Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Decisions, decisions: Outside Magazine's Buyers Guide shells

Outside Magazine tapped my wet and mild locale to review spring and summer shells for their Summer 2011 Buyers Guide. I'm almost finished testing soft and hard shells (and some that land somewhere in between) and now its decision time. What shells will make it and what won't. Space is limited and the options are many. I try to find a balance of choices that range in price and features. But most companies make great stuff, so it gets pretty hard. For Gear of the Year I'm thinking of naming the...no way, you'll have to wait until the issue comes out in April.

Ski articles out in print

Last winter I spent a week touring around the Canadian Rockies with photographer Josie Boulding. She's also my wife. We hit Lake Louise, Panorama, Fernie and Castle Mountain at the tail end of a month long dry spell. I wrote about the surprisingly epic trip - we found great skiing everywhere we went - in an article for Ski Canada's 2010 Fall issue called Four for the Road. The issue is on newsstands now.

Presenting at the Great Outdoors DIY Weekend

As the gear editor at explore Magazine I've been tapped to do more than 10 gear presentations at the Great Outdoors DIY Weekend. The outdoor show is a collaboration between explore and her sister titles Cottage Life, Outdoor Canada (fishing and hunting) and Canadian Home Workshop, taking place this weekend at Toronto's International Centre.

Between stints manning explore's booth, I will give talks and presentations on four themes: portable power, winter gift ideas, winter commuter gear and picking and packing packs. Portable power will highlight some of the new powered products making winter warmer and other products that allow us to keep our digitized world functioning just about anywhere. Highlights from explore's winter gear line up and others that didn't make the magazine will be on display for winter gifts. Gear for walking, running or biking to work in winter weather is the focus of the commuter products presentation. At an area dedicated to getting newbies into the outdoors is where I'll present a how to on picking and packing day and overnight packs.

I'm looking forward to the show. Should be lots of fun and it will be a great chance to meet lots of readers.