Jul 31 2010

Outdoor Retailer Show – Summer 2010

Looks like it’s that time of year again, when the outdoor industry gets together to show their wares, party, and get psyched for the coming season of snow and selling goods. I’ll be making the trek again, but in scaled back form, just moi representing the EarnYourTurns perspective. It IS the summer show, so the focus is on paddle sports, hiking, backpacking, trail running and nothing about snow.

Even though summer activities will be the focus of the majority there will be plenty of companies there with a year round focus and I’ve always found a nugget or two of information for the coming ski season to be had in the air-conditioned safety of the Salt Palace. If there’s anything worth passing on, I’ll try to start doing so in a timely manner. Until then, stand by…

Jul 22 2010

Under Appreciated Moves

As our economy has contracted, I’ve begun to eliminate all the extra stuff that I had unconsciously been holding onto in the delusional belief that more stuff was evidence of prosperity or some other such rot. When I realized I’d spent over eight-thousand dollars to store a bunch of stuff that could’ve been replaced for about $500 it was time to adopt a new paradigm about stuff. You can’t take it with you, and at some point it just gets in the way. Deb says, “do, dump, or delegate,” so I’ve been trying to dump as much as I can ever since that lesson hit home. Light is right applies to more than just mountaineering.
Keep making backcountry turns

Jul 18 2010

Tribute to Paul Ramer

© 2000

Paul Ramer

Paul Ramer circa 1995 wearing his elusive Avalert that never quite made it to market.

While there are many people who have contributed to the growth of ski mountaineering in America, few were more instrumental than Paul Ramer. It was his vision, more than any other single man’s which accurately defined, perhaps prophesied, the current landscape of the sport. Some of you reading this became aware of backcountry skiing through more contemporary voices, but they all stood on the developments and ideas first promoted in America by Paul Ramer.

Against America’s tidal wave of enthusiasm for Telemark, Paul was adamant that Alpine Touring (AT) was the way, not Nordic. It was an uphill battle all the way. Steve Barnett’s book “Cross-Country Downhill” distilled the enthusiasm for backcountry skiing in 1976, and his choice of telemark gear cast the mold for those who followed. He was just following Ric Borkovec, who chose Nordic as a rehab option to a ski injury, and then found exhilaration in the freedom it provided. Others, like Doug Robinson, Paul Parker, and Alan Bard began to wax eloquent on the telemark turn and the die seemed cast. When the first all-plastic telemark boot arrived, the Terminator, American interest in AT practically dissolved.
Keep making backcountry turns

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May 26 2010

Sunscreens not so hot?

Since everyone who plays in the outdoors is exposed to the sun nearly everyone uses some sort of sunscreen. There are tons of options available, but which ones really work? You can tell by how much you burn, or tan, or don’t after using them. At least, you can tell what the short term effects are.

What about the long term effects? Is one brand really better than another? Has anyone you know stuck with a single brand over time so that we might even be able to tell? And if someone gets skin cancer, was it for lack of using sunscreens regularly, or just during a specific trip, or as this report suggests, maybe it WAS for using the wrong sunscreen.

Do sunscreens accelerate skin cancer?

Apr 24 2010

Inching forward.

No doubt some of you are moaning “Oh No!” right now. ’tis true, Dostie is taking the muzzle off and returning to fling words around that others won’t pay to publish. Perhaps with good reason. 😉

For reasons that should be evident whenever you lift your head up to drink the free air, the ability to speak your mind is a cornerstone of freedom. If you don’t exercise the rights you have, like muscles, a skill, or a talent, you lose ’em when you don’t use ’em. So here’s to celebrating the free exchange of ideas — the reason and rhyme of words — for all things that reflect an earn your turns perspective.