SNEWS best outdoor reads from around the web

What did the SNEWS team read this week that other industry insiders might find interesting? Read on to find out.

• There are days when we wake up and wonder: “Do we have anything in common with Brooklyn Decker?” Turns out we do. Besides both being really, really ridiculously good-looking, we both agree that the best night’s sleep is usually spent in a tent somewhere outdoors. Plus, she, too, thinks being active on vacation is a must. Check out this Vanity Fair story for more on Decker’s outdoor exploits.

• One morning while on a Boy Scouts camping trip, Tim Taylor, then 13, woke up and decided to climb a mountain. The troop didn’t have anything in particular to do that day so Taylor reached the summit of the Sierra Nevada outback. He left a note at the top, requesting anybody who found the note to write to him. Forty years later, Oakland resident Larry Wright and his grandson did. Check out this story in the Los Angeles Times about their correspondence.

• Nobody goes into the great outdoors saying, “I don’t think I want to survive this.” If you do, then this Outdoor Life article about the best survival books and manuals isn’t for you. Recommendations include everything from wild plant books, urban survival books and wilderness survival books. 

• Speaking of survival, we were recently tempted to print up Trek Tech Blog’s survival tips infographics at our desks for a daily chuckle. The first infographic gives us invaluable “tips” like if we’ve gone three days without water it’s time for us to start thinking seriously about drinking our own pee. The second infographic encourages us to punch a bear in the testicles in case of an encounter, because even though we’re probably going to die in said encounter, we want to go out with a bang.

• As we are starting to make our calls for Pre-Outdoor Retailer coverage in our invaluable Planning Guide (which goes out to attendees of the show a few weeks before), we can’t help but reflect on how insanely awesome our O.R.D. coverage was for last Summer Market. Summer Market was, according to this post on the Outdoor Retailer website, reached record numbers of attendees and exhibitors. 

• We in the outdoor industry love to share our experiences with products and adventures alike. That’s why there are a ton of amazing outdoor blogs and review sites out there. According to this Chronicle Herald story there’s on more site out there where we can connect with one another: Venturepax. The article features new Venturepax investor Joachim Stroink.

• We all know outdoor encounters are empowering in many ways and for many reasons. Now, that empowerment is extended to children with diabetes who attend the Florida Diabetes Camp. Parents can send their children to this camp for a week and rest assured their little ones are receiving proper care for their disease. Check out this story.

• When was outdoor recreation “not cool”? We know we’ve been engaging in outdoor recreation for years and as cool as we are, we’d never do anything considered “not cool.” Apparently it was once not cool and it’s regained its cool factor, according to this Star Gazette story. 

• The teachers in this Guardian video take the term “outdoor classroom” to a whole other level. Though there were no students with them, these teachers took to the harsh climate of Antarctica to study climate change, glaciers and geology. 

• The outdoors is for all faiths, but deep in the wilderness or even at some of our remote National Parks, it can be difficult to follow all one’s religious practices while on an outdoor vacation. The Wall Street Journal reports how the Jewish community is looking to lend a helping hand with kosher food and prayers in the outdoors, including the story of Rabbi Mendelsohn, the 30-year-old who “plies his trade with a camp stove, snowboard and motorized canoe.”

Have you read anything interesting you’d like to share with us? Maybe we’ll include it next week’s column with a little shout out to you. Send a link to the story with the subject line “SNEWS Reads” to be considered.

–Compiled by Ana Trujillo and David Clucas