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More annoying affiliate-marketing news: I’m giving REI a try
Two-Heel Drive, a Hiking Blog — ... Please, Ralph, you really, truly need an ArcTeryx Pack for that Antarctic expedition you’ve been dreaming of). It’s also Climb_CA of GoBlog’s fault: he told me Amazon is worthless for driving revenue to an outdoor site (only a slight exaggeration: I’ve made 30 bucks so far!); place to be is Avantlink.com; a couple weeks back, Philip Werner at Sectionhiker.com told me the same thing. I’m also down with Backcountry.com and Campsaver.com. Click on the links and do some shopping if ...

How do you shop for hiking gear?
Two-Heel Drive, a Hiking Blog — ... Do you really care where you buy it? I sense that REI members feel a genuine bond with the company that they don’t get anywhere else online — the trick is picking up stuff on sale because REI’s full retail prices gravitate toward the stratosphere. I have no issues with Backcountry.com or ...

4th Sales are ON
Gear & Outdoor Industry Blog — Check out the details on the Backcountry.com 4th of July blowout. The sale is going on right now through 7/7/09. It’s officially summer and to get things kicked off Backcountry.com just launched a massive 4th Of July Sale. The BBQ can wait, we’ve got over 7,500 items on sale at up to 40% off. Now is the time for customers to stock up on a 3-season tent, trail running shoes, rain jackets and more. Find loads of gear from The North Face, ...

104 Hikers Get Lost In China (Yes! 104!)
The Adventure Blog — ... people out to find the Wind Runners. It took them four hours to reach them and bring them safely back to civilization, and no one was hurt in the process. The SAR team had food and water waiting for the lost climbers. So, let me get this straight. 104 "climbers" go out into the backcountry together, and no a single one of them thought to bring a headlamp? Really? Maybe we should introduce this hiking group to the ten essentials. Most of which they could pick up over at Backcountry.com, where coincidently enough I first read about this story on The Goat ...

Outdoor Affiliate Meet & Greet
Utah Skiing Blog - Ski Bum Poet — ... in 2004 I went to work at Backcountry.com as their Affiliate program manager. By that point I was already a salty old-school web publisher, but it was quickly apparent that I had not even scratched the surface with Affiliate marketing. After a year.5 or so, and getting to know ...

Petzl Ice Screw Strength Tests
OnTheSharpEnd.com — I’m moving to Seattle in a month and am finally going to be able to ice climb on a semi-regular basis. I’m stoked but also a little anxious because ice climbing is my weakest area as far as experience goes. Perusing the ‘net I found this nifty video of Petzl doing field tests of ice screw strength. My takeaways are that the threads of the ice screw are where the strength is at and ice screws fail not because they slide out but because they get torqued and the ice above them flakes off. Taking the next logical step, for the strongest ice screw placement I would want to minimize torquing by ...

New River Gorge, WV – Bridge Buttress
OnTheSharpEnd.com — I recently headed up to New River Gorge to do some rock climbing.  Considering I had never been there it seemed like something I should do before I move from the east coast to the PNW.  Planning is not my M.O. but I was meeting a bunch of my brother’s friends at New River Gorge and this was the only weekend that fit everyone’s schedule.  The downside to planning a weekend in advance and what I use as an excuse for not planning is that you are at the mercy of the weather.  The gamble on this weekend did not payoff and we got rained on pretty steadily which sucked. We went to the NRG to ...

Six More Stores Added to Gear Database
Gear & Outdoor Industry Blog — ... HucknRoll.com One of the latest stores from Backcountry.com. Quickly on scene as a core mountain bike shop. HucknRoll.com is the Premium, Authentic, Core Mountain Bike Store that focuses on the passion of riding dirt. ...

Quick Link – Cross Loading a Carabiner When Slinging Trees
OnTheSharpEnd.com — I am guilty of not paying attention to this detail that can dramatically reduce the force a biner can handle. From the American Alpine Institute’s blog: Surprisingly, there is one mistake that both beginners and advanced climbers alike tend to make. Many people will wrap a tree with a sling and then clip the sling. Often the sling is wrapped around the tree in such a way that it is loading the carabiner improperly. A carabiner that is loaded from three directions is often referred to as being triaxally or tri-directionally loaded. This is very very bad… (link to the article ...

