On May 22, during a violent storm of rain, hail, and freezing temperatures. The Chinese government responded on Wednesday on ultra races in the country, as well as 鈥渘ewly popular sport activities that involve high risk,鈥� like听wingsuit flying. As the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)听has only just begun its investigation, it鈥檚 unclear which outdoor sports the latter category will include, but the details will be important. Depending on the length and range of the ban, the decision could stifle听the growth of outdoor adventure sports in China, which have exploded over the past decade, especially among the growing Chinese middle class. Ultrarunners across the globe are worried about the future of the sport in the country.听鈥淭here is something truly special about moving through the world under your own power,鈥� says ultrarunner Mike Wardian, who has competed in several events in China.听鈥淚 am so sad for the athletes and their families and the race organizers who won鈥檛 be able to compete in this way.鈥�

I鈥檝e been covering 听for years, and for those familiar with the Chinese ultrarunning scene, the tragedy wasn鈥檛 all that shocking.听There is an enormous range of quality, safety standards, and planning at Chinese races, and many outdoor athletes there are still learning to manage weather risk in the mountains more cautiously. The government response hasn鈥檛 been surprising, either: the CCP听tends to respond to civic tragedies with blunt, outright bans rather than nuanced reform, and that鈥檚 exactly what they鈥檝e done this week.

The Chinese central government in Beijing is often unaware of unregulated booms occurring in distant provinces鈥攊n this case, running鈥攗ntil something bad happens. Then the Party cracks down.听Political scientists use the wonky term 鈥溾�澨齮o describe this dynamic of in China, but I鈥檝e always thought an ancient Chinese proverb does the job better: 鈥淗eaven is high, and the emperor is far away.鈥� Though the Chinese running boom had been expanding for decades across distant mountains with the enthusiastic support of local officials, the central government wasn鈥檛 always aware of the growth or its potential dangers. Until now.

But what about China鈥檚 runners, who number in the tens of millions? Will races and other outdoor sports ever come back for them? Here, the CCP faces a more complicated problem. Since China 听but not its political system听in the 1970s, the CCP has maintained an informal agreement with its citizens:听in exchange for continued one-party authoritarian rule, Chinese people have been allowed greater immediate personal freedoms in areas of civic life like recreation, which have been widely explored. 鈥淪ports give you self-confidence. They make you healthier. They make you happier,鈥� 53-year-old Chinese runner听Yu Yan听told me a few years ago after finishing an ultra.

Banning something like a popular outdoor sport, however, crosses this line of personal freedom, which makes this response from the CCP so unnerving. Such violations have been under President听Xi Jinping. For听ultrarunners and organizers in China,听seeing a similar intrusion into a hobby like running is especially troubling. Most in the Chinese ultra scene听would agree that outdoor adventure sports need to be made safer in China, but permanently banning the sport鈥攚hich has provided a space for individualism, adventure, and freedom in people鈥檚 daily lives鈥攚ould be a shame. 鈥淩unning is a way of spreading enthusiasm, solidarity, and ability among people,鈥� said one runner听who worried about the government鈥檚 coming response to the tragedy. 鈥淚 think a better way to deal with it is for organizers to improve infrastructure and various measures of safety.鈥�

A ban would also endanger the income that commercial racing has provided to many Chinese athletes who have fled the harsh Soviet . 鈥淚 have a friend who鈥檚 got a wife, two small kids, and parents. He left the sports system to make money racing,鈥� Qi Min, a top Chinese runner, once told me. If commercial racing disappears, runners trained in听sports academies with little other education听won鈥檛 have the same avenues to make a living. Given these realities and the popularity of running in the country,听CCP leaders will likely feel public pressure to allow ultra events again, and听after a while, local officials may lobby to bring back races for all the fanfare they bring听to their cities.

It would be a mistake, however, to frame all questions surrounding the oversight of adventure sports as being unique to China. Regulation of adventure sports has always been suspect to many outdoor athletes, and even infrastructure that makes races safer can be viewed with skepticism. 鈥淲ith this sport becoming more mainstream, with more people than ever getting involved, the risks are greater and we are more likely to see adverse outcomes,鈥� Nathan Montague, a British ultrarunner who鈥檚 raced in China, told me. 鈥淪o both race directors and organizers have a greater degree of responsibility to negate these risks and protect these individuals from themselves. But ultimately, the duty of responsibility needs to be taken by the athlete.鈥�

When I reported on the top-flight medical team that provided support to the Ultra Gobi, another premier event in China, some athletes viewed the extra support as a luxury, even a bit overblown. Ultras can鈥檛 ever fully guarantee safety, some pointed out, and athletes can鈥檛 ever be entirely free without being allowed to take risks. 鈥淚 really love that in the U.S. most races don鈥檛 have requirements,鈥� Wardian says. 鈥淭he race might suggest stuff, but it鈥檚 up to you. It鈥檚 a free country, and it鈥檚 your choice.鈥� He added that diversity in race regulation is probably a good thing. 鈥淓urope is more strict with mandatory kits and certifications. I like both, it鈥檚 just different.鈥�

In any case, an outright ban will likely be self-defeating. In the absence of formal races, Chinese athletes will keep venturing into the mountains,听but with even less oversight. One can only hope that the CCP will acknowledge this reality and devise more thoughtful reforms than bans. 鈥淚t is impossible to remove risk in the mountains,鈥� Wardian says. 鈥淭hey don鈥檛 ban surfing if someone听drowns.鈥�

The post China Just Banned All Ultra Races and Extreme Sports appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

On Saturday,听 during the fourth annual Yellow River Stone Forest Park 100K, a听race held in Gansu, China. The weather turned bad about 15 miles in and more than 6,000 feet above sea level, after the leading runners left the second checkpoint and started an exposed 3,000-foot climb. Suddenly, the route was hammered with a mess听of freezing rain and hail, and temperatures plummeted to near听freezing at higher elevations.

鈥淎t the bottom of the mountain there was already wind and rain, and the higher you climbed the bigger the rain and wind got,鈥� blogged Zhang Xiaotao, a racer who survived the storm. 鈥淗alfway up, the rain started to mix with hail and kept smashing into my face, and my eyes started getting obscured and blurry. A few places, you couldn鈥檛 make out the route clearly.鈥� Another racer he came across on the trail, he wrote, 鈥渉ad begun to shake all over his body.鈥�

Runners found themselves stranded between the second and third checkpoints without warm clothes. Many tried to use space blankets (which they were required to carry),听and some were able to shelter in a cave, but dozens fell on the treacherous terrain or lost their blankets in the wind and passed out from exposure. Some survived long enough for help to arrive, but 21 did not.听, a 1,200-person search and rescue operation was launched for all听172 of the race participants, but local authorities couldn鈥檛 save everyone.听

One of the victims was Liang Jing, a top Chinese ultrarunner. I got to know him in 2018,听while reporting a story on the medical team at the 248-mile Ultra Gobi in western China, a race听that he won. He was among the toughest athletes I鈥檇 ever seen. One night, temperatures fell into the twenties, and when I woke up in my tent the next morning, my water bottle was frozen solid. As I found out听later, Liang听kept running through it all. He was too tired to pack away his yellow sleeping bag, so he wedged it through the loops of his backpack, above his waist, and for the rest of his run, the ends flopped behind him like deflated wings. A day later, we were sharing beers and talking about his adventure.听

For a runner like Liang to lose his life, conditions must have been truly horrendous. But among those familiar with the Chinese endurance-racing scene, a tragedy like this isn鈥檛 seen as especially surprising. I鈥檝e written about China for the past ten years, including听, and in the aftermath of the Gansu disaster, most of the WeChat messages I received from China expressed sadness, not shock. Over the past decade, tens of millions of people鈥攑erhaps even hundreds of millions, depending on which Chinese running expert you ask鈥攈ave taken up the sport. I鈥檝e heard estimates that as many as 3,000 long-distance races are held annually in China, ranging from shoddy events sponsored by local governments to听Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc鈥揵randed competitions.

Because there aren鈥檛 enough experienced organizers to run all these races safely, responsible preparation and oversight鈥攊ncluding contingency planning for bad weather鈥攊s absent at many events. 鈥淚 think what is happening is that there is a lot of enthusiasm for mountain sports, and now the demand is outstripping the supply of expertise,鈥� said one organizer, who asked not to be named, given the likely coming crackdown on races.

