Blogging about outdoor adventure has become so prevalent, it’s difficult to keep up. We scour the industry’s most popular blogs and post a condensed version of what interested us. If you have fave blogs or suggestions, let us know in the comments section below.
Here’s this week’s Blogosphere Week in Review!
LOCAL
Indie Ogden Utah – The great team at Indie Ogden post everyday to ensure O-towner’s keep up to date with current events. Last week’s posts include “Local Spotlight: Green the World,” “Autumn is Officially Here,” “Wildcat Tech Expo,” “Indie Ogden is Moving On Up,” “Epic Football Match Ups,” “New Beginnings,” and yes, “Zombie Defense.”
WhatCoast - A team of coast to coast shredders including WSU Snowboarding Club President, Cody Lee, keep their followers up to date with fresh videos and original content. WhatCoast presents “Come out to Play” premiering November 17th at Weber State University. They also posted these vid’s on their blog: “Reel Raw-True Life Years-Centerville & Foothill” from JP Walker, “Another Rainy Day in Pittsburgh“, “Ians Madness,” and “Alex Gavic Season Edit.”
Come Out To Play from WhatCoast on Vimeo.
Utah Outside – For comprehensive coverage of outdoor adventure in Utah, utahoutside.com is the site. The hard working purveyors update daily and typically cover the Outdoor Retailer Show with more depth than the bigger national blogs. New posts last week include, “Sweetgrass Productions ‘Solitare’ screenings at Brewvies,” “Powderwhore Productions ‘Breaking Trail’ review,” “DPS releases video of elusive Spoon skis in action,” Chaco Otis Nurl Boots review,” “Canyons want to build a tram to Solitude,” “Hiking the Lake Blanche Trail to Sundial Peak“, and more.
DPS’ Stephan Drake tests the Spoon behind Alta, Utah. from DPS SKIS on Vimeo.
Striders Running -The popular running and racing store in Layton frequently posts updated gear, race results, and trail running pics. Recent posts include, “Brooks Pure Project Shoe Launch,” the introduction of “New Balance 890,” Bairgutsman Skeletor Hoodies,” and “The Bear 100 Mile Endurance Run 2011 Recap.”
Ski Utah – Winter is coming. Check Ski Utah for snow reports, deals, and conditions. “Some walk the walk, others blog about it…,” “Utah is Calling #2 – Interrupted Engagement,” “Are you ready for winter?” and “Jibbin in the Park with the Wasatch Project,” rounds out Ski Utah’s most recent posts.
ALPINE / CLIMBING BLOGS
Alpinist: Russians Siege Trango, Put Up New Route – Last month, a four-man Russian team established a new route on the northwest face of Pakistan’s Trango Tower (6251m). No Fear (VII 6B+ A3, 1120m) put up by Dmitry Golovchenko, Sergey Nilov, Viktor Volodin and Alexander Yurkin, is the first largely independent route established in the Trango Group in more than a decade… More at Alpinist.com
Backcountry Beacon: Destiny Manifested Part II: Gear for Peak Bagging – The conditions encountered on your average summer or autumn peak-bagging outing can vary considerably: one minute you are blasted by the sun, the next minute it’s hailing or even snowing. Relatively long walks or exposed scrambles mean that you want to bring just enough to deal with precipitation and temperature swings but not so much that you are busting a gut carrying it all. This post is focused on what you need and (implicitly) what you want to leave behind… More at Backcountry Beacon
Cold Thistle: Gearing up? – For the guys that are really good at alpine climbing I doubt they spend as much time at sorting gear as I do. But with less time to climb and generally more time to think about it I admit to putting in some serious overtime sorting and deciding on the gear I’ll use on alpine trip with a planned bivy… More at Cold Thistle
Fossil Alpinism: Best novel set in the Himalayas? – LOST HORIZON: I was listening to it again on my drive back from NMH, and yesterday… More at Fossil Alpinism
JoeKindKid Daila’s: Sterling Rope Video is LIVE!!!! – I am proud to present the second video of our Sterling Rope series…. as well as the second half of Chris Sharma. Daila Ojeda. From the Canary Islands south of Spain, she is one of the cutest and STRONGEST chicas you will ever see at the crag. I loved this whole endeavor. Shooting with Chris and Daila kept me on my toes and that was what I liked about it, plus shooting this with her was a joy. I hope you all enjoy it and share it with your friends. Thanks Daila! Hope you like it! Watch the video at JoeKindKid
adventure journal: Freeing 1,200 feet of 5.13 — to the Beat of Bongos -If you’re the average rock climber, watching the fluid, precise, and seemingly effortless work of Scotsman Dave MacLeod is one part awe, and another part envy. In this video, he puts up the first free ascent of Bongo Bar, a massive-eight pitch, 1,200-foot aid route on the north face of the Blammann wall in Norway… More at adventure journal
Trail’s Edge: The 10 Levels of Rock Climbing – I work in a climbing gym, and every day I overhear some dude telling his buddies that he’s taking his climbing “to the next level.” It’s lead me to wonder- just how many levels are there? More at Trail’s Edge
SNOWSPORTS
Semi-Rad: Get Ready For Ski Season With The Most Expensive Ski Package Ever: $125,561 – Snow is falling in the high country. Be honest. Can you really afford to start this year’s ski season with anything but the best? The best costs money. But it’s worth it. Outfit yourself with all this hella expensive ski gear that I Googled for you — only $125,561.00, plus probably some shipping fees and a little sales tax… More at Semi-Rad
Freeskier: How to get sponsored: Ski Team Managers Explain the Dos and Don’ts -”I’m going to be a pro skier.” I wonder how many people say that to themselves. How to make that dream a reality? That is the ultimate challenge. Sponsorships begin in myriad ways. Some come about easily, your natural talent capturing the attention of a team manager. Most come with your hard work and dedication… and end with you being noticed by a team manager. No matter how you go from local superstar to sponsored pro, there are certain general tips of the trade that will help you get there… More at Freeskier
Feed The Habit: Rossignol Intros AutoTurn Rocker for All-mountain Skis – I’ve been a big fan of rockered skis for several years now and honestly can’t see myself wanting to ride anything else. The benefits are simple: you get the benefit of a shorter ski at slower speeds and in the trees, but can float in the powder and take advantage of the full running-length during high-speed pursuits… More at Feed The Habit
Transworld Snowboarding: Snowboarding On The Rocks-One Man’s Search For Answers – There I was, alone, in the vast Colorado desert. The storm clouds were rolling in as I arrived at the giant stone amphitheater. Hundreds of miles from home, I found myself stumbling upon a situation that I was completely unfamiliar with- something new, something exciting. Thousands of snowboarding fans, all gathered for a common goal- to see snowboarding on a massive video screen, and to listen to electronic music… More at Transworld Snowboarding
WATERSPORTS
Canoe & Kayak: On Tap: 5th Annual Sickline Championship – On Monday afternoon, kayaker and filmmaker Rush Sturges was hanging out in Sea-Tac’s international terminal waiting to board a flight through to Munich, Germany. He’d already checked two kayaks—one creek boat, one play boat (“Not cheap,” he sighed)—and he was unclear exactly when he’d return. Could be a month, maybe two, he said.
