Sunday, February 21st, 2010
More info at: www.homelessgear.com
Follow on Twitter at: www.twitter.com/homelessgear
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Mission:
The mission of Homeless Gear is a simple one. Collect unwanted outdoor gear (packs, sleeping bags, tents, tarps, etc) & outdoor clothing (coats, rain gear, boots, etc) and re-distribute these items to the homeless. Homeless Gear intends to find a home for all unwanted outdoor gear and make the outdoors a little more like home for those without permanent shelter.
Why:
A segment of the homeless community can not gain entrance into an overnight shelter because there are no more beds available or they have issues with drug or alcohol use. Even if they do find overnight shelter they have to spend the majority of their day outside in the rain or snow. Imagine what a warm coat, a good pair of boots, a blanket, or sleeping bag could do for someone forced to sleep or spend the day or night in their car or outside exposed to the elements.
A large percentage of the homeless move from one location to another and need a means of transporting and storing their personal belongings. A pack (any size) is perfect to help them organize, store, and transport their personal property. Cardboard boxes, shopping carts, and other similar containers simply don’t meet the needs of someone constantly on the move.
There are organizations already in place to provide the homeless with vital services such as shelter, medical care, food and substance abuse assistance. Clothing is generally available. The central focus for Homeless Gear is collecting and distributing outdoor gear (packs, sleeping bags, etc) and outdoor clothing (coats, rain gear, boots, gloves, etc.) to the homeless.
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I’m decided to reach out to this organization to see how I can get involved. It’s been on my heart for a while. Long term, I would love for both of my boys to be able to serve people within Fort Collins. I’m excited to see what might happen.
Andy B
outsideallday.com
Wednesday, September 9th, 2009
This past summer my parents took a 7,000-mile trip visiting national parks starting at the Grand Canyon into the Rockies, landing in Banff. This upcoming weekend the Calumet Photographic store will have a reception and photo show of these images. My parents shift between Joshua Tree and Idyllwild so can you expect some local photographs as well.
The reception will be on Saturday, September 12 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
The Calumet Photographic is located at 1430 Village Way, Santa Ana, CA 92705. The phone there is 714-285-0143. The off ramp to get to the facility quickly is McFadden.
Thursday, August 20th, 2009
Over 30 years ago the Cabot family opened a mill and began making socks in Northfield, Vermont.
Frigid winters and humid summers taught them all socks are not created equally. Living in the most unforgiving climate in the lower 48, their socks had to be tough and of course they certainly had to keep feet dry and warm. Whether skiing, hiking, biking, climbing or running, Darn Tough Vermont socks kept feet oblivious to the elements.
The team spent over a year testing yarn combinations and designs, confident that during this process they could create something unique; a sock that could be guaranteed for life. And as a 3rd generation sock family, this is what has kept them in the sock business, in America, is the pursuit of quality. To date, DARN TOUGH VERMONT, is the culmination of those efforts.
Darn Tough Vermont is unique. In an era of outsourcing and corporate take overs, they remain true to their roots. Family owned and run, in Vermont, since 1978. In a word, local. All socks are backed by a lifetime guarantee.
Matt S
Outside All Day
Tuesday, August 18th, 2009
Laird Hamilton is known as the guiding genius of crossover board sports, and he is truly amazing in the water. His size – 6’3”, 215 pounds – makes him seem indestructible. ‘Laird is the elder son of 60’s surfing legend, Bill Hamilton, and is a throw back to that time when surfers prided themselves on being an all-around waterman.’ His mother, Joann, gave birth to him in a “bathysphere” with reduced gravity as part of an experiment at the UC Medical Center in San Francisco. Joann was also a surfer and decided to move the family from California to Hawaii when Laird was just a few months old. They lived on Oahu’s North Shore and later in a remote valley on Kauai, not far from one of the world’s best surf breaks. He learned to surf between the ages of two and three on the front half of a surfboard, and at age eight, his father took him to the 60-foot cliff at Waimea Falls where Laird looked down, looked back at his dad, and jumped. ‘He’s been bold since day one,’ says Bill, ‘and hell-bent on living life to the extreme.’
