February 6th, 2008

Snow Report

This just in: yup, still snowing. Photos are rolling in from around the wild West. Will it ever stop?

Photos (L-R):

1. Jackson Hole ski patroller Larry Detrick skiing in the Crags. Photo: Doug Workman

2. Casa Blanca, Telluride, Colorado. Photo: Nathan Frerichs

3. Digging the tunnel to home, Government Camp, Oregon. Photo: Tyson Wipper

4. Mark M. taking a sick day, Ski Bowl, Oregon. Photo: Ethan Smith

5. Even Mt. Hood Meadows is good this year. Photo: Tim Ehlbeck

6. Buildings are getting buried. Might as well go outside. Photo: Tim Ehlbeck

- Eugenie

February 4th, 2008

Power Walking

A conceptual design from 1999, Non-Stop Shoes (NSS), by Spanish designer Emil Padòs, is a collaboration with Camper that asks the question: What would happen if you could harness the energy you create through walking? Padòs imagines a world where the calories you exert through everyday activity can be stored and used later to power small lights, mp3 players, fans or other appliances. This invention seems so obvious that I’m really surprised it hasn’t become commonplace in footwear. A quick search on Google reveals that a US patent was awarded for “footwear with energy storing sole construction” in 2001, but I’ve yet to see anything utilizing this technology on the market. Can you imagine the benefit of self-sufficient energy for activities like trekking? Or better yet, what if all the runners in a marathon were given this footwear, and the collective energy harvested could be used for some form of positive change?

To see more of Padòs’s thought-provoking designs, go to his emili ana design studio.

- Rick