An Ode to Friday

There's nothing like Friday...

Some Fridays, when Janice is in a particularly chipper mood, she is known to do the "LEKI dance."




But as they say, "it's all fun and games until someone loses an eye." Or in today's case, my birthday plant. You see, we were enjoying the helicopter toys Mr. Canoelover gave us, when I sent one a little too hard, a little to close to my poor Aloe vera, slicing off at least four of its leaves. We keep finding pieces scattered around the office... Lesson learned.

Ecocities: Cities Can Save the Earth

(originally posted at the Urban Wilderness Institute)

Could it be that the root causes of our environmental crises are linked to the biggest things we build - cities?

So argues Richard Register, founder of SF Bay Area's Urban Ecology, author of Ecocities: Building Cities in Balance with Nature, and activist urban planner, writing in a recent Foreign Policy in Focus brief. Our automobile dependence has many direct ecological and social costs, but the most insidious consequence is how cars have reshaped our cities over the last 100 years. Register writes: "Many of us caught in this infrastructure find it extremely difficult to get around in anything but the car. The distances are just too great for bicycles, the densities just too low to allow efficient, affordable transit."

The challenges are significant, but Register has reason for optimism:

We can change our cities. In fact, our cities have already changed. Portland has frequent transit that’s free in the downtown area, and has designated a “urban growth boundary” to limit the expansion of the city’s urban area and preserve nearby farmland and other open spaces and a thriving and very dense new residential and “mixed-use” center in the Pearl District. The rooftops in Tel Aviv, Israel and dozens of Chinese cities sparkle with solar hot-water panels. Copenhagen’s pedestrian street, the Støget, has been growing steadily since 1962 and now stretches more than two miles.

But we can do more, much more, to redesign our cities for pedestrians and bicyclists, taking up very small areas of land in more compact development. Taller buildings with rooftop gardens and solar greenhouses can be linked by pedestrian connections between rooftops and terraces above ground level, making city centers intimately accessible to people on foot. As we add population and ecological architecture in pedestrian/transit centers, we can gradually eliminate the unsustainable suburbs.

We'll need to start rebuilding our cities to incorporate Register's ecocity concepts - pedestrian/transit-oriented infrastructure, replacing sprawl development with nature/agriculture, and integrating renewable energy systems - if we are to meet the triple threat of climate change, biodiversity loss, and dwindling (cheap) fossil fuels. Rethinking our cities as places that both humans and non-human nature can call home is a place to start; cities that are friendly for pedestrians and cyclists are likely to welcome trees, restored streams, and urban wildlife as well.

Read the whole article at Foreign Policy in Focus, and learn more about the ecocity at Ecocity Builders.

Climbing Gears

courtesy of: Madsen Cycles

Happy Weekend.

Super Natural Running

The video needs to load for a couple minutes before it will play, but it is obviously worth the wait. Props, Nike.

I'm pretty sure we are ripping off this idea for the upcoming Montrail sales meeting..

Extra Special Shout Out

Special shout-out to the IT guy for braving the snow-covered roads and -12 degree weather to diagnose Brad's computer problem. Turns out the screen wasn't working because the computer was sleeping. We can't really blame Brad, he's a Mac-guy after all, but it is agreed that he can no longer claim the title of in-house IT support.

Where's Pemba?

All over this video.

Watch this clip of the Iditarod Trail Invitational from NY Times' multimedia library, then post back here in the comments with your thoughts and an inventory of Pemba's products. There might be a Sea to Summit eVENT Compression Dry Sack in it for the most complete list...

More on the Iditarod Trail Invitational at Alaska Ultra Sport.

"We live in an amazing, amazing world..."

Twenty-nine days...

... and counting.

maps.google.com/vote

Create your own caption.

People's Place in Parks

(originally posted on theCORgroup: Conscious Outdoor Recreation)

"A federal judge ruled Monday that the Bush administration's plan to allow more than 500 snowmobiles a day into Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks was not in keeping with the National Park Service's responsibility to protect the parks."

The New York Times goes on to report that the judge contended "park planners had failed to reconcile their mission to protect the parks' environment with the increase in air pollution, the disturbance to wildlife and the impact on visitors that the snowmobiles would bring."

Environmentalist applauded this ruling, but I worry that the question of access is more nuanced, and we need to have a more serious discussion about what our parks and protected area mean to us ecologically, culturally, and recreationally, and what constitutes appropriate use.

