Gear Review: Somnio Westridge Trail Runners Conform to Your Foot

By Steve Casimiro, editor of Adventure Journal

If you’re a casual runner, you don’t buy shoes that often—once a year, maybe twice—and so you probably don’t stick your foot in that many models. But over the course of 12 months, I probably test 60 pairs of shoes, and what I’ve learned is that each guides your foot in its own way, through heel lift, pronation control, height off the ground, and a score of other methods. Unless the shoe is particularly extreme, your body will quickly adapt to it, but to my mind that’s the opposite approach: Your shoe should adapt to you, not the other way around.

With Somnio footwear, that’s exactly what happens. And with the new Westridge trail runner ($130), Somnio has achieved what I think is the holy grail: the perfectly neutral shoe. How so? Somnio is the first customizable running shoe. It has swappable components in the forefoot cushioning, heel cushioning, the insole, and the varus wedge that sits under the insole. Altogether, there are thousands of combinations per pair. Your local Somnio dealer will analyze your gait, then work with you to find the mix of parts that makes the perfect fit.

Adventure in 60 Seconds: Goat Vs. Man; Next-Gen Parkour; Moo-bile Tech in Africa

Check in daily for a look at what we are reading in the news...

Goat Vs. Man
New York Times writer Tim Egan comments on the recent incident in Olympic National Park where a mountain goat—an herbavoire, even—gored an experienced hiker and lorded over him while the man bled to death. Egan suggests our natural balance is broken. Read the article.

Next-Gen Parkour
Wired.com looks at parkour’s all-stars, including founders Danny Belle and Sebastien Foucan, to show how next-gen parkour incorporates bikes, inline skates, and skateboards in the hands of action sports aficionados. See the gallery.

Moo-bile Tech in Africa
The winner of Apps 4 Africa, the country’s first mobile application contest has been announced. The app, iCow, helps farmers maximize bovine breeding potential by tracking the fertility cycle of their animals. The competition was aimed at getting top local developers together to find useful solutions with smartphone technology. Read the article.

Adventure Photography: About the Shot - Surfing Buchupero, Chile

Photograph by Chris Burkard, Red Bull Illume

Which photo is your favorite from this year's collection of Red Bull Illume adventure photo contest winners? Here's one of ours from the "Illumination" category. Click through to see the photo gallery >>

About the Shot

It was a last-minute decision to go to Chile. We sat in the pouring rain for days and days waiting for the swell to come. We thought we had planned it perfectly, but you can still get a winter storm in the fall.

We woke up the morning after the rains to howling offshore winds. The swell was pulsing and the conditions were as good as they get. We drove to a spot in the afternoon that the locals had said, “rarely breaks.” When we pulled up it was reeling left barrels for almost a football field’s length. We scrambled to get out and surf. i was sunburnt and tired and had no idea how to document this moment. The waves were some of the most I had ever seen, so I decided to risk it. I sprinted down the beach and hiked up a sand dune to get a pulled back perspective.

The shore break was so big, and the offshores’ plumes so high, that I was missing most of the best waves, but finally a set came through. The light, the wind, and the swell were perfect. It was as if everything in nature fell into perfect harmony for this single moment. As Peter Mendia eased into this wave, the backwash hit, sending a golden shower of water ten feet above his head, and sending him down the line of another 20-second barrel. —Photographer Chris Burkard

Adventure in 60 Seconds: Surfers Witness Indonesia Tsunami, Iran Hikers Get Trial, Everest Guide Lost in Slide

Check in daily for a look at what we are reading in the news...

Australian Surfers Witness Indonesia’s Tsunami
With death and injury tolls rising, Indonesia's aid workers continue to deal with the aftermath of the volcanic eruption, earthquake, and tsunami that each hit in separate parts of the country over the past few days. A few Australia surfers were anchored off the Mentawai Islands when the tsunami hit. Here’s their account.

Trial Approaching For American Hikers Detained in Iran
Note to self: Do not even think of hiking anywhere near Iran. Some 16 months after three American hikers were jailed on spying suspicions after straying from Kurdistan into an unmarked border with Iran, a trail date could be set for early November. Only the two men, Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer, will be tried. Fellow hiker Sarah Shourd was released earlier this fall on humanitarian grounds. Read the article at CNN.com.

