News
A company with which I work (not necessarily publicly) is looking for a female backpacking product tester. She must be an expert backpacker and have lots of experience with many different brands of clothing and equipment. She needs not be model-esque or well-known — just a real person who passionately cares about gear. Submit your…
I’ll get straight to the big news from last week: Amanda and I got engaged. The impromptu proposal happened in Estes Park, Colorado, on the front steps of The Stanley Hotel. During the day, these steps offer an excellent view of Longs Peak, the sole 14er in Rocky Mountain National Park. But our moment was…
It’s that time of the year again, and Andrew’s spring speaking tour is filling up nearly as rapidly as the guided trips. However, he still has two open nights: Tuesday, March 19, 2013 Thursday, March 21, 2013 The venues must be in the Mid-Atlantic, specifically between New York City and Washington, DC, give or take 1-2…
UPDATE, FEBRUARY 3, 12PM MST Registration will still open to the public tomorrow, Monday, February 4, at 10AM MST. I’m still expecting that the number of registrations for the 7-day High Sierra and Alaska trips will exceed the number of remaining spots available. Below is an update on remaining spots. Every 7-day trip is now 50% full,…
From Andrew: I’m excited to announce that Amanda joined me as a business partner as of this morning. Some of you probably know of Amanda already, maybe from this Facebook post or this blog interview. For about a year we have contemplated this possibility, and recently we decided to finally go for it. The growth of…
My roster of Assistant Guides is world-class — no other backpacking guide service or educational organization sends its clients into the field with such accomplished, credible, and authoritative individuals. To boot, they have excellent people and group skills, and necessary medical certifications. I am looking to add to my roster two additional guides who reside in either the Pacific…
Some end-of-the-year holiday-related travels helped me to surpass the “points” thresholds for two Southwest Airlines loyalty programs: A-List Status gives me Priority Boarding, among other small perks. This will ensure that I get a window seat, unobstructed by a wing, and on the opposite side of the sun. I’m in the same camp as Marc Reisner, author…
This website was re-launched in early-January, in advance of the release of The Ultimate Hiker’s Gear Guide in late-February. Its front-end and back-end were both greatly improved: new layout, improved navigation, blog, social interactivity, and professional online store, all managed with a slick WordPress content management system. I hope visitors have appreciated the new website, and…
The story of Ultimate Direction‘s recent and anticipated success, centered mostly around its Signature Series running vests, interests me on a number of levels. It’s good for runners, of which I’m one; and it’s good, too, for UD’s brand manager Buzz Burrell, a longtime friend and mentor, as well as the runners involved in the…
Last Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving, I took a bad fall while running down the steep West Ridge of Bear Peak, the 8,461-ft summit of which sits 65 minutes and 3,100 feet above my house in Boulder. A foot must have tangled with a rock, root, or another foot, and I went skidding down a…