Category: gear

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cool bicycle touring tent – GHISALLO 1


I could use one of these.

bike-touring-tent

Built for bicycle touring, the freestanding Ghisallo features a garage! The side vestibule designed to accommodate bicycles upright, and without removing panniers. Full coverage fly keeps bicycle and other gear out of view. The entry vestibule has plenty of space for personal gear and the efficient floor plan and interior volume allows ample room for sleeping, sitting up and loving life. Superlight fabrics reduce weight and Atlas 7001 poles stand strong in stormy weather. Guaranteed watertight construction.

MSRP: 360.00

Minimum Weight 3.66 lb / 1.66 kg

Mountain Hardwear – SUPERLIGHT : GHISALLO 1

buy it from Amazon

via — I assume — Kraig on the The Adventure Blog

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Greg’s iPod graveyard


Long distance adventure racer Greg Kolodziejzyk posted a photo of all the disfunctional iPods he’s used for training over the years.

dead-ipods1
larger version

… I seem to blast through iPods as fast as I blow through sneakers. Last summer during training for the 24 hour human powered boat record I purchased a totally water proof enclosure for my iPod from OtterBox because my previous iPod got wet and eventually died. I was sick of buying new iPods so I decided to invest my money into a water proof and shock proof case.

Good idea in theory, but because this OtterBox case fits the iPod so tightly, inserting and removing the iPod for updating and charging wore out the headphones plug and now the sound is shorting out. So, Time for a new pair of shoes, and yet another new iPod. …

Adventures of Greg – Blew through another iPod

I’m only on my 3rd MP3 player. Though I use one almost every day.

The best accessory EVER for outdoor sport is Apple’s $29 Apple Earphones with Remote & Mic.

I can’t believe I used an MP3 player without them.

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Big Agnes Fly Creek UL 1 Tent

… just won Backpacker Magazine’s GEAR GUIDE 2009: best all-around solo tent.

Roomy, rugged, and light-as-a-feather

I’ll go test it out for myself.

… free-standing, three-season solo tent weighs less than many bivy sacks. The single hub frame design, together with a mix of clips and fabric pole loops, reduces both set-up time and weight. Mesh in the body minimizes mass while maximizing ventilation. Reflective guy lines and corner webbing prevent pratfalls during night exits.

The Big Agnes Fly Creek UL 1 Tent (CAD$293 at MEC in Canada)

big-agnes

The specs are a fair bit better than my current (beloved) 1-person tent, the Hubba.

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MEC Transparent PVC-Free DryBags


Mountain Equipment Cooperative (MEC) in Canada (my favourite gear shop) has a great new product.

I love being able to find things without digging blind into the bag. And they are good for the environment, too.

5018131_v1_m56577569830769053

MEC Transparent Dry Bag – $13.00 – $26.00 CAD – Made in USA

MEC believe they are the only completely transparent PVC-free drybags available at a consumer level. Not only that, in selecting a 0.5mm thick clear polyurethane they’re convinced the bags are also more flexible and more abrasion resistance than standard PVC drybags.

Treehugger – MEC Become Transparent with PVC-Free DryBags

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Therm-a-Rest NeoAir mattress

The highly touted Therm-a-Rest NeoAir is now available.

Backpacker 2009 Editors’ Choice Winner: Therm-a-Rest NeoAir review on YouTube.

I just added this item to my Amazon.com Shopping Basket for the coming season. Details on Amazon.

For now I’ll abandon my heavier Exped air mattresses. Both I’ve bought have leaked from the valve insertions.

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nude hikers in Switzerland

A growing number of unclad hikers are wandering the Alps, near Appenzell. Some Swiss legal experts say that banning nudity in public would be unconstitutional.

nude-hikers-switzerland

In recent years, it has become fashionable for a growing number of Swiss and some foreigners to wander in the Alps clad in little more than hiking shoes and sun screen. Last summer, the number of nude hikers increased to such an extent that the hills often seemed alive with the sound of everything but the swish of trousers. …

read more in the NY Times – In Thin Air of the Alps, Swiss Secrecy Is Vanishing

I tried it myself on the John Muir Trail in California for about an hour. … Too short an experiment to get “comfortable”.

Fans of hiking in the buff should subscribe to the Nude Hiker blog.

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GoLite Ultra 20° sleeping bag


Saw a strong recommendation for this bag on Seattlepi.

Ultra 20°

1 lb 3 oz. | 540.0 g
Rating: 20 deg F | -7 deg C
$225.00

A premium 800-fill goose down, 20º sleep system that offers superior warmth, unmatched comfort and versatility for the ultra-lite purist. Waterproof Pertex® Endurance Arid Zones™ at the head and foot of the bag protect against condensation in critical areas. The comforter-style top can be attached directly to a sleep pad at variable girths for ideal temperature regulation.

Fill Weights: Small 257g; Medium 270g; Large 297g

Sleeping Bag Specs

* Rating: 20 deg F | -7 deg C

<a href="http://www.golite.com/Product/proddetail.aspx?p=SS7500&s=1">product details</a>
product details

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sleeping bag – bear costume

Cure your fear of bears by pretending you are the mighty hunter and have slayed the terrifying bear. Then strut around the room wearing the huge bearskin to show off your prowess. OR take the sleeping bag camping and you can scare the be-jezuz out of your friends when they wake up next to you.

Both are possible with this incredible new sleeping bag by artist Eiko Ishizawa. This fun design is so cool (and a little creepy looking) that we just had to share it with all of our readers. …

the-sleeping-bear-1

My Bad Pad

(via campingblogger on twitter)