Veteran Everest Guide Lost in Avalanche
Few will see the summit of Everest ever, let alone 19 times. Last weekend legendary climber Chhewang Nima Sherpa was swept off Baruntse in an avalanche while setting ropes for commercial climbers. Search & Rescue efforts could not locate the Sherpa. Read more on Gadling.com.

Travel Tech: Introducing Genus, the First Smartphone That Doubles as a Satellite Phone

By Keene Haywood

Satellite phones are the de facto way to keep in touch with the world when you are on the edges of it, where no other communication options are possible. However, sat phones have always been very expensive, bulky, and somewhat finicky even on a good day, let alone in a raging blizzard or hurricane. In recent years, the size of the phones have come down, but they are still mostly one trick ponies that do voice communications and some slow data and video transmissions (for a hefty per minute price tag). No apps or fancy touchscreens for your sat phone sorry to say. But that is about to change.

AT&T is teaming up with satellite phone service provider TerreStar to provide Genus, a smartphone that also can be used as a satellite phone. It is a clever hybrid that may appeal to those who spend a good bit of time beyond traditional cell connections but then venture back into the civilization and want a more traditional phone to use.

Adventure in 60 Seconds: Ultraraces, an Uber-Climber, and the Mother of Paleontology

By Tetsuhiko Endo

The problem with many adventurers is that they don’t know when to say when. Climbed Everst? Why not climb it without supplementary O2? You like to ski and BASE jump? Try combining the two, and why not add a wingsuit for kicks? You might call this the Mallory Paradox, named for the man who’s reason for obsessively trying to climb Everest was simply “because it’s there.” Well, folks, the challenge is always there, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you should take it.

Questions of advisability aside, runners of all ages put the Mallory Paradox to practice this week when, in an apparent ode to all those “when I was your age stories.” They ran a marathon up Mt. Lemmon, near Tuscon, Arizon, starting at 3,000 feet above sea level, ending at 8,000 feet above sea level and, you guessed it, going uphill the entire time. As the New York Times reported, “They did it for the bragging rights, for the challenge, for the health benefits, for the pure absurdity of it all.” In other words, “because it’s there.”

Adventure Photography: Tips From a Top Surfing Photographer (Photos)

Text by Tetsuhiko Endp; Photographs and video by Mickey Smith

An often overlooked fact of adventure is that outdoor photographers are often the same calibre of athlete as the men and women they capture on film. From the early Himalayan masterpieces of the Italian mountain maestro Vittorio Sella to Ansel Adams’ striking portraits of the American West (Moon and the Half Dome anyone?), photographers have been taking us armchair adventurers into the breach from the comfort of our warm, safe homes for over one hundred years. The job is a demonic mix of physical prowess and artistic vision. Few subjects are as uncooperative as Mother Nature, so waiting for the stars to align, sometimes literally, is an almost super-natural attribute. Add human subjects to this mix and composing a photo becomes a task that would turn most lensemen into babbling piles of frayed nerves. But then, adventure photographers aren’t like other people.

One of best of this strange breed of adventurer is an Englishman named Mickey Smith, who despite being born and raised in Cornwall, has spent the last few years living on the West Coast of Ireland and documenting the local surfers’ forays into the frontiers of big-wave surfing. As a professional water photographer (someone who swims into the impact zone of big-wave surfing spots and shoots the surfers as they approach), he travels the world getting shots. But much of his best work still comes from the craggy, forbidding Irish coast in the form of surfing documentaries like Powers of Three, and Samhain. Check out the clip below to get a flavor of his intensely atmospheric style. Adventure recently caught up with Smith to find out more about his unique profession as well as what makes him tick. 

Andrew Skurka Answers Your Questions on Expedition Planning, Grizzlies, the Ladies, More

Here Andrew Skurka answers your questions about his 4,700-mile Alaska-Yukon Expedition.
See a photo gallery from the expedition and watch for the article in National Geographic Magazine in spring 2011.

