Kate Morton is cradling a glass of red wine in her hand, comfortably slouched in a chair on the wooden deck of her lodge. We are surrounded by thick, steamy jungle in a remote corner of Central America and Kate is perfectly at ease in the humidity. I, however, am soaked to the bone and swatting mosquitoes that don’t seem to notice my host. In between smacks to my own neck and face, I drink Belikin stout from a cold, black bottle which is sweating as profusely as me. This is Read the rest

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As a recent graduate from the University of Colorado, I was faced with what some might consider a challenge: finding a job and “starting” my life. I found a job, actually three—working part time for elephant journal, serving at the Lazy Dog, and catering weddings on the weekends. People would often ask me, “so you graduated college and this is what you do??”
A while before graduation I decided to take a different path than most people. I knew I always Read the rest

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Processed food has a bad reputation, thanks to Twinkies and Spam. So it’s refreshing to see a whole new crop of food bars that are easy and energizing, but also nutritious. Bobo’s Oat Bars walk the middle path on the continuum between cookie (tasty, not so healthy) and powerbar (packed with athletic-inducing nutrients, not so tasty). Small and square, they’re a perfect fit for the side pocket of your Camelback, school lunchboxes, or your car glove compartment. Here’s how Bobo’s rates on the questions most vital to foodbar lovers everywhere: Read the rest

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Check this out, great fun blog, great fun peeps: 

“For, lo, he that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what is his thought, that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth, The LORD, The God of hosts, is his name.”- Amos 4:13 

Via Bethany Cox; Subject: Epic Adventure!

This may be shameless promotion but I thought since you were fun outdoor people you may be interested in this:

My husband and I are on a kayak trip right now down the east coast Read the rest

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My excitement for snow fun increases more and more by every degree the temperature drops.  I have been a snowboarder for years, and I can’t wait to hit the slopes, but it wasn’t until recently that I started to realize the impact my day up to the mountains had on the environment.  Driving from Boulder to the mountains is an easy getaway, but that 400 miles round trip drive, as well as the snow making and energy used by the mountain resorts have a bigger impact than one would think.

Here are some tips to green your weekend getaways in the mountains:

First, it is important to look into your resort choice as well as your snow gear.  You can research a resort that runs all their operations on wind energy.  And check out snowboards and skis designed with sustainable materials.

Lodging: A typical mountain resort uses Read the rest

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We’ve met these gents a few times over the years.

Watch the last one with the speech courtesy Patrick Stewart, possessor of the greatest voice in history, who describes the Oil + Water boys as perhaps the greatest home movie ever, guys who had a green vision and wanted to have some fun along the way. Videos: Read the rest

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I climb regularly at my local bouldering gym, and every other day there’s 20 happy children climbing the walls, learning how to boulder and rope their way to the heavens Read the rest

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Bringing together environmental-responsibility with those who (climb) rock(s), live on the edge (of cliffs), surf or kayak or do anything crazy beautiful. Organized and founded by elephriend Jonny Copp, Adventure Film respresents a great hope—that

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Here’s an excerpt of a talk about competition (as it applies to how we live our daily lives) from a Buddhist perspective from one of the foremost Buddhist teachers in the world, Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche—fluent in English, raised in America, son of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche (a pioneer of Buddhist in the Western world) and an accomplished sportsman in his own right.

For the rest, go to Sakyong Mipham’s lovely web site (link at bottom), where you’ll find quotes, articles, videos, books, schedule: 

Easy Come, Easy Go

I’ve always loved sports—horseback riding, golf, running. I once asked my father, Chogyam Trungpa, what he thought about football, since it’s a sport that didn’t exist in Tibet. He answered, “They’ve been winning and losing the same game for a hundred years.” Read the rest

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“The Hippie Bengay” via Dave Rogers, from the Holiday 2008 issue. 

Like many Boulder-ites, I overdo exercise—so I’ve been intimate with arnica for years. The day after I got this stuff I went over my handlebars, getting one of those deep bruises that make you limp like you were stabbed with a pencil all the way to the eraser. Read the rest

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Age: 35
Hometown: Rancho Santa Margarita, CA
Studio: Lotus 7, Gold’s Gym
Times: Thursday 9am and Monday 7:30pm @ Lotus 7, Tuesday 6:30pm and Thursday 10:30am @ Gold’s Gym
Style: Hatha/Forrest and Kundalini
Email: malaurie@twinight.org

We happened to stumble upon Read the rest

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(all photos by Michael Levin www.zoobird.com unless otherwise specified)

“Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination”  —Oscar Wilde

Living off-the-grid means living without public utilities like electricity. People who live off-the grid may not depend on municipal water, sewage, or natural gas. It also can mean you’re self-sufficient in various ways. There are many third-world citizens who have lived off-the grid for generations. Some people choose this alternative lifestyle to save money. It’s also a way to lower your environmental footprint.

