Outdoors

Starting in 2005 as a group of crowd-sourced rock climbing beta websites, MountainProject.com has grown to more than two million users and become a go-to resource for climbing route info across the U.S. and the world. Now, the producers of Mountain Project have announced a comprehensive user-driven website for mountain biking info at MTBProject.com. MTB Project’s new platform combines trail descriptions, photos, maps, condition reports, and data, all downloadable to iPhones and Androids. Several hundred trails have been posted across the country so far on the beta site, most strongly centered in Colorado and Utah. The full site will go online in early summer 2013. Adventure Projects co-founder Nick Wilder says the idea was born out of searching for mountain bike trail beta around the internet and finding a few resources but nothing that was quite perfect. “We kept thinking, ‘It sure would be nice to have a Mountain Project for biking…’” Wilder says. “And so after being unimpressed with the other options, we decided it was worth building.” He and co-founders Katy Ryan and Mike Ahnemann started dreaming up a user-based mountain bike web site, and connected with the 35,000-member International Mountain Bicycling Association at the perfect time. “We happened to start talking to IMBA just as they were preparing to start a massive campaign to map every trail in the country,” Wilder says. Combining that with our technical expertise and experience with large-scale, user-generated content was an immediate no-brainer for all of us.” Wilder says eight years of watching Mountain Project grow taught him a few lessons about curating content. Unlike Mountain Project, MTB Project content will not be completely user-edited: Three editors will review every trail for content thoroughness, grammar, and trail legality and accuracy. MTB Project collects GPS coordinates for everything — trails, trail photos, parking lots, technical features, for mapping and virtual 3D rides. As more data is collected, MTB Project will suggest trails to users based on their ratings of trails they’ve ridden. The iPhone app is available and the Android app is coming soon, and both have the ability to download entire trail networks for offline use, which show users their position on the trail by using their smartphone’s GPS. The website is free, and so are the apps, and although the website will be funded by ads, Wilder says future plans may include a paid app. Wilder says Mountain Project’s registered users grew about 30 percent per year since 2005, and although the population of mountain bikers is higher than that of climbers, the need for data is smaller — there are fewer trails than there are routes. In that way, mapping rides should theoretically be a little easier, but MTB Project will also tackle more ambitious ideas — like mapping the entire mountain bike route for the Colorado Trail (LINK). “Climbing and biking move people very deeply and create some of the most positive experiences in life,” Wilder says. “Sharing them with others is rewarding — tens of thousands of people have done it on Mountain Project, and we hope the same will happen with mountain biking.” For more, visit mtbproject.com

Blazing heat…beads of sweat rolling down my face…sounds of birds chirping as I paddle toward some trash in the water right in front of me a alligator swims off. My name is Gabriel Gray and that was a small bit of what I do in the sport of SUP. I was born and raised on a farm in North Florida. I spent most of my childhood exploring the local rivers and lakes in the area. My teenage years were influenced by the Wassica River and the Gulf of Mexico; fishing, hunting, tracking, surfing and rodeo were the norm when not helping on the farm. I developed a passion and respect for Mother Nature and the Ocean at an early age, learning to survive of the land around me. This added to my success as a big game tracker in the Sierra Nevada’s. After riding bulls professionally for a while I decided it was time to move home and rediscover my roots. Completing college I became a Firefighter/EMT and USLA open water lifeguard and moved to Panama City Beach Florida. I added the sport of Stand up Paddleboarding as one of my passions in life shortly after and became a WPA Level 2 instructor. Later my wife and I started a local Paddleboard company, Walkin’ On Water Paddleboards providing ECO-tours and lessons. In 2012 I became a team member of Mother Ocean.org offering my skills in mapping and logistics for the expedition paddles we do. We have completed over 400 river and ocean miles and becoming the first paddleboarders to conquer multiple rivers like the Apalachicola and Kissimmee Rivers. I am proud to be a part of the MK family and can’t wait to share stories from our trips, gear reviews and introduce people to the exploration side of SUP!

