Cooped Up? Get Uncooped.

When it comes to energy bars and mixes, protein is the name of the game. Usually that protein comes in the form of nuts, but in the case of the Chapul Bar, it comes by way of crickets. While it derives protein from crickets, the "world's first cricket bar" isn't the chocolate slathered pile of crunchy night-swooners that you might envision. Chapul bakes the crickets and then grinds them into a sort of flour. The...

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The National Park Foundation recently announced the winner of Share the Experience, a contest that challenged amateur photographers to recreate in the national parks and take photos. Believe it or not, the above picture of Glacier National Park taken by Vanessa Lau actually lost out. It took first place, but a picture of a kayaker in Sequoia National Park took the grand prize.  All the photos are stunning, though. You can check out the others...

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I happened across a SkiHistory.org post about the first issue of Ski magazine being recovered by a ski historian recently. Pretty cool. Then I realized that they scanned the 1936 issue that they call the first commercial ski magazine and made it available for free. Very cool. The issue is an interesting look back in time at the places, people and gear that were driving the young sport back in the mid-30s. The magazine was...

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Photo: Jon Simon/Feature Photo Service for L.L. Bean Last month, L.L. Bean kicked off its 100th anniversary celebration in a rather odd way. It paraded what it calls the “L.L.Bean Bootmobile" around Times Square in New York City. The boot is "an iconic L.L.Bean visual that represents 100 years of loyalists," according to the company.  As part of its "Million Moment Mission," L.L. Bean will donate $1 to the National Parks Foundation (up to $1...

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No hate on Shaun White. The guy simply dominates freestyle snowboarding and is always great to watch. But he does get some flak for selling out and watering down the sport with endorsements that range from Target clothes to chewing gum. And that flak is going to get a whole lot louder. White is joining the ranks of Martha Stewart and Cindy Crawford in launching his very own  home wares line, which will consist of...

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Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats are known for the fastest vehicles in the world. Absolute land speed records have been set there since about the time the first fast motor vehicle was built. Apparently, the flats are also good for another type of speed: flat-land, tow-in snowboarding. In this video, a group of riders got their summer boarding fix in western Utah's hard, salty desert. Obviously gravity ain't working in a place called "Flats," so they...

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    Last August, I ran the TransRockies Run3, a 60 mile run across the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. No big deal, just 60 miles in three days at around 11,000 feet above sea level. Hung out with Dean Karnazes. You know, the usual.  Seriously, it was the most well-organized and enjoyable event I've ever attended. If you wonder how running 60 miles or (120 miles in the six-day option) can be fun, just check...

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Silverton is turning more and more into a mini-BC. Not only can you make some sidecountry-style turns via its lift and some heli-served turns, but now you can add remote hut skiing to that list. All it needs is a few cat operations, and you have a mini Powder Highway. After guiding for eight years at the 10th Mountain Division Huts near Aspen, Bob Kingsley decided he wanted to offer backcountry skiers and riders a...

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Apparently I've been sleeping on my pre-season stoke search. I somehow missed KGBProductions' Wyoming Triumph series until the sixth episode. But what an episode it is. Jackson Hole and Wyoming in general have long been the epitome of Wild West meeting wild nature. The skiing and outdoor adventure is some of the hairiest in the lower 48, and is only rivaled in pucker factor by a late-night run-in with a surly cow-poke smelling of dirty...

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Ever want to get up close and personal with the world's largest land predator without actually getting mauled and eaten alive? The Polar Bear cam is just the ticket. While you can certainly find videos of polar bears on YouTube, the Polar Bear cam, brought to us by Explore.org and several other organizations, provides the rare opportunity to peep on live action footage of these terrifying but beautiful beasts. A "tundra buggy" is stationed in...

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