Month: March 2019

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Outdoor gear is about to get more expensive if a proposed tariff on $200 billion in Chinese imports receives U.S. Trade Representative approval. The items on the 195-page list—including ski, bike, and camping gear shipped in from China—would be subject to a tax of anywhere from 10 to 25 percent.

The proposed tariff on these products is collateral damage from a mounting trade dispute with China over alleged intellectual property theft. In May, the USTR approved a 25 percent tariff on $34 billion in Chinese imports, followed by a 25 percent tariff on $16 billion in imports in August. (China has issued its own retaliatory tariffs in response.)

While outdoor companies were largely spared in the first round, the second round, which went into effect Thursday, August 23, hit e-bikes. The latest list, which is currently undergoing public comment before final approval, brings even more outdoor gear under threat: ski gloves, knit hats, helmets, backpacks, candle lanterns, knives, camp chairs, raw wool, bikes, and a long list of bike components including brakes, saddles, forks, frames, and pedals. “Almost every part you need to work on a bike,” says Alex Logemann of the advocacy nonprofit PeopleForBikes.

Last month, Outside reported on the impact such tariffs could have on the bike industry, which imported 99 percent of the 17.8 million bikes sold in the U.S. in 2014, according to a report by the National Bicycle Dealers Association. People For Bikes estimates that 94 percent of complete bikes sold in the U.S. come from China. Ski and camping companies have skin in the gameas well, since—according to the Snowsports Industries America (SIA)—knit hats, gloves, helmets, and sports bags (duffels, backpacks, boot bags) accounted for $779 million in sales between August and March 2018.

Representatives from the Outdoor Industry Association, SIA, and PeopleForBikes cited these statistics and more in a public hearing last week, alongside executives from several major outdoor brands, including Specialized, Advanced Sports Enterprises (the company behind Fuji bikes), Bell Sports, SOG (on behalf of a coalition of seven knife companies), and Fitbit. “Raising the tariff to 25 percent could very well put some small, medium-sized companies out of business,” Rich Harper, manager of international trade for the Outdoor Industry Association, said in his statement. “Ultimately, this means outdoor companies will be unable to create new U.S. jobs and, in some cases, may be forced to eliminate existing jobs. It will force some companies to discontinue popular and profitable products and cease the development of new products.” 

PeopleForBikes anticipates retail prices for bikes and bike accessories will go up by at least 25 percent. “For someone buying a $1,000 bike, what they’re able to buy today and what they will be able to buy with the tariffs imposed is going to be different,” says Bob Margevicius, executive vice president of Specialized. “You’re not going to get the same performance or quality for $1,000 anymore.” Rad Power Bikes, a leading manufacturer of e-bikes, raised its prices by several hundred dollars the same day the tariffs went into effect. 

“Either you raise prices and lose business, or you eat the margin and risk running out of cash,” says Brent Merriam, COO of NEMO Equipment. NEMO, SOG, and Industrial Revolution, the company behind UCO camping gear, are all preparing to raise prices on affected products—the Stargaze Recliner chair for NEMO, titanium flatware and candle lanterns for UCO, and a significant portion of SOG’s line of knives—if the tariffs go into effect. Outside reached out to a handful of backpack makers, but none would comment.

For retailers, particularly the ones in winter resort towns that make the bulk of their money during the four-month ski season, price increases could be devastating. “With even a slight increase in price, the sustainability of our industry is in jeopardy,” says Nick Sargent, CEO of SIA, “because a price increase to consumers is fully expected to drive a decline in spending, which will ripple across local communities and tourist-dependent resort towns throughout the United States.” A loophole in customs regulations could exacerbate the problem. The de minimus ruling allows imports under $800 bought by an individual to cross through customs duty-free. In practice, this means cheap gear purchased direct-to-consumer from China via sites like Amazon or Alibaba will escape the 25 percent tariff. Effectively, this could drive customers away from pricier U.S.-made gear, American companies that manufacture their products in China, and already struggling brick-and-mortar stores.

Asked whether the tariffs would be incentive enough to bring manufacturing back to the U.S., most companies say no. “We don’t have the capacity, the technology, or the specialized skill sets to produce in mass volume here,” says Jonathan Wegner of SOG. The tariff on bike components means that the few factories that do make bikes on U.S. soil will actually face higher costs. Scaling up with a new manufacturing facility, domestic or foreign, can take years—Merriam says 2021 is the soonest NEMO would be able to shift over to a new factory—and often requires paying big bucks for new tooling (the specialized equipment used to manufacture technical gear), which Merriam says would cost around $75,000, since brands usually can’t take the machines with them when they change suppliers.

A group of outdoor-industry executives is planning to go to D.C. to plead its case before congressional representatives later this month. Consumers can voice their opinions by submitting written comments through September 5.

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California’s park rangers are upgrading the way they patrol their jurisdictions after launching a partnership this month with Standard Bearer Machines, the manufacturers of the Rungu Electric Juggernaut LE electric bicycle.

Invented in 2010 to answer the Southern California problemof how best to transport surfboards to the beach, the Juggernaut quickly became one of the most versatile electric bikes on the market. The bike has fat, five-inch tires that help it move easily over sand and an extra front wheel for added stability. 