Big mountain skier Chris Davenport, whose career has taken him to the summits of Everest and Denali and steep slopes on the Antarctic Peninsula, has launched a new project to keep the stoke in his backyard: climbing and skiing Colorado’s highest 100 peaks. Davenport brainstormed the Centennial Skiers project with friends Ted and Christy Mahon, fellow Aspenites who have also climbed and skied all of Colorado’s 14,000-foot mountains — as Davenport famously did over the course of 12 months in 2006 and 2007. Ted Mahon completed the 14ers in 2008, and Christy Mahon became the first woman (and the eighth person overall) to ski all the 14ers in 2010. Davenport and the Mahons are charging hard over the spring months to finish the top 100 and documenting their progress on CentennialSkiers.com. The trio have no set timeline and just hope to “ski them all safely and by cool and challenging lines,” Davenport says. All three started the project with a few peaks checked off, and out of a total list of 47 have about 35 remaining as of May 12. Technicalities regarding what peaks “count” as true “14ers” mean there are only 53 14ers on the “official” Centennial List, so the list the Mahons and Davenport are using includes 47 total peaks, all higher than 13,800 feet. Davenport started his Ski the 14ers project in 2006 with some beta — legendary Aspen ski mountaineer Lou Dawson had skied all the peaks over a period of 13 years in the 1980s and ’90s, paving the way. Although no one’s compiled ski info on lots of the peaks, Davenport says the logistics of this project make it seem easier than the 14ers. “With all of the information that is available on the internet these days, and with Google Earth and great maps like MyTopo.com, it’s actually easier than ever to climb and ski peaks and have a good baseline of knowledge about them when doing so,” Davenport says. “Plus I personally am so much more experienced with going fast in the high Colorado mountains than I was seven years ago that mountains that once seemed like a big day now might be a half day or even part of a link-up. It’s funny how your perspective on things changes as you push your personal bar higher and higher.” Ted Mahon wrote in April on the Mahons’ blog, Stuck In The Rockies, that the three assume the project will take longer than one season and that they’ll try to ski together whenever possible and plan to finish the list as a group. Davenport checked off 15 summits in a 19-day period in May, some with the Mahons, some without. Besides skiing a bunch of rad backcountry lines, Davenport hope the project will help build buzz and interest in ski mountaineering, in Colorado and the U.S., as his Ski the 14ers did six years ago. “After my 14ers project, there has been a huge boom in ski mountaineering on those peaks, so my hope is that the same thing will happen here, and people will continue to safely explore mountains that really never got skied much before,” he says.

All photos, unless otherwise noted-Skier: Jillian Raymond, Photos: State of the Backcountry Gear Review by Jillian Raymond- This year was my first year skiing on Praxis Skis, and it won’t be my last. Watching local “dudes” rip around on Praxis skis for the past few years in Tahoe created a major “FOMO” for a more Related posts: Praxis Freeride Skis | Gear Review The Black Diamond Carbon Megawatt Skis | Gear Review Spring Skiing in the High Sierra | Tioga Pass Conditions Report

This was the 25th annual Grizzly Triathlon.  Somehow, the weather in April, in Montana is cold, rainy and cloudy, but on Grizzly Triathlon day, it’s sunny and beautiful.  This year, the forecast was abysmal, snow, rain, wind.  It threatened to rain several times in the morning, but it held off.  As always, the sun ended up coming out, but it was unusually windy.  Claims of 40 mile and hour gusts blew straight down the canyon where the bike portion took place.  This made for a screaming fast ride out, and a brutal struggle back. This is the first year in 10 years I did not race.  After the Great Divide mountain bike attempt, I was left with a numb hand and numb feet for 4 months, and a somewhat numb motivation to train.  Skiing this winter helped quite a bit, since it was a good break from the same routine of swimming, biking and running, but I just can’t seem to get into the pool.  I love swimming in open water, and got a chance to train in Hawaii this winter, where the water is warm enough, one doesn’t need a wetsuit.  Until the river warms up enough to be tolerable to swim with a wetsuit, I’m focusing more on riding and running, and didn’t feel prepared enough to jump into a pool swim triathlon.  I will wait until later in the year, and find open water races. This just means that this is the first time I’ve ever watched the Grizzly Triathlon. After racing triathlons and never watching them, I found that they are more boring that I thought.  But maybe I’m jaded because I have been lucky enough to compete in them, which is way more exciting than watching.  The transition area was the most exciting thing to watch, where racers jumped out of the water and onto their bikes, then off their bikes and onto the run.  I saw just how important practicing ones transitions is.  The potential winner hopped on his bike, looked down to put his foot in his shoe, swerved into an oncoming biker, and crashed.  He quickly got up, put his shoes on, then started off again, costing him about 20 seconds.  Sure enough, at the end of the race, he finished about 20 seconds behind the 1st place racer. It would have been a great finish if it wouldn’t have lost those 20 seconds. I was honored to be able to hand out Mountain Khakis Gift cards to the overall and age group winners.  The racers were very excited about such a nice prize.  Attached are two photos of the MK banner at the transition zone, with the canyon that the racers run and ride down in the background.

