkie crew is on the ground in Utah, walking the show floor in search of the best and most intriguing new equipment and apparel. Here's update No. 1, direct from the halls of the Salt Palace convention center to you. . .

Take it or leave it, this morbid article on the climbing world's most dangerous mountains has a few interesting nuggets. Did you know that K2 is a misogynistic mountain with an apparent curse against women? Or that Mt. Washington in New Hampshire is more dangerous, stats-wise, than Denali? Weird stuff. . .

And the final piece of my new alpine setup is. . . the Scarpa Spirit 4. These high-performance touring boots handle demanding downhill terrain with a rigid build, but they convert to a touring mode for skinning high faces or long ridgelines in search of perfect backcountry snow. . .

Yesterday I drooled onscreen about the Black Diamond Kilowatt skis sitting here in my office ready to cut deep snow in Utah's Wasatch Mountains next week. But what about my bindings? For this trip I'll be testing the Fritschi Diamir Freeride Plus, which are essentially alpine bindings with a touring mode. They are solid in any type of terrain going down, but then with the flick of a switch you can enable a free-heel mode for climbing up-mountain with skins. . .

The deep snows of Utah beckon. Next week I head west to Salt Lake City for some business, and then a weekend of pleasure, skiing the fluffy white at Alta Ski Area in Little Cottonwood Canyon. My skis of choice? Oh, let me now drool. Black Diamond just shipped me a demo pair of its Kilowatt skis, which are stable and wide-bodied sticks perfect for. . .

In one week I head west to the Outdoor Retailer Winter Market, a trade fair in Salt Lake City for apparel and gear buyers + journalists like me. The problem with reporting this show for a web site is that most of the gear featured on the show floor is for next season, i.e., autumn of 2008 or later. Little of it is available for testing or purchasing for months out. But what about looking at last year's digs? The following story highlights 10 product picks that should be on the store shelves now. . .

Few outdoor pursuits draw such strong reaction as winter camping. The idea of laying down in the snow, closing your eyes and going to sleep is a ridiculous concept for most of the population. But modern equipment for winter camping, including puffy sleeping bags, pads, shelters and bivy sacks, makes the task more bearable. From the Gear Junkie Archives, here's my review of several winter camping products to keep you warm sleeping outdoors any time of the year. . .

For winter camping, summer canoe trips, car camping, or leisurely backpacking trips, quality dehydrated food can add hugely to the experience. For this review, I looked at NPO Foods' Cache Lake brand, "Camp food so good you'll want to eat it at home!" Or so the company says. . .

Of all my esoteric outdoors pursuits, skiing frozen rivers -- a sport called "rivering" in Minnesota -- might be my most unusual. It's a hybrid game that involves skis or snowshoes, ropes, climbing equipment, and some canyoneering savvy. The goal is to weasel your way upstream on frozen rivers, preferably through narrow canyons and up and over icefalls, where climbs up to 100 feet high might guard the upper reaches of a particular river in Ontario, Minnesota, or other places in the Lake Superior basin. . .

On December 30, Jordan Romero of California became the youngest person to stand atop Aconcagua, a 22,841-foot peak in Argentina that's the highest in all of the Americas. Jordan, along with his father and stepmother, endured a 9-hour push to the summit, at times trudging through three-foot-deep snow in temps as low as minus-30 Fahrenheit. Remember, this kid is 11. . .

The annual Winter Trails day is being held this upcoming weekend, on Saturday, Jan. 12th. This is a program that offers free snowshoe and XC ski equipment for the day. It's happening all over the country at more than 100 locations. Visit the Winter Trails website (www.wintertrails.org) to find a participating resort near you. . .



OK, clear your throat. Now let out a hearty laugh. Yes, these are gloves for your feet, and they look silly. Now listen: Vibram USA is onto something here. I have run close to 100 miles in a pair of FiveFingers, and darn if I'm not becoming a convert. . .



Came across the GearFlogger blog last week. Good stuff here. It's put up by two guys in Alaska, Denali veterans and all, who review "equipment for human-powered backcountry adventure." Just two AK wanderers waxing poetic about gear they love, and venting their "collective spleen about gear that failed in the moment of need. . . "

Bike tires hum on snow, and they buzz on ice. But they rarely slip when you’re going straight. Gears click and shift the same in almost any weather. Just remember the lube. And the cold wind? With the right clothing it’s not an issue, according to regular wintertime riders. This article offers 10 tips to get you riding fast and safe on the winter road. . .

The Primal Quest brand is synonymous with week-long, kill-me-now adventure races through some of the wildest terrain on the planet. (I know: I saw God several times while doing the race in Utah during July of 2006.) But what about applying the Primal Quest structure to shorter races, indeed "sprints" that last just three to five hours? In a conversation yesterday with Primal Quest CEO Don Mann, I was given some details on a developing new series of races that. . .

Continuing the snowkiting story line, today's post -- the first of 2008! -- will tell the story of Sam Salwei and Jason Magness, two adventuring friends of mine from North Dakota who next month will set out on a three-week trip to traverse their home state self-supported and entirely powered by the wind blowing them over snow. . .

I went kiteskiing last weekend for the first time. A blast. And easier than I expected. Indeed, after two hours of kite instruction, I was cruising across a frozen lake, dipping my nylon sail into gusts for power, edging hard with the skis to turn, and flying down- and up-wind with fairly simple manipulation of the lines. . .

After training for hundreds of hours and competing in a dozen ultra-endurance adventures around the country over the past 12 months, I picked 10 products that stood out, my annual "Top 10 Gear of the Year Awards." The gear — which includes running shoes, a backpack, snowshoes, skis, a bike, a training watch, and a sleeping bag system — represents the best of the best from the hundreds of products I reviewed last year. . .

Take some tea tree oil, add jojoba, mix in some lavender and neem leaf extract and you have the base formula for Brave Soldier skin care products, a line of natural ointments, salves, creams, gels, and lubricants developed a decade back by a dermatologist and his mountain biking buddy. . .

Goldsprint racing is a rising offseason cycling activity that melds a stationary bike trainer with a video game. Riders pedal to move wheels on a computer-connected roller system, transferring power output to its virtual equivalent onscreen, where an animated biker ticks along. I tried this strange -- and physically taxing -- activity last month while on assignment for the local newspaper in Minneapolis . . .