Laird teamed up with Steve & Barry’s in spring 2008 to debut his Wonderwall (thisiswonderwall.com) clothing line, a men’s surf and skate line offering high-quality, comfortable merchandise at low cost. Having grown up in a single parent home, Laird knows what it’s like not to have money. “My family was on welfare. If I lost my shoes, I wouldn’t have another pair for a couple of weeks. So I can appreciate that people can’t afford to buy stuff that everyone else is wearing,” says Laird. “Guys that live the surf and skate lifestyle want to spend their time tracking the next big swell or finding a new skatepark, not worrying about having enough money for t-shirts and shorts.”
Laird heads up a technical pro-model line with longtime sponsor, Oxbow. The Oxbow brand launched in the United States in summer 2008. Oxbow, an authentic rider/action sports brand, boasts a rich 25-year history with internationally recognized athletes.
Laird also joined H2O Audio’s Board of Directors in 2008. Laird will be strategically guiding the company with marketing its brand and developing its next generation of surf/music products. “I have been an H2O Audio proponent for several years, and I am really looking forward to infusing my passion for watersports and music into future developments with H20,” says Laird.
Laird is working on two books with best selling author Susan Casey. “100: Stalking the Giants of the Ocean” is due out in 2009 by Broadway Publishing Group. It’s about the science of giant waves, 100 ft. or higher, and the surfers who try to ride them, an undertaking that often requires helicopters, wave runners and precise timing. “Force of Nature: Mind, Body, Soul, and, Of Course, Surfing” is a fitness guide by Rodale Books and hit retailers on October 28, 2008.
‘Path of Purpose’, a short documentary about Laird’s endeavor with his tow partner, Dave Kalama, to help fund and raise awareness for Autism, premiered on the Sundance Channel in July 2008. A new film release entitled, ‘Water Man’, and distributed by Video Action Sports, premiered in film festivals in Spring 2008 and hit streets on September 23, 2008. The film has already garnered attention by winning awards at the film festivals and taking home Best Cinematography at the 2008 Surfer Poll Awards.
Laird is famous for doing all kinds of extreme things in the ocean from making epic long distance journeys on his ocean-going paddleboard to creating the fast forward speed sailing loop. When he was twenty-two years old, Laird entered a speed-sailing competition in Port Saint-Louis, France, defeated the heavily favored French champion, and broke the European speed record of 36 knots. Today, Laird surfs the outer-reefs in Hawaii with his friends and uses his years of knowledge of working with different board designs to catch the giant waves he’s famous for mastering. He and his friends use a method that involves getting into a Wave Runner, taking a water ski rope, and towing each other into waves that are too big to paddle into on their own. The water craft flings them into the wave at full speed. Laird uses footstraps on his board to keep from getting bounced off and to enable him to do mind-boggling things like aerial liftoffs and 360’s. “Jaws Maui,” a book published in 1997, features Laird in action and is filled with spectacular photography of the men who pioneered tow-in surfing. “Bigger. Higher. Faster. I want to go after the world speed sailing record. I want to ride bigger waves. I want to try and invent some new sports, combine some existing ones. I want to be creative,’ says Laird.
Photo shoots with sponsors such as Oxbow have taken Laird around the world from the Caucasus mountain range to snowboard, a jungle preserve in Java, Indonesia with a world-class surf break just offshore to the Great Barrier Reef. He can be seen profiled on the CBS News show ‘60 Minutes’ and on the cover of magazines such as National Geographic, Outside, The Surfer’s Journal, Men’s Journal, Surfer, Surfing, and in Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, Esquire, Sports Illustrated, People, Life, GQ, Interview, L’Uomo Vogue (Italy), Paris Match (France), Surf (Germany), High Wind (Japan) and Sailboarder. In 2004, the Surf Industry Manufacturers Association named him “Waterman of the Year”. He was named “Breakout Performance of the Year” at the Surfer Poll Awards in 2000 and was honored with overall “Rider of the Year” in France 2000 (M6). Laird was also awarded “Feat of the Year” at ESPN’s Action Sports & Music Awards in 2001, and People magazine named him “One of the 50 most Beautiful People” in 1996.