One reason why races outpace resources in China is politics. Party officials, who are often called cadres in China, are promoted based on economic development in their region, and large cultural projects鈥攊ncluding recreational events鈥攅arn them bonus points from higher-ups. As a result, marathons and ultra races have become a favorite pursuit for many officials. (At the Gansu race, the mayor of the city hosting the event听shot off the starting pistol.) They bring tourism and media coverage, and cadres can highlight them on their r茅sum茅s. Politicians see other countries hosting competitions and, not to be outdone, organize their own, sometimes one-upping each other by increasing race distances and elevation gains. Every county in China now seems to host a race, and organizers from the country鈥檚 entrepreneurial class have risen quickly to chase after government and sponsor contracts.听

This has led to a dramatic range of quality at trail-running competitions. The Ultra Gobi that听I covered had regular medical checkpoints staffed by doctors, and both foreign and Chinese athletes were impressed by the race support and organization. There were still blind spots when it came to听safety, but medical help wouldn鈥檛 have been far away had someone become听hypothermic on the trail. This hasn鈥檛 been the case at other events, however. In my reporting, I鈥檝e often heard stories of participants becoming hopelessly lost at high elevations, without any volunteers, medical support, or guidance to be had. Any sudden change in weather could have spelled disaster in such听situations.

When I asked organizers about the potential for something like this to occur, they frequently told me the question was when, not if, a tragedy would happen. Getting lost isn鈥檛 uncommon in ultras around the world, nor is bad weather, and the tragedy in China听 whether ultra running has grown too extreme in general. But races in China often lack basic preparation.

Both foreign and Chinese organizers brought up these issues in the aftermath of last weekend鈥檚 race, pointing out that runners听 to carry sleeping bags and warm clothes, which听some other competitions insist on. 鈥淪ome events only focus on financial results and are unwilling to make investments in safety,鈥� said听 posted last weekend by Paopao Wang, a popular Chinese running app. 鈥淪ome companies who undertake [these races] are completely unprepared in their ability to organize high-risk sports and spend the necessary resources.鈥澨�

Such inconsistency in quality and planning is typical for developing countries that are growing adventure sports to appeal to a growing middle class, but China鈥檚 progress has been especially uneven. Wei Jun, a former sports bureaucrat who now organizes private races, told me a few years ago that only about 10 percent of organizers survive the business, and听that new ones鈥攎any with no experience鈥攔eplace them immediately. 鈥淪o you have races that are run very well. Others are disastrous,鈥� he said.

On top of that, as Chinese athletes have honed their endurance, respect for unpredictable weather hasn鈥檛 always caught up, and organizers often fail to set boundaries in the mountains. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a crash course in mountain culture,鈥� said the organizer who asked not to be named.听鈥淲hat is happening is that you have this natural let鈥檚-get-it-done听attitude, but people refuse to believe that weather will change.鈥� He added that听in the 1970s, when mountain sports were growing in Korea, tragic accidents were common there, too.听

Several race organizers told me on WeChat that they hope the Gansu disaster will serve as a wake-up call. Whether the Chinese government will react thoughtfully is another question. When a civic tragedy strikes, authorities tend to respond bluntly, often by shutting down an enterprise entirely rather than reforming it. Once, when I worked at a Chinese high school, someone drowned in the campus pool, and the administration responded by banning swimming and removing the pool. In the aftermath of last weekend鈥檚 events, authorities may take a similar approach, eliminating races rather than making them safer with听investment and alpine education for organizers.

This appears to be happening already. An investigation by the Chinese Communist Party鈥檚 Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the same body that investigates high-profile corruption cases and purges officials, is already looking into Gansu. Yesterday, in a sign that the dominoes have begun to fall, one of the largest state-run organizers, XTrail, canceled a major race at Kansas Lake in Xinjiang鈥檚 Altai Mountains, and local governments have already begun calling off marathons.

Reform is desperately needed, but a harsh crackdown would be a huge hit to the burgeoning community of endurance athletes in China. Within the country鈥檚 authoritarian system, running has blossomed into a cherished space for individualism, freedom, and risk-taking, and it鈥檚 also brought competitors together from across the world. At the Ultra Gobi, a day after the top finishers had slept off their exhaustion, I found myself chatting with Liang and Zhao Jiaju, the second-place finisher, in a hotel courtyard. Later听some of the foreign runners joined the conversation, and I helped translate. The group swapped stories from the race, laughing with their competition and sampling cheap Chinese beer. It felt like a meaningful moment鈥擟hinese athletes are often rendered faceless to their Western competitors. Endurance events in China have the potential to create countless similar moments, but not if organizers can鈥檛 be trusted to prevent reckless tragedy.

The post Why the Ultra-Race Tragedy in China Wasn鈥檛 Surprising appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

On the third day of the听, a 250-mile race in the vast Chinese desert in late September, elite British ultrarunner was hallucinating.听He鈥檇 gone more than a 130 miles, and a stretch of dirt road in an empty valley had suddenly became a parking lot jammed with cars, perhaps on a highway听or a rental lot at an airport. Someone鈥攁n attendant maybe鈥攊nformed him he had to return his car. But it was far away in the distance, so Montague听asked whether the attendant could return it for him. He听grew more confused. The keys were no longer in his pocket, and hadn鈥檛 he given them to the attendant? Then the parking lot disappeared, and Montague again found himself in the remote desert, with the northern edge of the Tibetan Plateau looming in the distance.

The previous night had been rough as well. After making his way down from the race鈥檚 high point at an elevation of over 13,000 feet, Montague arrived at a rest station shivering uncontrollably.听I was reporting at the Ultra Gobi, and听I听slept in media tents听at the rest stations, doubling up on sleeping bags and gauging the temperature, which could dip into the low teens at night after hitting daytime听temperatures as high as 70 degrees, with plastic water bottles. When Montague arrived, the bottle听next to my pillow had frozen solid. One of the doctors stationed at the rest point woke me, asking to borrow the extra bag. Montague was becoming听hypothermic, and James Poole, another British runner who arrived shortly after, was also at risk. The race leaders had been hallucinating as well when they鈥檇 come through a few hours before.

That night听the two young British doctors,听Rosemary Hartley and Nico Swetenham, made a rule. Anyone with a core body temperature below 96.8 degrees Fahrenheit, which they later lowered to 95,听wouldn鈥檛 be allowed back onto the course. Inside the rest tent, Montague and Poole recovered in their bags and draped themselves in jun dayi鈥攅normous, Mao-style green fur coats used by the Chinese army, which volunteers kept at the rest station. Their core temperatures听recovered in a few hours, and the doctors let them go.

After a few days on the course, it was hard to imagine the event running听safely without the doctors provided by , a British group founded in 2009 that provides medical services to remote adventure events all over the world. Xingzhi Exploring, the Chinese race organizer of the Ultra Gobi, had been required by the local government to hire a medical team. It was a large investment鈥攋ust under $18,000鈥攁nd not one that most races make, which speaks to the moment in which ultraracing now finds itself: for the most part, it鈥檚 still up to race organizers to decide how much medical support to provide, even as the sport has grown increasingly mainstream. Whether they should even have such standards, and how far they should go, are听unresolved questions.

鈥淚 mean, it鈥檚 not really good for you,鈥� the American ultrarunner Mike Wardian told me once, describing any race longer than 100 miles.

In a space where pushing limits is often the point, it鈥檚 not clear how much medical support ultra organizers ought to provide. During competitions, ultrarunners experience (and assume the liability and risks for)听a wide range of medical challenges, ranging from blisters to hypothermia and heatstroke. In recent years, races have occasionally even seen听deaths. Karl Hoagland, the publisher of UltraRunning听magazine, has been tracking ultra-race听completions for a few decades and, according to his database, about 30,000 runners finished听ultras in 2008. Last year, that number reached 110,000. With the uptick in participation, and more novices getting involved, questions surrounding standards of medical care鈥攚hich there鈥檚 no global organization to set鈥攁re being asked more frequently.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 believe there is a standard. The sport is growing up, and regulations for various aspects of race production are starting to come more front of mind. But who is the institute to put these regulations into place?鈥� says听longtime ultrarunner听Krissy Moehl, who recently directed her first race in 17 years. 鈥淭he medical piece is one of the discussions.鈥�

Hoagland agrees. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know of any formal standards of medical care for ultras,鈥� he says, adding听that the sport鈥檚 core values emphasize independent adventure, something听that medical care should be careful not to spoil. In races, runners are expected to self-regulate, deciding when to rest, eat, or seek help鈥攕ometimes from other racers. 鈥淭he 鈥榥anny state鈥� regulates our daily lives to a great extent,鈥� Hoagland says,听鈥渁nd ultras are a break from that. Trying to bring proactive, overinformed, and intrusive medical oversight to ultras is not practical or prudent, and it detracts from the sport.鈥�

Most athletes I spoke to听agreed with that sentiment, though with caveats. Montague feels the sweet spot falls听somewhere in between allowing athletes to听make decisions on their own until they enter a state where they may not be able听to do so by themselves. And that鈥檚 where good medical supervision should take over, he says,听providing a kind of safety backup that doesn鈥檛 cheat the experience of subjecting oneself to pain.