Here is an example from a different perspective: American Whitewater is a paddler advocacy group that "restores rivers dewatered by hydropower dams, eliminates water degradation, improves public land management and protects public access to rivers for responsible recreational use." They historically have been very successful in forging partnerships with other stakeholders to mutual benefit. However American Whitewater finds itself embroiled in a conflict over the Wild & Scenic Chattooga River. Many rivers with Wild & Scenic designation are open to paddlers; canoeists and kayakers are generally considered legitimate backcountry users, akin to hikers and fishers. In public comment on paddler access to the Upper Chattooga, creek boating was compared to mountain biking, adventure sports at odds with wilderness values, and ATV's on hiking trails.

I agree that there are activities that are fundamentally incompatible with our wilderness values, and should be limited in parks and protected areas. The trouble with these debates is that our wilderness values remain undefined. 'Wilderness values' are interpreted by user groups to further political agendas and to exclude other users. Proponents of 'silent sports' are quick to fight the expansion of motorized transportation in protected areas, but without a comprehensive examination of our wilderness values - as enunciated by government agencies and the user groups - we risk more political maneuvering and inconsistent policy decisions.

The National Park Service has the mission to preserve "unimpaired the natural and cultural resources and values of the national park system for the enjoyment, education, and inspiration of this and future generations." Balancing access and preservation is no easy task, but without examining what our 'wilderness values' really mean to us, it seems impossible.

Wisconsin Ranked Second Most Bike Friendly State

Wisconsin continues to top the active lifestyle lists, this time a close second on the League of American Bicyclists first annual Bicycle Friendly States ranking:

Wisconsin's second place ranking is a result of their high use of available federal funding for cycling related projects and programs, statewide counts of bicycle usage and model policies... With a thriving bicycle industry and growing advocacy movement Wisconsin looks to move to the top of the list.

We are fortunate to have such support for bicycling in the state. Madison tops the League of American Bicyclists' Bike Friendly Communities list, and the mayor's office is committed to improving our ranking. Statewide organizations such as the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin do fantastic work, and more than our share of manufactures call southern Wisconsin home. Planet Bike deserves special recognition, donating 25% of their profits to bicycle advocacy.

With autumn weather arriving, now is arguably the best time of the year for cycling in southern Wisconsin. See you on the bike path.

so...sea kayaking doesn't suck

Most of the paddling I've done has been whitewater canoeing and kayaking. I've certainly ventured out on the Madison lakes and the (mighty) Yahara River, but primarily to train for whitewater races. I'm not an adrenaline junkie, it's just... well, maybe that has something to do with it. More to the point: I seek the pairing of 'the outdoor experience' with the technical and physical challenges of whitewater paddling. I find the aesthetic and spiritual qualities of 'wilderness' that many of us seek in our outdoor adventures are enhanced when coupled with overcoming physical and mental obstacles, and an element of risk. 

That said, my work with theCORgroup - Conscious Outdoor Recreation has challenged me to consider local options for outdoor recreation. In the upper Midwest, this includes sea kayaking. Without debating if a six-hour drive to Lake Superior is a 'local recreation area,' I have discovered that not only does sea kayaking not suck - I could actually see myself getting into this.

For Labor Day, my partner and I joined two friends for a long weekend of paddling along Painted Rocks National Lakeshore. It was a last minute decision to join the trip, but fortunately Pemba has a warehouse brimming with camping equipment, so borrowing the essentials missing from my personal gear warehouse wasn't a problem. It was also a chance to finally test some of the new gear whose merits I've been extolling during the last month of trade shows (they all met our high expectations, phew.. see appendix). Canoelover, does this make it a tax-deductible expedition?

My partner was a novice sea kayaker, but a quick study. Which is good, as we were racing daylight, a headwind, and choppy water to meet the group who had arrived a day earlier. We made it with the sunset to spare. 

The sea cliffs were amazing. And the water crystal clear. Lake Superior is like the Caribbean plus conifers. Sunday we had more time to explore and poke around the arches and sea caves. The weather was perfect, and we practiced some rescues to cool down a bit.

As we broke camp and hit the water for the paddle back to the cars on Monday, I was getting some last photos of the group with the sea cliff backdrop. Lo and behold, they were joined by a cormorant, Phalacrocorax auritus. (Interestingly, nesting Double-crested Cormorants disappeared from Lake Superior in the 1970's due to toxic contaminants, but the populations have since resurged to historic highs). This fellow was heading my way, and after a couple of close-ups, opted for a more auspicious pose. 'He' - I need either an Audubon guidebook or a gender-neutral pronoun - hung around for a good five minutes, exploring the hatch of the Impex Force, agreed it was a lovely boat, then moved on. After a minute to collect myself, I decided definitively that sea kayaking does not suck, and started the paddle back.

Maybe Impex Kayaks will buy this picture. Alas, no logo.