Yesterday was a teaser blog to my annual "Top 10 Adventures of the Year" article. But today I'm unveiling the whole list, starting in Utah's Wasatch Mountains where I skied 15,000 vertical feet of powder turns last January; heading south to a karst abyss called Cenote Dzitnup in Quintana Roo, Mexico; then going back to more traditional adventure pursuits, like dodging avalanches and 80mph winds on the flanks of a 14,162-foot stratovolcano in northern California. . .

From caves in Quintana Roo, Mexico, to the Nevada desert, to a 14,000-foot volcano in California, 2007 proved to be a year of high adventure for the Gear Junkie. Avalanches, mountain climbs, whitewater, crocodiles and even errant gunfire were all part of the fun. Here's the first in a two-part blog, highlighting my adventures Nos. 6 through 10 for this year. . .

In a story last week for Forbes, I virtually equipped the "Ski Gadget Man," a hypothetical downhiller outfitted head to toe with the latest and greatest in this season's ski gear. The clickable graphic of the man is essentially a neat way to do a gear guide: Scroll over the helmet, goggles, gloves, poles, boots, etc., and a pop-up window details each of the nine choice products I picked. Altogether the assemblage comprises a near-$4,000 fantasy package for the aspiring alpinist. . .

On Sunday December 16th, at 2 p.m. EST, NBC will broadcast a one-hour television special about the 2007 Shared Summits K2 Expedition. On July 20th, 18 people, from eight countries, fought their way to the summit of K2. It was the most successful day in the history of the mountain, but it was not without tragedy. Two climbers lost their lives, reinforcing K2's reputation as the most dangerous mountain in the world. . .

Of all seasons, the holidays are the easiest time of year to drop cash on gear and goodies for the great outdoors. Here's a quick look at eight Gear-Junkie-approved items, all under $55, to consider for someone special on your list. . .

Can perseverance and fortitude forged from a lifetime in the outdoors boost your strength in other parts of life? For Andy Knapp, a 60-year-old retail buyer at Midwest Mountaineering in Minneapolis, the answer is a big Yes. For the past five years Knapp -- a lifelong adventurer -- has fought kidney cancer, and he's tried to approach the sickness with the same type of strategy he'd apply to a tough mountain climb: Each painful therapy, each new experimental drug is a pitch to scale on a steep face. Kick one foot into the snow, rest, breathe, then step up and kick again. . .

Novelist and Pulitzer-Prize nominee Wayne Johnson has written a book about skiing. "White Heat" debuted last week, and it covers the lifestyle that is skiing -- in all its forms. Johnson, a 51-year-old native of Minnesota and now a resident of Utah, is a writer as well as a mountain patroller at Park City Resort outside Salt Lake City. His 352-page tome includes. . .

The inspiration for Gracie’s Gear Inc.'s debut product came two years ago when founder Lauren Grace Updyke was training for her first marathon. She had tucked energy gel packs under the strap of her sports bra, an easy-access point, though not without some chafing consequences. And then it hit her: Why not incorporate a pouch on the front of the bra. . .

In the winter of 1998, while living in Washington state for a few months, I drove north from Seattle to Mount Baker for a weekend of skiing. Unbeknownst to me, the area was experiencing a freakishly deep winter, with snow piling house-high by early December. I skied with my brother, pushing through hip-deep drifts, jumping cliffs, and exploding downhill in big balls of white. It was to be Baker's deepest season ever, a jaw-dropping 1,140 inches of snowfall over the winter months. My story on ForbesTraveler.com today honors the snow gods of Baker and 19 other snowy resorts around the planet. . .

The stratospherically priced RS800G3, a $499.95 sports watch system from Polar USA, is a product designed for a growing demographic of obsessive exercisers and fitness-gadget freaks with disposable cash. Remember that neighbor who bought a custom frame carbon-fiber bike for $9,000? This is his watch. . .

Rick Steves, a travel writer and television host, has spent one-third of his adult life living out of a suitcase in Europe. This review looks at three pieces of travel gear he's developed from that experience on the road, including a suitcase, a travel bag/backpack + a pickpocket-deriding billfold made to perturb the proverbial thief. . .

In today's New York Times, I write about Cyclocross, a growing off-road discipline that might first appear to be an amalgam of BMX bike racing and road riding. The sport’s short, looped courses include obstacles, ramps, bumps, sand pits, sharp turns and lots of mud -- all navigated on a road-bike-like cycle that has drop-bar handles, skinny tires and no suspension. . .

Among the most jaunty and bourgeoisie of gear reviews I wrote this year was a short piece for Travel + Leisure magazine on Patagonia’s Synchilla Marsupial fleece top. It appeared in the publication's November edition. The blurb turned out fine. But it was the context that struck me, as it ran in the magazine's "Icon" section, a column that highlights -- as its name implies -- iconic products in the realm of Converse Chuck Taylors and the VW Bug. . .

The new ski season is here -- and so is the new gear. For a story in today's Minneapolis Star Tribune, I polled industry buyers, ski magazine editors and professional snow-sliders to create a list of innovative skiing and snowboarding products for the '07-'08 season. Here are my top picks. . .

Chariot Carriers Inc. of Calgary, Alberta, calls its exercise stroller products "Child Transport Systems," alluding to the fact that each one has the ability to move a kid around in multiple fitness-oriented manners. Indeed, by switching out components, you can hike, run, bike, ski and stroll with kid -- or kids -- in tow. A neat idea for sure. But it will cost you: The full Cougar 2 setup runs a cool $1,001. Here's the dirt from my test run of the Cougar 2 last month. . .

The superlative-heavy press release for Atomic's new Hawx boot line touts claims like "the most significant innovation to downhill boot technology in 25 years" and "The Next Revolution in Skiing is not a Ski." (It's a boot.) But what the Hawx does is significant: This boot promotes natural forefoot flexibility and movement by incorporating a shell that bends in unison with the metatarsal zone of the foot. . .

