This is our second in a series of videos for the Conservation Alliance and the Return to the Outdoors campaign, sponsored by Timex.

Steph gets after it. For more of her exploits, check out her blog or her book.

The music is by Immovable Objects, from San Diego.

What is it about fly fishing?

I’ve been wondering that as long as I’ve known Tom Bie, the founder and editor of The Drake, which is celebrating its tenth anniversary this month. Some would say The Drake is Powder Magazine for fly-fishing; I’d say it’s a mash up of the Surfer’s Journal, David James Duncan’s novel The River Why, and Mad Magazine, with just enough Maxim to give it a little newsstand zing.

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Three intrepid journalists/pro googlers from Jackson Hole head to Casper to hear Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama speak, and perhaps to imbibe a little more Kool-Aid. Here’s a quick look at their Wyoming road trip, the candidates, and a few of the folks they met along the way.

• By Lauren M. Whaley
• Photos by David Stubbs

One man had never attended a Democratic event before in his life; three teenagers – too young to vote – had skipped school to drive two hours from Sheridan; a middle-aged mom hoped Obama would sign the sticker on her hat.

They were among the thousands gathered under the yellow flourescents of the Casper Rec Center gym on Friday, the eve of the Wyoming caucus, to get a glimpse, a handshake or an earful of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

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This is a reprise of Tommy Moe’s helmet cam video, filmed when he fore-ran the Mini-Hahnenkamm on Snow King in 2006.

Training is today; the race is tomorrow, on Sunday, when skiers, snowboarders and telemarkers will compete in pro, recreation, and the “fat and baggy” categories. Good luck to all racers!

• By Lauren M. Whaley
• Photos by David A. Gonzales

When I return from skiing, I throw my
gray wool crew from Backcountry.com in the dirty clothes pile, only to take it out again the next morning. I’ve done this about five times and it doesn’t stink yet.

My new favorite base layer is also soft, breathable, machine washable, has the coziest thumbholes I’ve ever stuck mine into, and looks sexy aprés ski at the Stagecoach while drinking margaritas. Best of all, it’s made of Merino wool. Like the burly mountain New Zealand sheep that produce it, merino thrives in cold, wet and warm temps. It’s also one of the few technical fabrics in the outdoor industry that can actually be called “sustainable.”

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• By David DeFazio
• Photos by Jay McLaurin

I can’t tell you how many times I stood atop Snow King after a pre-dawn skin and wondered if this would be the year I would ski the Grand. At times I would think about my first ill-fated attempt in late May of 2006 when Exum guides Mark Newcomb and Bill Liberatore had inherited me after Doug Coombs’ tragedy in Europe. Everything had been wrong.

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A few weeks ago, I downloaded the Scrabulous application into my Facebook page, and immediately got involved in a couple of games with local friends.

I saw where this was going.

Working alone, at home, at an Apple computer with a big-ass screen, I do constant, all-day, epic battle with the internet, as it attempts to distract me from the tasks at hand. I once was a journalist; the digital age has relegated me to the role of pro googler, which means all day I’m only a few keystrokes away from turning my screen into a video game, encyclopedia, movie theater, newspaper, or dark portal into worlds my mother might weep to know I visit.

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