1. What would you do without your mother? -- George Eichman III

My mother is certainly an integral and critical part of my trips, though my father should get some credit, too. My mom’s most functional role is serving as my logistics coordinator: She ships me food, supplies, and fresh gear; acts as a messenger for sponsors and media; and resolves things that I can’t from the field (e.g. purchasing my flight home). Over time I have learned how to reduce her workload. I do more things before I leave, e.g. box up my maildrops; I do more things from the field, e.g. blog; and I have plugged her into simple systems for tasks that need to get done, e.g. USPS home shipping. On short trips (less than a month), I can coordinate my own logistics. But on longer trips it’s definitely helpful to have someone else involved. My parents play two other important roles, besides coordinating logistics. First, they are my safety check. I call them every opportunity I get, in order to update them about where I am, where I’m going (if it’s different than the itinerary I left them), and when I’ll call next. Second, they serve as emotional outlet for me, since as a solo traveler I don’t have a regular opportunity (i.e. a travel partner) to talk through my stresses and feelings.

Explorer Eric Larsen Treks to Both Poles, Summits Everest in One Year For New Record

Photo by Eric Larsen

Explorer Eric Larsen and his team summited Mount Everest on Thursday, the final quest in his goal to reach the North and South Poles and the rooftop of the world within one year (Everest is considered by some to be a third pole), as reported by the AP. He made a 750-mile trek to the South Pole in January and a 500-mile hike to the North Pole in April. The 39-year-old Minnesota native says only 15 people have been to the top of Everest and both Poles, but none did it within a year. Larsen's expedition is intended to call attention to climate change in those regions.

Each single feat is an impressive accomplishment; and to do them all in one year is certainly a test of stamina, outdoors skills, and fund-raising abilities. What do you think of creative new records such as these? Do they keep exploration alive, as many "firsts" are long taken?

Larsen's website is http://www.savethepoles.com/ 

Best American Adventures: Paddle 340 Miles of the Mighty Missouri—Nonstop

We've just updated our popular America's Best Adventures feature with 50 new trips, bringing our grand total to 100 iconic escapes (see the map, state-by-state list, and photo gallery, too). So no matter what your pleasure—hiking, heli-skiing, surfing, climbing, biking, or paddling—we've got the perfect adventure for you. Check in each day for a new, out-the-backdoor adventure highlighted here on our blog.

By Robert Earle Howells; Photograph by Michelle M. Peltier

The huge upside of Glen Canyon Dam on the Colorado River, nexus of an environmental battle lost a generation ago, is the emergence of its progeny, Lake Powell, as a supreme freshwater kayaking destination. The lake’s green-water tentacles extend from the main 185-mile (300-kilometer) watercourse into 96 side canyons, where kayakers can paddle free of tides, waves, currents, and motorboats. A reverential hush inevitably descends upon a group of kayakers when they proceed into slots of Navajo sandstone towering 500 feet (150 meters) overhead that constrict to barely the length of a paddle.

The size and complexity of the lake convey both challenge and mystery to the experience. Kayakers wanting to go the DIY route might need two full days to get to the best kayaking—and even then they can find themselves paddling into inviting slots that turn out to be blank walls. Outfitters provide a motor assist and the local beta for five-day trips that get you into canyons like Cascade, Driftwood, and Rainbow, beneath the numinous presence of Navajo Mountain (10,388 feet, or 3,166 meters) and the Kaiparowits Plateau. Rainbow Canyon is the gateway to the massive natural arch of Rainbow Bridge.

The typical routine is to paddle eight to ten miles (13 to 16 kilometers) a day, venture into a slot, cross the channel, paddle another, proceed afoot when the canyon closes in entirely, and paddle back out to camp on the main channel where sunset, stars, and sunrise are players in the drama.

Spring and fall are the best times to paddle free of the swarms of speedboats and personal watercraft that plague the lake in summer. Warm water lingers right into fall.

Need to Know: No fees or permits are required to enjoy Lake Powell. Get general info at www.nps.gov/glca. Outfitters and rentals: Kayak Powell (www.kayakpowell.com) provides shuttles, tours, and rentals. A five-day tour starts at $895.