Living, Playing & Writing in the Outdoors
Coming in 2017, YETI presents Charged, a feature length documentary film about the incredible journey of Chef Eduardo Garcia. In 2011, Eduardo was shocked with 2400 volts of electricity in a freak incident deep in Montana’s backcountry. Near death, alone and miles from help, Eduardo got up and took his first step towards what would ultimately be years of recovery and rehabilitation.
For more information head to http://www.chargedfilm.com
It was time to grab a deep-fried Oreo, watch dogs fly and jugglers juggle as the Utah State Fair wheeled into Salt Lake City last week.
The 10-day event brings together the best of carnie rides, livestock (ie ginormous pigs), touring rock bands, greasy foods, boots and boobs. The Fair is a lookie-loo’s paradise!
Blues Traveler, the 90s blues rock band, energized the grandstand and had I known that your fair ticket got you in, I would have been all over that! Instead, I assumed that you had to purchase separately. I’m an idiot.
What we did know was included was the circus and the Canine flyers; and the rows of sheep, chickens, pigs, milk cows, beef cows, pigeons, rabbits and baby animals to pet and observe. There were also cooking competitions, craft-making contests and a family donut stringing comp. Unfortunately, the demolition derby was axed because the arena is closed for construction.
Sage tried to take it all in. Have a walk with her if you missed this year’s Fair then diet like crazy so you’re ready for all of the fair food in 2017.
My stomach is in a bunch with excitement for tonight’s Balloon Glow. Back in the day I used to volunteer to clear fields and traffic out for hot air balloon landings just so I could get free rides. It’s been years since I went up up and away but I still get a kick out of watching those big, bright orbs float on the Wasatch horizon.
Park City’s annual Autumn Aloft Hot Air Balloon Festival starts tomorrow (Saturday) with all sorts of opportunities for watching those beachballs defy gravity. “Autumn Aloft is a magical Park City event,” said event organizer Monty Coates. “Park City’s fall foliage combined with the display of the balloons provides an unforgettable sight for event spectators.” Grab your cameras and your jackets (it’s wicked cold in Park City in the wee hours) and take aim as the 24 balloons launch from the North 40 Fields at 8 a.m. Saturday morning. I prefer sleeping in so Friday’s single balloon glow in Newpark Town Center from 8-9 p.m. and Saturday’s Candlestick on Historic Main Street, 8 – 8:30 p.m. are more my speed. The Balloon pilots conduct a choreographed light show from eight balloon baskets on Park City’s Main Street between 4th and 5th Streets.
“The Autumn Aloft of the early 80s and 90s placed Park City on the map in the ballooning community,” says Mike Bauwens, Autumn AloftBalloonmeister. “As the event continues to grow and regain recognition, interest from the ballooning community continues to increase.”
More than 30 years ago, Park City resident Gene Moser and a group of local hot air balloon pilots set out to create the classiest Hot Air Balloon festival in the world. Their idea was to create a balloon festival that reflected the free-spirited, exuberance of Park City; Autumn Aloft was the brainchild of these passionate balloonists. It’s a big effort to bring these balloons to one spot year after year. Come out and appreciate the balloonists’ elegance and stamina. Maybe you can even talk them into a ride.
The schedule of events includes:
Friday, September 16
Newpark Glow
Approximately 8:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
A single balloon glow is scheduled for the Newpark Town Center.
Saturday, September 17
Main Launch
24 balloons will take flight from the North 40 Fields in Park City.
Access begins at 7:45 a.m.
The launch begins at approximately 8:00 a.m.
2530 Kearns Blvd. Park City, Utah
Sunday, September 18
Main Launch
24 balloons will take flight from the North 40 Fields in Park City.
Access begins at 7:45 a.m.
The launch begins at approximately 8:00 a.m.
2530 Kearns Blvd. Park City, Utah
More details on Autumn Aloft can be found at www.autumnaloft.com.
Trail runners, it’s time to get your game on when The North Face Endurance Challenge Series’ races into Park City, Utah. The “mountain region” part of the national race event happens Sept. 24 when the resort town hosts not only the highest elevation start within the North America series at 7,000 feet but it will also climb to the highest elevation of 10,000 feet. If you want a run that will push your limits and make you feel like you could hurl, this is it. Heck, core skiers can consider this the ultimate pre-season conditioning. Athletes will navigate Park City Mountain using a mix of double and single track trail, ski runs, mountain bike trails and various dirt access roads.
The Park City Race is one of six across North America, each with seven distances. The GORE-TEX® 50 Mile, 50K, Marathon, Marathon Relay and Kid’s 1K race will be held on Saturday, and the Half Marathon, 10K, 5K races and a Kid’s 1K race are on Sunday. In case you didn’t know, The North Face is the largest trail running series in the world and the North Face Endurance Challenge Championship offers largest prize purse in the sport of trail racing ($30,000 total), awarding $10,000 to the top male and female runners in the GORE-TEX® 50 Mile distance.
The iconic The North Face Endurance Challenge race series was born out of Ultrarunner Dean Karnazes’ 2006 quest to run 50 marathons, in 50 states, in 50 consecutive days. The brand launched the race series the following year and it has since grown into a full-weekend festival with a challenge for every fitness level. In 2015, the series hosted more than 16,000 runners over six weekends. Nearly 90,000 runners have participated in the nine years that Endurance Challenge has been in existence.
“The North Face Endurance Challenge motivates runners at all levels to experience the trails and challenge their physical limits,” said Katie Ramage, director of Sports Marketing at The North Face. “We are thrilled to bring the series back again this year and attract more people to the sport of trail running. We’ve seen urban marathon runners who have never run on trails and novice runners revel in the success of their first 5K.”
Register by September 21 to ensure your slot. Race packet pickup for Park City begins Thursday, Sept. 22, at The North Face stores in Salt Lake City and Park City.
Time for a ski teaser. Real Skifi 15: “Riding on nothing in Stockholm” demonstrates that you don’t need to wait for the chairlifts to turn (or snow to fall for that matter) in order to enjoy a good ski outing.
The Finnish skiing collective Real Skifi has been dubbed as some of the sports true
innovators. In Episode 15, they visit a snow free Stockholm, Sweden. This forces them to
be more creative than ever.
Real Skifi hails from Jyväskylä, Finland and consist of riders Verneri Hannula, Ilkka Hannula,
Juho Kilkki, director Janne Korpela, and filmer Anton Geier. Their quirky films are part of the urban skiing movement where cities become a creative playground.
A hallmark for the Real Skifi films has always been the crew’s relentless hunger for stretching the boundaries of where it is possible to ski. This ambition faced an extreme challenge when the riders found themselves in Stockholm completely without snow.
See how they overcame it in the film below.