Mount Everest

Mount Everest conquered by disabled man

Tom Whittaker’s life as a mountaineer seemed to be destroyed after he was involved in a car accident with a drunk driver back in 1979 in Pocatello, Idaho. But his life reached its peak again on Nov. 4 when the Scottsdale-based motivational speaker received an award from Queen Elizabeth II of his native England for something he had accomplished eight years ago.

Click here to read this remarkable Mt Everest story

Celebrating Canada's Jasper National Park - Jasper Journal Launches JasperJournal.com

Jasper Journal launches a new website, JasperJournal.com, to provide resources about Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada. The website celebrates a national park ideal for travelers interested in a quiet, back-to-nature vacation. The website takes a magazine format with the focus on Jasper National Park as a tranquil retreat into a land of extraordinary mountains, lakes, rivers, waterfalls, glaciers, wildlife and scenic vistas.
Berlin, CT (PRWeb) December 12, 2006 -- Jasper Journal announces the launch of a new website, http://JasperJournal.com, to provide resources about Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada. The website celebrates a national park ideal for travelers interested in a quiet, back-to-nature vacation."The idea for Jasper Journal emerged after a vacation at the park and wanting to create a website to help other travelers. Jasper National Park is one of those unique places that few have heard of, yet everyone would benefit from visiting," says D.H. Wall, MBA, Jasper Journal's founder, a travel enthusiast and marketing professional with over nine years experience.The website takes a magazine format with the focus on Jasper National Park as a tranquil retreat into a land of extraordinary mountains, lakes, rivers, waterfalls, glaciers, wildlife and scenic vistas. With over 600 miles of Canadian Rockies hiking trails, Jasper National Park provides a desirable environment for vacationers who desire peace and solitude.JasperJournal.com features original articles about park activities and wildlife. An extensive photo gallery captures many of the scenic views, activities and wildlife within the park. Links to maps quickly orient visitors to locations within the park. The Jasper National Park directory provides links to official park attraction websites and selected photo galleries from other travelers.Each article on the website allows for visitor comments. "This allows travelers who have visited the park to share their experiences for the benefit of others. The ability for fellow travelers to contribute to the website will continue to be expanded in the future," says Wall."The Jasper Journal website is clean like the glacier waters of Jasper National Park. This is not a website littered with ads. The reward is in enabling travelers to learn about a national park that plays an important role in natural resource preservation and is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site," says Wall.Visit the Jasper Journal website at: http://JasperJournal.com

Whistler seasonal snowfall approaches 20 feet before Christmas

Whistler seasonal snowfall approaches 20 feet before ChristmasFriday, December 22, 2006
As the cumulative alpine snowfall for the winter season in Whistler approaches a whopping 20 feet, winter enthusiasts are set to celebrate the holiday season with this extra special snowy gift (that keeps on giving!) from Mother Nature.
This season the Whistler alpine saw the snowiest November on record and the snow just keeps on coming, setting the region up for a holiday season not to be forgotten. To date 5.96 metres (19.58 feet) of snow has fallen and the forecast is for continued snow to come during the days leading up to the holiday season.
Whether hitting the slopes of Whistler Blackcomb with a snow base of 220cm (87 inches), including the newly-opened Symphony Express chairlift; taking advantage of the diversity of other winter activities; or wandering through the snowy village and nearby trails, guests can choose their personal favourite way to experience the winter wonderland in Whistler.
All winter snowbound activities in Whistler are in full operation: skiing and snowboarding at Whistler Blackcomb; cross country skiing at Lost Lake; sleigh rides; snowshoe tours; snowmobile tours; dogsledding tours; heli skiing; tube park; cat skiing; snow-limo and much more.
The free fire and ice show at the base of Whistler Mountain is now on every Sunday with entertainment for the whole family. North Pole Central is open at MY Place through December 31 and Whistler First Night is the family-friendly New Year's celebration of arts and entertainment. A range of other seasonal activities will include interdenominational Christmas services, a Nutcracker presentation, carolling and much more. Activity and event information is available at www.tourismwhistler.com.
Whistler is a year-round leisure and meeting destination located in the Coast Mountains 120 kilometres (75 miles) north of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and is site of the alpine, nordic, and sliding events for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. Whistler has a range of accommodations totalling 3,200 hotel rooms, and more than 5,000 other tourist accommodation units including condos, B&Bs and chalets. Whistler offers a wide selection of restaurants, bars, spas, boutiques, and activities from world-renowned skiing and snowboarding, mountain biking and golf, to hiking, rock climbing, and watersports. Whistler Blackcomb Mountains feature 3,036 hectares (8,171 acres) of terrain and receive an average of 1005 centimetres (33 feet) of snow annually. The Resort Municipality of Whistler is home to a diverse community of more than 10,000 permanent residents.
Tourism Whistler is the member-based marketing and sales organization representing Whistler, operating the TELUS Whistler Conference Centre, the Whistler Golf Club, in-resort Visitor Services centres, and tourismwhistler.com, as well as 1-800-WHISTLER and whistler.com - the official call to action for Whistler. As the convention and visitors bureau for the Resort Municipality of Whistler, Tourism Whistler represents more than 7,000 members who own, manage and operate properties or businesses on resort lands including hotels, restaurants, activity operators and retail shops.

