Dear Nate and Penn-
I need to take a Final Cut Pro class so I can learn to shoot, edit and produce a video for uhhh….a client.
Kudos, to Kootenay Mountain Culture publisher Mitchell Scott on his James Bond impersonation in this video. The Powder Highway promotion is a terrific out-of-the box marketing vehicle that effectively utilizes the social web. Those Canucks are wicked smart.
And, Nate and Penn, I’m going to need a three-month sabbatical next winter. Cool?
There’s nothing quite like an overnight river trip for a bunch of dudes to flaunt their favorite gear. From fabricated oar frame rigs with custom wood decking, to counter-weighted carbon fiber oars, 64,000 BTU stoves, cast iron Dutch ovens, hand-crank drink mixers and arc welded fire pans – raft trips are a gear head’s dream.
This past weekend I had the opportunity to introduce my two-year old to the joys of a river trip. We floated a 25-mile flatwater section of the Colorado through Ruby-Horsethief Canyon with a big group of about 20 people. In typical fashion, there was a lot of gear envy on the trip: Ken had a sweet custom bimini rig to provide shade for his cataraft, Joe had a nice multiple room tent that accommodated his whole family (Pack’nPlay crib included), Jimi rented a huge 18-foot raft with the capacity to transport an un-Godly amount of food and beer.
But nothing amongst this group of gear fanatics precipitated even a fraction of the ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’ I got when I pulled out the Brunton BrewFire I had hidden away in a drybox until early on Sunday morning. I mean really, it doesn’t get much cooler (or hotter in this case) than a propane/butane powered automatic coffee-maker with a stainless steel carafe at a beautiful river-side campsite. In minutes, I had our whole group huddled around the shiny Brewfire in idol-worship, and that was before anyone even tasted the fresh brew.
I may not be the best boatman, or the most engaging conversationalist, but I’m pretty confident I’ll get invited along on the next river trip as long as I bring a BrewFire with me.
The BrewFire in all its shiny glory
Princess Juniper and her dog Hank
Juniper and her friend Sawyer. It’s only a matter of time before they can row and I can sit and drink beer.
The Jackson Kayak Dynamic Duo was a big hit on the trip
The now discontinued RuffWear Mutt Hutt clearly fits into the category of ‘completely excessive & uneccessary gear’ – especially since my dog won’t go near it, but the kids loved it!
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Two Big Agnes Whiskey Park sleeping bags zipped together provided luxurious digs for mom, dad, daughter, dog and BahBah
I could do without the overused, dramatic baroque music and most people with an interest in cycling already know, “WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?” at this year’s Leadville Trail 100 MTB race (spoiler alert: Lance wins). That aside, this trailer for ‘Race Across the Sky’ is pretty sweet. The HD footage is spectacular–especially the helicopter shots–and movies about mountain bike racing are few and far between, so yeah, I’m excited to see this.
A little while back, I posted how my buddy Hobie has been pushing the limits of Stand Up Paddleboarding, logging first descents on whitewater runs like the Numbers and Gore Canyon.
Now it seems our friend and perennial ‘guy in the van down by the river’ Dan Gavere, has one-upped him. Behold the SUP waterfall 1st D.
The Goat draws a pretty funny analogy between SUP’ing and Rollerblading. That’s a little harsh, but the jury is still out for me on whether SUP on whitewater is cool, or more like bringing a knife to a gunfight.
Regardless, good on you Dan. I’m impressed.
Your hard earned tax dollars are being spent to install cameras in the woods, so we can see what bears do when no one is watching.
Like pole dancing.
I used to be a kayaker.
These days days I’m considering shaving my legs because of all the spandex I wear.
I never thought I’d give up paddling in cool water in favor of pedaling on dusty dirt…it just happened. Back in the day, I kayaked over 100 days a year, starting with an annual New Year’s Day float down Shoshone on the Colorado. I was a certified kayak instructor, a raft guide and a pretty solid Class V boater. And from their website I bought a new playboat every year from a new creek boat every other. My garage wafted wet neoprene all summer.
Now I train on my road bike to go faster on my mountain bike. I spend countless hours cleaning and wrenching (poorly) on my bikes to keep them running smoothly. I know gear ratios and count the grams of carbon components .
What the hell happened?
Maybe it was a move to a new town where the whitewater is less accessible and the familiar paddling posse is far away. Maybe it was starting a family. Maybe I just needed a new fix.
Apparently, I’m not alone. Grayson Schaeffer has a terrific piece in this month’s Outside about the rapid decline of whitewater kayaking in the US. Check it out here.
Recently I’ve been considering two alternatives to resuscitate my whitewater addiction. Fire up the bandwagon, but Stand Up Paddleboarding (SUP) does look pretty rad. Especially when you navigate one down a class IV stretch like the Numbers on the Arkansas. My buddy Hobie makes it look easy.
Apparently Hobie took his SUP down Class V Gore Canyon earlier this week. I can’t wait to see that vid.
On the other side of the spectrum is a variety of kayaking that’s so old it’s coming back around to retro-cool status. I haven’t been squirt boating since my college days on the New River in West by God Virginia, but I’m tempted to try and hunt down a used one now. Especially after I watch video of Skiing Magazine editor Sam Bass spinning Mystery Moves so deep and long he needs SCUBA gear. If you don’t know what a Mystery Move is, it’s the holy grail of squirt boating – and Sam is well on his way to finding it – on the bottom of the Arkansas river.
You would never know it talking to him because he’s ridiculously modest, but Len Zanni is kind of a big deal.
In addition to helping run the show at sister companies Big Agnes and Honey Stinger, Len is a bit of a local celebrity on his bike. This year Len has been crushing the competition at pretty much every Wednesday night local race. He currently sits in third place in the overall points series of the Mountain States Cup. He finished 17th at the National Mountain Bike XC Championships at Sol Vista last month and he won the Leadville Silver Rush 50 a couple weeks ago.
But this weekend featured what might have been one of Zanni’s biggest races yet. Len certainly had some homefield advantage at the Blast the Mass race in Snowmass this past Saturday, but he also faced some of the toughest mountain bike competition on American soil. It just so happens that part-time Aspen local and 7-time Tour de France winner, Lance Armstrong, decided he wanted to join the fray at the Snowmass race. Lance’s appearance definitely added some excitement and brouhaha to what is typically a fairly insular regional mountain bike race scene.
Lenny leading a 7-time TdF winner and the other pro men up the starting hill.
Despite the spectator donnybrook surrounding Lance, Len kept his eyes on the prize and raced his own race. Lance shot out to three minute lead over perennial Mountain States winner and full-time pro rider Jay Henry, with Len holding onto third place in a field stacked with strong regional pros. In the end Lance proved he can ride a bike off road as well as on, and won with a three-minute margin. Jay stayed in second and Len finished in third – his best Mountain States Cup finish all season.
Jay Henry, Lance and Len.
It’s not every day you get to share a podium with Lance. Not bad for a guy pushing 40 with two kids and a full-time job. Nice work Len, we’re proud of you.
Polartec is in the midst of a major re-branding. This short video is a nice brand visualization to kick off the new ‘Made Possible’ campaign.
In other words, it’s a sweet mashup of some sick skiing, climbing, biking and kayak porn. Check it out.
Here at Backbone, we help out a lot of our clients with their company blogs. Sometimes, writing those blogs can take us to the deepest, darkest corners of the internet where you can discover true gems like the video below AND find a way to work them into your blog post. That’s good livin’ on a Monday morning.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpZRPCZfz_E&NR=1]
(Ok, apparently I can’t embed this video, but it’s well worth clicking through to YouTube to watch it).
We’re celebrating JLD’s 40th birthday party at the Belly Up in Aspen where Matisyahu is playing tonight. I trust we’ll see lots of the running man.
For those of you still jonesing to ski, Indpendence Pass certainly offers some of the most accessible backcountry terrain in the state. We were up there on our bikes yesterday and this is what we found (click photos to enlarge):
Notice the BIG wet slab slide.
If you want to beat the crowds, get on your bike and get up there before Thursday. Or, you can call Sari and see if she’ll give you a ride in the Chariot. Or, embrace the party and join Lou Dawson up on the pass for his annual Memorial Day BBQ.
