Trailspace Blog
The 10 Essentials: Illumination
While a comprehensive packing list depends on many factors, certain outdoor gear is considered essential whether you’re heading off on an extended backcountry...
The 10 Essentials: Insulation
While a comprehensive packing list depends on many factors, certain outdoor gear is considered essential whether you’re heading off on an extended backcountry...
The 10 Essentials: Sun Protection
While a comprehensive packing list depends on many factors, certain outdoor gear is considered essential whether you’re heading off on an extended backcountry...
The 10 Essentials: Navigation
While a comprehensive packing list depends on many factors, certain outdoor gear is considered essential whether you’re heading off on an extended backcountry...
Ways to Reuse Your Old Polycarbonate Bottles
If you’ve recently opted to replace your #7 polycarbonate water bottles with metal or non-BPA plastic ones, you’re probably wondering what you can...
REI Pulling Polycarbonate Bottles; U.S. Draft Report says BPA Might Present Risks
By now you probably know that “Canada is Likely to Declare BPA as Toxic” and “Nalgene will Stop Making Polycarbonate Bottles”.
Nalgene to Stop Making Polycarbonate Bottles
Following yesterday's post on Canada potentially labeling Bisphenol-a (BPA) as toxic, come reports that Nalgene will no longer offer the popular polycarbonate...
Canada Likely to Declare BPA as Toxic
Bisphenol-a (BPA), an endocrine disrupting chemical found in polycarbonate plastic water bottles, has raised health concerns recently.
The 10 Essentials for Backcountry Travel
Certain outdoor gear is essential whether you’re heading off on an extended backcountry bushwhack or exploring the trails in your local woods.
Good-bye, Mion and GoLite Footwear
According to outdoor industry news source SNEWS, “Timberland has begun notifying distributors and retailers around the globe of its intention to discontinue...
Gourmet Chocolate for the Backcountry Set
In case you’ve missed the hoopla, it's Valentine’s Day, and for many that means chocolate.
Outdoor Retailer: Kids' Gear
Here’s a belated follow-up on one of the trends I noticed at Outdoor Retailer: more and more manufacturers of highly technical gear and apparel have...
Building a Better Water Bottle: Aluminum, Steel, and No BPA
Whether it’s for a trek into the backcountry or a trip to the store, there are a growing number of aluminum, stainless steel, and BPA-free plastic water bottles.
Choosing to Reuse: Safer Water Bottle Options
The push for reusable bottles over bottled water must be making headway. Over the past couple months I’ve had numerous people ask me about the SIGG...
Outdoor Retailer: Packable Dishes
Fold it. Squish it. Flatten it. Packable backcountry dishes have come a long way from the traditional scout mess kit.
Outdoor Retailer: Sweating the (Really) Small Stuff
Apparently nanotechnology – product engineering at the molecular level – has arrived in the outdoor industry.
Outdoor Retailer: Easton Snowshoes
Easton Aluminum, long a supplier of aluminum snowshoe frames for the likes of Atlas and Tubbs, will be launching its own line of snowshoes for winter...
Outdoor Retailer: Rossignol Harness Pant
Ski maker Rossignol debuted a very interesting pair of pants at Outdoor Retailer. The Harness Pant is an insulated, waterproof-breathable ski mountaineering...
Outdoor Retailer: Merrell Gatherer Jacket
When boot- and shoemaker Merrell decided last year to enter the outerwear market, the company didn’t want to do so with a “me-too” collection of...
Outdoor Retailer: SteriPEN Journey
When was the last time your water purifier smiled at you? Probably never. The folks at Hydro-Photon are aiming to change that with the introduction of...
Outdoor Retailer: Kahtoola FLIGHTdeck TS
Last winter we reviewed the Kahtoola FLIGHTsystem, an integrated winter travel system made up of a snowshoe deck that mates with a neoprene overboot.
Outdoor Retailer: Everlite Solar Headlamp
Yesterday I mentioned that Outdoor Retailer includes a lot of small companies or individual inventors trying to get a foothold in the outdoor industry.
Outdoor Retailer: Patagonia Ascensionist Jacket
Patagonia’s fall 2008 clothing and outerwear line, which debuted today at Outdoor Retailer Winter Market, includes a staggering number of products...
Outdoor Retailer Winter Market 2008
In twelve short hours the doors to the Salt Palace Convention Center in downtown Salt Lake City will swing open to thousands of outdoor retailers, media,...
Recycle Your Dynamic Rope with Sterling
Got an old dynamic climbing rope you’ve retired? Want to get it out of your closet, keep it out of a landfill, and avoid having to weave a rope rug...
First Look: MSR HyperFlow Microfilter
The MSR HyperFlow Microfilter, due in stores this spring, is a lightweight, cucumber-sized water filter that utilizes hollow fiber technology to provide remarkably rapid water filtration.
Will Environmental Labels Follow Patagonia's Footprints?
