The field of technical baselayers and clothing is very crowded these days. Walk into any outdoor gear store and you have a variety of choices between polyester, capilene, and Merino wool. Nowhere on that list would you find cotton. Well, believe it or not, cotton is trying to make a comeback in spring, 2011, and the Polarmax TransDRY PMX shirt is the piece of clothing that will be shouting through the chorus of synthetics, trying to get noticed. Cotton kills. That’s what I have always been told when shopping for base layers. In the last few decades, cotton has been totally shunned by...
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As a lifelong outdoor recreationist, one thing I’ve never much considered when hiking in any of Utah’s National Parks is sound pollution. Unless you’re standing in a developed area within a park, all one would expect to hear is wind in the trees and birds singing. But apparently sound pollution is such a concern that Zion National Park launched the Soundscape Management Plan in March of 2010. Well, their research is over, public comment was taken and considered, and they’ve drawn up the official Zion National Park Soundscape Management Plan that was recently signed by the National Park Service...
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Snow has already fallen in the Wasatch and chill wind is in the air. If that wasn’t enough evidence that winter (and ski season) is near, then the plethora of ski movie trailers being released right now should be. All the major players like Matchstick Productions and Teton Gravity Research have new flicks on the way, as well as Utah’s own Powderwhore Productions, with screenings slated for Utah’s cities and ski towns. Below is a lineup of movie trailers for the 2010 fall ski-movie season, along with a list of Utah tour dates for each film. So watch the...
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Utah is host to one of the world’s biggest mountain triathlons once again as the XTERRA USA Championships takes place at Snowbasin on Saturday, September 25th. This event is the culmination of the 67-race XTERRA American Tour, and will be the venue where pro athletes will compete for $80,000 in prize money. The XTERRA triathlon is also the venue for amateur athletes from around the country to compete for the national title. All they have to do is be the best at a variety of mountain sports on the XTERRA long course which includes a 1.5km swim, a 30km...
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It’s probably Utah’s biggest mountain biking event… 24 Hours of Moab. Not only is it a mountain bike endurance race, but also a gathering of gear heads, a vibrant tent city among the red rock, party central with beer, food and music, and a chance to say goodbye to another summer of pedaling among Utah’s stunning scenery. 2010 marks the 16th year of 24 Hours of Moab, and once again over 4,000 racers from around the world are slated to put fat tires to the slickrock and singletrack outside Utah’s mountain biking mecca in a remote venue 12 miles...
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Backpacking in Bryce Canyon NP is a hybrid experience. It’s not quite a desert, and not quite a pine forest. And to be completely fair, Bryce Canyon really isn’t a canyon at all. It’s more like a handful of canyons with similar terrain. Hybrid, indeed. The fact that Bryce can’t be easily summed up only adds to its mystique, and made it a “must-do” backpacking trip on my Utah tick list. The most popular trail for backpackers is the Under-the-Rim Trail that extends from Bryce Point all the way to the southern end of the park at Rainbow Point....
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Packing dog food for a backpacking trip is adventurous in itself. Most dog food is bulky, heavy, and prone to bloating when your dog jumps in the lake with their dog pack on. On a recent backpacking trip I had the chance to put the dog food from Peak Waggers to the test. The meal “Dog-Gone Cottage Pie” was in a vaccumed sealed bag. It’s made of dehydrated natural beef, potatoes, vegetables, and organic bulger wheat and oats. The first test happened about ½ a mile into the hike to camp when Lucy, our German short hair pointer /...
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There’s no two ways about it: Bryce Canyon is incredible. Located in the high desert of southern Utah, Bryce is a place where your imagination can run wild. A Paiute Indian tale explains how the hoodoos of the canyon came to be: “Before there were any Indians, the Legend People… lived in that place. There were many of them. They were of many kinds — birds, animals, lizards, and such things — but they looked like people…. For some reason the Legend People in that place were bad…. Because they were bad, Coyote turned them all into rocks. You...
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Say goodbye to summer the mountain way at the 30th annual Tour Des Suds mountain bike hill climb in Park City. High Country locals know how to mark transitional changes with a a rowdy party, and the Tour des Suds is the ultimate, debauchery-on-wheels celebration to say goodbye to warm weather and welcome in the cold. The Tour des Suds is a 7 mile hill-climb-on-bikes that goes from Park City to the top of Guardsman Pass for a total elevation gain of 1,700 feet. But this is no ordinary mountain bike race. The Tour des Suds is a costume...
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In case you haven’t tortured yourself enough on your mountain bike this summer, the Widow Maker Mountain Bike Hill Climb is on the horizon, and it’s not too late to sign up for the pain. This year is the 10th annual Widow Maker, and it takes place on Saturday, September 18 at 10am at Snowbird. If you’re even thinking about doing this, better read the course description first – the race starts at the bottom of the Gad Valley at Snowbird, where you grind up the service road that goes across Big Emma to the top of the Wilber...
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Ok, full disclosure. I have worked for a few outdoor industry companies and some of those have been outdoor footwear companies. So I’m pretty biased with what it takes to make a good trail running shoe. However there are a couple of things that I’m adamant never enter a shoe designed for running on trails. Quick run down of these before I get to my review of the Salomon XA Comp 4 GTX. First is stability. There’s no reason for it when the terrain you’re running on is completely uneven thus negating what stability can actually do for the...
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