Surf Station: Mid-Winter 2019
Snow! If you haven’t been skiing you’re missing out. Get out there.
Before the snow started dumping, Doug and Tim had a great time climbing Flume and Silver Cascades, doing some research for an upcoming goEast piece on moderate ice climbs in Crawford Notch. Their friend Nick joined them that day. Look for him in some of the pics in the article as well as on Tim’s Instagram (@Timjpeck).
Given their love of puffy jackets, it’s surprising how long it took Doug and Tim to come up with the concept for this goEast piece on how to keep your puffy jacket clean. They also did a goEast piece on How to Buy Snowshoes.
On this site, this is our 15th blog of 2019. To highlight a few, Mickey Spades did two well received gear reviews on some Mosko Moto Crew gear (the Reckless 10 and the Pinner Tool Roll), while Luke did a great photo-centric piece on Winter on the Water. Meanwhile, Tim wrote three book reports (French Revolutions, a Walk in the Woods like story about one man’s effort to cycle the Tour de France route; Alpine Warriors; and Deep Powder and Steep Rock), while Doug contributed another on one of his favorite books: One Man’s Wilderness.
Now to the links.
While a photo of an egg was smashing Instagram and Twitter records, it was the story of an egg thief that recently captivated us. Part outdoor adventure story, part travel piece, and part spy thriller, The Egg Thief, from Outside Magazine, is a must-read. In fact, our only complaint with The Egg Thief was that we wanted even more of the story.
Another article from Outside Magazine that caught our attention (again) was Retracing Benedict Arnold’s Foolhardy Upstream Voyage. A delightful blend of American History with Quixotic adventure, Retracing Benedict Arnold’s Foolhardy Upstream Voyage takes readers along for the ride as the author and friends retrace Arnold’s 300-mile-long, backwoods route from Maine’s Kennebec River to Quebec City in a period correct wooden bateaux (boat).
The combination of the Scottish Highlands and mountain biking is a sure way to attract our attention. While the beautiful photos of the gorgeous Scottish landscape are what got us to click on Mountain Bikes and Rustic Scottish Cabins Can Fix Anything, it was the bothys that we found most interesting. If you’re new to bothys—as we were—they’re simple shelters found in remote Scotland that are left unlocked and free for anyone to use. Sound interesting? We thought it would.
We spend a lot of time playing in and reading about New Hampshire’s White Mountains which is why we were amazed that we had never before heard the story found in the Union Leader’s article Footprints in the Snow Lead to an Emotional Rescue . We hesitate to ascribe meaning to the article but give it a read if you like the stories about the White Mountains, adventure, survival, the frailty of life, and the power of the human spirit. One suggestion, keep a tissue or two handy.
Although the skiing is starting to get good up north we can’t help but think about warm summer days shredding brown pow. We stumbled across this older video of Giant Team Rider Seamus Powell ripping around Vermont’s Kingdom Trails and its had us thinking about Spring ever since.
Speaking of mountain biking, while Tim seems to have given up hope that Flury will ever be a mountain biking dog, this video has him holding out hope for his newest dog, Nellie. Doug’s just excited to have ammo for a sequel to What’s Up With Tim. Stay tuned.
This group of guys really grabbed Mickey’s attention this winter. They are trying to bridge the gap made between human-powdered adventurers (like backcountry skiers and mountain bikers) and the dirt bike and snowmobile groups. Working together there’s a better chance we can make the woods last.
Finally, Mickey’s psyched about some new product coming from Mosko as well as a great trip report that he’s putting on his bucket list for 2020.