“The outdoor community has concerns about noise and vehicle exhaust in many of the popular recreation areas across the country,” says Peter Godlewski, owner of Standard Bearer Machines. “Helicopter tours, all-terrain vehicles, and other off-road vehicles annoy people who want to enjoy the outdoors. By using Rungu within the California state parks, rangers are leading by example with a vehicle that produces no emissions and is virtually silent.”

In April, a city employee driving a truck in Newport Beach struck a woman reclining on the sand. According to a news report, the driver, who was in a city-owned GMC Canyon, didn’t see the woman lying three feet below him. Rungu could help avoid that problem in the future.

Despite being electric, the Juggernaut still rips. With a 5.4-horsepower torque-oriented battery and a total weight of only 98 pounds, it has the same power-to-weight ratio as a utility-oriented ATV. Designed for off-road use, it can carry a combined load of 375 pounds, climb gradients greater than 30 percent, and reach speeds of 35 miles per hour.

“The LE version was developed with input from law enforcement, and the first group to start using the LE professionally will be the state parks of California,” Godlewski says. “They look at Rungu for two purposes: beach patrol and law enforcement. The state parks team is enthusiastic about utilizing the LE because of the speed and stealth that it can achieve.”

Search-and-rescue teams and other wilderness volunteer organizations have also approached Godlewski about using Rungu products. Because the Juggernaut can get into the backcountry where ATVs can’t go, the LE has potential to be an ideal vehicle for the terrain they routinely operate in.

The Rungu Electric Juggernauts are not just for commercial use; the entire line is available to the public. There are currently two models on the market, the Juggernaut and Juggernaut LE—the latter a beefed-up version with a larger battery, a more powerful motor, and accessories like a rear rack—with an additional mid-drive version launching later this summer. There are also a number of try-before-you-buy rental shops in Southern California and Utah and plans for seven more to be added by the end of 2018 at some of the most scenic off-road locations in the country.

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On August 10, 24-year-old Hanifa Yousoufi became the first female Afghan climber to summit 24,580-foot Mount Noshaq, Afghanistan’s tallest peak. It is a stunning accomplishment in a culturally conservative country where there are almost no resources for women to get into mountaineering. 

Yousoufi was part of an expedition put together by a nonprofit called Ascend Athletics, which empowers women through training in climbing and leadership skills. The organization’s founder, AmericanMarina LeGree, started the organization in 2014 after years of development work in Afghanistan. LeGree assembled a group of Afghan women to train for the climb in 2016. Three of the women were on the Noshaq expedition, but due to unexpected conditions on the mountain, Yousoufi was the only one who made the full ascent. 

“To see Hanifa standing up there, and to be able to show the world what Afghan women are capable of doing, feels incredible,” LeGree says. “She and her teammates have worked for years toward this expedition, showing up every day to work with the Ascend program, volunteering in their communities, studying and practicing not just mountaineering but also leadership. Their efforts will make a difference.”

The expedition was led by mountain guide Emilie Drinkwater, an accomplished climber and skier who is one of only nine American women with the coveted IFMGA guiding accreditation. Because of decades ofunrest during the Soviet invasion, civil war, and Taliban rule, Noshaq was closed to trekkers and climbers for nearly 30 years, opening back up in 2009. Only three other Afghans have summited—all men. The day before the Ascend group was due to fly from Kabul to the nearest airstrip to hike to Base Camp, the Taliban attacked a nearby district. LeGree quickly arranged for the group to fly to a safer village in order to continue with the climb.

“The danger is real,” LeGree says. “Each woman that is part of Ascend takes a risk. So does her family. There is a lot of extremism in Afghanistan, not to mention the daily hazards of life in Kabul. The country is still dealing with an active insurgency. Our expedition was very close to delay or cancellation because the Taliban shot down two Afghan National Army helicopters in the neighboring district the day before we were set to fly to the mountain. So we flew to a different airstrip, a 13-hour drive away from Noshaq.”

Yousoufi, who was married at the age of 15 and is now divorced, had never done a sit-up three years ago. Now she has made history and wants to serve as a role model for other women in her country. “I did this for every single girl,” Yousoufi told LeGree after the climb. “The girls of Afghanistan are strong and will continue to be strong.”

American photojournalist Erin Trieb, who was on Outside’s May 2017 cover, and Berlin-based writer Theresa Breuer were also on the expedition. They will be producing a story about Yousoufi and the climb for Outside and plan to make a documentary film.

“I have photographed war and conflict for ten years, but this expedition was the most difficult project I have ever worked on,” Trieb says. “None of us realized how treacherous Noshaq is, because so little is known about the mountain. That the Taliban attacked the area the day before we were due to fly had all of us feeling very nervous. Despite all possible odds, Hanifa reached the top. I’m incredibly proud of her and of the entire climbing team. What Hanifa did for women in her country will have a ripple effect for women everywhere. It was a monumental physical and mental effort of true grit, and I can’t wait to tell the whole story.”

Meanwhile, LeGree has future climbing plans for other Afghan women on the Ascend team. “We’re not stopping with this expedition,” she says. “Afghanistan has a lifetime of great climbing to do, and we’re just getting started.”

Lead photo: Hanifa Yousufi on the summit of 24,580-foot Mount Noshaq (Sandro Gromen-Hayes)

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It’s time to stock up on some serious savings. REI’s Labor Day sale is here and runs until September 3. There are a lot of amazing deals happening and we want to give you one place to learn everything you need to know about the sale. Read on for our take on the best deals available. 

