Ryan Stuart, explore's gear editor
Ryan Stuart's tell all blog spot on his gear addiction and life and times as explore magazine's gear editor
November 2009 archive
River surfing adventure
I'm always up for trying something new, so with all this high water we've been having in the last two or three weeks it didn't take much to get us out doing something different. There's a great play wave on the Puntledge River near where I live. It has an ...
Big snow on the west coast
This November has been unprecedented on the precipetation charts on the west coast. First we had flooding in the valleys from so much rain. Now that rain is bringing record snows to the mountains. Whistler is reporting more than 530 centimetres of snow, a record for November and the most ...
Paddling a State of Emergency
If you watch the national news you probably heard about the state of emergency declared for Courtenay, British Columbia. That's my town. A pineapple express, a warm, wet storm, rolled through here on Sunday and Monday bring lots of rain and melting the metre of snow on the mountains. A ...
Department of Corrections: Price Fix
I included the Eddie Bauer Frontpoint Jacket in the winter issue of explore Magazine, out now, but gave the wrong price. $228 is the US dollar price. It's $240 Canadian.Still a great buy. The shell is a hybrid, part soft shell stretchy, part hard shell bomber. It's great for a ...
Eric Larsen sets out to save the poles
American polar explorer Eric Larsen is now in Antarctica waiting for the weather to improve so he can start his year long quest to become the first person to reach all three poles - South, North and the summit of Mount Everest - in one year. His goal is to ...
Fun factory
Fun can be found in the most unusual places. I've had fun freezing my butt off, almost drowning and getting very scared on a rock climb. My five year old daughter can find hours of entertainment with a cardboard box. But walking a set of stairs, throwing garbage in the ...
Bush beard in the city
It's that time of year again. The time when I sacrifice affection from my wife, weather endless ridicule, do a double-take every time I look in the mirror, and spend way too much time grooming way too little facial hair. It's Movember, the month long moustache growing charity event that ...
The Olympic flame goes surfing
Just after the Cold Water Classic, the first professional surf contest ever held in Canada, wrapped up over the weekend with a big win for Canadian Peter Devries, surfing is again in the news. The Olympic flame, beginning its 12,000 kilometre, 160 day trip around Canada, made a stop in ...
Ultimate chair lift
Ski touring is great but slow. Chairlifts are crowded and there’s not much powder. Snowcats and helicopters are expensive. And snowmobiles are obnoxious. But the Subaru TRAX SRI is fantastic. This dream machine is a concept car developed by Ken Block, the founder of DC Shoes, as an ultimate snow ...
Perfecting paddling: what I learned at a stroke clinic
Spear the paddle, keep the elbow at shoulder height, actively pull the paddle out, pause, coil the upper body, press with the heel. They're not in order but they were all things I need to work on with my wing blade paddling. I've been paddling a surf ski, a really ...