鈥淎s ultrarunners, we鈥檙e exploring our limitations. But on any given day, these can be transient,鈥� Montague says. Exile Medics tries to manage this line delicately by being respectful of runners鈥� desire to push themselves, while helping them avoid unreasonable risks. By now听the organization has had ten years of experience managing medical care with this balance in mind听at races all around the world鈥擟hina, Namibia, Costa Rica, Sweden, Sierra Leone鈥攁veraging about 25 to 30 races per year. Brett Rocos, the founder and director of Exile Medics, says, 鈥淥ur experience means that we can tell between an exhausted, emotionally drained athlete and a person with genuine illness.鈥� Still, the medics听do their best to let athletes make听decisions about potential risk themselves, accepting听that even as medical professionals they can鈥檛 control all the dangers and making听sure runners know that. If a runner is hard-set on continuing despite听medical issues, Exile Medics often lets them go, provided the ailment isn鈥檛 extreme, like hypothermia.

At the Ultra Gobi, Exile Medics navigated that line听well. Later听Montague told me he might have gone back out prematurely that night if Exile Medics hadn鈥檛 kept him inside鈥攁 doctor鈥檚 order he now appreciates. But the team also let the athletes push themselves. After the race, I spent a lot of time interviewing runners about their hallucinations鈥攃onversations, I admit, that I found comically entertaining in some cases. Seemingly everyone鈥攁cross all races, nationalities, and sexes鈥攍eft reality at some point. Rocks turned into animals, abstract art appeared in the skies, family members showed up听out of nowhere, bushes transformed into giraffes. The visions frequently bordered on the magical, a kind of acid trip without the drug, and participants told me they deeply valued those experiences, untethered from the mundaneness of reality.

On the other hand, a race with such extremes felt, at times, like it was bordering on dangerous. , a participant听at previous Ultra Gobis, remarked that while most desert races felt like social walks with friends, the Ultra Gobi was a gauntlet. But with a trained medical team on the course, almost 80 percent of the runners completed the race.

Hoagland told me he expects the growth in ultrarunning to continue. And with it, pressure for race organizers to provide more medical supervision will likely also increase. But for a sport that pushes its athletes to extremes, expecting races to be held responsible for every health risk听is probably unreasonable. 鈥淲ith this sport becoming more mainstream, and more people than ever involved, the risks are greater,鈥� Montague says. 鈥淪o both race directors and organizers have a greater degree of responsibility to negate these risks, to protect these individuals from themselves. But ultimately, the duty of responsibility needs to be taken by the athlete.鈥�

The Ultra Gobi, at least, seemed to strike the right balance. Before everyone departed, the Exile Medics staff shared beers on the rooftop of a local hotel with some of the athletes. The mood was jovial. Runners swapped stories of hallucinations and pain, recounting them now with laughter and awe. Around the table, athletes and medics alike shared a sense of accomplishment. I heard no regrets. On their walks to bathroom breaks, most participants were limping, but they would recover soon enough.

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Hiking with Jessie, my significant other, means flushing birds by pishing so we can look at their jizz. I learned what this means the old-fashioned way in 2012, without Google, on our first hike together. It means moving very slowly.

I am not a birder, though I鈥檝e learned a lot since dating one. At the University of New Mexico, Jessie researches, writes, and reads about birds. She even writes about researching and reading about birds. Those who surround her also watch birds, and they in turn surround me, throwing around lingo I don鈥檛 understand. 鈥淚 can only contribute the occasional 鈥業 saw a bird once,鈥欌�� Vince Ortega, a nonbirding fianc茅e of Jessie鈥檚 former lab mate, once told me in solidarity.

My greatest birding accomplishment remains spotting a pack of endemic fowl crashing through underbrush in Borneo, making loud, chicken-like noises. I spotted them because I didn鈥檛 have binoculars and was limited to looking only at the ground. Jessie gave me a pat on the back and said, 鈥淕ood boyfriend.鈥� Then she went back to looking at them. I was thrilled.

Such victories come sparingly when every bird soaring above you looks like a raven. When you鈥檙e in love with a birder, it鈥檚 usually best to just stand back and watch them.

I do this mostly by tagging along with Jessie鈥檚 lab in the field鈥攐r at a bar where they gather after their lab meeting on Fridays. It鈥檚 a strange scene at 5 p.m., a nerdy collection of biologists ordering IPAs at a fratty bar with sticky floors. Birdwatchers frequently find tranquility in places many consider unsavory鈥攔emote desert puddles, drainage ditches, or garbage piles鈥攚here they see attractive habitats for themselves and avifauna. Here, at dusk before hoards of patrons arrive, we have a balcony overlooking the Sandias all to ourselves. You can gaze across the valley for wildlife鈥攎erlins, lesser goldfinches, and Cooper鈥檚 hawks that dive-bomb packs of clumsy, idiotic doves.

These identifications thrill birdwatchers, and they have taxonomies for fellow birders as well. Once, after taking a professor鈥檚 recruiting call when she was applying to grad school, Jessie made an observation that confused me.

鈥泪鈥檓 so glad he鈥檚 a birder,鈥� she said

鈥淎ren鈥檛 all ornithologists birders?鈥� I asked.

Dumb question. Jessie explained that, for some ornithologists, a bird is merely a vessel by which to study more exciting aspects of evolution, ecology, or conservation. Such ornithologists were a mystifying subspecies; they would finish a day of fieldwork outdoors, often in exotic locations, and then not return to look at the birds for fun. The horror. I was lucky not to be dating one of those people.

So who are the ideal birding companions? They are, I鈥檝e found, often old and retired. Madi Baumann, who鈥檚 married to Matt, a savant of New Mexico birds in his early thirties, verified as much. 鈥淪omething that took some getting used to was how many random phone calls he would get from older men that I knew nothing about.鈥� They turned out to be innocent birders calling Matt to report sightings, plan trips, or get tips. But they were also unexpectedly useful assets鈥攂ullpen relief for nonbirding partners wishing to sleep later than 5 a.m. Other birders claim conversion is inevitable. On one trip, Jessie and I met a couple from Texas. Only the groom was a birder when they married; five years later, the bride had taken up birding and renounced Christianity for atheism. She said the two events were related.

When dating a birder, everything鈥攆rom religious beliefs to daily habits鈥攊s affected by avifauna. Jessie refers to children as 鈥渙ffspring.鈥� Homes become 鈥渘ests.鈥� Noteworthy hair becomes 鈥減lumage.鈥� A few weeks ago, lounging on the couch, Jessie said she was roosting. On another occasion, she showed me videos of colorful birds doing bizarre, elaborate mating dances鈥攐ne male in front of a creative lean-to he had built worthy of Andy Goldsworthy, decorated with purple flower petals. I looked around the house and then at myself, pasty and unremarkable, and pondered my underwhelming bank account as a freelance journalist. I wasn鈥檛 sure what Jessie was trying to suggest.

She is more straightforward, however, when relieving me of driving duties after I fail to stop for birds. Once, while leaving New Mexico鈥檚 remote Gila Wilderness in our 1997 Honda CRV with nearly 300,000 miles on it, Jessie spotted some birds and took the wheel鈥攕uddenly unworried about the engine overheating. She looked everywhere but the road, screeching to sudden halts when something fluttered nearby, while I improvised prayers in the seat. 鈥淚 honestly don鈥檛 know how they stay on the road,鈥� says Aaron Matins, a nonbirder dating Selina Bauernfeind, one of Jessie鈥檚 lab mates.

Birding by foot tends to be more relaxing. A few years ago in Thailand, I brought a Kindle along on hikes and strapped a foldout chair to my pack. When Jessie came upon mixed flocks (a group of birds with many species, which is very exciting), I鈥檇 settle in and get some reading done. Hiking loops work wonders; on that trip, I completed an eight-mile circle and linked up with Jessie after she鈥檇 gone less than one and a half. She had barely noticed my absence.

I hung back for a bit, lovesick and even a little envious, watching Jessie stumble onto gold mines of her own fascinations. She鈥檇 just moved to Beijing with me, and Thailand marked her first time birding in Old World tropics. Their canopies concealed thousands of unopened gifts; watching her find them, I sometimes felt disappointed a similar curiosity didn鈥檛 grab me the same way.