There are many steals to be had in the REI Outlet, and you can take an additional 20 percent off during the sale when you use coupon code “EXTRA20” at checkout. 

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Arc’teryx makes some of the highest-quality—and priciest—gear on the market. Snag a piece during the sale for an additional 30 percent off.

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All Yakima and Thule products, including favorites like the Yakima JayLow kayak carrier and Thule Motion XT roof box, are 20 percent off. 

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While all Burley products are 20 percent, this collapsible jogging stroller is a whopping 50 percent off.

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Outside’s Gear Guy rated the Kingdom 6 one of the best car-camping tents for its roominess and durability. Get one now for 30 percent off. 

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The Jade and Zulu are rock-solid backpacking packs with X-shaped aluminum frames and 3-D molded shoulder and hip straps for extra comfort. 

Buy Jade Buy Zulu

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Climbers and mountaineers, rejoice! This sale is one of the rare times of the year when technical equipment, like cams, ice anchors, quickdraws, and ropes, go on sale. Stock up while it’s cheap.

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We rated this chair as our favorite for lounging, saying it’s “more like a mini-hammock than a chair; it swings effortlessly and reclines easier than a La-Z-Boy.”

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The Nemo Cleo 30 was rated one of our best sleeping bags of 2018 for its special two zippers (Nemo calls them Thermo Gills), which run vertically down the chest and dump excess heat. 

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Biking season may be coming to a close but that means it’s the perfect time to plan for next year. Save an additional 30 percent off these clearance bikes. 

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The MSR Guardian is one of our all-time favorite water filters but it usually carries a hefty price tag of $350. Get it for just $262 during the sale.

Buy MSR Buy Katadyn

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Relax in style in the lightweight construction of Helinox camp furniture. During our camp-chair test, we loved the Chair 2 Rocker and its surprisingly deep recline.

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Bring your kids along on your next adventure with one of Burly’s sturdy strollers or bike trailers.

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You’re in luck if you need a new pair of hiking shoes or trail runners. All Salomon styles are 25 percent off during the sale. 

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Darn Tough makes the best socks for hiking and running. The only problem: they’re pretty expensive. So now is a great time to stock up. 

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Grab one of these pre-stocked kits for your next adventure so you don’t have to worry about leaving anything behind. 

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Winter is coming and so is the season of layering. Start your layering system off right with great next-to-skin insulation like these merino pieces from REI.

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Just because summer is coming to a close doesn’t mean you won’t need sunglasses anymore. Protect your eyes from harmful winter rays in these protective styles, now 25 percent off for the sale. 

Buy Native Eyewear Buy Sunski

When in doubt, reach for these science-backed ingredients

“What should I eat?” It’s a loaded question, one that people have been Googling en masse for more than a decade. The specifics of that answer depend on your goals—if you’re trying to shed a few pounds, for example, you’ll need to eat differently than someone trying to ramp up during a training block.

But for athletes in particular, there are a few key ingredients you should try to work into your diet every day. Eat these nine foods for performance gains, a sharper competitive edge, and improved general health.

Leafy Greens

Greens like spinach, kale, and arugula are high in nitrates, chemical compounds that improve blood flow and, in turn, have been shown to make both short and long endurance efforts feel a lot easier. This study, for example, found that athletes who used around 500 milligrams’ worth of nitrate supplements improved their performance on a sprint trial by 4.2 percent. A similar study found the nitrates found in beetroot (an approximately 500 mg serving) helped people drop 41 seconds from their 5K time. Throw a serving of your favorite green into a smoothie, use it as a bed for a grain bowl, or blend it into a homemade pesto for that same dose and potential performance boost.

Protein Powder

You’re best off with around .75 grams of protein per pound of body weight, according to a massive 2017 review of the research. That amount of protein also improves your health, helps you recover more quickly, and possibly speeds your metabolism to shed more fat, studies suggest. You can—and probably should—get much of your protein from lean meats like chicken breast, but realistically, .75 grams per pound of your body weight is a lot of protein (almost 100 grams for a 130-pound woman and 135 grams for a 180-pound man). Enter protein powder. It’s cheaper and more convenient. Need a good option? Try our three favorites.

Dark Berries

We can’t put it better than this study did: “An overwhelming body of research has now firmly established that the dietary intake of berries has a positive and profound impact on human health, performance, and disease.” Berries are full of anthocyanins, chemicals that have been shown to boost brain health, and drinking something like a blueberry smoothie may also help you recover quicker, according to research. Try topping your yogurt with some blueberries or throwing raspberries into your oatmeal.

Garlic

Odds are good that heart disease is what’ll kill you. Which is exactly why you need garlic. A huge body of research suggests that garlic can improve cholesterol ratios and reduce triglycerides, blood pressure, and arterial stiffness. It’s also been shown to boost immunity and reduce the length of illness. And a healthy heart and body is key to keeping you in the outdoors. Raw chopped or crushed garlic contains the most beneficial compounds. Buy prechopped garlic and save the time and mess of peeling.

