Backcountry Siphon Wool Hooded Jacket

Video: LINO’, an Animated Surf Flick

Check this video out...I've watched it ten times already. The music is super mellow, vibing well with the impressive stop-motion animation that makes those little Playmobil figurines look like they're just shredding some epic waves. Lino', made by Karim Rejeb of KarimRejeb-SurfArt.com, is a masterpiece fit for anyone who has played with plastic toys. His vision of the world of surfing, a...

Friends of the TatsVan: Scott McBrayer – Bull Rider

Scott McBrayer, better known on the Freeskiing World Tour as McSlayer, just rode his third bull at the Carbondale Thursday night rodeo. Known for tossing frontflips to a stomped landing off of 40 foot cliffs, it's his background as a hunting guide and cowboy that makes Scott really stand out. He didn't make eight seconds (the minimum time for a score) in this ride, but as any cowpoke knows...

Mobile Lifestyle: The Mobile Office

Come the latter half of the summer, most of my days are spent shuttle driving for Blazing Adventures as the water on wild rivers gets lower and lower, and operations shift to other, more dam-controlled rivers. With the local trips on the Roaring Fork River on the wane, thanks in part to a rapidly melting snowpack and only a few bursts of precipitation since Memorial Day, we have started buss...

Pingu Goes Skiing

This is a funny viral video that has hit the winter audience. Stop-motion animation is so fun! (WARNING: some adult language and themes) For those who haven't been following ski design innovation over the past few years, rocker technology is an ancient design that has found a new life in current ski brands. Ski companies are adopting the early-rise tips and tails of the old carved, wood...

Friends of the TatsVan: Leo Ahrens

It's not very often in the skiing world that the major ski media promotes the up-and-comers of the freeskiing world who don't hail from the superpipe or slopestyle scene. Yet the competitive Freeskiing World Tour (read as gnarly cliffs, manky venues and sometimes, billowy powder) has had its share of stars emerge from the ranks of ski bums and college students alike. (more...)

A must-read list of books

Posted By: Tats on December 28, 2008 in All New Posts - Comments: No Comments »

‘I don’t know where you study, but this bar’s my favorite!’

Winter can be damn cold. Van camping in the winter can be even colder. But nothing warms me up like a good book (and maybe a shot of whiskey!) before I bed down for the night with the snow piling up outside. To that end, I figured I would pass on a great link for all you outdoors enthusiasts. Patagonia has a publishing wing of their enterprise, and since they have entered into the whole literary world, they have compiled a list of books that are must reads for adventure fans worldwide.

Listed under the proper categories, the books range from Guns, Germs and Steel , a book about how civilizations have evolved, to Surf is Where You Find It , a memoir by big-wave surfer Gerry Lopez. I have only had the chance to dip into a few of the titles, but after reading the blurbs, I am now confronted with the daunting task of finding enough time to devour the rest. Speaking of devouring, at least there’s a book in the list titled, The Omnivore’s Dilemma .

Click the links below to check out the list of must-reads:
Activism
Adventure/Travel
Climbing/Mountaineering
Environment/Ecology/Conservation
Falconry
Fiction
Fishing
Memoir
Naturalists/Natural History

And a big thank you to Patagonia’s blog for putting this one together. Oh, and if you want a copy of Guns, Germs and Steel, I have one in the TatsVan, so ask for it if you see me!