Increasingly, I find myself in awe of great birders鈥攖heir recognition of songs and calls and the seemingly invisible details they use to identify the LBJs鈥攖he 鈥渓ittle brown jobs鈥� of drab gray and brown birds that all look the same. They value something intimate about the natural world in a way, I suspect, that even . Lately, I鈥檝e found myself ditching the foldout chair for binoculars, and I鈥檝e gotten better at making IDs. Last summer, I spotted Jessie her first pair of American three-toed woodpeckers, this time slightly off the ground on a log鈥攁 small improvement from the fowl I鈥檇 spotted in Borneo. And in April, according to the birding site , I recorded the third to arrive in Albuquerque, a feat I proudly recounted at听lab drinks.

A few weeks later, Jessie and I were driving back from a weekend of camping with her lab in Boone鈥檚 Draw, a sweltering ditch of forest patch in the eastern New Mexico desert that attracts desperate migrating birds. Aaron was driving, Selina in the passenger鈥檚 seat, and I sat next to Jessie in the back, napping and guzzling Gatorade to recover from near heatstroke. As we approached the Sandias, Aaron remarked that a recent hike with Selina had gone slower than expected, and I offered my condolences鈥攕ix years of them now. Selina and Jessie laughed, but neither promised change. We weren鈥檛 hoping for it anyway.

The post A Beginner’s Guide to Dating a Birder appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

March was busy for Zhao Fan, the Chinese distributor for American running shoe company Altra. He had spent two weeks shepherding Lithuanian ultrarunner Gediminas Grinius around the country, along with American athletes Meredith Edwards and Jason Schlarb. UTMB, the prestigious ultra series, was hosting its first competition in China, in the Gaoligong Mountains, near the Myanmar border. Before the event, Grinius was giving talks around the country; afterward, Edwards and Schlarb would be attempting FKTs atop the Tibetan Plateau鈥檚 underexplored eastern edge, an area just beginning to develop adventure tourism. This was their third trip to China, and they gushed about the mountains they鈥檇 explored, but they were just as impressed by the growing enthusiasm for outdoor recreation in the country.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 want to sound greedy,鈥� Schlarb told me, 鈥渂ut the China opportunity is really big.鈥�

Exactly how big is an open question. 鈥淵ou ask five different people how big the outdoor market is now, you鈥檒l get five different answers,鈥� said听Roger Zeng, who works for the China Outdoor Retail Association (CORA), a brand distributor that represents companies such as Patagonia and Backcountry Access. Sanfu, the Chinese equivalent to REI, estimates the current market to be around $15 billion, with most of the growth coming from running and skiing. But Zeng and other distributors are expecting Chinese hobbyists to pick up an even wider range of outdoor sports in the near future, especially as more of them continue traveling abroad. 鈥淓veryone is trying absolutely everything right now,鈥� Zeng told me.

For outdoor brands, that should mean big opportunities in the coming years, but distributors say most foreign companies still have a long way to go. To capitalize on the incoming wave, they鈥檒l need to do more than just translate an American branding campaign into Chinese and drop it into a Sanfu store. Over and over, distributors stressed the importance of tinkering with just about every aspect of a brand鈥檚 pricing, messaging, and advertising channels to fit the Chinese market.

At the Gaoligong race, I met up with Jack Lin, an industry vet by Chinese standards. In 2005, he opened a store selling outdoor gear in Shenzhen鈥攁 booming Chinese city only 40 years old. He sold imported products there听and now distributes about 20 foreign brands in China, including names like Black Diamond and Vasque. Getting over the price hurdles is difficult. China heavily taxes imports, especially luxury products, and Lin has to sell foreign brands at higher costs than in the United States. Once, when visiting Seattle on vacation, Lin walked into a store selling outerwear by Arc鈥檛eryx鈥攎aker of one of the most expensive jackets in the West and famous in China鈥攁nd had trouble concealing his laughter when he saw how much cheaper everything was. Chinese startups, he said, take advantage of those gaps. 鈥淚n the beginning, domestic brands compete with cheap prices,鈥� Lin told me, noting that Chinese brands often begin by copycatting established foreign designs. 鈥淲hen they get strong, they improve the product design, quality, and price points.鈥�

Chinese consumers who still want foreign products have gotten more creative as well, buying directly from Amazon in America. They then ship the goods to China, circumventing the import and distribution system. Those who buy products online through Amazon are often attracted to brands Chinese consumers already know, like the North Face, Salomon, or Arc鈥檛eryx. That pushes aside knowledgeable distributors like Lin, who could otherwise educate consumers about brands that, though well-known in the United States, people in China haven鈥檛 heard of yet.

Zeng and Lin both told me that industry has been working with Amazon and the Chinese government to adjust tariff policies, but it鈥檚 still an uphill battle, and one they may not win. Lin sometimes wondered听whether traditional distributors were becoming antiquated in the country. Its online shopping craze dwarfed similar trends in the United States. In China, cash and听credit cards are rarely used anymore; they鈥檝e been replaced by Alibaba and WeChat鈥檚 mobile pay schemes, which are similar to Apple Pay (except everyone actually uses it).听These payment methods are now integrated into every aspect of Chinese life, especially online shopping. Marketing in China without fully understanding them is akin to attempting to promote products in America without knowing the inner workings of Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Lin thought brands would be better off allowing their distributors to work on branding, ceding distribution to the biggest internet vendors in China, such as Taobao and Jingdong.

Brands also aren鈥檛 adapting their messaging as effectively as they could to Chinese audiences, many distributors told me. Foreign companies often wrongly assume听they can message Chinese听and U.S.听consumers the same way, or they鈥檙e unwilling to adapt their messaging to fit trends specific to the country. 鈥淭he Bears Ears campaign obviously means nothing here, and I can鈥檛 do anything with politics,鈥� Zeng told me. Instead, many distributors see听foreign brands as waiting for cultural norms and expectations to shift in their direction鈥攆or #vanlife, say, or other fads of the Western outdoor industry, to emerge in China. 鈥淥pening stores and selling stuff isn鈥檛 too complicated,鈥� Bremen Schmeltz, Patagonia鈥檚 Asia Pacific rep, wrote me from Ventura. 鈥淗owever, doing it in a way that represents Patagonia鈥檚 mission of using business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis can be a bit harder. As the Chinese customer evolves and looks for quality and ethos in their purchases, Patagonia should be there as an option for them.鈥�

Zeng, however, believes those values are more present in China than brand HQs realize鈥攖hey just haven鈥檛 been exploited effectively. 鈥淭he brands and the government, I think, are both actually still behind where the consumers are,鈥� Zeng said, noting that using environmental messaging to target China鈥檚 younger generation, who are growing increasingly conscious about such values, can work. In an authoritarian country, Patagonia still can鈥檛 market itself as a brand supporting political resistance, but Zeng believes that听with the right tweaks, a foreign brand鈥檚 message can work in China while still being consistent with its values from home. In addition to environmental awareness, Zeng hopes to frame Patagonia鈥檚 recycling message around frugality鈥攁n aspect of Chinese culture he thinks lies dormant beneath the new-wealth culture of glitz and glamour. He鈥檚 begun sending Patagonia鈥檚 sole in-country repair seamstress to do workshops around the country to promote the concept of reuse.鈥�

For now, though, at the outset of the Chinese outdoor movement, promoting the apparel as a symbol of lifestyle probably makes the most sense. 鈥淧eople in China are starting to wear sporty winter jackets to walk their dogs,鈥� Agnes Zhang, from Gore, told me. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not just for hiking, like it used to be.鈥�

Arc鈥檛eryx, one of the earliest and most successful outdoor brands to come to China, has become an emerging status symbol for 迟耻丑补辞颅颅鈥攏ewly minted millionaires with little regard for budget. When Arc鈥檛eryx comes up in conversation with distributors in China, you frequently get laughs, eye rolls, or expressions of wonder, and sometimes all three. 鈥淵ou watch a tuhao go into Sanfu, and the first thing they ask is, 鈥榃here鈥檚 the Bird?鈥欌�� a former reporter for the Chinese edition of 国产吃瓜黑料 told me, employing the shorthand that the Chinese use to refer to the Arc鈥檛eryx logo. And while few brands have yet been able to achieve the same success, the Bird has proven it鈥檚 a lucrative path for those who can.