Eco Friendly Gifts for the Outdoors Lover and/or Hiker

For those that love being outdoors, there’s nothing like it. TreeHugger.com rounded up favorites gifts for land and sea. Always look for eco-friendly items when enjoying Mother Earth.

1. Climbing Ropes

Millet offers a wide range of outdoor gear, including climbing ropes, and is owned by parent company Lafuma, who continues to take large enviro endeavors.

2. Teko Socks

We’ve promoted Teko Socks before and continue to support their ecologically enhanced technical socks. In 2006 the company announced that they had become the first from the U.S. outdoor industry to participate in the Chicago Climate Exchange.

3. A Membership to the Outdoors

What’s better for an outdoors lover than to purchase them a membership to an outdoors organization? A few ideas that we like are the Sierra Club, the Appalachian Mountain Club and the Surfrider Foundation.

4. Patagonia Shoes

Joining forces with Merrell, Patagonia is new to the shoe industry but, as always with Patagonia, they aren’t compromising materials or style. A few styles have made their debut in time for the holidays with more to follow in Spring 2007.

5. Eco-Camp Kit

Make your outdoors lover a happy camper with the Eco-Camp Kit. With accessories like a solar shower, an organic cotton roll-up bed and a water-powered digital alarm clock, it makes the perfect gift. You can also take it a notch higher with the Luxury Eco-Camp Kit.

6. Fire-Fly Stove

Made from 100% recycled materials, the Fire-fly Stove also includes a stand made from 30% recycled content. It’s featherweight and perfect for stashing in the pack for overnight trips.

7. Blue Lotus Blankets

To keep warm during the chilly nights, your outdoors enthusiast will love Blue Lotus Blankets. They are made from Fortrel EcoSpun™ fleece made from 100% post-consumer plastic.

8. Solar Spark Lighter

As the only pocket-sized solar lighter, the Solar Spark Lighter is designed to focus the sun’s energy to a preside focal point.

9. EcoFoil Surfboard

In addition to their standard hemp covered models, OceanGreen offers three EcoFoil balsa boards, made from balsa wood from FSC certified Nicaraguan forests.

10. Prijon Kayaks

Said to be the “most durable” kayaks in the world, Prijon uses materials that are non-toxic.

Outdoor Store Review: MooseJaw.com

So I was checking out MooseJaw.com today - an outdoor gear and clothing store. First impression is they're pretty cool just based on the above graphic that appears on their front page. It's an old painting they've digitally doctored to put ski goggles and goretex jackets etc on some of the people in the painting. Fun.

Second, I noticed they have free shipping on orders over $49 (at least that's for now during Christmas I guess) which is better than some other major players (ie mec.ca requires $150 min. purchcase for free shipping and rei.com doesn't offer free shipping).

