Skimble's August Contest: win a Back-to-School Prize Pack including a Mountain Hardwear Enterprise Backpack, Evolv Sports Climbing or Hiking Shoe gift certificate and a Skimble T-shirt + other goodies, valued at over $250 USD. The prize pack is perfect for all your projects, whether they be in the classroom, on top a mountain or clinging onto a boulder!
Take this pack with you on your day hikes and urban walks to school or the office. Consistently a best seller, this year the Enterprise has been upgraded with CoolWave Suspension for even better performance. Equipped with all the essentials pockets, we give it an A+ for the attention to detail with the super soft pocket to store delicate electronics and the fully padded hydration / laptop sleeve! Choose from five hot colors including Black and Jungle:
Gabe digs the Optimus Primes (the Chris Sharma shoe), which is ideal for the wider foot and aggressive sport climber! He's also excited to try the Predator G2 in the coming month. What if you're new to climbing? For an all-around shoe, go for the Pontas for guys and the Electra VTR for girls. And if you're vertically challenged, slip into the Escapist hiking shoe and hit the trails.
For your inner outdoor shopaholic, the Skimble Shop helps you look stylish and buff in American Apparel t-shirts with flex printing. You can wash these tees over and over and they'll continue to look and fit great.
How to win in August?
Just be active and track your adventures on Skimble. Let's take a look at some active Skimblers:
Into tennis and running? Follow Kenzo H because he's still undefeated and could use a little competition.
Julia H's hand jestures make you want to bust a move during your yoga and aerobics session.
Take a look at Scott N's running trails...see if you can run them as fast as he can.
A fist bump goes out to John T for Crossfit training in Pasadena...Skimble's new Crossfit Champ, perhaps?
Watch out for Raul G who may have clocked more hours in the gym than Arnold Schwarzenegger did in his prime.
Sports records are being broken left and right. Usain Bolt stunned the world with his 9.58 second 100 meter dash and John Isner was left wondering when his 138 game fifth set at Wimbledon would ever end. This summer track and share your own record-breaking achievements with Skimble!
is Canada Day! The big lady turns 143 and if you're in San Francisco, join us for a drink at Kells Irish Bar beginning at 5pm.
begins the July 4th countdown...what active thing are you going to be doing? Be sure to do it in style with some Mountain Hardwear gear or, for better or worse, with patriotic 'cordarounds'!
This past weekend, four girls jumped into a Honda Element ecamper en route from SF to Red Rock Canyon, Las Vegas. We weren't there to gamble. We were there to climb and enjoy the Red Rock Rendezvous climbing festival 2010.
Here are the unusual suspects (mani, sony, joyce, maria):
including the festivities at the Red Rock Rendezvous:
We caught up with the Evolv climbing crew (who will be next month's contest sponsors!) and the 'rockclimbergirl':
Every night we slept in our 'penthouse sweet' ecamper - we definitely got a few looks of awe during the day but, most importantly, we were cosy and comfortable at night!
And if you're wondering, yes, we managed to hit the strip to clean up and visit friends staying at Aria - here are a couple of 'don't mess with us' poses just for kicks:
It certainly was a whirlwind road trip that will go down in our history books.
If you're going through the grind, perhaps it's time for you to take a break and plan an action-packed trip with your best (girl or boy) friends?
ChicMeetsGeek™ is an event designed to bridge the social gap between the cultural chic and intellectual geeks. Curious? They've officially launched their webiste and here's their promotional video for the upcoming event:
When you're not sharing 'action shots' in foreign lands, you're probably getting and staying fit at a local gym. Throughout the years, Gabe and Maria have been frequent gym rats at many of the Touchstone Climbing gyms across northern California.
The nice folks at Touchstone Climb have given the community the heads up that Skimble will be there in action and giving away some Skimble schwag including muscle and racerback tank tops - how sweet is that?
If you just want to come out and support your climbing friends, it'll be a fun time with free food and beer (when you're done climbing!). At the end of the night, they usually come up with a few 'creative' contests and give away prizes. During Maria's first ever TBS(3) competition, she bouldered a chair and won a free chalk bag!
Good luck to all and, remember, it's all about having fun and achieving your personal bests! Follow Touchstone Climb for the latest updates about new routes at all of their gyms.
The latest program on French station M6's show Capital gave a behind-the-scenes look at success and innovation from around the world.
The program included candid interviews with industry leaders such as Elon Musk of Tesla Motors and angel investor Jeff Clavier (@jeff) of SoftTechVC. Now you might be wondering, what's it like to live a startup life? In the program, you'll get a sneak peak into the startup life of Maria and Gabe of Skimble:
Although there isn't really a typical day for us, the camera captured us:
Here's us living the life of the bootstrapped startup, turning bedroom into 'office':
You might be able to download the segment with Skimble on Capital here. If you live in France and Switzerland, you can stream Skimble on Capital here. If you're already there and wondering, when will Skimble be localized for the French audience...well, with the help of some volunteers, we hope sooner than expected!
We spent Thanksgiving week in Bishop, CA. You might be thinking why would we want to spend a whole week in Bishop, a small town of about 4000 people with a Main St. that's really just the 'main street'. Well, because it's the launchpad to plenty of world-class bouldering! If you're interested in heading to Bishop for a bouldering trip, here are some of our favorite boulder problems to add your ticklist at the Buttermilks, Happies, and Sads:
This is the most scenic bouldering area. The Buttermilks offers sharp granite rock and many world-class boulder problems. Often big, fall, and sharply featured, the Buttermilks is a great playground of over 300 classic problems.
Bouldering at The Volcanic Tablelands include the Happies and the Sads. The Happies (or Happy Boulders) is the bigger of the two with an open canyon filled with excellent problems.
The smaller of the two bouldering areas at the Tablelands. The Sad boulders don't dissapoint though with superb bouldering in a condensed little canyon.
The only caution with both sites is that there are no showers and it can get pretty cold later in the season...
If it's late in the season or you just want some hotel comforts, go with the La Quinta Hotel. it's very centrally located at 651 N. Main St. and offers comfortable beds, free wi-fi, and a very good breakfast! Use Priceline to get it for $50/night.
What to Eat
Erick Schat's Bakkery - This European backery is the little gem of Bishop! They have the best sandwiches and breads in town. Schat's pies and cookies are also insanely delicious!
If you're driving back to the SF bay area and passing Placerville, CA make sure you stop by Z-Pies! We stock up on these gourmet pot pies by ordering a dozen at a time.
Rest Days
Hot Springs - there are a few hot springs nearby. The nicest one we know of is a little ways away up north:
Bishop Twin Theatre - They generally show 2 movies every night (call them at 760.873.3575). It's a small town so don't expect any fandango advanced hook-ups. Just get in line to purchase your tickets a few minutes before the show starts.
Back Alley Bowling - Behind La Quinta, equipped with three lanes and often packed! When we were there, they weren't open on Sunday eve (call ahead of time at 760.873.5777).
Play Games - Pass the time, regenerate those fingertips, and play your favorite games like Settlers of Catan and poker! Here, we are playing Settlers of Catan at La Quinta during a rest day:
