• Wonders what his readers are thinking: Just had a request for a review of enviro-friendly wines in his SeaTimes gear column…. #

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Once again, the Straight Talk Express seems to have jumped the tracks and swerved through some switchbacks. This weekend, Mr. McCain told a gather of evangelican christians that when he was a prisoner of war, one of his guards drew crosses in the dirt to show he shared the American POW’s Christian beliefs. 

Unfortunately, it seems likely that McCain borrowed this story from a Russian autobiographer. So the story is true, it just happened in a Russian Gulag,not a Vietnam POW camp, and it happened to Alexander Solzhenitsyn, not to John McCain. McCain is a self proclaimed fan of Alexander Solzhenitsyn, however, so perhaps he was simply “sharing” that author’s experiences. Kind of like Reagan did with his WWII bomber stories (taken not from real life, but from scripts of movies he appeared in). American’s bought Reagans fake stories in the ’80s, so it seems like McCain is hoping they’ll buy his fake stories today.

“Cross in the Dirt” story stolen from Solzhenitsyn (updated X2).

I thought the guys that ran the Wonderland Trail in just over 24 hours were nuts. But to go from Paradise (5,600 feet) to the summit of Rainier (14,411 feet) and back in under 5 hours is just plain unimaginable to me.

Mount Rainier is the standard training grounds for Himalayan expeditions. Its were Ed Viesturs learned his craft. Viesturs, if you don’t know, is the greatest American Alpine mountaineer of all time, and possibly the world’s best big mountain climber (some would argue that title belongs to Reinhold Messner, but Ed summited all te worlds 8,000 meter peaks without supplemental oxygen just like Messner, but he did it would any accidents, and without losing any fingers or toes to frostbite  – in short, he did it better than Messner, in my opinion!).

But speed climbing is a whole different game. These guys are impressive in their skils and fitness levels, but obviously just a little crazy!

Full story here!

Nice! A little recognition for a work that was important to both Alan B. and myself. This is one of my favorite books, fun to work on and fun to promote. Thanks, Sam, for giving it a plug in your role as Secretary of State.

Washington Reads Spring 2008 - Exploring Washington

Now, though, journalists from around the country are calling her. She will be featured in the next issue of Country Home magazine, as well as an upcoming issue of Dog Fancy magazine. Where will her celebrity end?

Parka pretending to be a black lab.

Parka as a pup, eager to hike

I skipped most of the first day, but even that didn’t save me from the brain-numbing effects of covering the Outdoor Retailer Trade Show.

Thousands of gear junkies wander the vast hall of the Salt Palace perusing the latest and greatest gear for all manner of outdoor recreational activities. Most of the stuff displayed in the 2,500-plus booths won’t be available to the general public until early in 2009, yet the nearly 20,000 people at the show have drooled on the new stuff already.

Sounds cool, eh? Well, in reality OR is nothing more than intensive Aversion Therapy for Gear-Geeks. (definition here).

In the months ahead, I’ll provide details about some of the best of the best from the show, but in the meantime, think about this:

• Osprey has a new ultralight pack series, with each of the packs (up to 50 liters) weighing less than 2 pounds, but which feature FULL, functional suspension systems
• Primus offers a fourth version of the Eta-series stoves — the Eta Pack-Lite. Looks perfect for two or three hikers. Light, efficient and compact. Fills a gap in the “fast-and-efficient” stove category (created by JetBoil). We’ll see how it does against the new JetBoil Helios.
• ThermaRest has new super light pads, but looks like they have minimal insulation. Lighter than Big Agnes’ AirCore, but not as insulating. We’ll see how they perform in the weeks ahead.

Greetings, 

Trying a new format to make updates easier and posts easier to read. Also, this format allows better photo placement.