Bolting in NC – Moore’s Wall
OnTheSharpEnd.com — An unknown climber wrote this comment on an old post of mine.  I think he or she has a really good point. Climbed at Moores Wall, NC last week and there must have been 10 people waiting to rap down the sentinel anchor. There were two people on Zoo View, two on Air Show and at least 6 on the ledge. There is a big discussion on rockclimbing.com about putting in more anchors around Moores Wall. This issue has been discussed for years and seems to never go anywhere. So does anyone actually know if they are going to put in some bolted anchors above certain one pitch routes to make it ...

Save 70% at Backcountry NOW
Gear & Outdoor Industry Blog — ... , the size and color availability dwindles quickly. So GO HERE NOW and get what you need before everyone else even has the chance! ...

Backcountry Semi Annual Sale “Sneak Peak”
Utah Skiing Blog - Ski Bum Poet — ... , and a few select other blogs here and there. In all seriousness check it out and be the first to browse killer gear deals up to 75% off the retail price. You’ll have a much better chance of getting your size and favorite color if you take advantage of this early access to the sale. No codes necessary just >> CLICK HERE [image] ...

Backcountry.com Semi-Annual Sale Begins Today
Backcountry.com: The Goat — One of the nice things about shopping online is that ...

The Backcountry Summer SAS 2009 is on…
Gear & Outdoor Industry Blog — ... “Backcountry.com customers everywhere have been waiting to hear the words “Summer Semi Annual Sale.” Rejoice my friends, the day has come. For two short weeks (8/18 – 9/2) this massive sale covers 12,000 items, all at up to 70% off. Need new ...

Visiting Westminster College Students Combine Skiing And Studies
Snowlist.com Mountain Blog — Study abroad for American college students generally conjures images of Rome or Paris. Such European capitals may have plenty of art museums, but ski slopes are not among the attractions. For students more interested in DaKine than daVinci, Westminster College in Salt Lake City, Utah, has created a study-abroad alternative catering to outdoor recreation, particularly skiing and snowboarding. Students can spend a semester at the small liberal-arts college through the “Winter at Westminster” ...

Kids Gear Marketplace
GravityFed Network — ... September…and nearly a third of those visitors are coming from the brand new blog. Next on the update band wagon is Kids Gear Outlet. That site has been chugging a long getting more and more authority over the past couple of years. But this week we axed Upside Over (they went out of business), but added Little Ruler (kids skate clothing) and Play Outdoors (kids adventure gear). Those two retailers join Backcountry, Patagonia and REI. This is a quality resource for active families ...

Layton Kor Fundraiser
Climbing Narcissist — “What would Fritz do?” As in, what would legendary climber Fritz Wiessner do? This is the question Old School and I pose to each other at the crag whenever we feel as though we are losing our mojo.  It’s basically a means of remembering the inspiring actions of the climber’s in generations gone by who laid the foundation for today’s climbers.  Compared to the obstacles they faced in pioneering the sport of climbing, whatever minor problem we are having likely pales in comparison. While all of us tread in the footsteps of groundbreaking climbers of ...

RoCT…the post-InterBike edition
Base Camp Communications — ... phase is less a new direction than an exploration of what becomes possible when the building blocks of Web 2.0 (such as participation, collective intelligence and so on) increase by orders of magnitude.” Early Warning Signs of a Social Media Crisis “At what point does a negative blog post, an angry tweet or an inaccurate comment become a crisis that your team needs to respond to?” Backcountry.com has new killer search platform - Go search and check it ...

26 Outdoor Twinfluencers to Follow on Twitter
Base Camp Communications — ... An avid outdoorsman on Twitter is kind of like Beyonce Knowles perusing Backcountry.com for her next music video outfit. It’s just not right. So, while lists of tweeting celebs, foodies, and social media mavens litter the twitterverse, it’s no surprise that we could not find a similar list for the outdoor world. ...