polar social distancing

Adventure Quickies: How to Social Distance Like a Polar Explorer, Outdoor Retailer Cancelled, and More

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By: Kraig Becker
Updated:

It’s Friday once again, which means it’s also time for another set of Adventure Quickies. This is my weekly round-up of stories that I simply didn’t have time or space to share elsewhere. Here’s a few things you may have missed from this past week.

  • Summer Outdoor Retailer Cancelled: Over the past few weeks there have been so many events cancelled and postponed it has been difficult to keep track of all of them. A big one for the outdoor industry came just yesterday, when the Summer Outdoor Retailer gear convention in Denver was added to the list. For those of us who go to the show twice a year (there is a winter OR as well), this was sad, but expected news.
  • Polar Explorer Explains Social Distancing: If you need a further explanation as to exactly how far you should stand apart from someone in a social distancing situation, polar explorer Eric Larsen has summed it up nicely. He’s responsible for the graphic above and while it is quite humorous, it also conveys the distance nicely.
  • Outdoor Brands Step Up in Time of Crisis: The outdoor industry hasn’t been sitting still when it comes to lending a hand in the midst of our current global crisis. In fact, a number of companies have really gone out of their way to assist where the can. For instance, Osprey Packs has transitioned its repair team to creating medical masks, while the team at Cascade Designs (which is the parent brand for Therm-a-rest, MSR, and Platypus—amongst others) has converted its factory to manufacturing masks as well. Not to be outdone, Fisher Skis is lending a hand by donating 1000 UVEX goggles to medial works too.
  • Runner Completes 5250 Laps Around Living Room to Complete Marathon: People have come up with some unusual ways to deal with the coronavirus lockdown. But it’s hard to top runner Peter Cooper, who completed 5250 laps around his living room to finish an indoor marathon.
  • Red Bull Motorsports Considered Infecting Drivers on Purpose: There have been a lot of missteps and bad ideas throughout the course of this pandemic, but thankfully one was avoided. A really dumb one. It seems that an advisor to the Red Bull Motorsports team actually thought it might be a good idea to infect the drivers on purpose. Brilliant, right?
  • Arctic Ice Dangerously Low: It may seem inconsequential at the moment, but once the pandemic has passed and we all start getting back to normal, climate change is still going to be waiting for us. Case in point, research indicates that even though it was an extremely cold winter in the Arctic, the amount of ice found in that part of the world is extremely low.
  • Alaska Cancels Early Bear Hunts: One more thing that has been cancelled by COVID-19—early-season bear hunts in Alaska. All hunting of black and brown bears in the state have been officially shut down through May 31.
  • Trek Bikes Offers Free Shipping in the U.S.: Despite the current situation, in most places you can still go out and ride a bike. To help with that, Trek now offers free home delivery on it all of its models to anywhere in the U.S.

That’s it for this week. More to come next Friday!

Kraig Becker
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