Category: gear

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no Monowalker for Christmas

I’m disappointed that nobody was thoughtful enough to gift me one of these …

Perhaps it’s the price … $1000 and up.

… Weight: 7 kg/ 15.5 lb

Payload: 45 kg/ 100 lb

Upgrade: Can be reconstructed as backpack or bicycle trailer

Monowalker.com

… the Monowalker is specifically geared towards hikers, trekkers and backpackers who want to hike without weight on their shoulders. Instead of busting your back and shoulders to the next campsite, the Monowalker places all of the weight of your equipment on your hips and on the back wheel of the contraption.

The makers of the Monowalker claim they haven’t found one trail in the Alps that has stopped the Monowalker from following them – this includes scree and root covered trails. …

Smokey Mountain Hiking Blog

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New Balance MT101 Running Shoes

Buzz of the Adventure Running blog recommends the New Balance Men’s MT101 Trail Running Shoe.

My stockpile 4 pairs of minimalist New Balance 603 Country Walkers are plum wore out. … I’m due for a new New Balance shoe, assuming I can get them in very wide sizes. (serious bunions!)

Thanks Buzz. I’ll buy myself a pair for Christmas.

review by runningandrambling.com

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minimalist footwear

Have you tried any of the new ‘barefoot’ shoes as yet?

Gear Junkie has a guest post on what’s available by journalist and author Bill Katovsky of ZERO DROP, a new blog about barefoot and minimalist running.

I wear a fairly flat, but conventional approach shoe myself. No plans to go even more minimal.

Certainly this concept, presumably by Nike, is out of the question:

Has Nike Invented A Second Skin?

Leave a comment if you have an opinion. Is this just a fad? … Or is minimal footwear here to stay?

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award winning hiking video

A bug’s eye view of a day hike. Mellow. I’ve never seen anything similar before.

Day hike on the Six chutes trail in Mastigouche Provincial Park, just outside of St-Alexis-des-Monts. (Quebec)

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

This was one of the winners of the Mountain Equipment Co-op Sweet Spots outdoor video competition.

Thanks Rocco.

… Have you seen hiking stilettos, as yet?

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my BearVault is stuck

I love my clear plexiglass BearVault, happy to carry the extra weight for the convenience of tossing my food anywhere I like.

But if I tighten the lid enough for the simple plastic clip to “click”, it can be tough to open. Sometimes I need strip down, call on super human strength, and sit on the thing to squish it a little bit oblong.

Turns out that’s normal for this gear. Check this rant from thruhiker Crow:

It was 4am and I was lying in my frosty tent in the Sierras, thinking how splendid a hot beverage would be right now. I was hungry as I hadn’t eaten dinner the night before because I was low on food and one of the ways I ration my food is to skip dinner.

I was thinking: for the same weight as the bear canister I could have brought my stove, pot, fuel canister, and 5 snicker bars. Right now, I could be drinking a hot beverage and eating a snicker bar. That would be good, but instead I have a bear canister.

I reached out of my tent, grabbed my frosty bear canister, tried to open it—it didn’t budge. I straddled it and tried to open it, it wouldn’t turn a bit–it was completely locked up. And that is when I renamed my BearVault 450 bear canister: my “G…

read more – Gear review: BearVault 450 bear canister

I too leave mine as threaded as possible, but not quite locked.

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free Gronell boots

Matthew Huff emails:

Gronell is famous for their traditional stitched leather-lined boots. The brand has been in Europe since 1937 but we are only introducing them in North America now.

As a promotion, we are offering 3 people who have interesting treks planned in 2011 free Klondike boots ($349 retail value). We will ask they they update the Gronell Facebook page from time to time. Anyone who wants to apply for this promotion should go to our site, sport-hansa.com , for more information.

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win Hi-Tec boots

All you need to do is leave a comment over on the HikingBoots.com blog.

Where will your new Hi-Tec boots take you and why?

HikingBoots.com blog

… winner will be announced Wednesday, November 3, 2010.

This contest is open to the U.S. and Canada only. If the winner’s size is out of stock, Hi-Tec will replace with another style of equal of lesser value.

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cheap Swiss Army knives

The Gear Junkie researched a terrific post – Origins of the Swiss Army Knife.

It’s essential hiking gear, for me.

At the Calgary airport you can buy confiscated knives (and many other items) every Tuesday morning starting at $2 each. It’s a charity fund-raiser.

items confiscated at Calgary Airport

Check your local airport to see if they do the same thing.