Getting the Chinese adjustments right, however, requires investing effort on the ground and a lot of experimentation, and some brands allow their distributors more freedom than others. Altra is one of them. Zhao Fan caught the trail-running bug while living in Utah for two years, where he met the company鈥檚 founders, and he was passionate about his project. Attuned to cultural ticks鈥斺�淚t鈥檚 easy to meet non-Mormons in Utah, actually,鈥� Fan told me, 鈥測ou just go running in the Wasatch on Sundays鈥濃�攈e is determined to deftly adapt messages to Chinese audiences. Fan has organized demos and invested much time explaining zero drop and Altra鈥檚 wide-toe design to Chinese runners, and now he鈥檚 bringing elite foreign Altra runners around China to promote the sport. He鈥檚 still adjusting the messaging but is willing to try almost anything. At Gaoligong, I usually found Fan on his cellphone, sharing content across every U.S. and Chinese social media platform he could: Twitter, Instagram, Strava, Weibo, WeChat, and Chinese running apps Joy Run, Iranshao, and Zuiku. (Like many Chinese people, Fan uses a VPN to access Twitter and Instagram, which are blocked in China.) At competitions, his team set up next to trails and counted the shoes running past, nursing side beers while doing so. Hanging out with Fan meant being consumed by shoe gossip. His aggressiveness was paying off: After just two years in the country, more than 10 percent of runners at one of China鈥檚 biggest trail races last year were wearing Altras, second to only Salomon鈥檚 share.

Making such headway, of course, means getting all the nuances right鈥攖he online shopping hurdles, the necessary message tweaks, generational targeting鈥攁nd doing the extra legwork to make it happen. Even small mistakes could have real consequences. 鈥淐hinese like brighter colors,鈥� Jack Lin told me at one point, talking about the importance of details, 鈥渂ut no green. A man with a green hat means his spouse has affairs with someone.鈥�

Brands don鈥檛 always realize it, many people told me, but those tiny details matter, and ignoring them can mean lost opportunities. They seemed to be right: That weekend at Gaoligong, trail runners were covered in blinding neon outfits, but never anything resembling the color of a leaf.

The post Can American Brands Tap the Chinese Outdoor Market? appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

In Central China鈥檚听Xiahe听airport, a wall near baggage claim features a photograph of Zhagana, a Tibetan village high in the mountains of Gansu province. About 1,300 people live there, in a landscape straight out of Lord of the Rings鈥攑eaks of sheer rock tower above the village, conifers cover the hillsides, and a narrow stream runs below terraced fields. In summer, tour buses charge up from the nearby county seat and pause for photos at its best vista. Then they immediately descend. As flag-waving tour guides herd their flocks on and off buses, the lookout becomes a spectacle in itself. Chinese people refer to the routine in a self-deprecating jingle, which rhymes in Mandarin:

Ride the bus and sleep
Park the bus and pee
Get off the bus for pics
Return and remember nothing.

I鈥檇 first heard about Zhagana from a Tibetan friend who had once worked in the local tourist bureau. She had seen firsthand how these waves of visitors were changing the village from a quiet town to a thriving outdoor destination. The hoards coming off the buses represented the most visible part of the upsurge, but more significant to the town鈥檚 transformation, she said, were middle-class Chinese and a small but growing contingent of Westerners venturing into the surrounding backcountry to trek, camp, and hike. They had triggered a guesthouse boom, fueled by Chinese government subsidies, that was making Zhagana and other mountain towns across the plateau increasingly accessible. Local tourist offices were now using buzzwords like 鈥渆cotourism鈥� to advertise their wild landscapes and lure this new demographic of traveler. 鈥淭ibet markets itself,鈥� says my friend, who left her tourist bureau job to start her own business selling traditional Tibetan medicine. 鈥淣ow everyone鈥檚 heard how beautiful Tibet is.鈥�

The branding has worked. In 2016, 10 million Chinese tourists visited Zhagana鈥檚 greater prefecture鈥攁 30 percent increase from the year before鈥攃rowding previously secluded mountain hideaways. 鈥淭he growth is super-strong right now and really picking up, especially in areas outside of Lhasa and Central Tibet,鈥� says Jed Weingarten, a photographer and ecotourism consultant who has worked with towns in eastern Tibet. The听explosion in tourism听was changing the region, my听Tibetan friend told me last summer, and she encouraged听me to听see for myself.听

When I visited Zhagana in June, a 14-year-old drove me on his motorbike to his family鈥檚 guesthouse. That night, the power cut out; within minutes, flashlights, candles, and moonlight replaced electricity. With the TV off, I asked the family鈥檚 patriarch, a man in his late sixties whom I鈥檒l call Tenzin, how Zhagana had so suddenly become a mountain tourist destination. (The subjects of the story wished to remain anonymous due to sensitivity around talking to the foreign press about Tibetan politics.)

He explained that the Chinese government had begun to see outdoor tourism, among other development initiatives, as a promising political tool to integrate remote villages like Zhagana into the Chinese economy. This was particularly true in regions of the Tibetan Plateau outside Central Tibet, like Kham and Amdo, where Zhagana is located. The strategy represented a stark tactical shift away from decades of failed Chinese attempts at assimilating villages by force that started with Chairman Mao Zedong鈥檚 occupation of Tibet in the 1950s. 鈥淏efore, everything we did was about communism,鈥� Tenzin told me, referring to Mao鈥檚 disastrous policies through the 1970s. 鈥淣ow it鈥檚 tourism.鈥�

But first, there was a three-decade period of quiet in the 1980s, 鈥�90s, and early aughts when the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) adapted the country鈥檚 economy to capitalism. In Zhagana, villagers recovered from decades of failed experiments in communism, rebuilding their monasteries and dividing plots of land among families again. Harsher tactics returned, however, in 2008, as China prepared for its global beauty pageant in the Beijing Olympics. That March, China鈥檚 central news station broadcast news of riots in Lhasa, Central Tibet鈥檚 capital, where dubious arrests of local monks incited Tibetans to vandalize neighborhoods gentrified by Chinese migrants. Unrest spread across the plateau.

In Zhagana, a mob descended the mountain road to the county seat of Diebu, where they threw rocks at local government offices. Riot police responded with tear gas, villagers told me. For two weeks after that, police interrogated villagers, cellphones were checked, and phone service was cut off. Families with pictures of the Dalai Lama in their houses or on their phones or who had sent text messages deemed 鈥渟uspicious鈥� were liable for arrest. PLA soldiers and police increased foot patrols and roadblocks; though the village was never formally sealed, few dared leave their homes. Tenzin鈥檚 son, Norbu, who helped run the guesthouse, recalled more than 20 villagers being arrested and held in custody for up to four months. According to Tenzin, they often returned with bruises and had trouble sitting down.

But the CCP鈥檚 tactics of intimidation never won over Tibetans. Eventually, officials changed strategy and attempted to buy loyalty instead. In 2012, the Chinese government鈥檚 local tourist bureau began promoting the area to visitors, putting up posters like the one in the Xiahe airport. At the same time, they began offering generous loan packages and subsidies for families looking to start businesses. In 2013, Tenzin鈥檚 family accepted a blank check of more than RMB 20,000 (about $3,000) from the local government to build a guesthouse鈥攐ne of the first in town.

During my visit, guesthouse construction was still in full swing, with the sounds of drills and jackhammers ringing out over the valley. One day on the patio, I caught Norbu, handsome and with an energetic smile, considering the dirt road leading down to Diebu, which was scheduled to be paved soon. Five years ago, he recalled, there wasn鈥檛 a single guesthouse in town. 鈥淣ow, every family has one,鈥� he says.

Later, he told me more about how听fast the village was changing. These days, electricity was more reliable. More guesthouses had Wi-Fi. Villagers were happy about the standard of living, and Norbu鈥檚 family was doing well; they had made all the money back from their initial investments, and they felt in control of their decisions. The terror that followed 2008 was largely over, though the memories still made Norbu shudder. Meanwhile, village traditions endured鈥攖he local monastery was full, and most families still had nomadic relatives herding yak on the high mountain grasslands. Tibetan was still the village鈥檚 first language.

But the CCP鈥檚 influence still loomed over the town and its new economy in subtle ways. I had hoped to camp with Tenzin鈥檚 grandson, a shepherd who moved between distant pastures tending sheep and yak, tethering himself to his family鈥檚 village as if in orbit around a host star. While he refused to market homestays for trekkers on overnight hikes as other nomads had begun doing, he extended a rare invitation to me to visit his pastures and sleep in his traditional, leaky black tent made of yak wool. I was thrilled. But as soon as I had packed, Tenzin vetoed the trip. It had snowed recently, and he worried that I might slip, that I wouldn鈥檛 be able to stomach raw yak milk, or that his son鈥檚 guard dog would attack me, unaccustomed to the smell of a foreigner. And if anything were to happen, their relationship with the local CCP tourist bureau, which certified tourist outfits like guesthouses, might be ruined.

