Surf Station: Fall’s Here!

Here one day, gone the next. Between the recent cold snap and the early-season snow, fall in the Northeast seems to have come and gone quickly this year. But despite feeling the squeeze on one of our favorite times of the year—seriously, who doesn’t love Rocktober?—we still managed to post several fall related pieces.

One of our favorites was the goEast Alpha Guide for the Carter Range Traverse, the quintessential fall foliage hike in the Whites that should be on everybody’s “to-do” list. Sticking with the foliage theme, we did a quick-hitter on goEast about places in Greater Boston to combine leaf peeping with an outdoor activity as well as a piece here about autumn on Mt. Roberts, a fantastic family hike.

Many of our other goEast pieces stuck to the Rocktober theme. We did the Alpha Guide for the Northeast Ridge of the Pinnacle, which also happened to have my favorite pitch of climbing so far in 2018. We then teamed-up with Eric Waldron of the EMS Gunks’ Climbing School to put together a piece on layering for fall climbing. We also did a piece on how to buy a climbing harness and another on why everybody should have a puffy vest.

Speaking of climbing, if you’re not quite ready to trade the rock shoes for skis and crampons, The American Alpine Club is hosting its 11th annual “It’s Not Over Till It’s Over” climbing meet-up in Connecticut. Check it out if you’re a local.

Back here, Doug’s wife Genevieve did a great piece about a family hike up Middle and North Sugarloaf. Of course, she left out the part about their four-year-old son having to poop, but refusing to poop in the woods. Although he was able to hold it until he got to a “real toilet,” it was still a mini-epic. Maybe someday he’ll earn his gold star.

Outside of our personal projects, the short video, Falling for the Whites, got our attention. If you’ve spent any time in the North Conway area, you’ll definitely recognize many of the spots, which are dressed in their best fall splendor. Check it out!

We also really enjoyed this MTV Cribs inspired video of Dakine team-rider Torin Yater-Wallace giving a tour of his gearage. Having both worked for over a decade in the outdoor industry we both have an affinity for gear rooms, but this takes it to the next level.

Everybody reading this is likely familiar with the Appalachian Trail–if you’re not, check out this Book Report that Tim wrote–and has also probably heard of the Pacific Coast Trail and the Continental Divide Trail. But have you ever heard of the 7,000 mile Great Western Loop? Outside recently did a great profile on the soon-to-be second finisher.

Another video that we enjoyed was the short film about the Constains family from Teton Gravity Research. Much like Parkin learns in the movie, Tim’s sure Doug’s children will learn at some point what it feels like when your dad sends harder than you.

Outside of the outdoors, we couldn’t help but love this story about a semi-fictitious obituary a daughter wrote for her dad. Tim loves the idea of people taking the time to tell outlandish stories about him—his only request is that a few real ones get mixed in to keep people guessing.