REI, always a great source of how-to information on the outdoors, has
a little feature on how to choose your hydration system. Camel Back, Beer can hat or IV directly plugged into
your arm? What’s best? Personally, I’ve had a Camelbak for some time now, and find them great, if a bit bulky. But I’m
up for an IV, too, if someone invents a good system. Give it a read and find out.
Hiking Sweden
Is it just me or does Sweden sometimes seem like the ultimate
paradise? Even the name evokes a kind of dreamy Eden populated by gorgeous blond people who coexist in a kind of
neo-Socialist utopia. This is how I imagine it anyway. And though I’ve never been, I have always imagined that the
hiking in Sweden is superb, a notion that seems to be confirmed by
this piece. Hiking in
Arctic Sweden, says the article, “is about as close as you can get to a backpacker’s paradise.” Great gaping spaces,
rivers and streams, and comfortable huts all along the way where you can stop and build campfires…ah, yes.
The Ultra Hard Race
Check out this series of dispatches
coming from the Alaska Ultra, a very nasty race. The Ultra follows the same route as the Iditarod. Contestants do
not mush dogs, however. Nor do they eat them. They either ski, bike or run their way from Knick Lake (near Anchorage)
to Nome. 1,100 miles of serious attitude adjustment. Cyclist Elliot McAllister is filing dispatches on the cold
and hardship…emphasis on hard.
Mammoth Snow Shoeing
One of my all time favorite places in the country to ski and
mountain bike (and yes, I’m from California and so very biased), Mammoth
Mountain has been getting some nice attention lately. They are still building like mad at this killer Sierra
resort. And there is so much more to do there than ride lifts all day.
As this
article points out, the
Tamarack Lodge
offers some great snowsoeing, cross country skiing and general snow frolic. Despite the fact that much of this
development is beginning to make Mammoth almost Disneyesque, it is still an amazing place to go.
Avalanche Captured in Photos
Check out this site by with footage of a huge natural
avalanche near Sundance in Utah. The scenes were captured by Bruce Tremper, who was driving
with professional photographer Matt Turley as they drove near the base of Sundance, and pulled over to the side of
the road to catch this incredible footage. There’s a whole series of great photos here worth checking out.