Merrell’s new line of NADA jackets takes their name from an acronym of the phrase “Not Any Dye Applied.” As you would guess, the garments are Storm Trooper white, which is going to look great when I sit on a bus seat or some grease drips off the chairlift tower onto me. Merrill’s claim is that leaving the jackets plain white instead of giving them a dye job drastically decreases the pollutants that need to be poured into the garment. They could put some kind of heavy duty chemical on the shell so that you could wipe off grease and coffee stains, but that would defeat the purpose of skipping the dye. These jackets will be out in Fall 09.

via Gear Junkie

Morgan Briggs planned a four-day backpacking trip that would take him off trail into a rugged part of Smoky Mountains National Park. Dense vegetation and downed trees pointed him into sheer bluffs on day 2, and he became lost. He made his way out and hiked to a high point where he pitched his tent, rationed his Spam, set up rainwater collectors, and waited for rescue. A contract helicopter pilot spotted Briggs waving his arms on top of Porters Mountain on Saturday afternoon. They dropped Briggs a radio and he told them it wasn’t a medical emergency, so they made plans to come back for him the next day.

Turns out that Briggs was one of the first Appalachian Trail Ridge Runners in the Smokies. He served as the park’s eyes and ears along the 70 miles that run through it. Also, 70 really isn’t that old; I bet the photographer from Knox News begged him to get into that rocking chair.

A landslide into Lake Roosevelt in Washington created a massive wave that caused about $250k in damage. The Morning Report puts the wave at 12 feet tall while The Seattle Times says only 5 or 6 feet. Two kids were slammed into a dock and no one was seriously injured; during a similar incident earlier in the year one person was killed. This time it sounds like about an acre of land broke loose and smashed into the lake, which caused a wave to roll into Porcupine Bay Campground in the Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area. It’d be insane to climb out of your tent and walk to the lakeshore to see what that loud bang was only to see a 12-foot roller headed towards you. What about the acre that fell in? Good thing the campgrounds isn’t on that side of the lake.

Damien Walters is a martial arts expert, gymnast, and guy who looks like he doesn’t spend much time sitting on barstools. Some might argue that his strange brand of Urban Gymnastics isn’t exactly Parkour since the sport is supposed to be moving from point A to point B as efficiently as possible. Whatever it is, it’s pretty rad (and distinctly European).

via Wend

Kens Burns chats with Backpacker about the impeding release of his latest 6-part film series, “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea.” I’m really excited to see this and mean no offence to Mr. Burns, but you worked on the project for 10 years and you couldn’t come up with a better name?

My friend Chris took off for Italy last fall with a dream of finding a job at some small ski resort in the Alps. When he arrived he discovered the harsh reality that high unemployment rates meant Italians were forbidden to hire foreign help. I wondered why we didn’t have laws like that in the U.S. preventing Europeans from stealing our ski resort jobs. Turns out we do. For the past two years the U.S. Government has capped the seasonal winter visa limit at 33,000, meaning that places like Vail can’t hire as many Swedes and Australians as they used to. This is good news for American who want to get $8 an hour and no health insurance to stand in the freezing cold all day bumping chairs.

Update: Vail does actually offer some seasonal employees health insurance, according to a friend who used to work in PR for Vail. Also, one nice thing about living in Canada is that you could go ski for a winter and not worry about health insurance since the state covers you.

A section of the Sierra Nevada national park was closed on Thursday while rangers removed a marijuana stand less than a half-mile from a popular, kitschy crystal cave tour. While the Associated Press suggests this proximity to highly trafficked tourist areas represents a new boldness on the part of marijuana farmers, I’d suggest that it represents new heights in laziness. After all, their illegal farm produce doesn’t exactly promote high-energy activities.

Last week Colorado authorities seized more than 14,500 marijuana plants from another illegal farm in Pike National Forest. They also recovered a .22 pistol at the site and say the farmers are armed.

Skinner said hikers should avoid areas where they see blue tarps, heavy trash and irrigation piping. If you stumble on one of these farms, he said leave immediately and refrain from taking cell photos. Skinner said you should only call police when you are safely back to your car.

“I don’t want the public to get involved because they could get hurt — the possibility is always there,” said Skinner.

This is where someone points out that we should carry guns in National Parks. That’s cool; you’re allowed to now. Go ahead and stand your ground against a bunch of heavily armed farmers while I run in the opposite direction as fast as I can. But if you are going to fight these farmers, you’ll need to be ready at a moment’s notice with enough stopping power to drop swaths of them. That’s why I’d recommend a couple TEC-9s mounted right into your trekking pole grips.

Backcountry.com Athlete and ringmaster of his own vertical carnival, Cedar Wright shot this video at Ten Sleep Canyon in Wyoming a few weeks ago and dropped it onto The Snaz yesterday.

I was blown out of the water by what would appear to be one of the largest sport climbing resources in the country. More limestone than you could shake a power drill at, so to speak! Ten Sleep is blessed with jaw-dropping vistas and world class stone, but the true charm lies in the quirky western town and the friendly characters who call it home.”

Forgive the cheesy Guinness World Record intro to the video and you’ll see some crazy high slacklining. Christian Schou sets the new world record for highest slackline with a 1000m high walk in Norway. Now we just need to find somewhere higher to hang the damn thing. What’s wrong with stringing it between two hot air balloons that takeoff from the summit of Mount Everest? We could get Red Bull to sponsor it.

via Wend [Slackline]