Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Scaring The Shit Out Of A Grizzly Bear!

Andrew Skurka is an accomplished adventure athlete, speaker, guide, and writer. The 31-year-old is most well-known for his solo long-distance backpacking trips, the 6,875-mile 7-month Great Western Loop and the 7,775-mile 11-month Sea-to-Sea Route. In total, he has backpacked, skied, and packrafted 30,000+ miles through many of the world’s most prized backcountry and wilderness areas—the equivalent of traveling 1.2 times around Earth’s equator!

Skurka, born and raised in Seekonk, MA, has been described as “a superman among trekkers” and “one of the best traveled and fastest hikers on the planet.” In the process of trying to travel mega distances over rugged terrain in relatively short periods of time, Skurka helped to define light-and-fast backcountry travel. His typical 3-season pack cumulatively weighs between 8 and 10 pounds, sans food and water; and he regularly logs 30+ miles per day, even off-trail.

When not in the field, Skurka occasionally dabbles in ultra-running. In his first and only 100-mile run, the prestigious Leadville Trail 100 in 2008, he placed second in 18 hrs 17 min. His PR for the Grand Canyon Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim, which is 42 miles long and features 21,420 feet of elevation gain & loss, is 8 hrs 2 min.

On Skurka’s most recent trek, the 4,700-mile 6-month Alaska-Yukon Expedition, he had a close encounter with a grizzly bear; make that two grizzly bears in the span of 30 minutes. Although visibly shaken by the experience, Skurka was able to compose himself and find humor in this potentially fatal faceoff.


I'm still smiling over this!

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Ultimate Direction Signature Series Vests Designed By Anton Krupicka and Scott Jurek

At last count, I own four handheld water bottles, a one-bottle waist pack, two different two-bottle waist packs, three CamelBak hydration packs of varying sizes and fluid capacities and a Nathan hydration vest. 

You might say I have an obsession with hydration systems.

In my never ending quest to find the ultimate hydration system, I was please to learn that two of the world's best ultra runners, Anton Krupicka and Scott Jurek, have teamed up with the hydration specialists at Ultimate Direction to design and manufacture two very innovative ultra running vests. These vests use state of the art cuben fiber, the darling of the ultra-light backpacking community, for it's unsurpassed strength to weight ratio.

Ultimate Direction AK Racing Vest

The AK Racing Vest was designed by the apostle of the "less is more" philosophy, Anton Krupicka. Weighting in at a feathery 6 ounces, the AK is the world's lightest hydration pack. It offers twin bottle pockets, a main compartment for gear or a bladder, and several smaller pockets easily accessed on the go.


Anton discusses the features of his new vest.


Ultimate Direction SJ Ultra Vest

World-renowned ultra runner, Scott Jurek designed the SJ to be the ultimate pack for any occasion. It has the best volume to weight ration of any pack ever made yet only weighs 7.5 ounces. 


Scott Jurek talks about the design of his new vest.

These vest are pretty amazing!  Right now you can get these vests with an additional FREE water bottle and Free shipping at Mountain Plus Outdoor Gear.  To learn more about these vests, and to get hooked up with this sweet deal, just click on the banner below.


Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...