Michael “Mycol” Stevens lives off-the-grid just north of Gainesville, Florida. I met Mycol at a Fall planting workshop called “Fall Harvest Fest” hosted by our local green store, Indigo. He gave a talk about his experiences with self sustenance, organic living and his alternative lifestyle in general. He invited me to his place after the talk.

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Review via Blake Thomas & Waylon Lewis, from the Holiday 2008 issue.

Over the course of the year I have been hiking so many times, each time better than the last. Whether long, short, steep or narrow I took this Osprey Halo. It’s so comfortable, I forgot it was there! A longtime eco manufacturer, Osprey recently caved to price competition and moved their manufacturing to ‘Nam Read the rest

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(photo by Michael Levin www.zoobird.com)

Why bicycle commute? Save money on gas, relax your environmental footprint and just have fun in general.

You might have reasons not to bicycle commute like “I can’t run around sweaty at work”, “It’s not feasible to ride the distance to work”, or “I’m in no shape to bicycle commute” if you don’t commute already.

With a little planning and ingenuity you too can join the ranks of the commuters or forge our own trail and be a code hero.

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Dogs (as opposed to mini-dogs, and cats) live to run. But, when you stop while riding a bike, during any season, it’s literally illegal to leave ‘em unchaperoned for even a minute. And, esp come wintertime, they can’t run too hard, for too long. Choice? Drag ‘em by the neck and get arrested by the karma police, or the normal police, or…buy a dog bike trailer. Read the rest

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Maria Coffey explores how extreme sports soothe a spiritual nerve for elite athletes. From alpinists and astronauts to swimmers and sky-divers, Coffey reveals athletes’ addiction to a fear-inspired, single-mindedness that banishes normality and welcomes mystical moments. Or maybe Dean Potter just suffers from a dopamine deficiency? Read the rest

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Based on the facts that fifteen thousand people paid $8 bucks to go buy used or last seasons’ gear, I’d say that people in Denver like bikes—Road, BMX, Mountain, Commuter, Unicycles and Vintage were all well represented. Read the rest

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I was at prAna last night for their Scapegoat party—chatting with Beaver about elephant going online 100%, got some good advice, chatting with huge rock climber Dean Potter about…Alpinist magazine going out of business. He asked me about it, figuring as a magazine nerd I’d know something, but I’d only heard a week before and knew nothing. So, two google clicks later, here’s the scoop:

In an echo of our recent e-nnouncement, as well as that of Backpacking Light (with thanks for tip to Pat Smith) well-loved Alpinist is indeed closing Read the rest

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Update: “Hi Waylon, I hope you are well and your latest issues hit the stands! Next week I am heading to the west coast to present “Enlighten Up!” at the San Francisco International Documentary Festival. We are only there for two showings: Saturday, October 25, 5:00pm; Tuesday, October 28, 7:15pm…”

Yogaing to a theater near you!

Nick Rosen’s a longtime pal who we’d be honored to count among our best elephriends—only he’s always jetsetting around the world working on climbing films, so we only ever very rarely see his scruffy wiseguy self. A new movie—in which he’s the star—is all about yoga in today’s world, and the effect it can have even on a smokin’ drinkin’ cussin’ cy-nick.

I caught this film—along with 800 other yoginis (heaven, yes) recently at The Boulder Theater, where I joined 10 buddies and devoured organic tamari popcorn and Sunshine Wheat with lemon…and was blown away by the movie, which is equally rug-pulling for those who think yoga is new agey materialistic yuppie bullshit and those who say Namaste with a straight face. Go see the movie if you’re in SF, if you’re not copy and paste this url

http://www.elephantjournal.com/2008/10/elefilm-enlighten-up-yoga-does-nick-rosen/

and forward to your SF friends—they’ll owe you one.

Watch the movie trailer:

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“Bouldering Therapy” via Robyn Puro, from elephant journal’s Holiday 2008 issue. Photos by Paul Barraza

I’d finally cut ties with my corrupt, evil, horrible, poisonous boss and was eager to rid my home-office of negative juju. I wasn’t entirely sure how I had gotten myself into that situation, but “the mindful life” it was not. My days had been full of angry phone calls. My mistake was viewing the job as a challenging project to take on; their mistake was hiring me to serve as a scapegoat for their relative incompetence.

Putting in my notice relieved me of the elephant sitting on my chest, but there was a good bit of residual dung to be cleaned up. I rearranged my furniture, flung the windows open and blasted jazz through my stereo speakers in hopes of shooing away the memories. In a last ditch effort, I wandered around my house waving smoldering sticks of incense through the air like an orchestral conductor. Still, I felt contaminated. The aftertaste had not only seeped into my living room, but settled into a corner of my soul. 

So, desperate, I opted for self-help therapy—the kind I know best. I booked a flight to California, to go bouldering in Yosemite National Park. Read the rest

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