Kefir

Two words: gut health. This fermented milk and grain drink is a probiotic bomb. While we’re still sorting out the specifics of gut bacteria’s impact on health—researchers, for example, were recently rocked when they discovered that one of the healthiest tribes in the world actually has more of what we thought was “bad” gut bacteria and less of what we thought was “good” gut bacteria—preliminary science suggests that your microbiome is instrumental to everything from your overall health to your outlook on life to your athletic performance. Kefir in particular may improve your immunity while cutting inflammation—keys to post-workout recovery. You can drink it straight or add it to your morning smoothie.

Potatoes

Take our word for it: Spuds are the original superfood. Many cultures have lived on potatoes for thousands of years—a feat you can accomplish thanks to the staple crop’s ample carbs, protein (a diet of potatoes alone allows you to hit the protein RDA), and nearly every vitamin and mineral your body needs. These qualities also make potatoes a killer endurance food (some ultrarunners even carry bagged mashed potatoes in lieu of goos). The potato’s bang-for-your buck value is off the charts: They’re not only the cheapest vegetable, but also the most filling. Roast one up with a little salt for the ultimate easy and healthy side dish.

Sunflower Seeds

All nuts and seeds are great. They pack healthy fats and essential fatty acids and offer high levels of magnesium and selenium. The former may reduce exercise-induced extreme physical stress, while the latter is a potent antioxidant. So why single out sunflower seeds? They’re cheap. A pound of raw, shelled sunflower seeds costs just $2 to $3. An equivalent amount of raw, shelled almonds, walnuts, pecans, Brazil nuts, or cashews cost anywhere from $10 to $19. Since you’ll likely be snacking on these by the handful, you want to cut costs where you can.

Oats

We’ve written at length about why oatmeal is a top performance food and how to best whip it up. But here’s another case worth considering: Oats are a budget-conscious dirtbag’s dream. Did you know you can buy a 50-pound bag of rolled oats from a farm supply store for $16? That makes the cost of a plain bowl of oatmeal just $0.03. If you find a cheaper performance food, you probably stole it.

Coffee

What can we say about coffee that hasn’t been said about performance-enhancing drugs? OK, caffeine isn’t quite that powerful of an exercise aid, but it’s the closest legal option. Studies consistently show that it improves your anaerobic capacity, endurance, power output, and reaction time while reducing your perception of exercise-induced suffering. But beware: Using caffeine is a little more nuanced than just pounding espressos. Here’s how to use caffeine on race day.

At 43, the five-time Olympian seems indestructible

Sports journalist Kenny Moore once wrote a very good profile on Bernard Lagat, the middle-distance superstar who competed for Kenya before becoming a U.S. citizen in 2004. The theme of Moore’s piece was the improbable longevity of Lagat’s running career, which the author described as “exceeding two full athletic lifetimes.” That story appeared more than eight years ago, in the February 2010 issue of Runner’s World. In March of this year, Lagat, now 43, was the second American finisher at the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships. If you think there’s something perverse about that, I can assure you that you’re not alone.

While every sport has examples of athletes who seem infuriatingly immune to senescence, Bernard Lagat is in another league entirely. The guy has been competing for so long that even the articles marveling at how long he has been competing have become obsolete. “Will Bernard Lagat Live Forever?” asked one New Yorker piece in early 2013. The verdict is still out on that one.

Consider that Lagat has competed in five Olympics, a distinction that puts him in very select company among track and field athletes. The fact is all the more impressive when you take into account that his first games didn’t happen until 2000, when he was 25, an age when many middle-distance runners are at their peak. As it turns out, the impetus for Moore’s profile came back in 2009, when word got out that Lagat was looking to be a contender in 2012 in London. Moore: “This, finally, was outlier crazy. This was inhuman. This made you wonder if there is anyone among us who couldn’t use an object lesson in holding mortality at bay.”

Just to reiterate: Moore was writing about the 2012 Olympics, where Lagat wound up narrowly missing the third Olympic medal of his career by finishing fourth in the 5,000 meters. Inhuman? Perhaps. But with benefit of hindsight, we now know that the real “outlier crazy” shit was still to come.

Four years later, in the men’s 5,000 meters at the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials, the 41-year-old Lagat was in sixth place going into the last lap of the race. He proceeded to unleash a 52.82-second final 400 meters to win the most competitive 5K ever held at a U.S. Trials. One of the unfortunate things about the esoteric nature of track fandom is that it’s nearly impossible to adequately communicate to someone who doesn’t follow the sport how insane it is that a 41-year-old dude can vanquish a world-class 5,000-meter field by going sub-53 seconds on the bell lap. It’s almost an affront to the laws of nature. (I encourage you to ask the fastest 41-year-old you know to run one lap on fresh legs on your local high school track.)

Although Lagat had the decency to retire from track racing at the end of the 2016 season, he is once again redefining what should be feasible, only this time on the roads. In January, he ran the Houston Half Marathon in 62 minutes flat, breaking Meb Keflezighi’s U.S. masters record for the distance by over a minute. Lagat posted the absurd splits from that race on his Instagram account. “See you back right here when I’m 44,” Lagat wrote in the post, signing off with an “old man” emoji.

For someone who holds the third-fastest 1,500-meter time ever, Lagat seems to be having way too much fun competing in the half marathon. Most middle-distance specialists never make the jump to what is a categorically different type of event. Lagat’s main rival from back in the day was the Moroccan 1,500-meter world record holder Hicham El Guerrouj, who retired in 2006 and never bothered racing anything longer than the 5,000.