Cultural norms were changing as well, Norbu told me. When I asked how, he grimaced. 鈥淏efore, helping a neighbor with something wasn鈥檛 really a big deal,鈥� he said. 鈥淣ow, people ask for money.鈥� There was an underlying assumption that helping with a neighbor鈥檚 renovations could be risky: Improvements to one business might take away customers from another. 鈥淲e鈥檙e richer, but a lot has been lost,鈥� he said.

Norbu also fretted about the erosion of the Tibetan language among young people. He taught the language in a local school, and fewer students were signing up for his classes. They were choosing to focus on Mandarin instead鈥攁 choice their parents almost always pushed for, seeing the Chinese market around them.

One day, three Chinese tourists from Lanzhou, the provincial capital seven hours away, checked into Tenzin鈥檚 guesthouse. At dinner among themselves, they began criticizing Tibetans as ungrateful for the favorable treatment they received in development money, including the type that had kick-started the guesthouse they were staying in. It was a common complaint among Chinese, who tended to view themselves as noble missionaries bringing modernity to an impoverished backwater of the country that, as they saw it, had forever been a part of China. Tibet鈥檚 transformation to a more urbanized society, they believed, was an honorable undertaking, and stories of Tibetan farmers turned guesthouse millionaires resembled the legends of Chinese boomtowns on the coast, worthy of celebration. But when I asked them how this transition could happen smoothly if all Tibetans didn鈥檛 aspire to CCP-scale development, there was a momentary silence. Finally, one tourist spoke up.

鈥淪ome Tibetans,鈥� he said, frowning, 鈥渕aybe they鈥檙e just happy tending sheep.鈥�

That was an oversimplification, but it touched on the core of the problem. Tibetans tended to be far more skeptical than Chinese about the sacrifices required for CCP-scale economic development. This confounded party leaders; nearly everywhere else in the country, development had ensured political stability. 鈥淭he extraordinary development of Tibet over the past 60 years points to an irrefutable truth,鈥� said Xi Jinping, China鈥檚 president, . 鈥淲ithout the Communist Party, there would have been no new China, no new Tibet.鈥�

In a different way, Western visitors often remained just as oblivious to Tibet鈥檚 complexities. It can be tempting听to view Chinese-fueled development as threatening a romanticized land full of peaceful nomads and monks shielded from modernity鈥檚 evils. But Tibetans like Norbu and Tenzin cautioned me against casting them as victims. Another Tibetan I knew had been in Lhasa for the riots. She had grown sick of fielding foreigners鈥� questions about it and rolled her eyes when the Tibetan independence movement was brought up. To her, 鈥淔ree Tibet鈥� had become a kind of hippy slogan performing a global wokeness; the West, by making Tibet an international symbol of victimhood, now fetishized even her people鈥檚 problems.

That narrative also conflicted with her own success as an entrepreneur: She had since migrated to a city and was making good money selling Tibetan jewelry. Another Tibetan guesthouse owner I knew, previously a small farmer, was now making more than RMB 1 million (about $150,000) each summer. And while the Chinese government had helped push the tourist market on Zhagana, Tenzin and Norbu stressed that it was ultimately up to the individual villagers to decide whether they wanted to engage with it. Left with the choice, Tenzin was proud that many families like his had willingly opened tourism businesses to better their lives. No one would soon forget the CCP鈥檚 political motives, but it was unfair to blame anyone for being pragmatic.

I thought about all of this as I wandered the mountains around Zhagana. Chinese and Western critiques often devolved into a shouting match when it came to Tibet, yet both felt rooted in different savior narratives. Tibetans themselves were often left in the middle, ignored like a child by two domineering parents whose arguments long ago ceased to be about the child. Meanwhile, most Tibetans I knew were operating despite all the shouting, improvising their way forward and making the best decisions they could in the face of an uncertain future. Tenzin and Norbu didn鈥檛 yet know what to make of all the changes in Zhagana and other mountain towns, but they were still the best guides through the backcountry. They welcomed every traveler, led them through the mountains, and told them where to explore next.

The post How to Manufacture an Ecotourism Paradise appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

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1. Forum Phi Architecture

Location: Aspen, Colorado
What they do:
Number of employees: 21
Average salary*: $65,819
Vacation time: Unlimited vacation days after one year.
Perks: Forum Phridays team-building events: Take a Friday off to hit the slopes, go biking, or do a hut-to-hut trip. Also: Employees who recommend someone for recruitment get a $500 bonus after that new hire鈥檚 90-day review.
What they say: 鈥淲e have a Forum Phitness Club where staff get together and workout during lunch. It can take many forms鈥攈iking, biking, climbing, gym, skiing. Our facilities are all around us in Aspen.鈥�

*All salaries listed are averages for exempt employees.

2. GroundFloor Media

Location: Denver, Colorado
What they do:
Number of Employees: 18
Average salary: $93,300
Vacation time: Unlimited PTO after one year.
Perks: Annual Outward Bound and other offsite team-building events.
What they say: 鈥淓very Thursday at 3:30 we have our weekly Beer Club, and everyone鈥攊ncluding clients and agency partners/friends鈥攊s invited. We feature beers from a different brewery, or of a different style, and learn from our graphic designer/beer geek.鈥�

3. Avid4 国产吃瓜黑料

Location: Boulder, Colorado
What they do:
Number of employees: 20
Average salary:听Not provided
Vacation time: Unlimited PTO听
Perks: Annual paid month-long sabbatical to travel, in addition to an annual all-expense-paid trip to Moab to hike, bike, and climb in the desert.
What they say: 鈥淲e actively build partnerships with and recruit through numerous organizations that are resources to help us grow a diverse staff population, including: Summer Search, Latino Outdoors, Be Visible, Outdoor Afro, and SW Conservation Corps.鈥�

4. WhippleWood CPAs

Location: Littleton, Colorado
What they do:
Number of employees: 25
Average salary: $87,800
Vacation time: 16 days of PTO available after one year.
Perks: Hero Awards鈥�$110 rewarded to someone on staff who is deemed to have given 110 percent. Also: they have a 鈥淶en Room鈥� on the premises and employees are encouraged to attend 鈥淏oard Meetings鈥濃�斺�渇irm-wide breaks to ride longboards in parking lots.鈥�
What they say: 鈥淭his year we closed the office to race go-karts during tax season.鈥�

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5. Shine United, LLC

Location: Madison, Wisconsin
What they do:
Number of employees: 42
Average salary:听Not provided
Vacation time: 10 vacation days after one year.
Perks: Summer Fridays (partial work days from Memorial Day through Labor Day).
What they say: 鈥淕ames! Whether at lunch, afternoon, or early evening, playing a game in the common area is a great way to de-stress and spend some quality time with your coworkers.鈥�

6. Pax8

Location: Greenwood Village, Colorado
What they do:
Number of employees: 85
Average salary: $88,579
Vacation time: Unlimited PTO after one year.
Perks: 鈥淭hree-tap kegerator with bi-weekly voting on what new local brews we should stock it with.鈥�
What they say: 鈥淣o assholes. No matter how high up the chain you are, if you鈥檙e no fun to work with, you don鈥檛 last long.鈥�

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7. Room 214

Location: Boulder, Colorado
What they do:
Number of employees: 33
Average salary: $65,000
Vacation time: Unlimited PTO after one year.
Perks: In-office culture of giving back to the community, including pro-bono work, volunteer events, and fundraising for nonprofits.
What they say: 鈥淔un events, including Movie Wednesdays in a conference room, or an afternoon running club, or Barre-and-brew nights.鈥�

8. Ergodyne

Location: Saint Paul, Minnesota
What they do:
Number of employees: 50
Average salary: Not provided
Vacation time: Unlimited PTO.
Perks: Yoga offered twice a week for stress relief and refocusing.
What they say: 鈥淐ompany social hours are planned monthly and sometimes happen naturally. We gather away from our desks, enjoy a cold beer, glass of wine, or turn on the margarita mixer and enjoy some not-necessarily-work-related conversation.鈥�

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9. Power Digital Marketing

Location: San Diego, California
What they do:
Number of employees: 43
Average salary: $77,000
Vacation time: Unlimited PTO after one year.
Perks: Pet-friendly office. Plus: in-office ping-pong table.
What they say: 鈥淭here is not a day at Power Digital where there are not at least two to three dogs running around.鈥�

10. Young and Laramore, Inc.

Location: Indianapolis, Indiana
What they do:听
Number of employees: 48
Average salary: $83,000
Vacation time: 15 vacation days after one year.
Perks: Annual week off between Christmas and New Year鈥檚.
What they say: 鈥淲e have a company 鈥榪uiet room鈥� for meditation, prayer, or other mental health breaks during the day.鈥�

11. Charles Cunniffe Architects

Location: Aspen, Colorado
What they do:
Number of employees: 19
Average salary:听Not provided
Vacation time: 10 vacation days after one year.
Perks: On Friday mornings, CCA provides a healthy breakfast by Whole Foods so that folks can eat and enjoy the TECH talk before going into their workday.
What they say: 鈥淪tand-up desks and our company bike (for errands and cruising) keep us moving throughout the workday.鈥�

12. Peak Design

Location: San Francisco, California
What they do:听
Number of employees: 25
Average salary: $100,000
Vacation time: Unlimited PTO after one year.
Perks: 鈥淲inter hours鈥� policy lets employees spend the bulk of winter months in Tahoe, 鈥渁llowing them to access the gnarliest pow-pow available.鈥� And PD鈥檚 鈥渨ork from anywhere鈥� policy encourages employees to work from wherever they feel happiest.
What they say: 鈥淧eople are encouraged to take any trip or adventure they can dream up, regardless of time of year or length of trip. We want our employees to pursue experiences that will make them happy and help them lead exciting and fulfilling lives.鈥�

13. Natural Habitat 国产吃瓜黑料s

Location: Louisville, Colorado
What they do:听
Number of employees: 56
Average salary:听Not provided
Vacation time: 18 PTO after one year.
Perks: Company ski house in Summit County, Colorado, for employees and their families and friends to use throughout the ski season.
What they say: 鈥淸We have] paid travel via 鈥榮ite inspection鈥� trips around the world, joining our nature adventures to experience our product. Site inspection does not count towards PTO and each employee is given a handsome annual travel budget that covers most expenses.鈥�

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14. Pellucid Analytics

Location: Boulder, Colorado
What they do:听
Number of employees: 21
Average salary: $190,000
Vacation time: Unlimited PTO after one year.
Perks: Periodic company outings and teams鈥攂ubble soccer, bowling, go-karting, indoor soccer team, tennis team, gym group.
What they say: Carbs be damned! On 鈥淗igh Calorie Fridays,鈥� employees gorge on cupcakes, donuts, pastries, and other high calorie treats.

15. Hailey Sault

Location: Duluth, Minnesota
What they do:听
Number of employees: 20
Average salary: $69,391
Vacation time: 10 vacation days after one year.
Perks: Jigsaw puzzle area; employees take turns choosing playlists for in-office music; dogs are allowed; beer (or wine, juice, or water) and bingo on Friday afternoons.
What they say: 鈥淲e have a life coach for goals.鈥�

16. SportRx

Location: San Diego, California
What they do:
Number of employees: 20
Average salary: $83,000
Vacation time: Unlimited PTO after one year.
Perks: They regularly send employees on trips to such destinations as Rio, Park City, Mammoth, Mt. Hood, Daytona, and Big Bear to test products.
What they say: 鈥淲e have massive Nerf gun fights. It gets everyone up and moving, which promotes creativity and bonding.鈥�

17. GeoEX

Location: San Francisco, California
What they do:听国产吃瓜黑料 travel
Number of employees: 56
Average salary: $69,000
Vacation time: 15 vacation days after one year.
Perks: Subsidized employee wellness, including healthy snacks, yoga classes, outdoor fitness classes, and meditation-based stress reduction classes.
What they say: 鈥淲e have a Cocktail Cart that makes the rounds in the office from time to time, plus an employee curated kegerator.鈥�

18. Bluetent

Location: Carbondale, Colorado
What they do:
Number of employees: 49
Average salary: $71,916
Vacation time: 12 vacation days after one year.
Perks: Bluetent sponsors a weekly HIIT class led by a private instructor and tailored to individual skill levels, as well as a Friday morning yoga class.
What they say: 鈥淔lexible time is encouraged to use as needed, such as to walk the dogs, pick up children, take a hike, go for a run, mountain or road bike, fly fish, ski, or snowboard.鈥�

19. MyRounding

Location: Denver, Colorado
What they do:
Number of employees: 31
Average salary: Not provided
Vacation time: Unlimited PTO after one year.
Perks: Free Ecopasses (unlimited light rail/bus pass) to all full-time employees.
What they say: Annual Halloween costume contest and lunch. 鈥淗alloween is a big deal here.鈥�

20. Southwest Michigan First

Location: Kalamazoo, Michigan
What they do:听
Number of employees: 19
Average salary: $96,000
Vacation time: 15 days of PTO after one year.
Perks: Professional certifications are fully funded, including books, certification fee, prep classes, and paid time off to study.
What they say: 鈥淭his year, we celebrated 鈥�40 days of kindness鈥� leading up to Easter. Each of us drew the name of a team member and secretly did four nice things for them over 40 days. At the end, we celebrated with a team lunch and guessed who our secret person was.鈥�

21. Geocaching HQ

Location: Seattle, Washington
What they do:听
Number of employees: 74
Average salary: Not provided
Vacation time: 15 days of PTO after one year.
Perks: Makers and builders are allowed to use 10 percent of their time to work on projects that excite and challenge them. 鈥淪ome even end up on our product roadmap.鈥�
What they say: 鈥淲e give employees听the choice of either unlimited reimbursement for ski and snowboarding lift tickets or $250 towards outdoor activities. The Pacific Northwest is beautiful and we want to encourage our people to get out and enjoy it!鈥�

22. Mathys+Potestio

Location: Portland, Oregon
What they do:
Number of employees: 18
Average salary: $70,000
Vacation time: Unlimited PTO after one year.听
Perks: Annual 鈥渟ummer fun days鈥濃�攖wo days of events (i.e. river rafting, wine tasting, trips to the mountains, and picnics) to encourage staff bonding during work hours.
What they say: Cook-offs are big. 鈥淲e have had contests for salsa, guacamole, and other office-wide events built around food and drink.鈥�

23. Adaptive Sports Center of Crested Butte

Location: Crested Butte, Colorado
What they do:
Number of employees: 16
Average salary: $52,884
Vacation time: 10 vacation days after one year.
Perks: Free ski pass to Crested Butte Mountain Resort.
What they say: 鈥淲e鈥檙e allowed to come into work late on powder days.鈥�

24. The Trade Desk

Location: Ventura, California
What they do:
Number of employees: 381
Average salary: Not provided
Vacation time: 20 days of PTO after one year.
Perks: Annual TTD Palooza: the entire company is flown in to Ventura, California, for a week-long retreat鈥攖hink company-mandated fun built around battle-of-the-bands, karaoke, field trips, and workshops.
What they say: 鈥淟unchtime surfing: We provide a storage area and spare surfboards/wet suits in our Ventura office and have regular surf outings.鈥�

25. TeamSnap

Location: Boulder, Colorado
What they do:
Number of employees: 112
Average salary: $78,500
Vacation time: Unlimited PTO after one year.
Perks: A 鈥渃ulture of trust鈥� is emphasized. 鈥淓veryone is trusted to do their jobs however they feel most capable.鈥�
What they say: 鈥淥ne-minute workouts are a regular thing, where people in HQ take a break to do an exercise.鈥�

26. Drake Cooper, Inc.

Location: Boise, Idaho
What they do:
Number of employees: 51
Average salary: $68,800
Vacation time: Unlimited PTO after one year.
Perks: Weekly Share the Love meetings to update staff and get feedback, a monthly chat with the CEO, and an annual offsite one-day planning session.
What they say: 鈥淥ur office is located on downtown Boise鈥檚 primary bike path. We have office bikes and a silver medal from the League of American Bicyclists for our promotion of biking.鈥� Plus, they know how to have a good time: 鈥淲e randomly provide the team with fun treats like frozen fruit bars, cocktails, or pizza. Like Snow Day Pizza.鈥�

27. Cloud Elements, Inc.

Location: Denver, Colorado
What they do:听
Number of employees: 72
Average salary: $103,717
Vacation time: Unlimited vacation days
Perks: Company sponsored hike and ski days, catered lunches three days a week, and a training, education, and conference budget for employees to expand their learning.
What they say: 鈥淥ur awesome team is rapidly building connections to the most popular cloud applications that your customers are using. We were named APEX Technology Startup of 2013!鈥�

28. Revelry Agency

Location: Portland, Oregon
What they do:
Number of employees: 26
Average salary: $50,000
Vacation time: 15 days of PTO after one year.
Perks: Each employee is required to spend five days in the wilderness with their family; the company pays the cost of the outfitter.
What they say: 鈥淩everly requires team members to commit 100 hours per year in support of LEAP wilderness therapy, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.鈥�

How I Work

国产吃瓜黑料 Filmmaker Aidan Hailey

The Boulderite went from knocking on doors in Paris to editing a feature film.