Sturges’ first planned stop is Austria’s Ötztal Valley and the 2011 Adidas Sickline Extreme Kayak World Championship, slated for Friday and Saturday, on the legendary Wellerbrücke rapids. Since this would be Sturges’ first paddling experience in the Alps, he wasn’t quite sure what to expect. The 5th annual Sickline event is a downriver sprint race, and it attracts the world’s finest, Olympic-caliber slalom racers and paddlers of Sturges’ ilk—steep creek expedition-type backgrounds… More at Canoe & Kayak
National Geographic Adventure: What It Feels Like to Kayak Over a Really Big Waterfall – Very few mortals will ever willingly plunge over a waterfall. And that’s a good thing. Even the best of the professional kayakers suffer serious injuries when they descend waterfalls. Tyler Bradt, the current world-record holder for dropping 186-feet over Washington’s Palouse Falls (seen in the video above), just broke his back on the current viral sensation, Abiqua Falls… More at National Geographic Adventure
HIKING & BACKPACKING
Cold Splinters: Early Bird -Yes, GORP, GRANOLA, and all those other trail snacks are all about personal preference and the art of worldly wisdom. (The GORP pictures above, from an old BACKPACKER, feature a recipe with Teddy Grahams. Genius.) More at Cold Splinters
Two-Heel Drive: On the value of getting up ridiculously early to go hiking – Driving in the pitch-black predawn and arriving at the trailhead just at daylight starts to take over is the next best thing to camping in the wilderness. (Better, actually, if sleep eludes you in a tent on the ground)… More at Two-Heel Drive
Outside: Flying the Coop: A Few Thoughts on Leaving the Kids at Home – By the time you read this, I’ll be 5,000 feet down in the Grand Canyon, rafting the Colorado River from Lee’s Ferry to Phantom Ranch. My husband and I have been dying to do this trip for years, but it was only in the last month that the stars aligned and a couple of spots opened up on a commercial dory trip with O.A.R.S. and my mom agreed to babysit our daughters. I’m a big believer in serendipity—listen up, it’s trying to tell you something. In this case, leave the kids at home and reacquaint yourself with the person you were before they were born, the one who had seemingly unlimited time and zero conflicting loyalties, a bottomless supply of travel funds with which to finance spontaneous junkets to the farthest, most exotic ends of the earth, and no fear whatsoever of dying in freak ways or getting malaria. Yeah, right… More at Outside
RUNNING & RACING
LaSportiva Mountain Running: Running the Grand Teton – Running mountains. There are lot of runners who enjoy getting out on the trails and running up to a high point before, turning back and returning to their busy lives. For many running a peak is more than just exercise, me included. I deeply enjoy running up mountains, it adds more to a run than simply traveling from point a to b, it adds a destination, a purpose… More at LaSportiva Mountain Running
JUST PLAIN CRAZY
Unofficial Networks: Andy Lewis has NUTS | This Vid Proves it | Naked, no Safety Leash, Slack Line 3,000’ Above Yosemite Valley -There isn’t a whole lot else to say…except: 1. This guy is Badass 2. This guy has Huge Balls 3. This guy’s slack lining tells the Naked Truth Watch the video at Unofficial Networks
Prana Blog: Steph Davis: Moab Boogie – Moab held its annual skydiving festival (the Moab Boogie) last weekend, and brought in the big jump planes from Arizona. The big attraction for our boogie is the special offsite jumps that we have here, where skydivers get to jump out of planes over the most beautiful landscapes imaginable and land in interesting places….you don’t get that in Kansas… More at Prana Blog
UpaDowna: Olympian Leads By Example…Or Not – The truth is that Olympic swimmer Kenrick Monk sucks at skateboarding, and while sucking at it he biffed and cracked his arm. However understanding that he was idolized by youthful swimmers around the world he decided to simply let folks know that he fell off of his skateboard and the result was a cracked arm, which would have been the role model like thing to do… More at UpaDowna
The Goat: Icebreaker Really Makes Some Strange Decisions -Icebreaker’s bizarre ads are beyond what you’d expect from a long underwear company. Or really, beyond what you’d expect from any company that has something to sell. Watch the video at The Goat