I asked James Li, Lagat’s coach of 22 years, to account for the runner’s persistence. Now a distance coach at the University of Arizona, Li first began coaching Lagat when he came to Washington State University as a 21-year-old.

“That’s definitely not the first time the question has been posed,” Li says before offering the following explanation: Lagat’s NCAA career didn’t begin until his early twenties, so he was a late-bloomer of sorts and had the benefit of avoiding overtraining and early burnout. He also has excellent running mechanics, which doesn’t hurt if you want your professional career to last two decades. Also, in most years of that professional career, Lagat would take a training hiatus from mid-September until early November—an unusually long break for a world-class athlete.

But according to Li, the best explanation for the Lagat phenomenon was his remarkable equanimity. “There were just so many situations that would get to people that somehow didn’t get to him,” Li says. Since Lagat’s pro career has been marked by an almost uncanny level of good health, most people don’t know that he was injured for much of his first year as a collegiate runner. By the stratospheric standard of his subsequent successes, Lagat’s college racing days were comparably modest. The eventual world champion in the 1,500 meters never finished better than fourth in his best event at the NCAA outdoor championships. In a sense, Lagat underperformed at Washington State, but, as Li notes, these early disappointments never weighed him down.

“If a race didn’t go very well, he just brushed it off and didn’t think too much about it. He didn’t overanalyze things and just said that next time he’d do better. I think that ability is so important for athletes’ longevity,” Li says.

It would obviously be naive to assume that Lagat’s incredible run isn’t at least partially due to sheer genetic luck. Also, being a middle-distance guy for most of his career, he never ran the kind of heavy-duty mileage that contributed to the premature decline of marathon specialists like Ryan Hall.

But the whole attitude thing shouldn’t be underestimated. For someone so motivated and competitive, Lagat is uniquely relaxed at the same time. When you watch a Lagat interview (even after races where he’s dropped out), there’s a sense of levity, one that feels almost out of place in a sport where top performers often appear as though they are battling inner demons or severe indigestion. Much like the Olympic marathon champion Eliud Kipchoge, who has the habit of grinning during the torturous end stage of a 26-mile race, with Lagat, you always have the sense that he’s enjoying the ride.

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When my son Mason was about eight months old, my husband, Mark, and I took him on a trip to Yosemite, 700 miles away from home.We’d been hiking with our son a fair bit up to that point, so we thought we knew what to expect for the all-day hike we had planned. We had a frame carrier and a soft structured carrier, and on that day, my gut told me to bring both.

That was a good call. While the seven-mile out-and-back hike to Vernal Falls is well manicured and packed with tourists, it also features a lot of elevation gain. As we hiked down the mountain with Mason in the frame carrier, he started crying uncontrollably. We assumed he was wet, so we stopped to check him and found he was dry. He’d also been fed recently, so we knew he wasn’t hungry.

After analyzing all the usual options, we realized the sunshade of his frame carrier was acting as a echo chamber, heightening the sound of crashing waterfalls as we walked past. Mason also had recently become aware of depth perception. Being high up on our backs, looking all the way down into Yosemite Valley as we descended the steeper sections of the trail, plus the intensity of the water noise, was scaring him.

Once we realized this, we switched to the soft carrier. I placed Mason on my front, nuzzled up against my breast, and he instantly simmered down and was silent for the remaining two hours of the hike.

The moral of the story here is that it’s important to think outside the box—or the frame—when you have a crying child on the trail. While there are just going to be some days when getting out with a baby or young child is tricky due to teething, tummy aches, poopy pants, and growth spurts, there are other times when a little adjustment can make all the difference. And sometimes adjustment means going shorter distances, looking for hikes with visitor centers so the kids can toddle around looking at books, or opting for a lake or creek if the long trail you planned just isn’t going to happen.

Research has taught us that getting babies and kids outdoors early on is important for healthy growth because of everything—from increased vitamin D to better muscle coordination and problem-solving skills—that comes with negotiating nature.But it’s also easy to just give up when a day isn’t going well. Trust me when I say there have been plenty of times when I thought there was no way a hike was going to happen. I’ve been on hundreds of hikes with Mason, and with young families across the country, since starting the Hike It Baby network in 2013. Here’s what I know: If you keep after it and make slight changes to what you had planned in your mind, you’ll never regret it. And you’ll become a better outdoor parent all the time versus braving it only on fair-weather days.

I say all this while recognizing that Mason was born in summer—June 28, to be exact—which makes getting outside easier. Pre-kid, Mark and I were both very outdoorsy, independent people. We didn’t really plan on having a child, and then there we were, in nine short months, wondering when we would ever get to really experience the outdoors again. We didn’t necessarily vocalize our worry over losing our adventure life, but we both knew it was lingering in the room, a little crying white elephant.

Our list of concerns were a mile long in the beginning. What if he didn’t like the car seat and we couldn’t go anywhere? What if he hated the carrier? Would we really be able to do anything with a baby—or would I be too nervous about all of “what if” scenarios? I’ve learned a lot since then. Here are a few of the top tips I’d offer parents who are similarly anxious.