The fattest of the fat in this year's lineup from K2 is the HellBent, a deep-snow defying reverse-camber plank that touts fast planning on powder without requiring the "speed or effort" associated with traditional fat skis. . .

What does it take to leap a 255-foot cliff on skis? Ask Jamie Pierre, a Minnesota-born extreme skier who I profile in a story for today's Minneapolis Star Tribune. Pierre, now a 34-year-old Utah resident, made his leap into ski history in January 2006, when he skied off the abysmal backside of Fred's Mountain at Grand Targhee Resort in Wyoming. He dropped for four long seconds in a roar of wind, granite wall racing by, before landing on his helmet-less head in an explosion of white.

Yesterday I mused on function versus form in the apparel industry, where beauty in design often comes at the cost of versatility, performance or comfort. My argument -- that a niche of young, energetic outdoors-industry companies are the only ones getting clothing right -- might bump up weird with an editor at Glamour or Vogue. But I'm sticking to my guns, and here are a handful of additional apparel products I feel make my point:

I have a weird theory that the outdoors industry is ahead of the game in the world of clothing and apparel. My logic is that there are companies in this industry that now make nice-looking -- trendy even -- duds that are also -- and this is the kicker -- FUNCTIONAL. Form and function. That old maxim. Yes, my Icebreaker zip turtleneck -- as an example -- looks nice and wicks; and keeps me warm; and has eco advantages; and doesn't need to be washed very often; and . . .

Turn it on. Turn it off. The new Tigershark ski from Volkl has spring-loaded carbon rods that engage off and on at the flip of a switch. Volkl calls the Tigershark "the ultimate cruising ski with two speeds, " as you can change the feel and response of the ski to match mountain conditions at will. . .



I had a pair of neon green Kästle GS skis back in the day. Long ones, 210 or 215 cm, I think. Great, fast skis. Then, in the late '90s, Kästle shut shop. But the Austrian ski company is back, debuting four models for the '07/'08 season, including the top-end MX88, which I get into here. . .

Last week, I stepped outside of my fitness box to take two private sessions in Gyrotonic, an obscure yoga-influenced workout technique developed by a Hungarian dancer in the 1980s. Often compared to Pilates, the Gyrotonic methodology employs specialized and strange-looking exercise equipment to guide and position participants through a series of circular and spinning moves.

Marker is touting its Duke Binding as "the first significant ski binding breakthrough in years." A big claim for sure. But what the Duke does is cool: These hearty alpine bindings have a free-heel mode, letting skiers experiment with skins, adjustable poles, avalanche transceivers and all other gear associated with backcountry travel. . .

Outdoorzy.com is like MySpace or Facebook but for the outdoors crowd, with free member pages where you can post photos, write trip reports, read gear reviews, and -- most importantly -- connect with other "outdoorzy" types who share your interests. Bonus: Outdoorzy.com users now get several free member benefits just for signing on. . .

Late last month I went hunting. We brought no guns, only knives. But my prey was not deer or grouse or elk. Mushrooms -- the fruit of fungus -- in the guise of oysters, puffballs, sulphur shelf, shaggy mane, and hen-of-the-woods were the objective on this outing, which I cover in a travel article for today's New York Times. . .

What on earth is a blood lactate threshold? I had no idea before last week, when I got on a treadmill to undergo a fitness test. But knowing your blood lactate threshold -- a point where lactic acid floods muscle cells too fast for the body to metabolize the excess -- can help trainers prescribe personalized fitness regimens that maximize your time outdoors (or indoors) running, biking, hiking, etc., in preparation for that next big event. . .

Behold! We've re-launched the feature-story section of the site. The Gear Junkie Adventures page has a new look and feel + a handful of new stories. Topics range from our current top story on "adventure eating," to a primer on orienteering, to a piece on the sport of riverboarding in Utah. In total, there are 21 feature stories plus a dozen ancillary slideshows accessible by clicking on any image within the text. . .

Arc'teryx designs and manufactures outerwear that's pricey, high-performing, and highly modern. According to company press materials, its design team doesn't focus on incremental advancements, but on "radical improvements that heighten the user experience and affect the landscape of the outdoor industry." The Alpha LT Jacket, a $499 shell I put to the test this month, so far has held up to that criteria. . .

I pedaled my maiden voyage into the sport of cyclocross this weekend at Grumpy's CX on Sunday in Blaine, Minn. The race, a 30-minute-long lap event, featured mud pits, barriers, and switchbacks on slick grassy side-hills. Each 2-kilometer lap was relentless, forcing riders to pedal, turn, brake, jump on and off the bike to negotiate barriers, and then pedal off again, with no downhills or long straightaways at all for a rest. . .

In this tell-all Q&A interview, Stephen Regenold (a.k.a. The Gear Junkie) talks with author Bill Katovsky about cycling 135 miles on snow, "existential realignment" via ultra-endurance athletics, and watching a friend rag-doll over talus on a particularly horrid ski biff in the backcountry north of Bozeman, Montana. . .

No, those aren't swamp monsters. I know this is Halloween. But those mud-wallowing figures to the left there are actually adventure racers, and they're headed this weekend to the United States Adventure Racing Association’s National Championships, which kicks off on Friday in Potosi, Missouri. Seventy-six teams will race for 30 hours in a multisport melee that will determine an overall U.S. Champ. . .

Brewing up a good cup of coffee in the outdoors often requires a French press or a portable -- but always bulky -- camp-stove-compatible espresso maker. But Java Juice Inc., a Los Angeles brewer (www.javajuiceextract.com), distills the process to its utmost simplicity: Pour a packet of extract into a cup of hot or cold water, and drink. . .

Procuring a pair of prescription sunglasses no longer needs to involve a trip to the eye doctor. With its new "Rx in a Box" program, REI has teamed with Smith Optics to give customers a two-step, $250 solution to getting their outdoors-oriented prescription eyewear in, well, the blink of an eye. . .

I wrote about Vibram's entry into bike saddles yesterday. Well, the company has also jumped into bike shoes, including clip-less and platform-pedal-compatible models from Gaerne, LAKE, Northwave, Shimano, and Timberland. Here's a sum up. . .

