Joshywashington crosses river wash outs with a coca-loving driver to frolic among gigantic cacti in Northern Argentina.
The driver is 62, red eyed and and in need of a shave.
The vehicle is a hopeful, dented and clumsy KIA that seems ill equipped for the road before us. Especially so as we approach the first of many washouts where a river spills over the road and in some cases carries it away.
The car idles as we wait for the truck in front of us to brave the washout.
My ski travels bring me to interesting places these days… I have never skied at Mad River Mountain near Dayton, Ohio. But the green gurus of Five River’s MetroParks and Wright State University teamed up to bring two of my presentations to Dayton — proclaimed by some as the adventure capitol of the midwest. Did you know they have 260 miles of bike trails and 15,500 acres of parks? And that is just the tip of the iceberg…
The first presentation was to an fun outdoor crowd – my “Global Cooling Ski Adventure Show”, and then the next morning, was my “Be Green, Save Green” presentation to university, community and government leaders around Ohio.
Along with a wonderful tour of the former General Motor’s hub reinventing itself to outdoor greatness, was a trip to Greater Miami Outfitters — a passionate and dedicated Osprey dealership.
Vertfest, organized by Outdoor Research, is the largest backcountry festival and rando rally race in the Northwest with all proceeds benefit the Friends of the Northwest Weather and Avalanche Center. Osprey’s Director of Marketing Gareth Martins competed in last weekend’s race and gives us the inside scoop…
“I am a backcountry skier.” “I like to earn my turns.” “I enjoy the uphill (almost) as much as the downhill.” These thoughts cycle through my head as I charge up hill with 121 other skiers.“I enjoy running my heart rate at 90% of max?!” This thought joins the cycle as I fall into line my tips inches from the tails in front of me, tips behind me tapping my tails, keeping me moving. I am competing in my first “Rondo Rally” and I will survive.
Thanks to the lovely team at GOOD for this excellent map entitled “The United States of Good Beer” that maps out each state’s best “sustainable, independently-owned craft beer.” Because, let’s be honest, who doesn’t like planning their trips around testing out good brews?
Osprey is a proud sponsor of the American Hiking Society, the only non-profit, national organization dedicated solely to the promotion and protection of foot trails and the hiking experience, and it is a great honor to have the personal and professional opportunity to participate in Hike the Hill Trails and Advocacy Week 2011, Febuary 12-17 in Washington D.C.
Saturday was a full day of issues briefings getting all attendees up to speed, while Sunday was spent on advocacy training dialing in the message. On Monday, 2-14, all will hit the ground running advocating for trails with elected officials, individual federal agencies and appropriations committees. You can learn all the details about the American Hiking Society here: http://www.americanhiking.org.
And speaking of Monday, February 14th, I would like to issue a Call To Action for all of you who may be in the D.C. area to come out and show your love of trails by joining us for the actual Hike the Hill where we will march from the Lincoln Memorial (east steps) to the U.S Capitol to help raise awareness for trails and the preservation of our nation’s treasured landscapes. We gather at 8:45AM with opening ceremonies commencing at 9:00AM. The Hike on the National Mall, which is open to the general public, begins at 10:00AM and we are scheduled to hit the west steps of the U.S. Capitol at 11:30AM where Hike the Hill Advocates will then proceed to Congressional and Agency meetings. You can obtain all the details here: http://www.americanhiking.org/Hike-the-Mall.
So what are you doing to show your love of trails on Valentine’s Day? Helping us raise awareness for the importance of trails and hiking for your health, for your community pride and for the preservation of our nation’s treasured landscapes, of course!
I hope to see you there with bells on-please stand by for more as the week unfolds!
Unless you’ve been living in a deep, dark cave… You may have noticed that there is a lot of cool stuff going on out there. So, we thought it was high-time we started rounding up some of our faves each Friday. Every month, we’ll be choosing a theme that fits with the Osprey lifestyle. Since we’re still in the full swing of winter, we decided to pay homage by picking “snow” for our February theme. Welcome to the Osprey Friday Round-Up!
Seems like we’re all about the timelapses this week. And not just regular timelapses; year-long ones. On Tuesday we featured The Longest Way, a photo documentation of one man’s year in China. We put the question to our Facebook community asking them what they would choose to capture for an entire year if they could only pick one thing, which got us everything from birds to rail systems.
Someone else suggested snow, which got us thinking about this video: One Year in 2 Minutes. This is the third year that Eirik Solheim has documented the seasonal shifts of his back yard. You may have already seen one of his previous videos, but beyond the beauty and simplicity of this clip, it’s interesting to know how he went about making it. It’s no easy set up: Eirik hooked his SLR up to his computer and software that allowed him to take an image every 30 minutes for an entire year.
And because it’s in Norway, there’s plenty of snow.
Three years ago I received an email with a simple question at its core: could I envision a trip to Ethiopia whereby adventure and education combined to create new stewards of the world?
I said yes. imagine1day said yes. And our first Imagine Ethiopia expedition was born. Last September, seventeen people joined us and journeyed through Ethiopia. This October, we’re doing it again.
Each time I travel—to Ethiopia, or to a new city or state—the experience is different and larger than before. That’s the gift of movement and learning. I don’t know what all Imagine Ethiopia 2011 will bring. That will depend, in a large part, on you.
In the last few years, I went from owning just one beater backpack and a 35-year-old duffel handed down from my dad, to owning eight packs and two duffels. Kind of embarrassing, I know.
Last week, on the way home from a ski trip to B.C., my gear was all smooshed into my Transporter duffel and thrown in the back of the truck. As we drove through Spokane, Washington, it was alternating rain and sleet. Nothing even got wet. A worthy upgrade — sorry Dad!
I got that duffel for a trip last summer to Cirque of the Unclimbables, Canada, where its adventures all began….
One of our favorite travel videos, The Longest Way has made the internet rounds numerous times. But that doesn’t keep it from getting old. One man, one journey, one beard. All wrapped up into a fun timelapse.
Which gets us thinking: if you were to travel for a year and document the same thing every day, what would it be?
With almost 4 meters of new snow in the last month, it was really nice to wake up to some cold and clear arctic high pressure up north in Canada. The snowpack has doubled in depth, tightened up and the last storm finished off with a sweet icing of cold smoke. All of this has coincided with my first few “days off” from life at Valhalla Mountain Touring. I know, tough life that I live, having to be up at a backcountry ski lodge full time. But its nice to ski somewhere different, drive a car, and watch TV in a hotel room after 6 weeks of not even turning my cell phone on, or driving more than 5km to the dump once a week!