New parents often feel like they can’t leave the nursery without packing the entire thing into a stroller and wheeling it around with them. Go light. If you must bring it all, leave it in the car. Most major meltdowns, blowouts, or unexpected bumps can wait to be remedied in the parking lot.

When your baby is little, this is your chance to go for longer hikes. Your child is light and needs little more than milk, maybe a pacifier, an extra diaper (or two), a few wipes, hand sanitizer, and a baggie to pack it out. Because you don’t know how well your child will do with altitude, focus on longer, more scenic hikes. When Mason was little, we used to do a lot of five-mile hikes, and if we really wanted to go for it, we would try six to ten miles at places like Silver Falls, a beautiful loop with gentle up-and-down in Oregon.

Babies who are trained to nap in motion from a young age will be easier to evolve into hiking toddlers. While it’s a personal preference for parents, I used Mason’s two naps a day (and more when he was really young) to get my hike on. I would head out and get to the trailhead just before naptime. I’d struggle a bit with a cranky baby as I got him comfortable on me, but once we started walking, he was out and slept for hours. This gave me a lot of freedom to explore and not feel like my wings were clipped.

One of the trickiest things about going from baby to toddler with little hikers is the independence that rises up when kids start learning to walk. This can frustrate a lot of parents who are used to moving efficiently—everything can come to a screeching halt if you have a child who refuses to stay on the trail or teeters around stuffing rocks into their mouth.The key to toddlerdom is patience and creativity. The great distances you may once have tackled go from miles to meters. This is the time to get more interested in what’s around you instead of the end destination.

I advise parents who are struggling with a kiddo who won’t get into the pack or carrier to first take a look at their gear. While a carrier might have been amazing for the first 14 months, your little one’s body is growing fast. Even if a carrier says it’s good for your child’s age, he may be uncomfortable or not like the view from the carrier.

While it’s all trial in the beginning, things will get better if you keep at it. Think ahead and really read your child’s cues. Learn what she likes, keep doing more of that, and push it slowly from there. While it’s tempting to go out the gate strong, remember that your new little person is adjusting to the big world. The gentler you welcome her into the outdoors, the more she’ll develop her own love for it.

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In August, American ski mountaineers Hilaree Nelson and Jim Morrison flew to Nepal from their homes in Telluride, Colorado, and Tahoe City, California, respectively, to attempt the first ski descent of 27,940-foot Lhotse. Part of the Everest massif, Lhotse is the fourth-highest mountain in the world. From a skier’s perspective, though, Lhotse is first choice. The summit offers a sustained and direct 7,000-vertical-foot ski line that combines a 2,500-foot couloir and an open face. The average pitch is 45 to 50 degrees. For comparison, the steepest in-bounds black diamond runs in the U.S. top out at about 30 degrees.

“It is this iconic, splinter couloir and it just screams ski line to me,” Morrison told me earlier this summer. “It’s this plum line right off the summit, right down the middle onto this huge face that goes way down. And it’s never been done.”

Until this summer, of the five tallest mountains in the world, Mount Everest was the only one to have been skied successfully from the summit. Then, in July, a Polish alpinist named Andrezj Bargiel skied off the summit of K2, the second-highest mountain in the world.

The previous handful of attempts to ski Lhotse by athletes like Adrian Ballinger, Kristoffer Erickson, and Jamie Laidlaw, have been done in the spring, during Nepal’s popular climbing season. However, Nelson and Morrison timed their trip intentionally for this fall, at the end of monsoon season, when the high peaks are covered in snow. 

Nelson and Morrison are two of the most experienced ski mountaineers in the world. Together, they have climbed and skied Denali (20,310 feet) in Alaska and Papsura (21,165 feet), known as the “peak of evil,” in India. This spring, Morrison skied Cho Oyu and sections on Everest (though not from top). And though she’s never attempted to ski it, Nelson has climbed Lhotse before. In 2012, she and Erickson linked Lhotse with Mount Everest, making Nelson the first woman to climb two 8,000-meter peaks in 24 hours. She remembers thinking how much more comfortable she was climbing up a couloir on Lhotse than a ridge on Everest. A couloir is familiar terrain for a skier, said Nelson. The thought of skiing definitely crossed her mind, but at the time, there was no snow. “Even though it was all rock and ice then, all I could think was, wow. This thing is incredible, probably the most aesthetic couloir in high altitude that I’ve seen,” she said.

On September 12, Nelson sent me two voice memos from Everest Base Camp, giving me beta on what the route looks like. Earlier that day, the pair had climbed to Pumori Camp I at 19,000 feet to acclimatize and Nelson said they walked on a little bit of snow, just below the freezing line. “It’s definitely thick, wet, and punchy,” she said. “But we just got our first glimpse of the Lhotse Face today. You can’t see the Lhotse Couloir from anywhere except the regular route on Everest, but you can see the whole Lhotse Face, and it’s definitely caked with snow. Now we just have to get up there and see what it’s like.”

They are the only team at Everest Base Campright now. The timing was ideal not only for the snow, but also for the absence of other climbers attempting to ascend Lhotse. “Lhotse has become quite a popular climb,” said Nelson. “Because it’s so popular, it’s such a pinner couloir, that if you had four or five people in it, it would be impossible to ski.”

On the other hand, their solitude makes the route-building that much more difficult. Nelson and Morrison are planning to climb Lhotse with five Sherpas. Their team will have to break trail without support for 11,000 feet of elevation gain. “That’s a lot of boot packing,” said Nelson.

