Saturday mash-up: April 28, 2012
As noted earlier, ski areas are getting spooked about climate change. The latest manifestation: the Aspen Chamber Resort Association has voted to withdraw from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce due to differences with the national group’s position on climate change. “Aspen’s economy is inextricably tied to the future of the global climate,” the local chapter...
Hiking and the spiff of health
You know the seasons are wheeling around because of all the hiking stories that are popping up online. Over the past week or so we’ve been reminded of the joys of hiking, and the toys of hiking, and the health benefits, including this simple and stunning fact, from a study by a team at the...
Good gear: L.L. Bean’s Microlight FS2
In camping gear we like three things above all others: we like durable (because nothing else matters if a pole breaks or a seam rips), and light (less is more), and cheap (because). So we’re very attracted to the new Microlight FS2 backpacking tent from L.L. Bean. We can’t vouch for its durability because...
Ultralight camping: Dropping 20 pounds of gear is like losing 20 years
Snow melts, summer seems like a possibility, and suddenly hiking and biking gear seems fascinating in a way it didn’t three weeks ago. The seed takes root; a few days later you invent a reason to swing by your local outfitter. You daydream about day hikes. Then something a little longer. And gear that...
The New Apple iPod Nano (vs. Motorola’s MotoACTV)
Recreati wouldn’t normally review consumer electronics, but we’re making an exception for the new Apple iPod Nano. (Close readers will note that we’re capitalizing Nano even though Apple doesn’t. In English, the proper name of a thing is capitalized. We’ll bend on the intra-capitalization of iPod, but we have...
When it comes to sweating the small stuff, Steve Green is our Yoda, our guru, our sensei
If you’re interested in laying down some of your backpacking burden, you can find plenty of advice in bookstores and online. (Type “ultralight backpacking” into the YouTube search box and you’ll get over 3,100 videos.) But no one synthesizes the opposite poles of obsessive-compulsive, shorten-and-drill-out-your-toothbrush hysteria and utterly...