Vibram is a brand synonymous with the deep-rutted rubber tread of hiking boots. But this month the company announced its entry into the world of bike seats. The Yutaak Genuine Gel and Yutaak Gel Flow, made by Selle Italia, feature patterned Vibram rubber for grip and comfort as you roll down the road. . .

This movie -- "King Lines: Chris Sharma’s Search for the Planet’s Greatest Climbs" -- is a trippy, forearms-tingling feast for the eyes. (Yes, I did just say that.) But come on, this is the world's best climber (Sharma) hanging on and leaping to tiny holds while deep-water soling high and (as said) rope-less far above the Mediterranean Sea. . .

In his book, "Bike for Life: How to Ride to 100" (Avalon Press, $16.95), my SoCal buddy and fellow fitness/outdoors writer Roy Wallack lays out a premise that says cycling -- with its combination of fun, ease of use, travel, social interaction, joint-gentleness, and physical challenge -- is the ideal sport for longevity. Now I'm just a young chick at 30 years of age. But for me this book was still relevant and interesting, not to mention hilarious, informative and even juicy at times. . .

Can you say 'spanked'? Out of my league, maybe. This weekend I raced in the Big Blues Ramble orienteering meet outside Chicago, where a hundred or so top orienteers from around the country gathered to sprint like deer through the woods. But I felt far more the tortoise this weekend than the hare. . .

Tonight I head south from Minneapolis on the long drive to Chicago, where the Big Blues Ramble orienteering meet is taking place in the woods west of town. This is a United States Orienteering Federation sanctioned A-Meet, with people coming in from around the country to hunt and sprint for flags. Here's the gear I plan to use to (hopefully) make a good showing. . .

Participation in marathon running continues to soar in the U.S., where last year about 410,000 people completed the 26.2-mile challenge. But is this populist tilt a good thing? Big marathons involve planning akin to a military operation, with thousands of workers moving small cities of 20,000 or more people through elaborate urban courses. Managing so many people at their physical and mental limits can be daunting, and, some argue, dangerous. . .

For those who don't know, The Gear Junkie began life -- and remains -- a nationally-syndicated newspaper column that runs once per week around the country, Seattle to Minneapolis to Greensboro, N.C. After the columns run in newsprint, we store them online in The Gear Junkie Archive. Today, we posted six new columns, including reviews of a jog stroller, a fixie bike, gaiter-socks from Inov-8, a daypack, Mylar bivy sacks, and a pair of center-mounted child bike seats. . .

What would happen if 12,000 blogs published posts discussing the same issue, on the same day? That's the idea behind Blog Action Day (www.blogactionday.org), which has organized thousands of bloggers -- The Gear Junkie included -- to write about a single topic today, October 15. Thus, here is my Blog Action Day post on "The Environment" . . .

In a story for today's New York Times, "A Pocket of Alpine Tundra Nestled Atop New England," I investigate the weird world of alpine tundra, where life adapts to cold stone and thin soil, and snow, ice, wind, water and sunlight mix in rare and intense proportions to mimic conditions not widely seen since the end of the last ice age. . .

This is the second part of my recap on last weekend's END-AR, a 12-hour adventure race in North Dakota. My team, Covert Loons, took first place, pushing hard for 75 miles and 10+ hours straight on the bikes, feet, and in a canoe. Here's a summary of some gear that worked, and some that did not. . .

Mike Hanson, a 42-year-old attorney from St. Louis Park, Minn., has plans to take a multi-month hiatus this coming spring to hike the 2,174-mile Appalachian Trail. He'll go from Georgia to Maine, solo and unsupported, a journey Hanson anticipates will entail eight months of travel at about 10 miles of trekking per day. Oh, did I mention that Hanson is blind. . .

Last weekend I competed in the END-AR, a 12-hour adventure race in North Dakota. My team, Covert Loons, took first place, pushing hard for 75 miles and 10+ hours straight on the bikes, feet, and in a canoe. This blog is the first in a short series about the gear that worked (and some that did not) on our race to the finish line. . .

Well, I lived. My epic weekend -- a 12-hour adventure race on Saturday, then a marathon on Sunday -- went pretty much as planned. Both events went well. Except for almost getting shot. That's right, during the adventure race errant bullets whizzed by my head at one point, ricocheting off the ground then zinging by my partner and I as we pedaled through the desolation west of Grand Forks, N.D. . . .

I'm likely in over my head this weekend: At 1 p.m. this afternoon I'm heading to North Dakota to race in the state's first-ever adventure race, the 12-hour Extreme North Dakota Adventure Race. (It's an event being put together by my Great Plains yoga buddies, Jason Magnus and Sam Salwei of YogaSlackers.com fame.) Then, on Sunday morning, I'll toe the line at the Twin Cities Marathon to run 26.2 miles through my home town of Minneapolis. Ouch.

This review is about pills, underwear, an ultra-violet-light-emitting device, and most of all clean water. Indeed, if you don't wanna get Legionnaires’ Disease (or diarrhea, dysentery, hepatitis, smallpox or typhoid fever), then read on to see my take on the SteriPEN Adventurer, a portable purifying magic wand of sorts that destroys the DNA of microorganisms, making them unable to reproduce and cause illness in your tenderfoot belly. . .

In this second, brief -- and final! -- installment of my "High style in the great outdoors" coverage, I look at a so-called "windshirt" jacket from Cloudveil, cargo shorts from Horney Toad, and a Nau item that looks transported from the set of Star Wars' Cloud City, with Lando Calrissian as the model. (Sorry for that geek reference there. . . .)

I rarely write about fishing. But Forbes approached me last month wanting a story on a niche within the fishing world -- so-called big game fishing -- and after a day of researching and interviewing I was, well, hooked. Take the tale of the 396-pound giant catfish, for example. When Larry Dahlberg hooked this beast -- found on the Courantyne River in Suriname -- it was so strong that it spun his boat, towing the crew and loaded craft several meters against the current. When he landed the beast the fight was far from over: Dahlberg's partner, attempting to steady the flailing creature, suffered a dislocated shoulder at the shake of the fish's head. Now that is a fish tale!

