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.

Icefall Lodge, ski pant review: more articles in Skiing Magazine

The best ski run of my life has been immortalized in the pages of Skiing Magazine's December issue. The article I wrote about Icefall Lodge focuses on the highlight of the trip, a 5,000 foot descent that included an aptly named section, The Playground. Natural half pipes, cliffs, lips, ramps and pillows were on tap, as was a sweet ski right into the heart of a glacier. It was unreal.

In the same issue is a ski pant review. I called in 20 odd new ski pants and put them through their paces, handed them off to ski bums and generally abused them. In the end I reviewed eight for Skiing. Four appear in the online article.

Two features in Explore's winter issue

I wrote a big chunk of explore Magazine's winter issue and you can see excerpts from both articles on the website. One is called Do it like an Olympian. The concept came from an article I wrote for explore last summer that was a collection of tips and tricks from pro athletes in a bunch of sports. The Olympian version was devoted to Olympic sports and focused mainly on technique tips, ways of improving performance at the ski hill, half pipe and cross country area. The other article was a round up of 50 things for winter. I included everything from destinations, activities to try and gear that will make this winter better. Check it all out on explore's website under articles.

Paddling drills on my other blog

I write a couple blogs. One for Explore Magazine on gear reviews and my adventures and another for the BC Wilderness Tourism Association on BC's wilderness tourism industry. Today I posted a blog for Explore about a great paddling clinic I took over the weekend.

I'm an avid whitewater and flatwater kayaker. The clinic focused on using a wing blade paddle, designed for optimal efficiency. I use it sea kayaking or on my surf ski, a long, fast, sit on top kayak I paddle when it gets rough near my house. Hopefully improved technique will make it easier for me to surf my ski and do better in races.

I'm in Outside's Buyers Guide

My first major assignment for Outside Magazine is on store shelves now. I reviewed winter packs for Outside's Winter Buyer's Guide. It was a fun assignment that I combined with some other great assignments skiing in B.C.'s interior last winter. I called in 20 or so winter packs and beat them up heli-skiing, heli-assisted touring, ski touring out of a lodge, on day tours, and on the lifts at resorts like Revelstoke Mountain Resort, Lake Louise and Mount Washington Alpine Resort.

I visited Icefall Lodge for Skiing Magazine (pictured, above and to right. That's me in the green jacket), Mica Heliskiing for Backcountry and Selkirk Tangiers for Backcountry, testing packs while skiing at each. It was an awesome winter.

While this was the first large piece of writing I've done for Outside I have penned a few shorter pieces that appeared in the monthly magazine over the last year or so.