Latest from The Spokesman-Review

• Gear Junkie tries out Altra Running’s Lone Peak trail shoe

  May 6, 2012 in Outdoors on Page C9 After finishing the 12K Bloomsday road race today in Spokane, perhaps 40,000 or more runners will be looking for a bit of solitude and fresh air – both of which …

• Bikers put bright ‘eyes’ on their tail

  April 8, 2012 in Outdoors on Page C9 As bike gear goes, illumination is one category where I go all out. For safety while riding on roads in the evening or at night, I’m going to be that …

• Skiing class has steep learning curve

  March 25, 2012 in Outdoors on Page C11 Cliff walls lined the chute below my skis. Clouds whirled overhead, snow bulleting in big flakes and filling in ski tracks almost as fast as we could make them. It …

• Gear Junkie gears up for SkiMo race

  March 4, 2012 in Outdoors on Page C13 The start gun went off at 7:30 a.m., launching a pack of 130 racers poling and striding in sync and moving uphill toward mountain peaks far beyond. It was Day …

• Yaktrax offer traction to active winter goers

  February 26, 2012 in Outdoors on Page C11 Steep and snowy, the race course jutted almost vertically in front of my face. It was my third day in Vail, Colo., where earlier this month I competed in a …

• New SteriPEN makes water purifying even easier

  February 19, 2012 in Outdoors on Page C11 For the past couple of years, while backpacking in the wilderness and on international trips, I have relied on a device called the SteriPEN to purify water. The battery-power “pen” … 3

• New gear stands out at Outdoor Retailer

  February 5, 2012 in Outdoors on Page C12 More than 1,000 brands and 20,000 attendees: The twice-annual Outdoor Retailer trade show, held last week in Salt Lake City, offered a peek at the future of gear. The Gear …

• The Gear Junkie offers tips for winter bicycling

  December 18, 2011 in Outdoors on Page C11 Be it for fun or utility on a daily commute to work or school, bicycling does not need to end when the snow flies. I have ridden year ’round in … 1

• Gear Junkie: Bright idea for survival knife has its limits

  November 20, 2011 in Outdoors on Page C12 A blade, a light, and a whistle – that’s the formula for the Core Lite, a hybrid “survival tool” made by Adventure Medical Kits of Oakland, Calif. The company, known …

• Freeze-dried meal nixes boiling

  September 4, 2011 in Outdoors on Page C11 The quest for camping food that is simple to make just moved a notch. With its new chicken salad product, Mountain House offers campers and backpackers a freeze-dried meal that …

• Gear Junkie: Tips on going fast and light up high

  August 28, 2011 in Outdoors on Page C10 While touring Europe recently, a jutting limestone peak in Austria’s Kaisergebirge Mountain Range was on my schedule. But a problem: I had only one day to climb it. The circumstances …

• Shoes with independent toes gain popularity

  August 7, 2011 in Outdoors on Page C9 The phenomenon of shoes with articulated toes is one of the strangest product trends in the outdoors and running worlds. But the funny footwear is popular and indeed becoming almost …

• Raw Crunch bars give health nuts an option

  March 20, 2011 in Outdoors on Page C13 The bars look and taste somewhat like compressed blocks of birdseed. Ingredients such as sea salt, goji berries, macadamia nuts, raw honey, and, of course, many types of seeds – …

• Gear Junkie: Byte’s beam lights the way

  December 26, 2010 in Outdoors on Page C11 Recently, I reviewed the Petzl ULTRA headlamp, a $450 product that rivals the brightness level of an automobile headlight. This week I scale down to Princeton Tec’s Byte headlamp, which …

• Gear Junkie: Keep in touch with radios

  November 28, 2010 in Outdoors on Page C13 The handheld radio crackled with static before coming to life. “Roger that,” came a voice. “What’s your location?” I was standing near a swamp, remote and deep in the woods …

• Quest for dry gear is in the bag

  September 12, 2010 in Outdoors on Page C13 It is obscenely huge. It fastens shut and watertight with a roll-top closure. A backpack harness system lets you strap it on and hike, ferrying immense loads through airports and …

• Gear Junkie: Trailer gives bikes truck-like capacity

  August 29, 2010 in Outdoors on Page C13 A big backpack is an option. Many people bet on rack-mounted panniers. But to really haul a lot of cargo while on two wheels, bike trailers rule.

• Daypack packs away to fist-size

  April 18, 2010 in Outdoors on Page C9 It stuffs down to a size smaller than a baseball. Its manufacturer, Sea to Summit Inc. of Perth, Australia, suggests using it as a keychain. But unpack the Ultra-Sil Day …

• Tester weighs in on light high-top boot

  January 17, 2010 in Outdoors on Page C13 With its new high-top trail shoe, Inov-8 stakes a simple claim that the Roclite 288 GTX is “the lightest-weight waterproof boot on the market.” Its Gore-Tex membrane provides a waterproof …

• Carriers focus on safer family biking

  July 19, 2009 in Outdoors on Page C11 From bike seats to pull-behinds, cycling accessories made for children can grant Mom and Dad time to exercise with kids in tow. Indeed, cycling with kids is among the easiest …

• Sleep on this tent review

  July 5, 2009 in Outdoors on Page C9 Swooping nylon and linked poles, zippered doors, screened windows and stakes in the dirt holding it down – the humble formula for a tent has long prevailed as an ultimate …

• Light cot gives campers a lift

  May 24, 2009 in Outdoors on Page C9 When talking about bedding in the great outdoors, the words “ultralight” and “cot” rarely come in the same sentence. But that’s exactly what LuxuryLite, a small company in Lake Jackson, …