High style in the great outdoors used to entail a flannel shirt and some stout leather boots. Now you're as likely to see The North Face on the back of an urban "explorer" flagging a cab in Manhattan as on the summit of K2. I take responsibility as a provocateur of this trend, wearing my Cloudveil and Arborwear and Icebreaker apparel not only in the outdoors, but now maybe just to dinner at the place around the corner. . .

It was one year ago this month that we launched TheGearJunkie.com. To celebrate, we're starting up a new weekly gear giveaway contest where you can win the likes of a Jetboil PCS Camp Stove; a GoPro Digital HERO 3 camera; the Kelty Lightyear 15 Sleeping Bag; Gregory's Z22 backpack; Osprey's Talon 11 pack; and much more. . .

Ah, CORDURA. For outdoorsy folks, this is the fabric of our lives. A tough nylon hybrid used in everything from caving suits (see image at left) to backpacks and duffle bags. It's a commodity material used by hundreds of outdoors gear companies, and this month the fabric is celebrating its 30th birthday. So, I thought a little tribute to CORDURA might be in order, as well as a bit of deep-diggin' information on all you wanted to ever know about this mainstay miracle fabric. . .

I don't actually know what "après anything" means, but with its new Terrasoles line of shoes R.G. Barry Corp. "targets the void many people face when transitioning from active footwear into something that is more comfortable and casual, yet remains functional." Right. . . like when I get done climbing a mountain, remove my boots, and think "dang, if there wasn't just a shoe perfect for this pub and the muddy lot I need to negotiate on my way inside. . . ."

Lyndon Wilson, a machinist from Noxon, Mont., rang me up last week to introduce his Clip-Shot camera holder. The product is essentially a small clamp on a tiny stainless steel post, threaded to attach to a camera via its tripod mount. To use it, attach a camera, clamp the Clip-Shot to a treebranch, ski pole, ice ax, etc., then set the camera's self-timer, and never miss a shot again. . .

There are three steps to building a custom TrailFlex Modular Pack System: 1) Pick a base harness; 2) Add backpack; 3) Select your components. This build-a-pack design lets you customize a backpack for your body type and your sport, from bird watching to adventure racing to geocaching. The company, RMK Accessories of Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania, offers more than 20 attachable accessories that snap on and off via little knobs. . .

"Boots off. Happy on." That's Zinetic Inc.'s slogan for its line of unisex pocket slippers for the outdoors. Kind of (somehow) sexy sounding I thought at first. But the product is fairly straight laced, just a flappy hard rubber sole and a meshy top. They're made to wear in lieu of the heavy and clunky footwear often accompanying outdoors types to hostels, backcountry campsites, ski lodges, and yurts deep in the San Juans. . .

The Hash House Harriers are a drinking club with a running problem. That's according to a man known as Bob-Shiggy-Bob, who I met last month while on assignment to cover the strange international phenomenon of hashing, an athletic drinking game of sorts involving ad hoc urban courses, clues chalked on sidewalks, hidden coolers of beer, and grown men running wild while dressed in bunny suits.

In a recently-published academic paper titled “Energy harvesting from a backpack instrumented with piezoelectric shoulder straps," mechanical engineers from Michigan Technological University and Arizona State demonstrate the potential of a backpack that makes its own energy via piezoelectric straps. Apparently, the rubbing of backpack straps on shoulders creates enough movement, heat and energy to create electric power that can be transferred to charge GPS devices, L.E.D. headlamps, a cell phone, or an iPod Nano while on the go. . .

The Stick has been around for a while. I've seen guys hawking it at those trade-fair venues set up before marathons and tris for years. Now I finally got one. Been training for another marathon, and for the first time I have a hamstring issue. Thus, I ordered The Stick. The company touts it as an athletic panacea, making "muscles feel better, work harder, last longer and recover faster." In reality, it's more or less a therapeutic rolling pin for your legs. . .

I don't usually review soap, but Kenton Athletics, a Providence, Rhode Island, company sent me a couple bottles of its 2-in-1 Body & Hair Wash, a blend that goes for $7.49 a bottle and is marketed toward two underserved (and maybe much in need) demographics: men and outdoorsy types. . .

A story I wrote for yesterday's Minneapolis Star Tribune focuses on slacklining and its rising star with athletes beyond the climber mold. Indeed, Joe Kuster of Slackline Express LLC has now sold slackline kits to the U.S. gymnastics team, physical rehabilitation clinics and the New Orleans Saints football team. "It's been taking off," he said. Read on to see my full spread on the slackline phenomenon. . .

My story on "10 Best Rock Climbs in the U.S." got picked up today by MSNBC. For this story, originally written for ForbesTraveler.com, I interviewed 11 top climbers, including the likes of Lynn Hill, Jack Tackle, Will Gadd, Timmy O'Neill, and Michael Kennedy. These guys (and gals) are legends in their sport. The routes, which range from classic beginner climbs to experts-only epics, represent some of the best vertical lines this country has to offer. Tie in, rope up, and read on to see all the airy details. . .

A timepiece with added outdoorsy features -- say an altimeter or a built-in compass -- is mandatory gear on most adventures. My latest column covers the Highgear Alterra and the Wenger Deep Diver, two adventure wristwatches. One is stocked with digital gauges like an altimeter, thermometer, and a built-in compass. The other watch, a stainless-steel analog ticker, is less business in the great outdoors, but more bling-bling. . .

The Digital HERO 3 from GoPro (www.goprocamera.com) was created to take the hassle out of capturing Kodak moments -- as well as video -- in times of high action. Essentially a large wristwatch-type device, the $139.99 camera straps on via a neoprene-and-Velcro bracelet, ready to flip up and shoot from the hip, er, wrist, at all times. This is my review.

The long-awaited Gear Junkie column on Newton Running's Gravity Shoes debuts today in the Billings Gazette, one of my syndicate newspapers. The initial blog and review of the shoes on this site created more buzz than any other write-up this year. Now three months later -- and a couple hundred running miles down the road -- I'm ready to offer some opinions and conclusions on these $175 shoes. Do the promises live up to the hype? Not to mention the price tag? Read on to see my take. . .

