Text by West Coast Editor Steve Casimiro
Brunton’s Solo 3.4 battery reboots almost anything that powers off USB—cameras, PDAs, GPS units—and charges via wall outlet, vehicle port, or sunlight. The 5.2-ouncer cranks out 5.5 volts (it fueled my iPhone nine times before drying up) and, best of all, fits in the palm of your hand ($65).
Text by West Coast Editor Steve Casimiro; Photograph by Joshua Scott
One strikingly clear night, I looked through the eyepiece of the Meade ETX-LS telescope, watched as the four stars of the Orion Trapezium cluster came into resolution, and then listened as the soothing and familiar voice of Sandy Wood, famous for the StarDate segments on NPR, described this celestial treat. To do this, I didn’t need one iota of skill or brains, just the ability to flip a switch. Holy cow: With the ETX-LS, Meade has hit upon a brilliant and delightfully easy new design that makes enjoying the night sky absolutely foolproof. Frankly, if you’ve ever had a scope that promised the moon and didn’t deliver, it’s kind of mindblowing: Turn it on and, with its built-in GPS, computer, and motor, the six-incher levels, aligns, and calibrates itself.
Almost everyone I know loves star-gazing—but almost everyone I know loves star-gazing more in theory than practice. Is that Cassiopeia or Uranus? Mars or Venus? Telescopes can be complicated, star charts hard to decipher, the dark unforgiving when you drop your flashlight. With the Meade, all that’s in the past—now you can focus on the gazing, not the finding. And you can enjoy the Meade’s extras, like the CCD camera that records images to your memory card or watch the encyclopedic videos on an added monitor. Or simply take control with the scope’s remote and guide yourself around the heavens. For the first time since Galileo built his first telescope 400 years ago, you have the choice ($1,299; meade.com).
Not even a year ago, there were those who questioned the hoopla over the iPhone. And here we are now, secure in the knowledge that Apple’s micro-Mac isn’t just a radical new phone, it’s a revolution in computing, communication, entertainment, and connectivity. If you disagree, well, you probably don’t own one. And that’s not meant to be snotty–I’ve arrived at this conclusion after testing nearly every smartphone available and then stepping up with my own precious cash for the iPhone and monthly unlimited calls and data. It’s a spendy conclusion, but oh-so-worth it.
So, with more than 15,000 programs in the iTunes Store, what of those for use in the outdoors? Do the iPhone and Mother Nature play well? The short is answer is “yes”. The iPhone excels at delivering information. Programs that channel local knowledge–surf reports, snow reports, water flows–are perfect applications of the phone’s strengths. Those that replicate already-dialed electronics, like GPS, bike computers, and training devices, maybe not so much. (And of course you have to consider whether you really want that $300 chunk of sweet electronic envy exposed to the elements.) But still, the iPhone itself is already on its way to becoming indispensable and will become even more so–these 25 outdoor apps are part of the reason why.
Browse the list here, then read West Coast Editor Steve Casimiro's in-depth reviews of each app at The Adventure Life >>
See more gear and gadget reviews >>
ASTRONOMY
Moon Atlas
Trailguru WATER Oakley Surf Report RiverGuide BIKE Bicycle Gear Guide iMapMyRide FITNESS Absolute Fitness WEATHER Accuweather Weather Bug Flashlight. Knots, Splices, & Ropework Browse the list here, then read West Coast Editor Steve Casimiro's in-depth reviews of each app at The Adventure Life >> See more gear and gadget reviews by Casimiro >>Cost: $5.99
Gorgeous atlas of the moon, richly detailed, high resolution, and search by name, too.
MoonMap Lite
Cost: Free
A great first moon map, but "lite" is the operative term: The NASA photos of La Luna are useful for basic ID of seas, canals, and more, but you might crave higher resolution.
SoLuna
Cost: $.99
If your werewolf intuition isn't quite strong enough, get this simple lunar phase almanac. Finally learn what "gibbous" means and be able to answer, "Is the moon full tonight or tomorrow night?"
Star Walk
Cost: $4.99
The prettiest and most enjoyable way to scan the night sky short of walking outside and looking up.
Starmap
Cost: $11.99
Simpler and not as pretty as Star Walk, Starmap actually has more controls, faster searches, and more stellar info.
SNOW
Ski Report
Cost: Free
Despite a clunky design, this is a killer app: Everything a snow geek needs to know about ski and board conditions worldwide.
iTrailMap 3D
Cost: Free
Displays a three-dimensional view of the resort, so you can grasp the topography you're riding faster than with any trail map.
iTrailMap
Cost: Free
This freebie is the best software for viewing trail maps.
The North Face Snow Report
Cost: Free
This is the best designed, most modern-looking of all the snow reports, but not always easy to navigate.
REI Snow Report
Cost: Free
It's free, but be forewarned: This snow reporting app is poorly organized, slow, and very commercial.
Ski Jump Lite
Cost: Free
Almost as addictive as ski jumping itself. Download NOW.
Utah Snow Report
Cost: Free
Nicely built, useful, and clever—this Beehive State snow report also includes direct links to call the resorts.
TRAIL/NAVIGATION
Google Earth
Cost: Free
Free, fun, and there's nothing like it for seeing the blue marble at a glance.
iMapMyFitness
Cost: Free
Record, upload and share training runs, rides, hikes, etc. This iPhone app works seamlessly.
Motion-X GPS Lite
Cost: Free
There are dozens of apps that use the iPhone's GPS to record speed, distance, routes, waypoints, but this comes closest to "real" GPS. No maps, though.
Trails
Cost: $2.99
Its emphasis is on tracking routes and waypoints and the maps are excellent.