From Base Camp, they will move slowly up the mountain. They plan to spend one night at Camp I, above the Khumbu Icefall, before moving on to Camp II at 21,000 feet. Camp III is at 23,000 feet. Depending on whether or not they use supplemental oxygen, they will either attempt the summit directly from Camp III or set up another camp at the foot of the couloir. The route follows a ramp straight into a 2,500-foot couloir that gradually narrows to the width of a ski—though it could be wider, depending on the snowpack. At the bottom of the couloir, the slope widens to a vast 5,000-foot-long apron that is skiable all the way until Camp II.

That is, it will be, if Nelson and Morrison get their skis in time. Monsoon conditions prevented the team from flying a fixed-wing plane with all of their gear—over 2,000 pounds, Nelson estimated—to Lukla, the airport that climbers traditionally embark from to access the Everest Base Camp.Instead, they chartered a helicopter to fly the core members of the team—including Nelson, Morrison, and filmmakers Dutch Simpson and Nick Kalisz, who are documenting the expedition. Porters are slowly bringing up the rest of their gear. A plan to bring their skis to Everest Base Camp by helicopter fell through tragically. Just after flying the Lhotse team, the helicopter crashed in rural Nepal, killing the pilot and five others. Only one passenger survived.

This tragedy also complicates the Lhotse Team’s plans to traverse the Khumbu Icefall. Widely considered to be one of the most dangerous stages of climbing Everest and Lhotse, the Khumbu Icefall is a glacial river with deep crevasses and requires ladders and ropes for safe passage. It is also melting, making it unpredictable and risky. In April, a 300-foot section collapsed and injured two Sherpas. Nelson and Morrison will be traveling with Icefall Doctors, Sherpas who specialize in route-setting through this kind of terrain. To limit their exposure to risk in this zone, they had planned to fly a lot of their gear by helicopter over the Icefall to the higher elevation camps. “We are going to do our best to make the whole climb as safe as we can,” said Nelson.

Nelson isn’t sure exactly when the team will begin the traverse, but is aiming to start through the Icefall in the next four or five days to get to Camp II. After the Icefall, Nelson and Morrison will face avalanche exposure. The slope’s steep angle will hopefully work in their favor, in this regard, with loose snow naturally sloughing off the mountain.

The skiing will be equally intense. In high altitudes, bad conditions with breakable crust and sastrugi—grooves in the ridges created by wind and weather that are notoriously hard to ski—are almost guaranteed. “That means they’re going to be doing jump turns, and jump turns are way more physical than walking downhill,” said Ballinger, an Everest mountain guide who was the first person to ski 26,759-foot Manaslu, the eighth-tallest mountain in the world. Ballinger has also skied Cho Oyu twice, and attempted to ski Lhotse. He’s good friends with both Nelson and Morrison. “In my experience, when I’m above 8,000 meters, if I’m linking five turns in a row before I’m bent over and trying not to puke in my oxygen mask, I’m pretty psyched. It’s exhausting, powerful skiing.”

Will the recent acquisition of the Colorado-based mountain bike company be the death knell for the brand, or will it emerge stronger and more innovative than ever?

After months of uncertainty, Niner, the Colorado-based bike company that helped to establish 29-inch wheels in the industry, has been purchased by UWHK Ltd., whose parent company also owns Dayton, Ohio–based Huffy. The move means that the boutique bike manufacturer will continue servicing existing warranties and building new bikes from its Fort Collins headquarters, at least for now.

The acquisition comes after a protracted process that began on November 22, 2017, when Niner announced that a cycling-friendly, Colorado-based investor group, Columbia Basin Partners, had agreed to purchase the company. “As a mid-market boutique brand, we realized that in order to grow and stay competitive, we needed to be with a larger partner. Making bikes takes a lot of money, and as a sole proprietor, no matter how deep your pockets are, at some point you get to the bottom of your pockets,” said Chris Sugai, Niner co-founder and president, at the time.

The week after it announced the deal, Niner filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, with Sugai stating that the decision was the “cleanest and fastest way” to facilitate the transaction to Columbia Basin Partners. In its filing, the company listed assets of $9.8 million and liabilities of $7.9 million. At the time, the company planned to complete the sale and emerge from Chapter 11 by January 30, 2018.

Declaring Chapter 11, however, gives federal district courts final say over any deal. In an effort to secure the best terms for Niner’s creditors while still ensuring the company’s financial future, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Colorado put the Colorado transaction on hold and opened the sale to other investors. In January, Columbia Basin Partners withdrew its offer, but two new bidders emerged, including a group led by Allied Cycle Works co-founder Tony Karklins. In the end, UWHK won out. Though details of the sale weren’t disclosed, UWHK filed a motion to purchase for $3.1 million in February.

UWHK is a division of United Wheels Ltd., a Hong Kong–based investment consortium that, in addition to majority ownership in Huffy Corp., owns Allite Inc. and VASST Bicycles, both of which will be launching later this year. (No one from UWHK would confirm what, specifically, those two brands will make.) The firm also is looking for ways to expand its footprint. “They have a vision for cultivating a diversified organization that becomes a house of brands. They are very interested in investing in high-end cycling brands,” says Bruno Maier, managing director for new business at United Wheels.