Baffin Island: A Skier’s Journey EP2 [Season 2] from Jordan Manley Photography on Vimeo.

A new comer to the world of Mountain Khaki, Team Tangent gets the knob to represent MK in one of the east coasts most prestigious regattas – Charleston Race Week. Coming off their win in Key West just a few months ago, the team was ready for the level of competition Charleston has always produced. Starting the weekend of racing with a few hours of practice on Thursday afternoon to shack down any would be hazards. The team felt confident in their ability to produce good results for owner Gerry Taylor. With expected weather conditions a little outside the range of “ideal racing conditions” for most boats. Tangent, a Cape Fear 38 felt right at home with the building breeze and lumpy seas. The next three days of racing proved to be a great showing for our new friends at Mountain Khaki. Team Tangent not only secured the class win, but placed first in each race throughout the regatta thus developing the highly coveted “Picket Fence”. Thank you Charleston Race Week officials and Race Committee members, because of your efforts Charleston Race Week continues to produce some the best racing any sailor would dream of. When it came time for awards, each member of the team sported a MK Soul Patch Cap, MK Granite Creek Windshirt (Graphite), and MK Granite Creek Short (Mushroom) which attracted a lot of attention by fellow sailors in the crowd. Thank you Mountain Khakis for your support as the Official Apparel Sponsor of Team Tangent. We look forward to our next adventure!

I just got home from a two-week trip to the New River Gorge, WV.  We had some of the best weather for sport climbing that I can ever remember.  I was fortunate enough to be able to add a new line to the growing list of routes at Beauty Mtn.  The project to the left of Chunky Monkey went down mid trip…  Super psyched!  Felt pretty hard, not sure on a grade but I feel the crux on the project was harder to me than the crux on Mono Loco. Mikey Williams (bolted the route) from DPM magazine just so happened to be at the crag and snagged this send footage.

When the wind outside screams like acetylene flame and all hope for peaceful sleep has been let go, I begin to think about tomorrow. When the mountain rocks and rolls and the old wooden US Weather Station sign hanging out front reaches fever pitch – the just right vibration to send it slamming, clap, clap, shotgun boom, against one ceiling board to the next I know it is coming. I’m not apprehensive. I don’t dread the coming work. Instead I lie awake in anticipation of a day that I know will leave me contently obliterated. When the sun rises all evidence of the tempest is gone from the sky. The big orange eye is peaking between the toothpick serrations of the eastern skyline which are the high rises of Charlotte 6,000 feet below and 100 miles away. The sky is now a sparkling clear lens. Slim and I have been here before. We know what to expect and are giddy inside. Outward appearances would seem to others more matter-of-factly, shit to do, trails to clear, let’s go. We strap to our backs chainsaw and ax, fuel and oil, food and water. Pairs of things that make our task achievable. We know what we want to do. What we have to do. Trails and roads are completely blocked by downed spruce and fir trees from some of the strongest winds ever recorded on the mountain. Some twisted in half midway up their broad trunks. Snapped and splintered like a number 2 pencil. Some toppled over fully intact succumbing to gale and gravity. A root ball the size of an elephant sticking up into the mountain air where the evergreen once towered. Root and limb exchanging homes until further notice. Communication is mostly of the nonverbal variety. Words are not necessary today. Hike, saw, chop, drag, tug, roll, pour, chew, grunt, heave, repeat at next impoundment. Smile and laugh. Eighteen miles later. Dark now. Can the saws wait until tomorrow to be cleaned and sharpened? This time yes. Tomorrow should be a good day with the forecast of cloudless and 60. Lots of hikers.