Gratuitous Gear Review:

Jetboil HELIOS - Not surprisingly, it really does get the water boiling faster than any other stove I've used, but - to my delight - it simmers better too. Making couscous was a snap. The design raised some skeptical eyebrows when I set it up for Saturday evening, but requests for prodeals were quick to follow. For the record, I used exactly a 100gram fuel canister for 2 hot breakfasts and 2 hot dinners for four, including simmering and boiling unfiltered lake water.

Sea to Summit DRYBAGS - Not a new product, but the whole dry bag range from STS is solid. I used the ultralight ULTRA-SIL Dry Sacks, the LIGHTWEIGHT Dry Sacks, the rugged BIG RIVER Dry Bags, and of course the eVENT Compression Dry Sacks. To reiterate the company line, the Ultra-Sil bags are best for backpacking and canoeing applications (where they live inside a backpack or portage pack) - I didn't have any problems, but for a little more weight and extra durability I'll stick with the rest of the range for whitewater and sea kayaking trips. 

Petzl MYO RXP - Petzl's new programmable, regulated headlamp. Freakin' bright (140 lumens). Getting the food bags up on the bear pole was simple with this floodlight. And you can program the different light levels, so I can set the first light level to the campfire-circle-friendly 8 lumens, and ramp it up from there. Looking forward to running and skiing with this lamp, but not on this adventure...

Mountain Hardwear VIPERINE 2 - This is Steve's favorite tent in the line, and I was pleased with my decision to demo this one. Good usable space, a funky look, fantastic ventilation (especially on this 2009 model), and quick to set-up. I'm starting to get a hard time for bringing a different tent on every trip, but thus are the hazards of being a gear rep.

drama...

I'm neither a Wisconsin native, nor particularly attached to the sport - and even I can't bear the suspense. My heart goes out to the rest of the state. We'll make it through, somehow...

link.

On "Mountain Madness"

Pray for a brave heart: one that does not fear death, that counts a long life among the least of Heaven's gifts. - Juvenal

Climbers and paddlers generally get a tough rap in the press when it comes to accidents. "Climber falls at Devil's Lake." "Paddlers drown after running dam." These deaths are as unfortunate as any other, and as a paddler and climber, they give me pause. But a careful reading of the news article too often reveals it is a hiker venturing off trail that stumbles on the bluffs or a couple of novices who climb into a canoe for the first time, without basic safety equipment and unaware of the hazards downstream. 

Is the news media ignorant of the distinction, or attempting to summarize the event in a short (and compelling) headline? Both, undoubtably, and it does these activities a disservice. Yes there is considerable risk in climbing and paddling. Training, experience, and sound judgement can mitigate some - not all - of this risk. But our activities deserve a fair accounting of both our tragedies and accomplishments, and I appreciate when journalists attempt to convey our motivation for climbing and paddling rather than painting all of us as adrenaline junkies, taunting death.

Timothy Egan writes a very fair op-extra on the New York Times Blog, discussing the recent fatalities on Denali. Similarly, the public comments are unusually fair - a real discussion on understanding risk, why we climb, and obligations to our loved ones back home. Obviously there are many answers, but I like Hugh McIsaac's suggestion:

Perhaps the gene which leads us on such adventures is the same one enabling our distant ancestors to travel thousands of miles in search of distant lands and new beginnings. The gap between triumph and tragedy is often very narrow. (post #17)

Ethical Play

As some of you may know, I've been working on getting a non-profit organization off the ground - theCORgroup - and we've been getting some press lately. Madisonians, look for us in the Isthmus' Recreation section this week.  Also online.

A little background: theCORgroup - Conscious Outdoor Recreation - started with conversations about the inconsistency between the outdoor recreation community's very refined backcountry/LNT ethic, and all the driving we are doing to get to the backcountry. As outdoor enthusiasts, our passion for the outdoors can't really be separated from our environmental consciousness - but striking a balance between hardcore wilderness experiences and minimizing transportation impacts is difficult... especially when we're hurting for backcountry skiing, whitewater paddling, and multipitch climbing here in the upper Midwest. theCORgroup has grown out of these tensions to explore how we can continue to have meaningful experiences in the backcountry, while being attentive to the true costs of being there.

We propose a new wilderness ethic - a frontcountry ethic - that applies some of these Leave-No-Trace principles to our daily lifestyle. Folks should still go on that sweet Colorado ski trip... but maybe just once a year, and consider trying to bike to work a little more often the rest of the time. I'm still going to West Virginia this fall for the Gauley River Festival, but you can be sure we're going to be packing my little Chevy Cavalier to capacity!

We're not telling people not to go into the wilderness, we just want to promote more critical discussion of how to do it responsibility. As for me and the Pemba Team: we're exploring opportunities for local recreation. There's plenty of this in Madison, but I've also been pleasantly surprised by all the Rails-to-Trails, river corridors, and quality urban parks all along my clinic routes. Stay tuned for more on Urban Wilderness, but check out that Isthmus article in the meantime, and let is know what else we should be doing as an industry to promote Conscious Outdoor Recreation!