Rogaining, an Australian offshoot of orienteering invented in the 1970s, puts teams of two to four people on a choose-your-own-adventure course in wilderness dotted with flags. (No, this isn't about a baldness medication.) I wrote about a recent rogaine race I ran in today's Minneapolis Star Tribune. Details on my swamp-swimming, thorn-crashing, multi-hour backwoods brawl are here. . .

Inov-8's new Race Pro 12 is an "elite lightweight hydration pack" made for trail running, cycling, adventure racing, and other off-trail excursions where speed is goal No. 1. Indeed, this pack weighs less than a pound when empty (15.5 ounces), and includes a minimal feature set: There's about 12 liters of capacity in the main compartment; a large stretch mesh pocket on back; hip-belt pockets; reflective piping for nighttime visibility; and a nice harness system that hugs when you run. Oh, and did I mention the horizontal hydration bladder. . .

It was late July when I joined Dave Hajdasz, a contributor to www.swimmingholes.info, to tour some natural water-slide sites around Vermont on a travel assignment for New York Times. (Tough gig, I know.) Natural water slides -- essentially whitewater chutes navigable on your rear end -- flank rivers and streams in places like Vermont, where tumbling water and time have worn smooth paths over stone.

"My bike has no brakes and just one gear. But I'm pedaling with all I've got, tucked and spinning, breathing hard. Hands clenched on drop bars. Wheels humming. Thighs screaming. Knuckles literally white." Thus starts my story in today's Minneapolis Star Tribune, where I investigate track-bike racing at the Velodrome, a 250-meter oval of weathered wood . . .

I blogged on this last week in my OR Show wrap-up, but the PLB-like device deserves a bit more attention. Indeed, the SPOT Satellite Messenger is a new type of personal locator beacon, one that gives you options as to which kind of emergency (or non-emergency) communiqué you want to blip out from the wilderness to the world at large. . .

My story on "America's Baddest Rapids," which got picked up by MSNBC, polls whitewater guides, pro boaters, and product designers to establish a list of the best whitewater rivers in the United States. Rivers ranged from the woodsy, 150-mile Kennebec in Maine, to the Mokelumne River in northern California, which flows from the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range as a boulder-strewn creek suited for advanced and expert paddlers only. . .

The S.O.L. survival kit goes with a silly pun and a stretch of an acronym -- "survive outdoors longer" -- but the tiny package is a nice upgrade from the company's previous ultra-light survival pack. Namely, the new S.O.L. Survival Pak comes in a roll-top waterproof bag + it includes a Heatsheets Survival blanket that doubles as a tarp in times of foul weather and wilderness distress. . .

These to-be-released trail runners -- the Carbon Fyre from GoLite Footwear -- will be among the priciest ever made when they debut in March 2008. Indeed, at $160 the shoes go at twice the price of a good pair from Vasque or Inov-8. But GoLite always has some tricks up its sleeves, including. . .

Yes, these are crampons. Well, sort of. Pedestrian crampons. But with 10 spikes, each one 3/8-inch long, and made of stainless steel, the Kahtoola MICROSpikes could do real work paired with hiking boots or running shoes to provide traction on snow and ice. A "shoe harness" made of a stretchy rubber flexes as you step in, then cinches tight. And they're so packable and light that people (me, for example) will be tempted to try and employ them for easy mountaineering. My pair arrived in the mail yesterday, and I can say I am intrigued. . .

Unbeknownst to me, Aerobie, Inc. -- maker of those ring-shape discs that fly about a mile -- also dabbles in coffee. Indeed, the AeroPress is a new coffee/espresso maker portable enough to take backpacking, and its design is, well, kind of cool. I've been testing it out for the past several mornings, employing fine fresh grounds, some hot water, and the easy-to-use AeroPress plunger to pressure brew some good-tasting joe with very little effort. Clean up is quick and easy, too . . .

In last Friday's New York Times I wrote about wakesurfing, a behind-the-boat sport that employs five-foot (or shorter) surfboards and specially weighted boats that create wakes that mimic an ocean wave. Unlike its cousin sport of wakeboarding, wakesurfing avoids towropes once a rider is standing, relying instead on the hydrodynamics of an artificially created wave. . .

The bitter pill that is the sport of ultramarathon -- footraces of 50 miles or more -- is unusually hard to swallow in Death Valley National Park, where each July the Badwater Ultramarathon attracts 85 men and women to run 135 miles through the desert sands and to the mountains beyond. What does it take to run the Badwater? Ask Blake Benke, a 30-year-old athlete and ex-Marine from New York City who finished in eighth place during this year's event. This story is a profile of his race. . .

Last Friday the New York Times ran my story on Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula, a remote finger of land that pokes 75 miles into Lake Superior. It's a wilderness of stunted stone mountains, mossy forests and sparse settlements born in a mining boom. I toured a copper mine and trekked into the piney hills, where the mossy/rocky/boreal theme kept me thinking a gnome just might skitter on by. . .

I'm back from the Outdoor Retailer trade show, dizzy and tired from four days on the go, four days of snooping through convention center hallways, testing new products on site, and getting quick, pull-back-the-curtain glimpses of what's to come in the outdoors industry in spring 2008 and beyond. Here's a peek at some highlights. . .

Crazy times this week in Salt Lake City. Product demos, P.R. meetings, and nonstop press engagements on the floor of the Salt Palace convention center, where the Outdoor Retailer Summer Market trade show is now launching into its third day. Here are a few more items that have caught my eye, live from the show floor. . .

My plane leaves tonight for the 2007 Outdoor Retailer show in Salt Lake City, where hundreds of companies announce products for 2008. This show is the Sundance Film Fest for outdoorsy types, with parties, press conferences, media appearances, and endless swag. What'll be hot and cool this season in Salt Lake? Here's what caught my eye so far. . .

In 2008, Samsonite, the "world’s leader in travel" will launch a new outdoor bags collection, including hard-shell packs, duffels, daypacks, and a slash-resistant piece called the Sloth made for rolling through dicey neighborhoods at night. . .

Helium is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, inert element, and it exists only as a noble gas except in extreme conditions. What that has to do with the new Helium jacket from Sugoi is hard to say. But this jacket -- which will block wind, breathe, and keep you warm enough when needed -- is nearly as light as air. Indeed, did I mention its weight? See this scale? 90 grams, or just 3 ounces!