Opening The Account: Dana Point GP Report: All season long out guys have been knocking on the door in the major NCC criteriums, and with a string of podium placings and good breakaway and sprint performances, we knew our first big win of the season wasn’t far off. Shane Kline proved it Sunday afternoon at the Dana Point GP in southern California when he came from 6th wheel to take the win from MRI’s Justin Williams by a few millimeters. Not to put too fine a point on it, but it’s pretty safe to say just about nobody passes 6 guys in the finishing straight of these major US crits. This point was not lost on anyone watching the race, and Shane’s star is on the rise, for sure. How it unfolded, report direct from the team van:  The Plan was to have 5 of us covering and killing breakaway attempts. Clay was to be more selective, and try to sneak into moves that could work for us. Then with 5 laps to go we were going to take over with 5 guys. The last two in line would be Clay and Shane. How it played out: For the first 55 minutes or so we covered absolutely everything. Travis and Curtis were probably there the most. Nothing got away. The biggest gaps would go to solo guys. We did so much, probably too much, that teams waited on us to do it. In those situations one of us would just ride the front until we got it close. Ben got in a few moves, Clay did too, and Curtis and Travis did a lot of covering. With 8 laps to go, a dangerous-ish two man move got away containing one of our team alumni, Thom Soladay and someone else. Curtis hustled to the front, maybe too quickly, and shut the move down, despite a strong re-attack from Soladay. This was essentially the end of Curtis’s race, and he was stuffed after that point. Clay, Chaddock, Travis, and Shane, however, were ready. A lap later they took over the front and Chaddock did two really hard laps and dropped off Clay an Shane, a bit short staffed. They capitalized on MRI’s leadout, and settled in around 10th wheel. Clay moved Shane up and kept him out of the wind, then Travis took over from Clay and continued to keep Shane protected until 1.5 laps to go. Then MRI hit it for Justin Williams. Shane did the rest like a freaking boss. He jumped from sixth wheel and closed hard winning by inches but was going way faster than the other guys. Justin second, and Ken Hanson (Optum) 3rd. In a crash-marred last lap, Clay held on for 7th, Travis hung in for 11th. Sandy Springs Criterium, Speed Week Finale: After an unusually cold and windy week in the southeast, Sandy Springs did not adhere to the stereotype of what the race has been in the past, which is hot and humid. Instead, like the rest of the week, it was wet and cold.  It definitely has not been typical. On the van drive to Sandy Springs, everyone was weather watching.  Sunny skies greeted us upon our arrival, and we were cautiously optimistic that the weather would hold for our race.  Despite our hopes, a thunderstorm dampened the course prior to our start. The race started slowly on the wet course as crashes were happening on every lap.  The field quickly was whittled down to a select group of riders.  Frank Travieso was not satisfied, and our man Frank The Tank repeatedly attacked violently.  He got away with Karl Menzies (UHC) and dangled off the front for 40 minutes.  With UHC and Team SmartStop satisfied with the situation, the race quickly developed into a not-crashing contest. With about 35 laps remaining, another rain front passed through.  Gusts of wind flipped over tents and blew barriers into the road.  The temperature dropped 20 degrees, and people were literally getting blown off their bikes.  It was a true contest of bicycle handling skills, turning ability, and willingness to get extremely cold. Despite the tough conditions, Frank and Menzies stayed off the front.  Menzies was not cooperating in the group and refusing to pull.  Frank took the bit between his teeth and pushed to the line.  I