Spring Creeking

For a couple weeks out of the year, the Upper Midwest defies conventions and boasts some of the best whitewater paddling in the country. Two things we're generally lacking - gradient and moving water - are present in abundance in the Spring. The gradient is generously provided by the creeks cascading down the bluffs into Lake Superior. The water comes courtesy of the record-breaking snowfall this winter. And for me, a new creek boat, courtesy of the fine folks at Pyranha.


After putting our time in at Midwest Mountaineering's "Spring" Outdoor Expo last weekend (it was snowing Minneapolis all weekend!), a couple of us escaped to the Northwoods, to the border of Wisconsin and the UP. We had a chance to paddle a couple of creeks that run only after a bunch of rain and a delayed snowmelt - like this year. Unfortunately, it was also one of the coldest creeking weekends in recent memory. Usually nighttime lows hover just above freezing (thus the rapid snowmelt). This weekend we were bottoming out around 20 at night. Daytime highs were barely in the 40s, and far colder in these canyons. Water temp? I'm guessing 34 (lakes were still frozen an hour south). But enough complaining - we consumed enough eggs, cheese, and sausage to send my metabolism into overdrive and lead me to consider a 6 month vegan cleanse - on to the trip report.

We hit Tyler Forks on Sunday at an unusually high water level, a terrifically scenic run with some fun ledges and a very sweet waterfall.


Wren Falls had a very clean approach, but a 15ft backwash, where the entire creek flows back into the retentive hole at the base of the falls. We gave it some serious consideration, but the likelihood of a thrashing combined with the extremely cold air and water temps led us to regretfully decline this time.


Monday we hit the Lower Montreal - a short section of fast water and big wave trains in a very steep conglomerate gorge. Relatively straightforward, this was to be a warm-up run for the West Branch of the Montreal, where we wanted to document the character of the river at this high water level for American Whitewater's flow study for future recreational releases from the hydro dam. But alas, we encountered some access issues at the put-in for the Lower Montreal, delaying our start time.


We managed to get on the Lower (legally, probably), but decided to pass on the West Branch on account of the time. (Actually, that was just an excuse for our hesitancy to run the W.B. at a really pushy level in really cold temps. But we'll blame it on the time.) Nevertheless, it was a good weekend, with good water. Here are a couple more photos of the Montreal, as it makes its final descent into Lake Superior.

Happy Earth Day - Air Quality Advisory

Happy Earth Day!

In the home state of the father of Earth Day, Senator/Governor Gaylord Nelson, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has issued an air quality advisory. “People in sensitive groups should cut back on strenuous activities and those with lung diseases should be attentive to cardiac … or respiratory symptoms.”

According to another Wisconsinite, Dr. Jonathan Patz (pdf), we can expect more air quality advisories as the impacts climate change intensify. Higher temperatures lead to higher levels ozone smog, which lowers air quality and has negative health implications for people. This effect is accentuated in urban areas, with buildings and pavement absorbing heat creating “heat islands” in the summer with temperatures 7 to 8 degrees warmer in urban cores. This presents quite the challenge, as one of the tools to combat climate change is human-powered transportation; compromised air quality makes this more difficult - leading to more emissions.

The internet is flooded with ways to “make every day Earth Day,” but recycling and changing light bulbs is only going to get us so far. What is required are concrete commitments - not abstract support - to change our lifestyles in meaningful and often inconvenient ways. Absent that, we can look forward to celebrating future Earth Days under the pall of ozone alerts.

Pemba Serves: Copenhagen Office

I'll give it until November. If there isn't a compelling reason to stay by then, I'm moving to Copenhagen.

Here's the Vice Mayor of Copenhagen, handing out morning rolls to the 20,000 bike commuters who use this stretch of road daily (Copenhagenize):

This shot, titled "Wind Chill -20" (centigrade, but still..) is one of many on the incredible blog, Copenhagen Cycle Chic: Bike Advocacy in High Heels: 

"If only my Honda Odyssey handled the blizzard this weekend like my BOB Revolution…"

BOB, maker of some of the most respected bike trailers and fitness strollers on the market (including the official stroller of IRONMAN), has launched a web campaign to build a virtual community of BOB moms and dads where they can "gather and share in our commitment to enjoy the outdoors with our most precious cargo" (BOB Neighborhood). Seems like a good way for soccer dads and parkour moms (see video) to get outdoors, car-free.

Spring is for Cyclocross

The bicycle commute is a tad more hazardous this spring. But have no fear, the Madison Pothole Patrol is on the prowl. Even Mayor Dave is in on the action.