Is that organic cotton shirt environmentally better or worse than that wool baselayer or recycled fleece? While greener outdoor clothing options keep increasing, it can be next to impossible to know the total environmental costs of any one piece. Until now.
Q&A: Tent Condensation
Occasionally we receive outdoor gear questions from readers. Since we figured others would find them useful too, we’ll share some of those Q&A’s...
Blazing a Good Trail: The AT in Maine (Part Three)
Getting to the top of C Bluff Mountain is our next mission. From shore it looks steep, rocky, dense, though the Bates party made it to the summit, ultimately blazing a spur trail for the AT. Surely we can gain the ridge without too much trouble.
Review: AMC White Mountain Guide Online
Trailspace reviews the Appalachian Mountain Club's White Mountain Guide Online -- a new Web-based companion to the club's 100-year-young guidebook to New Hampshire's high peaks.
Review: Primus EtaPower EF
Primus's EtaPower EF integrated stove system pairs fuel efficiency with high performance and group-cooking capabilities.
Vibram FiveFingers Named A "Best Invention of 2007" By Time Magazine
Vibram FiveFingers, a unique glove-styled shoe, was named one of the “Best Inventions of 2007” according to Time magazine.
How to Sharpen Your Ice Screws
While most climbers sharpen their own crampons and ice picks (a topic that deserves its own how-to article), sharpening screws is trickier. Ask your trusted fellow climbers or local climbing shop for recommendations for sharpening services.
Got Your Hunter Orange? Hiking Safely During Hunting Season
It’s hunting season here in Maine, as in many other places, and that means it’s time to break out the fluorescent orange vests and hats every time...
How to Get Kids Environmentally Involved
Parenting.com just published “10 ways to get kids environmentally involved.” While it has some semi-useful suggestions about clothing swaps, using...
Blazing a Good Trail: The AT in Maine (Part Two)
On June 21, 1934, four members of the Bates Outing Club set off into the Maine woods laden with 45-pound packs and a mission from ATC chairman Myron Avery: locate, flag, and map a viable route for the Appalachian Trail from Frye Bridge in Andover to the base of Saddleback Mountain near Rangeley and complete the final scouting of the footpath from Maine to Georgia.
2007 AT Scouting Trip Gear List
Read “Blazing a Good Trail: The AT in Maine” for the full narrative. Shires Tarptent Rain Shadow 2 2 sleeping bags (Sierra Designs Shut Eye, Montbell...
Blazing a Good Trail: The AT in Maine (Part One)
For the past hour we have been making our way slowly uphill, pushing ourselves through increasingly dense growth in the woods of western Maine, climbing over, under, and around blowdown. Every so often we stop and turn, scanning the forest for a sight change in the trees or light. Despite the obstacles the setting is lovely-dark, verdant, and peaceful. Then I see it.
1934 A.T. Scouting Trip Gear List
Gear list from the final Appalachian Trail scouting trip, taken June 21-28, 1934, in western Maine by members of the Bates College Outing Club (from "Blazing a Good Trail").
Petzl Recalls SARKEN Crampons
Petzl is recalling all SARKEN crampon models due to premature wearout on the front points.
Outdoor Retailer: Rock On Cards
Need a card to send your favorite hiker, climber, paddler, or mountain biker? Rock On Cards makes cards and posters with photos of outdoor athletes climbing,...
Outdoor Retailer: Recycled Sleeping Bags
We all know that “green gear” is a huge trend, but consumer demand can lead to “greenwashing,” where companies slap a tree on their packaging,...
Outdoor Retailer: Primus Intros EtaPower Multifuel and Canister Stoves
While I briefly mentioned the Primus EtaPower MF (multi-fuel) backpacking stove on Day 3 of OR, here's some more information about it and the new integrated...
Outdoor Retailer: Keen Climbing Shoes
Keen's Broughton Direct (men's) In a move I didn’t see coming, Keen is introducing two climbing shoes with Keen climbing sticky rubber—the velcro...
Outdoor Retailer: New Navigation Options from DeLorme and Magellan
DeLorme’s new Earthmate GPS PN-20 is the only handheld GPS that can display aerial imagery, DeLorme topo maps, and USGS 7.5-minute quad maps.
Outdoor Retailer Day Four: Heat-It Up
Heat-It is a new 138-gram (4.86 ounces) “all weather cooking system” that you use with your current backcountry stove and cookware setup to increase...
Outdoor Retailer Day Three: A Long Day
It’s the morning of day four, the last of Outdoor Retailer Summer Market. Things are quieting down as booths get packed up and attendees cruise the...
Outdoor Retailer Day Three: Running the Sahara
Uber ultra runners Charlie Engle, Ray Zahab, and Kevin Lin ran 4,300 miles across the Sahara in 111 days -- that's nearly 40 miles a day. The trio started in Senegal and ran through Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Libya, and Egypt to the Red Sea, over sand dunes, on roads and trails, and through what they termed “hell grass."
