A new study commissioned by the UK's department of transportation has cycling advocates asking why their government is spending so much money trying to convince them all to wear helmets. Recent reports have speculated in the victim-blaming vein that cyclists are at fault for wearing dark clothing, listening to music, or not wearing lights at night. About 6% of accidents, fatal or otherwise, pointed to these three issues. The overwhelming cause of biker injury fell on the shoulders of drivers. The study found motorists were solely to blame for 60-75% of accidents, while cyclists were solely at fault 17-25% of the time.
While these results seem obvious to us (after all, what cyclist would run a red light if it meant riding into oncoming traffic?), they come as a surprise to the British government. They might benefit from ad money being diverted to raising driver awareness instead of trying to convince cyclists to stop getting run over. We hope to see this kind of common sense in the U.S. in the next 10 or 15 years.
I just got a sneak peek at and advance copy of this -- refreshing, easy on the eyes, and doesn't fit in any niche in the outdoor movie world. Comes out in March. More info at www.180south.com.
While most could care less about what happens in Colorado, the ski train that ferried skiers from Denver to Winter Park may have seen its last season.
DENVER — Through 69 years of service, since the days of lace-up ski boots and leather straps, the ski train from Denver to the Winter Park ski area carved a deep tradition in the psyche of Colorado’s winter landscape. On weekends from the city’s Union Station, and through the sunburned après-ski parties on the way back down, the train evoked an alpine culture before the Interstate, and the mega-resort, and the high-season traffic jam.
But now the train may have chugged its last.
Its new operators, who took over this year after a previous operator had said the money-losing enterprise was unsustainable, abruptly canceled the season on Monday night and said that thousands of tickets bought in advance would be refunded.
A small company out of Draper, Utah is offering athletes insurance for blown out knees, broken bones, and chopped up faces that occur in the line of sports duty. Xtreme Sports Insurance plans start at $17 per month, and they will pay some of your hospital bills if you become injured while participating in your Xtreme Sport or just walking down the sidewalk (depending on your plan).
Insurance start-ups haven't been crazy popular, but maybe we'll see more of this as the health insurance landscape changes. These simple plans are refreshing change from the inch-thick stacks of paper you have to wade through to look at most insurance fine print. I really hope these guys are successful and don't use the same screw-everyone-over practices as their larger competitors.
Medical marijuana dispensaries are popping up in Denver as fast as friends of mine who suddenly have "chronic back pain," ahem, I believe that is "Tha Chronic back pain." And, Breckenridge recently legalized weed -- the town, not the ski resort -- changes are in effect as of Jan. 1. Another reason for shithead high-school kids from the Denver metro area to take dad's SUV up to Summit County every weekend day this winter, besides filming every second of each other trying to be heroes in the terrain park.
From New Year's Day there will be no criminal or civil penalties imposed on anyone carrying up to an ounce of marijuana – or the paraphernalia usually associated with it, such as long rolling papers, a small pipe or a bong. That also goes for tourists, in a resort popular with British visitors who flock there for the exciting ski slopes and the exuberant nightlife.
I feel like we just wrote about this. Oh yeah, we did.
Three climbers likely died on Mount Hood recently, and that makes us ask if everyone climbing Mount Hood should be made to wear a rescue beacon. Might as well be debating motorcycle helmets, or bike helmets, or if the government has the right to make you quit smoking. And what's this I hear about having to wear a seat belt if you're driving in Montana? Ridiculous. Is the rescue beacon a good idea? Could have been, in this situation. Should you make people wear them? Let's argue. Seems like legislators like to try to do the right thing when situations like this pop up in the news, but maybe it doesn't make sense or doesn't go all the way through. I don't know -- we always talk about how we could get a particularly dangerous section of bike path fixed in Denver, if the mayor would just happen to get hit by a car there while riding on Bike To Work Day.
The official name of this jacket is the Sierra Designs Microlight Jacket. To me, it is The $30 Jacket, because you will find thousands of them during REI's annual spring sale for about $30. It is not waterproof, nor is it advertised as waterproof. It is, to quote an old friend of mine, "uh, water-resistant." It is a wind shell, and lots of companies make wind shells. A friend of mine, who would wear Patagonia condoms if they made them, spent some time haranguing me trying to get me to buy one of these instead.
"$100?" I said. You've got to be shitting me. I'm going to beat on this layer, which isn't waterproof, and probably rip it at some point in the next year, likely on the granite of some multipitch route. I think I'll save $70 and buy a just-as-water-resistant, somewhat-as-windproof, Sierra Designs jacket at REI in March, and when I tear a hole in this thing, I won't cry. I'll just pick up a new one at the next REI sale. Zipper breaks, new jacket next spring. Get too close to the campfire roasting marshmallows, new jacket next spring. Decide it makes your ass look big? Chuck it, it was only $30. Minimal tears.