Sandal-maker KEEN (o.k., the company makes lots of shoes now, too) has just announced an expansion into two new footwear categories, climbing and cycling. You'll have to wait a few months, but when these shoes debut the company promises some unique performance and comfort features, including. . .

Yes, these are sunglasses. Folded up into a knot. Done on purpose for demonstration sake. But they'll pop back into shape the moment they're untangled. Then insert the lenses, and go. Numa Tactical, “the toughest eyewear out there,” or so the company promoters now say. . .

Adventure Medical Kits' two new bivy sacks -- the Thermo-Lite 2 Bivvy and Heatsheets Emergency Bivvy -- are essentially improvements on the decades-old concept of the Space Blanket. Indeed, these ultralight mummy bags, which are made mainly for emergency use, can repel rain, wind and snow + offer some noticeable warmth on nights down to 50 degrees Fahrenheit or less. Or employ these bags -- like I do -- during fast-and-light adventures and you're talking significant weight savings. . .

Yesterday in this blog I reminisced about a trip I took through hell one year back, the 110-mile mountain bike epic that is North Dakota's Maah Daah Hey Trail. But the days before this bike trip, at the start of the long weekend in North Dakota last July, I experienced a different type of adventure: Sailing on Lake Sakakawea. And this one was pure heaven. . .

It was about one year ago this week that I biked the Maah Daah Hey Trail, an epic 105-mile singletrack through the remote Badlands of western North Dakota that ranked among my most harrowing adventures during all of 2006. That's right, big adventure in North Dakota of all places. I pictured wheat fields and cows. Instead we got temps up to 112 degrees and endless, desolate track. . .

In endurance sports like adventure racing and ultra running, keeping your feet happy and healthy for hours or days on the go has always been difficult. Lord knows I've learned the hard way. This story outlines a few tried-and-true foot strategies I've employed for keeping things feeling good and functional down there in the land of blisters and chafe. . .

There are few things my two-year-old daughter loves more than a bike ride. So this summer I've been testing two child bike seats, the iBert Safe-T-Seat and the Kangaroo WeeRide from Kent International Inc., both of which mount above the top bar of the bike's frame, letting you pedal with your kid essentially cradled between your arms. Though these contraptions are not without their (major) flaws. . .

Sometimes the simplest solutions are among the best. Take Guyot Designs' Splashguard Universal, a $3.25 cap designed to fit all wide-mouth water bottles from Nalgene, GSI, and the like. As the name portends, the SplashGuard's purpose is to prevent that splashing, sloshing effect that comes when trying to drink while on the move.

Buck Knives' X-Tract multitool has been upgraded to include a small L.E.D. light, adding illumination to the list of tasks this small foldable doodad can accomplish. The X-Tract's original claim to fame was its one-handed operation, allowing users to flip open a pliers, the blade, or. . .

I've been testing three messenger-style bags as of late, including an outdoorsy model from Gregory; the techy Ruckus by Pacific Design; and a large and strange orange waterproof sack from Cascade Designs, part of the company's Urban line, which the press material says were created for "the performance-first bike messenger, or the young professional who isn’t quite the leather-briefcase type.” Indeed, I thought about lugging one along on a canoe trip. . .

I've started writing for New York Times' new sports magazine, PLAY, including a recent blurb on 24-hour mtb races. The following talks about 24 Hours of 9 Mile and 24 Hours of Killington, two upcoming pedal-'til-you-puke comps. . .

Backpackers can fold, cram and stuff these silicon bowls in the bottom of their rucksack. They weigh almost nothing and pop back to retain their shape like magic. They cradle camp food on a smooth, food-grade silicone palette that cleans easy with some scrubbing in a stream, or with your tongue. . .

6 hours, 59 minutes, 55 seconds. That was Team Gear Junkie's time at Saturday's MNOC Adventure Race, a run/bike/paddle competition in east-central Minnesota, where some requisite gear hashing included a maiden test of Inov-8's new Debrisoc gaiter. . .

This week in Vegas, the International Convention of Allied Sportfishing Trades (ICAST) hosts its 50th annual show. This is fishing's premier trade event, and with it comes the year's biggest announcements. The following items -- from lures to sonar screens -- were awarded Best in Show. . .

In an attempt to run as unencumbered as possible, I've been testing a pair of Brooks' T5 Racers, which are flyweight road runners nearly unnoticeable on the foot. They're essentially a soft meshy shell with an EVA midsole, though very little support. Indeed, at 5.9 ounces per shoe, these sprinters are literally half the weight of some comparable shoes I own, which can be good and bad. . .

Thule is calling its new Echelon bike rack "the ultimate in fork mounts," proving that superlatives can be applied to just about anything. But enough rib-poking, the Echelon is a nice new rack with notable upgrades, from an easier-turning adjustment knob to an improved clamping system. The company also guarantees compatibility with all disc-brake/suspension fork combinations. . .

Buzz Off Insect Shield LLC, makers of a bug-eschewing treatment applied to clothing from companies like Ex Officio, recently issued a press notice regarding the increased longevity of its formula. Essentially, Buzz Off Insect Shield is now guaranteed to last through 70 clothes washings before its effectiveness wears off. I'm a believer in this stuff, having tested Ex Officio's Buzz Off line two years back while tromping through a swamp in. . .

We loaded five new columns this morning to the Gear Junkie Archive, which now includes about 200 in-depth gear reviews from the past four years. All reviews were written by Stephen Regenold; they originally appeared in his nationally-syndicated newspaper column, The Gear Junkie. This week's batch has something for everyone, from shoes made for river walking to a camp stove, to a tent that just wouldn't die.

In outdoor sports like trail running, mountain biking, adventure racing, and climbing, getting the right mix -- and the right amount -- of carbs, fats, proteins and nutrients can be literally tough to swallow. But your body cannot function without food. You need to eat -- and eat a lot -- to excel at any intense outdoors activity. This is my article on how to do it.

