Come camp with us!

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camping new york city

We’ve been glued to our computer screens this week searching for flights to our summer vacation destinations but there’s one week that we’ve made sure to block out on our iCals to remind us to stick around NYC for and that’s the week of June 11th when OutdoorFest will be taking over the city.

You might have read our previous write-up about the 10 day festival but we wanted to take a moment to talk about the kick off campout on Saturday, June 11th which is filled to the brim with its own activities. It’s almost like a mini festival within a festival and the perfect way to get a healthy dose of the outdoors if that’s the only chance you have to experience OutdoorFest, or if you’re super excited about all the other outdoor events happening around the city that week.  Continue reading Come camp with us!

Practice your map and compass skills in the park

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map and compass class

“I think we should be about there,” someone said as we approached an indistinct corner of Prospect Park. We were a few hours into a navigation class and we were lost.

“Um, I don’t think this is right,” someone else mumbled. We glanced at the map of the park we had plotted our course on beforehand to try to make sense of where we were. Our instructor gave us a few minutes to figure out our error before setting us back on track. We held up our compasses and marched on by following the azimuth we had recorded on our maps when we had planned our route. Continue reading Practice your map and compass skills in the park

Project Latitude is more than just another cool backpack

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Project Latitude Backpack
Images courtesy Project Latitude

(Ed note: As of 4/18/2016, Project Latitude has adapted their campaign to also donate water to assist with relief efforts after the devastating earthquake that occurred in Ecuador over the weekend.)

We were introduced to Danny Collins by a friend who met him while hiking in Minnewaska State Park. It turned out that Danny, who’s an architect by day, was about to launch the first campaign for Project Latitude which features a stunning, well made backpack, designed for the outdoors but perfectly fit to work as an everyday bag for commuting around the city. While the bag was initially what caught our eye (we do love gear), we quickly learned that Project Latitude is more than just another purveyor of trendy outdoor gear. Continue reading Project Latitude is more than just another cool backpack

Feel and look great in a Tradlands button-up shirt

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tradlands shirts
Photos courtesy Tradlands.

We’re always looking for a shirt we can wear climbing or hiking on the weekend as well as to the office during the week. Tradlands has answered that call by creating well-made women’s button ups with quality fabrics, cut to fit but not be too constraining.The shirt is easy to wear and looks great—we’ve been wearing a few items from the new spring line this week and have gotten numerous compliments from co-workers and hiking buddies alike.

We recently had the opportunity to interview Tradlands’ founder Sadie Roberts. In addition to telling us what makes a great button-up, Sadie described her perfect day off (a beach day with her dog and husband/business partner, Jeremy) as well as lessons she’s learned running her own company over the last few years.

We included a few bonus questions from our chat below and you can view the interview on Range’s blog.

Continue reading Feel and look great in a Tradlands button-up shirt

Tune up your bike, tune up your soul

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bike tune-up

The spring temperatures mean it’s time to tune up that bike you left chained to the light post all winter. We got a head start last night at a free bike maintenance class hosted by 718 Cyclery. The class was only an hour but it was packed full of useful information and how-tos. The bike shop is hosting a free women’s bike maintenance class this Wednesday, March 23rd at 7pm (sign up here). Here are our favorite of the tips we picked up at the class we attended: Continue reading Tune up your bike, tune up your soul

Social climbing: How outdoor activities can help a new city feel like home

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Outdoor Community in a new city

This week we bring you a personal essay from contributor and Sorta Outdoorsy pal Allie Lee. If you have a Sorta Outdoorsy story you’d like to share, email us at hi@sortaoutdoorsy.com.

When I made the New Year’s resolution to “be more spontaneous,” I had no idea that I would actually keep it. But soon, I found myself, with just a few weeks’ notice, moving from New York to London. Although I was excited to move to a new city and get out of my comfort zone, I was nervous about leaving the close-knit climbing community that was a big part of my life in New York. Continue reading Social climbing: How outdoor activities can help a new city feel like home

This video about urban climbing will inspire you to go to the gym

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We find it’s hard to not talk about climbing as much as we’d like to (we don’t want to be just a newsletter about climbing after all) and this video, produced by the activewear company Prana, helped us to understand why. Of all the outdoor inspired activities available in cities, urban climbing seems to have become one of the most popular thanks in part to the explosion of climbing gyms (at least three new gyms have opened in NYC in the last five years). Continue reading This video about urban climbing will inspire you to go to the gym

Perk Beta: Climbing with Emily Harrington, Cedar Wright and the North Face

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Emily Harrington and Cedar Wright
Photo by @lisahaefnerphoto

One of the best parts about living in a sizable city is that it’s almost always a destination for tours and events. You can hear your favorite author read their latest book or you can see a movie before it’s released. You can also boulder with professional climbers. Continue reading Perk Beta: Climbing with Emily Harrington, Cedar Wright and the North Face

Bike like a girl

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We were excited to see a lot of women at our mountain biking ride with 718 Cyclery last week. While the entire group was supportive of all levels of bikers, we were happy to hear about a few on-and-off trail organizations that focused on female bikers specifically. Check out the resources we were recommended below. Continue reading Bike like a girl