The odds can’t be good—it’s like an air conditioner falling out of a window onto your head while walking down the street. Two guys were hiking in Rocky Mountain National park on Tuesday when high winds knocked down a tree that hit both the hikers. One was okay, but the other died of head trauma.

“Winds are not uncommon, but the fact a tree has blown over and hit an individual is very rare indeed,” said Larry Frederick of Rocky Mountain National Park.

via GetOutdoors [Out There]

It’s not what you’re thinking. The Tea Stick will add a few extra ounces to your pack, but imagine how cool you’ll look sitting around the fire with your spring-loaded, German-made tea steeper. The Tea Stick scoops up loose leaf tea and then steeps while stirring the brew. Still, you might want to hide the Tea Stick when your parents come down to the basement so they don’t get the wrong idea about all the blacklight posters on the cement walls.

via Gizmodo [Crave]

The Clif Shot Hot Apple Cider Electrolyte Replacement Drink is for families who take a friendly skate on a frozen pond a little too seriously. It tastes like conventional apple cider you’d get for free while shopping for a Christmas tree, and it replaces electrolytes depleted from your body during the drive to the Christmas tree lot. I can just imagine someone who’s really thirsty from working out trying to drink scalding hot apple cider (it’d probably end up like this Canadian PSA).

What it lacks in practicality it makes up for in flair. The BikeFast Tray is a design concept engineered to send your bagel flying into your chest at the first bump you hit. The BikeFast Tray needs a cover—your cream cheese would be full of crap falling out of the trees. Still, you have appreciate that it would save a lot of time, of course it’ll be hard to eat, shave with an electric razor, and ride your bike to work all at the same time.

via Bicycle Design

You’ll hear strangers in the lift line utter, “He’s more machine than man,” while you ski past them. Unless you get the bright Pink Ruroc Helmet—then they’ll probably throw snowballs at your head to see how the integrated faceguard holds up. This $390 Ruroc Ski Helmet will do a wonderful job protecting you from a broken jaw and skull, but shouting to your friends across the hill will be a bit of a problem. It comes to us from Gloucester, where ski hills must be so crowded that people are smashing their faces into anything they can find.

via Uncrate

Scared of pickpockets on your upcoming trip to Europe? Well, just try not to pass out in a suburban Paris bar or Amsterdam coffee shop. If these events are unavoidable, you might want to checkout the Civilian Labs secure wallets. They come with a retractable steel cable that attaches your wallet to your belt or underwear waistband. The Lossless Rewind Wallet costs about $65.

This is a great video of a skating stunt that turned a little more dangerous than originally planned. I can’t embed the video, so you’ll have follow the link to check it out. It’s worth the click.

via Neatorama

Unspeakably stupid does not even approach an accurate description for this $50k tent that you hang from a tree. Invented by a Dutch sculptor and designer who’s also clearly a towering idiot, the Treetent is a portable tree house for campers. If you have an extra $50k, buy a cabin or give the money to me—or better yet, give it to a (more) charitable cause. Who sells this ungodly shitpile? Neiman Marcus, of course they do.

via Uncrate

I learned that Tramdock.com has a ski team today when I read this interview with Sage Cattabriga-Alosa and Ingrid Backstrom. Tramdock is the ski-specific site owned by the same people (Liberty Media) who own Backcountry.com.

“How about the “steeze effect” on skiing? It seemed like skiers used to be more function-focused and now we’ve got major style creators. Is a preoccupation with style helping or hurting skiing?”

Sage: Well there are a lot of people who bite the—you know—big headphones and baggy pants and bandanna stuff, but there definitely are snowboarders who wear stuff that’s pure function too, so it goes both ways… I like my gear baggy cause it keeps me mobile, but in the end who’s to say that a jacket should look this way or that way? Of course, sometimes I laugh at the little gangster dudes in the park, but I think it can be a draw into skiing for younger riders and that’s great. The perception a while back was that snowboarding was cool, skiing was nerdy, but that’s changed partly due to style. Who cares what you’re wearing, anyway?

If you keep reading, you’ll get to an exchange between the interviewer Rob de Luca and Ingrid Backstrom regarding some confusion over aliens. Very interesting.