Overall the character of their site seems fun and inviting, which makes me believe the company may also be kinda hip and cool. I like the name of their legal section: "mean lawyer privacy policy"

These guys seem pretty with it regarding the web. Their site seems a bit cluttered at times because they're leaning heavily to the "search engine friendly" design with tons of text links in the footer of every page. Not terrible, just not that sightly for us humans.

They've even got their own myspace site: http://www.myspace.com/moosejawmountaineering no doubt as an attempt to just get more people linking to and visiting their site so they can sell more stuff and build more online mojo. They write "Moosejaw has 3358 friends. We want 10,327" which I don't really understand. It seems they're asking me to add them as my friend on my myspace, but it seems a little wierd to me and I'm not really given any motivation to do so even though I think their site is cool. Karma thing maybe?

I've yet to purchase something from them (although my wish list is long: a new north face jacket would be great :), but they carry lots of big brands you'll recognize.

Their online shopping seems secure and pretty straightforward, although they do try to push a lot of their email newsletters at you during the process and require you to choose a password if you're a new customer -- ie so you can login to your account later as a "returning customer".

Drop me a note in response to this posting and let me know your experiences with moosejaw's online store or brick and mortar shop(s) for others to read about.

What they write about themselves:


Moosejaw Mountaineering, Inc. is one of the Midwest's leading outdoor
adventure retailers, offering the finest outdoor gear and apparel as
well as some totally unnecessary non-sense guaranteed to make any day
better. Based in Madison Heights, Mich., the company operates six
locations in Michigan and Chicago and six websites, Moosejaw.com,
theLowdown.com, theJaw.com, CampMoosejaw.com, MoosejawRewards.com, and
AdventureWatches.com.


Some photos from their photo gallery. I like this section. Fun to see the stuff they sell in real life on real people, not headless, bodyless product-only shots.


What one customer wrote about them:

CUSTOMER FEEDBACK from Connie (12/05/06): From the great singer Rod Stewert...Have I told you lately that I love youuuu? Seriously, I LOVE your company. Y'all's website cracks me up, and so do the goofy emails. I had to make an exchange and the company was so helpful, and so totally moosejaw-liscious. I will buy from this company from now on, so keep up the good work, people!

A Dig at Vancouver From Back East

Vancouver (Reuters)

Day 2 - Vancouver Blizzard 2006 - Revenge of the Commuters

Chilled Vancouver commuters faced their second day of winter hell today,as an additional ¼ centimetre of the peculiar white stuff fell, bringing
the lower mainland to its knees and causing millions of dollars worth of damage to the marijuana crops. Scientists suspect that the substance is
some form of frozen water particles and experts from Saskatchewan are being flown in. With temperatures dipping to the almost but not quite
near zero mark, Vancouverites were warned to double insulate their lattes before venturing out.

Vancouver police recommended that people stay inside except for emergencies, such as running out of espresso or biscotti to see them
through Vancouver's most terrible storm to date. The local Canadian Tire reported that they had completely sold out of fur-lined sandals.

Drivers were cautioned to put their convertible tops up, and several have been shocked to learn that their SUV's actually have four wheel drive,
although most have no idea how to use it.

Weary commuters faced soggy sushi, and the threat of frozen breast implants. Although Dr. John Batherick, of the Coastal Health Authority
reassured everyone that most breast implants were perfectly safe to 25 below, down-filled bras are flying off the shelves at Mountain Equipment
Co-op.

"The government has to do something," snarled an angry Torry Easton. "I didn't pay $540,000 for my one bedroom condo so I could sit around and be
treated like someone from Toronto."

Hike Ontario

Heading out East this summer? Check out the HikeOntario.com website for access to all things hiking in Ontario.

Hike Ontario, founded in 1974, is a non-profit organization dedicated to serving the needs of all hikers and walkers in the Province of Ontario . The membership of Hike Ontario consists of 24 long distance trail associations and hiking clubs with memberships totalling over 13,000 people across Ontario . Hike Ontario also welcomes individual memberships.

Hike Ontario does not make or maintain trails, nor does it offer organized hiking/walking events, except through its member associations. Hike Ontario is the umbrella organization that provides these province wide associations with resources and services to build on these long established local and regional initiatives in a way which compliments and enhances them.