Laird was a featured surfer and an executive producer on the Summer ’04 theatrical film, ‘Riding Giants’, by Sony Picture Classics (www.ridinggiants.com). The film looks at the history of big wave surfing. Laird was also featured in the film, ‘Step Into Liquid’. He doubled as James Bond for big surf in the MGM film ‘Die Another Day’ and served as the stunt coordinator for the film’s big wave sequence. Laird has also been featured on TV as a host on Fox Sports Net’s, ‘Planet Extreme Championships’(2000), on the Outdoor Life Network (1999), and in ‘The Extremists’ (1996-97), where he took incredible risks while air boarding, rock climbing, kite surfing and jet-ski surfing. He is featured in the documentary film ‘Endless Summer II’ (1994). Laird’s filmmography also includes ‘Waterworld,’ (stuntman), ‘North Shore,’ ‘Night Waves,’ ‘Totally Committed,’ and ‘Five Summer Stories.’
Laird started his production company, BamMan Films, with tow-partner, Dave Kalama, manager, Jane Kachmer, and cinematic directors, Don King and Sonny Miller. BamMan Films produces for film, television, commercial and media companies. BamMan released ‘Water Man’ (2008) and the critically acclaimed film ‘All Aboard The Crazy Train’ (2005), which looks at the state of big wave surfing. Other BamMan films include ‘The Ride, The Day’ (2004), ‘Strapped: the evolution of tow-in surfing’ (2002) and ‘Laird’ (2001). BamMan’s other credits: Associate Producer on Maui for ‘Riding Giants’, production work on ‘Step Into Liquid’, and Producer for the television documentaries, ‘The Ride’ (2004), ‘Ride the Wild Surf’ (2001 with RDF in the UK), and ‘Ride on the Wave of the Gods’ (2002 with NHK in Japan). Commercial productions include: American Express and Coty Prestige/Davidoff.
Surfer Magazine’s editor, Sam George, in the magazine’s ‘Most Powerful People inSsurfing’ issue said, “Laird is flat out surfing’s biggest, boldest, bravest. He is the best big wave surfer in the world today, bar none. He is the sport’s most complete surfer, displaying almost unnerving expertise in a multitude of disciplines: tow-surfing, bodysurfing, longboarding, paddling, sailboarding, kite-surfing.”
Compliments of LairdHamilton.com
Matt S
Outside All Day
Tuesday, June 30th, 2009
So you have those vacation days stored up to getaway from the Man and you can’t decide on the destination. You have a list that you just can’t reduce to one: Mount Antero one of Colorado’s 14ers, Rocky Mountain National Park: Lily Lake Loop, The Rainbow Lakes outside Boulder, CO, or the Harrisburg Short Track outside Charlotte, NC. You are looking for a good solid opinion without calling every hiking shop near the destination to get their thoughts. Well then check out Backpacker Magazine’s Destination section. They have lots of advice – from editors to readers like you and me. And then go outside all day.
Wednesday, June 17th, 2009
The new Ken Burns film is coming to PBS September 27, 2009
Filmed over the course of more than six years at some of nature’s most spectacular locales — from Acadia to Yosemite, Yellowstone to the Grand Canyon, the Everglades of Florida to the Gates of the Arctic in Alaska — The National Parks: America’s Best Idea is nonetheless a story of people: people from every conceivable background — rich and poor; famous and unknown; soldiers and scientists; natives and newcomers; idealists, artists and entrepreneurs; people who were willing to devote themselves to saving some precious portion of the land they loved, and in doing so reminded their fellow citizens of the full meaning of democracy. It is a story full of struggle and conflict, high ideals and crass opportunism, stirring adventure and enduring inspiration – set against the most breathtaking backdrops imaginable.
The National Parks: America’s Best Idea is a six-episode series directed by Ken Burns and written and co-produced by Dayton Duncan.