Maier is a cycling industry veteran who has worked at Huffy, Pacific Cycles, People for Bikes, and, most recently, Rocky Mounts, where he was president. “Niner made sense because it was a very strong team that, through circumstance, ended up in a difficult financial situation. The investment will make it possible for them to run more efficiently and grow the business.” Maier stresses that United Wheels has confidence in Sugai and Niner. “Their team will work closely with our board of directors going forward, but ultimately they will retain creative and design independence. We are confident in the plan they have in place,” he says.

Following the sale, Sugai was upbeat. “United Wheels wants to invest heavily in our R&D so that we can stay competitive and continue to produce market-leading bikes,” Sugai said. “It’s business as usual for us now. It means we can keep our team of 30 employees together and move forward to expand our reach as a premium off-road brand.” Sugai said Niner plans to show several new designs at the upcoming Sea Otter expo later this month.

Not everyone was as optimistic about the deal. Niner co-founder Steve Domahidy, the engineer behind the company’s CVA suspension, left the brand in 2011 but retained a small stake until the bankruptcy. He sounds a note of caution. “After these deals, you always hear ‘everything is going to stay the same,’” Domahidy said following news that the bankruptcy deal would not satisfy his stake. “But it doesn’t make any sense. A new owner buys a company that was run into the ground and then let’s the same people keep doing the same things?” Domahidy, who has since created Viral Bikes, says he hopes things will change at Niner. “I left, in part, because I didn’t think Niner was positioning itself to stay relevant. It’s still a brand that’s near to my heart. I want them to succeed and thrive. But it’s going to be tricky.”

Acquisitions in the bike industry have a checkered history. From Gary Fisher, which Trek purchased in 1993 and later dissolved, to Schwinn, which lost its brand identity and momentum when Pacific Bicycles purchased it at auction in 2001, there are plenty of examples of deals that have not ended well. On the other hand, Cannondale has continued to thrive after it was purchased in 2008 by Dorel Industries, which also owns Schwinn, Mongoose, Roadmaster, and GT. And Maier points to the Dutch conglomerate Pon Holdings as another promising example. “There was lots of doom and gloom when Pon acquired Cervélo, and then later Santa Cruz,” he says. “But today those brands are stronger than ever.” Maier adds that while United Wheels owns some manufacturing facilities in Asia, there are no real synergies between those plants and Niner’s needs, which will allow the Colorado brand to continue building high-end bikes the way it always has.

For consumers, Niner’s purchase is only good news, as the company otherwise likely would have been shuttered. Niner has long produced excellent bikes, including the 2013 Gear of the Year–winning Rip9 RDO. It has also helped break ground with gravel bikes such as the RLT9 and plus-size machines like the ROS9+. The company’s sale means there is potential for continued innovation and that Niner will continue to honor its warranties and customer service for existing owners. The brand has also been instrumental in trail advocacy through the years, and Sugai says that will remain a priority.

“It’s been a tough few months, but we celebrated a little when the deal finally closed. Then we got right back to work,” Sugai says. “My job is to make sure that Niner continues to grow and succeed. We definitely had some troubles, but with the investment, we’re in a stronger position than ever to move forward and to continue building great bikes. And that’s exactly what we plan to do.”

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The outdoor industry has a slew of technical materials designed to keep you warm, dry, and safe on your next trip, but we have a soft spot in our hearts for denim. From farmers to John Travolta in Urban Cowboy, denim is modern America’s original adventure material. Recently manufacturers have blended rugged denim with newer materials like elastane and Lycra so you can have the look of your favorite cowboy with the performance of yoga pants. Here are six pieces of denim that are worth wearing on your next adventure.

Canada-based Duer has developed a performance denim called  L2X that blends cotton with Tencel, polyester, and Lycra, creating a stretchy pair of jeans that are antimicrobial and wick moisture. They look like a pair of dress jeans, but they perform like hiking pants. Go with the relaxed fit for more mobility.

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We know, jean shorts are so, well, Joe Dirt. But taking your most comfortable pair of jeans and cutting them off at the knees so you can wear them in the summer just makes sense. That’s what the trouser engineers at Club Ride have done, only they’ve made them two percent spandex for extra stretch. And they’ve added a side thigh pocket for your phone. We’ve been wearing these nonstop on and off the bike for weeks.

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Flint and Tinder updated its standard cotton Trucker jacket (which is sweet in its own right) by lengthening the tail for more coverage and making it two percent spandex for more stretch. We like the sleek black color and tailored fit—and the fact that it’s cut and sewn right here in the U.S.

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The long-standing masters of denim know how to make a shirt. The Barstow Western has just enough detailing to qualify as “western” (see: pearl buttons, understated stitching) without being overkill. We like the style, but we also like the next-to-skin softness and the mobility that their proprietary stretch denim affords.

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Taylor Stitch has a handful of beautiful denim pieces, but none as versatile as The Westport, a layer that lives between the shirt and jacket and blends eco-friendly hemp with organic cotton. You get hand-warmer pockets on your hips and a handy map of San Francisco on the interior (just in case you’re lost in San Fran). This is your new go-to shoulder-season layer.

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This snapback trucker hat is just what you need to complete your denim ensemble. It features a mesh back, flat brim, and stylish leather patch. 

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