Often the most difficult part of being on The News Team is selecting which stories to share on The Outside Blog. We comb through hundreds of headlines and links, videos and photos and try to pick the best.
Presenting some of today's top stories from the great outdoors:
We're always excited for the weekend to come because we can spend all day in the great outdoors. Each Friday we post our plans on Facebook and ask our friends to do the same.
But what happens if you want to tag along with a hardcore friend and you're afriad you're not up to par?
KayakSessions posted this video yesterday as a reminder that if you're outside having fun and being safe, it doesn't matter if you have Skills Deficit Syndrome. Just do it.
Oscar-nominated actor Thomas Haden Church discusses moonshine, Disco-flavored Conway Twitty, and his new FearNet webseries Zombie Roadkill. --Stayton Bonner
Any real-life ranger experience? My ex was a park ranger in Massachusetts during college. I periodically asked her about the nuance and protocol of rangers when we got close to shooting. But given the fact that the guy is desperately fighting for his survival, I threw out the rules of decorum and decided that even though he happens to have on a uniform, his sole purpose is to kill as many zombies as possible.
Is fire the preferred method for killing zombies? I think fire is widely regarded as a complete method for extermination. I know cutting their heads off is hands down the most circumspect but setting them on fire is pretty reliable.
Any roadkill from your 2000-acre Texas ranch looking for revenge? You drive around enough on winding Hill Country roads and unfortunately you’ll clip more than your share. I don’t shed too many tears running over rattlesnakes. I grew up hunting but haven’t in 10 years. I mean, I’ve got pet deer. One named Sissy is 10 feet from the window right now, waiting to be fed some Fig Newtons. She’s been on the Tonight Show twice. Both Conan and Jay.
Ghosts on the ranch? Nanny, my cattle partner’s 101-year-old grandmother, said cowboys used to drink shine and take prostitutes to a draw just behind my house. She said I should take a metal detector there because ‘there’s no telling what those cowboys lost when their trousers were down around their ankles.’ That’s a verbatim quote.
Rowdy. One of the old ranchers I met at the Vanderpool store brought a mason jar full of moonshine. It was horrible. Corn liquor’s made from turpentine and instantaneously changes the nitrogen level in your blood chemistry. That’s where that saying “Strip the paint off” comes from.
You auditioned naked for Sideways. Anything scare you? I got my start in radio and remember Conway Twitty’s disco phase. It would just melt your eardrums.
Your character fights a zombie bunny. Any undead critter you wouldn’t want to meet? A zombie grizzly bear would probably ruin your day.
In between covering rounds of the UBC Pro Tour at the Nor'easter last weekend, I managed to sneak out and have a look at some of the gear on display in the sponsor village. The exhibitors at the Nor'easter had loads of new equipment to show off, some of it not yet on the market. Below are my picks for the best of the best.
Best New Product: Gridlock and Hoodwire Carabiners
I don't often get excited about new clips, but after checking out these new hot-forged designs at Black Diamond's Innovation Alley, I'll make an exception. The Gridlock and Hoodwire solve a couple of annoying and potentially dangerous problems with conventional carabiners
The Gridlock is a locking model designed to prevent cross-loading during belays. Normal locking carabiners are prone to rotating sideways and loading their minor axis, which significantly decreases the breaking strength of the carabiner in the case of a fall. The Gridlock solves this problem with its figure-eight-shaped body and a unique gate that, when closed, traps the belay loop in one end of the carabiner. It's light too, weighing in at just 2.7 oz.
I was even more impressed by the Hoodwire, Black Diamond's new clean-nosed wiregate carabiner. The Hoodwire's shrouded nose allows it to function like a keylock biner, eliminating the danger of snagging the rope during desperate clips. Unlike most notchless carabiners, the Hoodwire has a wire gate, so it's lighter (12 grams less than BD's Positron keylock) and less likely to open during a fall. The Hoodwire would also be a great model for racking wired stoppers, which have a tendency to get caught on normal carabiners' notches.
Both the Gridlock ($19.95) and Hoodwire ($8.95) will be available in Spring of 2011.
Freeride mountain biking competition, Red Bull Rampage, took place in Utah just outside of Zion National Park on Oct. 1-3.
For three days, mountain biking's top tricksters flew down a sandstone ridge, carefully picking whatever line they pleased between a start gate and the finish line 1,500 vertical feet below. Spectators walked or rode four miles through the desert to catch a glimpse of riders like Thomas Vanderham, Gee Atherton and winner Cameron Zink.