Cost: Free
Uses Google Maps to track your route, but you can't add waypoints.
Cost: Free
Could be the best outdoor app yet: This surf report does everything well, including giving tide info, forecasts, and inside info on wave dynamics.
Cost: $4.99
RiverGuide tells you current conditions on just about every creek, river, or waterway you can put in. Must-have for paddlers.
Cost: $4.99
Calculate gear ratios—if you're a wrench, single speeder, or fixie fanatic, you'll find it irreplaceable. If not, not.
Cost: Free
Map My Fitness is a big social networking site that allows you to upload and share training rides—this is the bike version.
Cost: $15
Out of dozens, perhaps scores or even hundreds of fitness trackers, this is the best.
Cost: Free
Cost: Free
AccuWeather, Weather Bug, and the Weather Channel offer solid free weather apps, but AccuWeather has the most features, the most video reports, and the best interface. WeatherBug beats it on multi-location reporting.
Cost: Free
Turns your screen white. Helpful when trying to find, well, anything.
Cost: $1.99
Learn the ropes from this classic 1917 book.
Can a tiny projector bring back the old-school slide show? Absolutely.
Traffic is slow, but spirits are high in Salt Lake City at the gear hoedown known as Outdoor Retailer Winter Market, a.k.a. Winter OR. There's something about bookending a trade show with ski or boarding sessions in the Wasatch that gives the winter show a happy little glow—snow is the salve that tempers just about everything. And even with economic calamity across the country, there's a very tangible sense of optimism: After eight years of crimes against nature, the industry the depends on environmental stewardship is hopeful, even joyful, at the arrival of a new administration.
Yeah, yeah, yeah—what about gear? Well, the Salt Palace is calling to me, lots of stuff to see, so I gotta make this quick. Here's a few things to remember: Dynafit has reengineered its alpine touring boots to add a lot more support for the descent…K2 folded its telemark ski program into its alpine program, reflecting the reality that barriers are breaking down and skis are so versatile they can be used for almost anything…Outdoor Research is working on new clothing line that bridges resort and backcountry—sidecountry or slackcountry, we can call it…Mountain Hardwear has a new heated jacket that in addition to cranking out the heat can also power anything that charges with a USB…and, finally, I can't wait to try Saucony's new trail running shoe, the Razor, built with ultra-breathable waterproof eVent fabric and a super-sticky Vibram tread. If only this Salt Lake rain would turn to snow and I could get a mucky, cold, wet test run.
Mourners at a candlelight vigil in Sparwood, B.C., which lost eight young men to slides.
By West Coast Editor Steve Casimiro
Seven
Canadian snowmobilers are dead and one is missing and
presumed dead after a series of avalanches hit their group in the
backcountry near Fernie, British Columbia, Sunday. Also on Sunday, a
snowmobiler died near Hart's Pass, Washington, and on Monday a
15-year-old Utah boy was killed snowmobiling in the Uinta Range. A Lake
Tahoe
skier is dead from a slide at Squaw Valley on Christmas Day. A Wilson,
Wyoming, man perished in a slide in-bounds at Jackson Hole on Saturday.
And Monday morning, with the resort closed for avalanche control work, an
avalanche crashed into Jackson’s mid-mountain Couloir restaurant,
causing severe damage and knocking workers about, including a patroller
who was partially buried. CONTINUE READING THIS STORY>>
Story and photo by West Coast Editor Steve Casimiro
The unveiling of Jackson Hole's new $31 million aerial tram Friday night was beautifully scripted and masterfully executed. Wrapped in a white gossamer sheet like some Christo installation, it descended from the uphill darkness and coasted to the convergence of five spotlights, where it glowed in a holy light. The cover dropped, Santa rappelled through the bottom of the box, fireworks boomed, the thousand-plus crowd cheered. And then Car 1 glided toward its dock and there was a pause and the kind of silence that comes just after the organ stops playing in church. A moment of reverence. But then a white orb arced through the night, a snowball, and it splattered against the new red paint. Then another and another, snowballs from all quarters, the crowded cheered even louder. Consecration achieved.
Continue reading this story>>>
In this post-Prius world, plug-in vehicles promise to be the next big thing. But unless you’re willing to drop $100K on a Tesla or wait another year for the Chevy Volt, options are scarce. Hence my excitement when I discovered the Zero X electric dirt bike: It runs on lithium-ion batteries (recyclable and nontoxic), recharges in two hours, tops out at 55 mph—and is nearly silent. Zipping around a dirt lot, I heard nothing but breeze and tires rolling. The acceleration was startling—zero to 30 mph in under two seconds—but at 151 pounds, the aluminum rig was as easy to control as my mountain bike. For environmentalists, motocross bikes rank alongside snowmobiles and ATVs (loud, polluting instruments of reckless behavior), but the Zero X makes a guilt-free alternative to the gas-guzzlers we too often use to reach the trailhead or crag. Soon Zero will sell a street version, then a street-dirt dual-sport. Electric transport isn’t just for tree hugger wish lists. It’s here, now.
Part of the California wildlands to be protected.
Text by West Coast Editor Steve Casimiro, photo by John Dittli
“Vote the Environment” doesn’t stop with the culmination of the presidential election: Congress is set to protect 3 million acres of land across the United States and add safeguards to 1,000 miles of rivers—but it needs encouragement to get its lame-duck butt back to D.C. to approve it.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has promised to call back the Senate to vote on the massive Omnibus Public Lands Management Act of 2008, but Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has not said whether she’ll force her fellow reps to return and consider it. She should. And you should call her office and tell her so. Here’s why: CONTINUE READING>>
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