Designed for day-long excursions -- mountain trekking, peak bagging, adventure racing, and the like -- the Z22 can manage up to 25 pounds of cargo in its 1,300 cubic inches of capacity. But what makes the little pack unique is its new suspension system, which allows air to circulate behind the back panel, between the pack body and your back, thus keeping you cooler. Or so the theory goes. . .

I have yet to huck with this thing, but once I'm ready with skis or a mountain bike, the HangTimer from DropZone Corporation, with its built-in accelerometer, is set to measure my precise time in the air. It measures the time you are airborne, starting from the moment you leave the ground, and then saving a time the instant it senses you land, er, I mean crash.

The Aspen Boot from Salomon employs a material that's been used in space suits and is approved by NASA. Called Spaceloft, the fabric permits thinner boot uppers at the same level of thermal protection as a thicker pair. Kind of like a pair of Sorels, only svelte and lighter like oversize trail-running shoes. Salomon is calling its Aspen Boot the "first ever nanotechnology application to outdoor footwear."

From a new company, SylvanSport, based in Transylvania County, North Carolina, comes a new concept in the age-old category of the pop-up tent trailer: One designed for the adventure and outdoors crowd. “This is distinctly not a traditional RV or pop-up and will be marketed and distributed differently," said Thomas Dempsey, founder of SylvanSport. Indeed, the company is dubbing the to-be-released trailer a "backpack on wheels". . .

Salomon has shipped me an early test pair of its latest trail runner, the Speedcross 2, which comes out in the fall and is built for cool weather and snow. It looks like an upgraded XA Pro, the company's flagship off-trail/adventure shoe. But the Speedcross 2 is tweaked with a new "knee-saving" cushioning system that I noticed within the first few feet of my test run last night. . .

If you're one of the elite, a wilderness athlete who can hack deserts and mountains and fast whitewater streams day upon day during a race, then this is your weekend. Registration for the Primal Quest, a 10-day adventure race to be held next June, opens on Sunday. Oh, you also need about $12,500 on hand. . .

Diagnosing the likes of plantar fasciitis, Achilles tendonitis, stress fractures, and shin splints, Dr. Paul Langer is a podiatrist as well as a running expert. As a runner, Langer has two dozen marathons, several triathlons and the Ironman under his belt. As a doc, he treats patients based on medical knowledge as well as his personal familiarity with the human body in motion. This is my profile.

Don't call this a wristwatch. It's an altimeter that you wear on your wrist. It has a built-in barometer, compass, thermometer, and other tools. It's got a watch function in there, too, making the Alterra a bonafide timepiece for high adventure. For this review I put the Highgear Alterra up against my favorite adventure wristwatch, the t6 from Suunto, which has similar functionality, but costs about $100 more. . .

No, these foam-based, clog-type, slip-on sandals aren't Crocs. Just very similar. Some would say rip-off-level similar. In business-speak, though, Cloggens LLC is simply a "fast-follower," which is a company that jumps into the slipstream of another enterprise with a similar -- and sometimes better -- iteration of the same idea. . .

I like this idea. Pole baskets with an attitude! Indeed, I thought of something similar once about 10 years back. But it looks like DG Industries beat me to the punch. . .

At $349, the BOB Ironman Sport Utility Stroller is about as much as I can imagine ever spending on a child-pushing device. But this little chariot is nice to run along with, as it tracks straight and rolls effortlessly down the paved path. Little pushing is required once momentum takes over, just a steady hand on the grip bar. However, I do have a few gripes. . .

Knife geeks call this new blade from Buck "light, fast, agile and elegant." Seriously, they do. Those adjectives are front and center on the press release. Light and fast, ok. But elegant? Anyway, this is a 1.9-ounce straight blade that can be worn around the neck commando style. It caught my eye for its simplicity of design, which looks perfect for. . .

Forget about Lance and Landis. Let's not talk about the Tour. The world's toughest bicycle race -- the Race Across America (RAAM) -- kicked off June 10, and most solo riders are still going strong -- now a week and two days later. They've ridden nearly nonstop for sleepless days on end, and this year's solo winner has just come in. . .

Otter Products' Rugged Laptop Carrying Case is waterproof, crush-proof, pressure sensitive, and lockable. At $170, the case essentially converts a workaday laptop computer into a “ruggedized” model for use in the outdoors. As a svelte black briefcase, the Rugged Laptop Carrying Case can swing a James Bond aesthetic, too, making it passable in formal business settings.

My saga on ice tornadoes, the jet stream, an avalanche and, well, not quite making it to the top of a mountain is in today's New York Times. The story, "On Mt. Shasta, Winter’s Wrath Knows No Calendar," describes a climb I did last month, where weather played its ultimate trump card and nearly blew me and a climbing partner clean off the peak.

"It's a tarp! It's a ground cloth! It's the Ultimate Carry Anything Bag!" Thus screams the headline on www.bigfootbag.com, where PortaQuip LLC promotes its new gear-transport product, a giant cargo bag of sorts that appears akin to the WORLD'S LARGEST BEAN BURRITO. . .

In the realm of mediocre product ideas, Blackstone Outdoor Gear's new Bedroll Protector wins a top prize. Essentially a body bag, the Bedroll Protector is made of a thin plastic material that crinkles when you lie down. Campers slip a sleeping bag and pad inside, and the bag's bathtub-style floor does duty as a waterproof ground cloth. BONUS: It's also a suffocation hazard!

According to the J.L.Darling Corporation, soggy and illegible paperwork has plagued outdoor writers for decades. As an outdoor writer myself, I concur. Regular paper often falls flat trying to perform outdoors and in the elements. But Rite in the Rain offers a solution. . .

A professional bike fitter can adjust a bicycle to match a rider’s precise body dimensions to the degree of millimeter increments. And this procedure is not just for experts. Even once-in-a-while cyclists can gain from a better-fitting bike. The result is increased comfort, performance, and -- in some cases -- the elimination of sore backs, over-extended knees, and other common pedal-cranking maladies.

It's a bike seat. It's a pump. It's the Biologic ZorinPump, a seat-post/bike-pump combo product from U.K.-based Dahon Incorporated. You stand while you pump and use the saddle as a handle. All tire-inflating innerworkings are concealed in the post. Kind of dorky. But, then again, kind of cool. . .

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