This is a thin, pretty lightweight layer (weighs the same as the Patagonia wind shell, but has a hood), best used for protection against the wind when you're belaying your buddy on a somewhat chilly day. Stuffs into a little stuff sack, which is small enough to clip to the back of your harness or stuff in one of the shoes you're hauling up for the descent. If you don't live in Seattle or Portland, it's also a good layer to throw in your bike commuting bag for a night where you stay out a little later and you need a little protection from the cold air, or a light rain. I'm telling you, at this price, it's practically disposable. Click around the Internet and you'll find someone selling them for $30. Pick a couple up for the family.
It's more likely that a Monster Truck champion would come out of U.C. Berkeley than three Ray-Ban-wearing spies. The three American hikers who accidentally wandered into Iran while hiking in northern Iraq are either already on trial or will go on trial very soon for charges that the Iranians won't release. By all accounts the trial will be very short, and we should find out the fate of the three sometime very soon. If they're being tried for espionage, the punishment could be death. The trio has already been held in Iran jails for 150 days, and Red Cross workers have described them as being in good health. Their fate has been very different from the five British sailors who accidentally strayed into Iranian waters and were detained but released shortly thereafter. If Iran's judiciary only knew how dumb they look for accusing Berkeley grads of being spies.
Sometimes, and I have said in the past, this blog just writes itself. For some reason, Alec Meyer didn't just shut up and consider himself very lucky to have survived an avalanche with no avy gear, knowledge or intelligence. The Summit Daily published another story about him causing and riding out an avalanche on Loveland Pass last week -- I assume he called the paper and asked to talk to a reporter after he felt the first article made him sound like a moron. This one just makes it worse -- i.e., his avalanche beacon would have helped him, but Santa Claus hasn't delivered it yet (forget the fact that his friend didn't have one on her either); he plans to take an avalanche Level I class after four years of backcountry skiing, etc. Sometimes it's best to just fade away into memory, kiddo.
Though Meyer said he's ridden the Loveland Ridge area extensively over the past four years, he was lacking essential backcounty gear. But he said it wasn't for lack of knowledge.
"they inspected the snow for cracks."
“I ordered a beacon and shovel for Christmas already,” Meyer said. “I just didn't have it on me yet.”
Meyer — who is already singed up to take an avalanche safety class in January — said he'd encourage anyone to sign up for a workshop.
“We tried to go in there as well-informed as we could,” said 25-year-old Alec Meyer. He said he still plans to backcountry ski, but that he “would more than reconsider” snowboarding on similar slopes in similar conditions to the site of his accident.
SKI Magazine just did a story on "Crested Butte: America's Last Ski Town" in its November issue, about how the resort was hoping to get its expansion OKed by the Forest Service so it could add some blue runs. Then last week, the Forest Service did something very strange and actually denied a Colorado ski resort an opportunity to take up more land. Crested Butte is, as most folks will tell you, the "last ski town" in Colorado, having an actual soul compared to places like Vail and Breckenridge. Who knows what's behind the decision, but as Lou at WildSnow points out, it sounds like the Forest Service just didn't want to deal with the paperwork and the pain in the ass.
have seen 
Medical marijuana dispensaries are popping up in Denver as fast as friends of mine who suddenly have "chronic back pain," ahem, I believe that is "Tha Chronic back pain." And, 
Three climbers likely died on Mount Hood recently, and that makes us ask if everyone climbing Mount Hood should be made to wear a rescue beacon. Might as well be debating motorcycle helmets, or bike helmets, or if the government has the right to make you quit smoking. And what's this I hear about having to wear a seat belt if you're driving in Montana? Ridiculous. Is the rescue beacon a good idea? Could have been, in this situation. Should you make people wear them? Let's argue. Seems like legislators like to try to do the right thing when situations like this pop up in the news, but maybe it doesn't make sense or doesn't go all the way through. I don't know -- we always talk about how we could get a particularly dangerous section of bike path fixed in Denver, if the mayor would just happen to get hit by a car there while riding on Bike To Work Day. 
SKI Magazine just did a story on "Crested Butte: America's Last Ski Town" in its November issue, about how the resort was hoping to get its expansion OKed by the Forest Service so it could add some blue runs. Then last week, the Forest Service did something very strange and actually denied a Colorado ski resort an opportunity to take up more land. Crested Butte is, as most folks will tell you, the "last ski town" in Colorado, having an actual soul compared to places like Vail and Breckenridge. Who knows what's behind the decision, but as Lou at WildSnow points out, it sounds like the Forest Service just didn't want to deal with the paperwork and the pain in the ass. 
