Cooped Up? Get Uncooped.

I have to admit, I came across this link from a text-ad in my email, but I was intruiged by the title; apparently you don't even need a license to fly one of these things! It's bascially a parachute with a giant fan on the back, which you use to float around the heavens as perilously as a leaf. Here's a video: Can you say "dangerous(ly fun)"?

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I just got back from a weekend of great skiing in Summit County, CO. We stayed in the small town of Frisco, which is conveniently located about 20 minutes from Vail, Copper Mountain, Keystone, Breckenridge, and Arapahoe Basin. Spring skiing has it detractors, but I absolutely loved it, and we thought the snow was excellent (they had around 100 inches of base and we got 5-6 inches of powder while we were there). Highlights: the...

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Salar de Uyuni is the world's largest salt flat at 10,582 km² (4,085 square miles). It is located in the Potosí and Oruro departments in southwest Bolivia, near the crest of the Andes, 3,650 meters high. When it is covered with water, the Salar de Uyuni reflects the sky. This video of the salt flats at sunset shows off its stunning beauty: Via Fogonazos  

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That's right, this gondola (already under construction) wlll span between two mountains (Whister and Blackcomb). In the process, it'll break all kinds of records: Longest unsupported span for a lift of this kind in the world at 3.024 km / 1.88 miles Highest lift of its kind above the valley floor at 415 metres / 1,361 feet (above Fitzsimmons Creek) Longest continuous lift system on the globe – Whistler Village Gondola – Peak to Peak...

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This sounds like my kind of family: The five of us (Mom, Dad, the boys, and a dog) will be taking off to pedal from Alaska to Argentina in June. When we reach the southernmost tip of South America, Davy and Daryl will become the new Guinness World Record holders as "Youngest Person to Cycle the Pan-American Highway"!http://familyonbikes.org/  

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BestHike warns of the importance of keeping track of your keys while hiking: … Sandra Ordner, 47, of Daphne, whose body was found last week outside her locked SUV at a North Carolina mountain parking lot, died of hypothermia hours after she told her husband she was going hiking, the local sheriff said Thursday. Macon County, N.C., Sheriff Robert Holland said that it had been extremely cold and raining in the hours before Ordner’s body...

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This home-made personal helicopter attaches to your head. I don't know much else about it (what else do you need to know?), but I can say, with confidence, that I want one.   Video:   Anyone want to come over this afternoon and help me build it? Ok, well, it was worth a shot.  Via LiveLeak

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What's all this about getting big air at the X-Games? The real story is that the athletes are getting big, free houses and swanky accomodations (paid for by their sponsors, of course): "They are all trying to get the biggest, baddest, most outrageous houses they can get," said Tricia McIntyre, president of Aspen Luxury Rentals, which rented a pair of $19 million houses to two companies this X Games, charging $30,000 a night for one. One...

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"Rocktown Climbing Gym in Oklahoma City boasts some of the longest indoor routes in the country. Aaron Gibson (owner) has done some amazing things not only to the inside, but the outside as well. This photo shows Aaron on his 140 ft lead route on the SW corner of the silo."Via YourClimbing.com 

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Is the Ouray Ice Park the coolest, dangerousest place you've ever seen or what? Located in the Uncompahgre Gorge in Ouray, Colorado, the Ouray Ice Park was opened in 1995 as the world's first park devoted exclusively to the sport of ice climbing.Each year, climbers from all over the world gather at Ouray for the Ouray Ice Festival, which looks to me to be a pretty good time as long as you're standing on the...

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