GJ Week in Review: REI’s New Policy, ‘Mud Season’ Sports, $50 Folding Knives

A recap of top stories for the week of April 8–14, 2018.

1) REI’s Sustainability Policy to Affect Every Brand It Sells

REI sells over 1,000 brands. Beginning soon, the retailer will hold every one of them accountable to higher social and environmental Product Sustainability Standards.

2) Steep, Slick, Snow: Watch MTBs Rip Sporty Winter Trails

Three mountain bikers bomb down snowy technical trails laden with berms, jumps, and rollers. The snow and ice don’t help with stability as these riders do their best to stay on course while flying at lightning speed.

3) Mistakes From My First Bikepacking Trip

Desolate campsites, gorgeous scenery: Bikepacking takes you faster than hiking to places you can’t reach by car. Before you go, learn from the mistakes I made during my first two-wheeled camping adventure.

4) Monday Bargains: 3 Steals to Start Your Week

Looking for great outdoor gear at an amazing price? Check out these discounts and sales from Marmot, Salomon, and TravelChair.

5) Racing the Tide: Dylan Bowman Sets FKT on Lost Coast Trail

Dylan Bowman set out to set a fastest known time on one gnarly ultra run: the Lost Coast Trail. He faced 57 miles, 11,000 vertical feet, soft sand, and remote risks as he raced the tide on the way to an FKT.

6) Man Claims He Was Left on Chairlift Overnight

One skier says he was stranded overnight on a chairlift at Gore Mountain Ski Center in northern New York.

7) Blend In Abroad: International Travel Safety Tips

Plane ticket: booked. Destination: researched. Now it’s time to pack your bag and board the plane for that dream trip abroad. Just be sure to use these tips to pack for safe travel.

8) Uber to Buy eBike-Sharing Service JUMP

Building on the brands’ partnership earlier this year, the deal between Uber and JUMP Bikes suggests a pedal-powered push for ride sharing.

9) Sherpas Seek Two Everest Records: Most Summits by Man, Woman

Two Sherpa mountaineers hope to make history on Mt. Everest this spring. They both eye new records: most summits ever by a male and female climber, respectively.

10) Watch: First Descents From Ripping Monoskier

Rob Enigl has an L1-T12 incomplete spinal cord injury, but he doesn’t let that hold him back. Watch as he carves down groomers, gets serious air, and completes first descents down steep gullies and couloirs.

11) Classic Patina, Modern 4×4: New Legend ‘Runner’

Automaker New Legend 4×4 takes classic off-roaders and turns them into incredible modern machines. Its latest “Runner” series aims to keep that classic patina while offering a contemporary driving experience.

12) Woman Leaves $1 Million to WA Nat’l Parks

Washington’s National Parks Fund received $1 million, the largest gift in its history, from the estate of Bette Wallace. The gift will be divided equally among Olympic, Mount Rainier, and North Cascades national parks.

13) Photo Sleuth: Chevy’s 2020 Silverado Teaser Dissected

Such a tease! Chevrolet just officially announced the next generation Silverado HD for 2020, but we won’t it until third quarter 2019! Let’s have a look at what we do know, and what we can expect in the 2020 Silverado HD.

14) REI and Lyft to Offer Discount Rides, Concert, Prizes

REI and Lyft team up to offer discounts on select outdoor locations. Plus, hundreds of winners will also receive tickets to an outdoor concert or REI Signature Camping trip.

15) Fresh Edit: Danny MacAskill Shows Off in Switzerland

What would it feel like to chase legendary cyclist Danny MacAskill for a day of mountain biking? Claudio Caluori finds out.

16) Yeti Cycles SB100 Review: 29er Crushes Up and Down

We tested Yeti Cycles’ full-suspension 29er SB100 along cactus-rimmed Mexican trails. Short travel, a stiff design, and thoughtful extras make this one of the most stoke-worthy bikes we’ve ridden in a while.

17) Tent Tech: Light, Tough, & Waterproof With Dyneema Fabric

A cottage manufacturer out of Japan just launched a single-wall dome tent that weighs under 2 pounds and can face the challenges of alpine climbing and mountaineering. The brand’s secret is in its material: Dyneema fabric.

18) Screaming Deals: Gear Savings of the Week

Our weekly column finds the best deals from across the web to save you money on outdoors gear. Check out the discount gear from Kershaw, Smartwool, Chippewa, Goal Zero, and more.

19) VW Atlas Challenges Subaru for Mountain Town Dominance

With ample seating and cargo space, Volkswagen launches the Atlas to compete with Subaru’s Outback. We test drove it on one of the most breathtaking, winding roads in the country.

20) ‘A Letter to All’ Brings Moving Words to Film

The 5Point Film Festival is a yearly outdoors gathering in Carbondale, Colo. This year, its trailer sets powerful words from “Letter to My Son” over striking imagery.

21) Nat Geo Explorer Mike Libecki’s Favorite Gear

From SUPing with polar bears to riding an inflatable pizza slice off a 300-foot iceberg, National Geographic explorer Mike Libecki has a unique relationship with gear. Here are the tech and essentials he trusts on his treks to the farthest reaches of the planet.

22) Everest: Past, Present, and Future With Adrian Ballinger

The renowned mountaineer told us about a future train and hotel on Mt. Everest, the reason he sleeps in a tent at home, and why he doesn’t remember climbing the world’s highest summit.

23) 7 Spring Sports to Start Now

The joys of spring – rain, snow, and 70 degrees all in the same day – are upon us. Here, we break down seven exhilarating “mud season” sports.

24) All-Weather Basecamp: NEMO Chogori 2P Mountaineering Tent Review

We tested the four-season NEMO Chogori mountaineering tent – blurring the lines between single- and double-wall design –  through wind, rain, and snow.

25) Emerging Gear: Outdoor Products This Week

From next-gen tech to ingenious innovation, our weekly peek at emerging products examines the sometimes cutting-edge, sometimes quirky world of gear design.

26) Spyderco H1 Fish Hunter Knife Review: A Saltwater Solution

The Spyderco H1 Fish Hunter knife is built specifically for adventurous free diving and spearfishing in saltwater. We took it to southern Baja, California, on a spearfishing trip to see how it stacks up in this review.

27) Big National Park Fee Increase Won’t Happen

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke announced he will not dramatically raise prices at national parks on Thursday. Instead, national parks will see a much more modest fee increase of $3–10 in 2018.

28) Light, Durable 9.4 Is Black Diamond’s Thinnest Single Rope Yet

Black Diamond’s smallest-diameter single climbing rope proved effective and tactile during our testing. We took sport climbing and up towering multipitch climbs for this review.

29) No More Metal: Airstream Launches Fiberglass ‘Nest’ Camper

Airstream ditches the silver bullet look with its latest offering launched this week, the fiberglass Nest.

30) Best Folding Knives Under $50

Not too pricey, not too cheap, the $50 mark has largely been abandoned in the folding knife market. But I’ve got seven of the best folding knives under $50 you should look at.

31) Do More With Less? Meet Combar, the 5-in-1 Multitool

A multitool on steroids, the new Combar is a heavy-duty super-tool complete with ax, spade, hammer, knife, and folding saw.