29. FullContact

Location: Denver, Colorado
What they do:
Number of employees: 87
Average salary: $101,759
Vacation time: Unlimited PTO after one year.
Perks: Twelve weeks of 100 percent paid parental leave for primary care givers, three weeks 100 percent paid for secondary. Plus: all-company 鈥淭ruancy Day鈥� encourages employees to 鈥減lay hooky and head to a local brewery to eat, drink, play, and connect!鈥�
What they say: 鈥淭hey pay us $7,500 to go off of the grid and go on vacation!鈥�

30. 303 Software

Location: Denver, Colorado
What they do:听
Number of employees: 19
Average salary: $70,000
Vacation time: Unlimited PTO after one year.
Perks: A $50 monthly cash bonus for employees who don鈥檛 use their allotted parking spots and bike/bus/walk to work instead, plus a partnership with a local bike shop that includes free maintenance.
What they say: 鈥淓very employee has the opportunity to take every other Friday off provided they work 80 hours in the 14 days leading up to it. We call it Flex Time.鈥�

31. Sterling-Rice Group

Location: Boulder, Colorado
What they do:
Number of employees: 106
Average salary: $107,633
Vacation time: 17 vacation days after one year.
Perks: Company-sponsored athletic and charity events, such as Bolder Boulder, the Ragnar Relay Race, and the B Strong Ride.
What they say: 鈥淥ur wellness program, SRGThrive, looks at health through a holistic lens that encompasses the physical, financial, mental, and community aspects of health by providing resources in the workplace, such as yoga, massages, and stress-reduction sessions.鈥�

32. EverCheck

Location: Jacksonville Beach, Florida
What they do:
Number of employees: 24
Average salary: $56,772
Vacation time: 15 days of PTO after one year.
Perks:听Walking meetings. 鈥淚f the meetings don鈥檛 require the use of technology, we take them outside and straight down to the beach that鈥檚 just a few blocks away.鈥�
What they say: 鈥淲e host regular lunch-and-learns. We cater in healthy lunches and one person shares with the team what their day-to-day looks like and how their work adds value to the company鈥檚 mission.鈥�

33. N2 Publishing

Location: Wilmington, North Carolina
What they do:
Number of employees: 228
Average salary: Not provided
Vacation time: 20 days of PTO after one year.
Perks:听Free fitness classes on-site, free nutrition counseling, and a Care Team for emotional support.
What they say: 鈥淓ach holiday season our company shuts down for two weeks so our team can spend uninterrupted time with loved ones. The weeks leading up to this end-of-year closing can be very busy, though, so we provide free massages to everyone during this time.鈥�

34. Hanson Dodge

Location: Milwaukee, Wisconsin
What they do:
Number of employees: 47
Average salary: $97,230
Vacation time: 16 days of PTO after one year
Perks: HD is a 鈥減uppy inclusive鈥� workplace (a.k.a. dogs are allowed). 鈥淚t鈥檚 not uncommon to find a pug or English bulldog roaming around the office.鈥�
What they say: 鈥淭he first Friday of every month is 鈥極ld Fashioned Friday鈥� where we end work early and the entire company participates in a cocktail party.鈥�

35. Colorado Outward Bound School

Location: Denver, Colorado
What they do:
Number of employees: 34
Average salary: $53,911
Vacation time: 21 vacation days after one year.
Perks: Families are welcome at the office and basecamps, fostering a deep sense of community across generations.
What they say: 鈥淐ourse send-offs: When a course leaves base, all staff participate in a creative send-off with a quick costume change, reading, water balloons, noisemakers, or something else funky to send the crew on their way with a smile.鈥�

36. Polar Field Services, Inc.

Location: Littleton, Colorado
What they do:
Number of employees: 55
Average salary: $80,923
Vacation time: 12 days of PTO after one year
Perks: Daily organized stretching in headquarters and flex hours to allow exercise during work hours. Plus an office garden.
What they say: 鈥淥ur mission statement is to provide our employees with unique jobs, impressing customers in cool places. Our primary work has been as a subcontractor to CH2M Polar Services which听serves the U.S. National Science Foundation鈥檚 Arctic Research Program.鈥�

37. Inntopia

Location: Stowe, Vermont
What they do:
Number of employees: 86
Average salary: $84,000
Vacation time: 10 vacation days after one year.
Perks: Wellness benefits in the form of 鈥渕oney for gym memberships, ski passes, Fitbits, and subsidized vacations at top resorts around the world.鈥�
What they say: 鈥淲e encourage people to exercise during work hours. We have ski days, raft days, and golf trips. On powder days, work is optional.鈥�

38. Procore Technologies

Location: Carpinteria, California
What they do:
Number of employees: 769
Average salary: Not provided
Vacation time: Unlimited vacation days
Perks: 鈥淎ll Hands,鈥� an all-inclusive getaway for the entire company put on every year.
What they say: 鈥淲e have a snack wall employees are encouraged to use. In the same room there is a big screen TV equipped with video games.鈥�

39. Evoke Entrada

Location: Santa Clara, Utah
What they do:听
Number of employees: 81
Average salary: Not provided
Vacation time: 16 days of PTO after one year.
Perks: Company pays for advanced training, such as Wilderness First Responder, Wilderness Symposium, Wilderness Emergency Medical Technician, etc.
What they say: 鈥淚n the field, staff and clients participate daily in Mandatory Fun Time鈥攇ames and activities that highlight different therapeutic aspects that could not otherwise be seen.鈥�

40. Traeger Grills

Location: Salt Lake City, Utah
What they do:
Number of employees: 143
Average salary: $86,000
Vacation time: Unlimited PTO after one year.
Perks: 鈥淲e have a full-time, professional culinary team that prepares world-class meals for the company throughout the week. Cooked on a Traeger, of course.鈥�
What they say: 鈥淥n site masseuses offer free 10-minute massages, periodically.鈥�

How I Work

National Park Ranger Perri Spreiser

Elk sightings and waterfall hikes are all part of a day鈥檚 work.

41. Creative Alignments

Location: Boulder, Colorado
What they do:
Number of employees: 23
Average salary:听Not provided
Vacation time: 14 days of PTO after one year.
Perks: Flexible schedules, weekly lunches, and an annual volunteer day where 鈥渢he whole company goes onsite at a local nonprofit to assist with their needs.鈥�
What they say: 鈥淓very year we trek up to Eldora ski resort for a ski day. Team members choose to ski, snowshoe, or clink drinks and eat lunch after playing with snow.鈥�

42. Allagash Brewing Company

Location: Portland, Maine
What they do:
Number of employees: 117
Average salary: Not provided
Vacation time: 18 days of PTO after one year.
Perks: Allagash allows a four-day work week for many departments.
What they say: 鈥淓mployees can submit recipes and brew them for our Pilot Beer Program. Many of these go on to a larger brew production.鈥�

43. VictorOps

Location: Boulder, Colorado
What they do:
Number of employees: 75
Average salary: $90,493
Vacation time: 15 days of PTO after one year.
Perks: Super Job Keep It Up award bequeathed at each CEO-hosted company meeting (winner gets a trophy and a $100 gift card). Employees are also encouraged to give 1 percent of their time to charity through the GiveOps program.
What they say: 鈥淥ur office is steps away from great running and hiking trails, and we offer in颅-office massage sessions once a month.鈥�

44. Spawn Ideas

Location: Anchorage, Alaska
What they do:
Number of employees: 38
Average salary: $77, 681
Vacation time: 12 vacation days after one year.
Perks: Commitment to being a family-friendly workplace: New parents can bring babies to work after family leave and until they crawl (鈥淲ho doesn鈥檛 want to hold a baby?鈥�). Working parents and employees with aging parents (or even sick pets) get extra flexibility.
What they say: Spawn employees are 鈥減erpetual adventurers鈥� in both work and play. 鈥淔rom organized rock climbing classes to ice fishing derbies, we share our love of the outdoors with one another.鈥�

45. Wisetail

Location: Bozeman, Montana
What they do:
Number of employees: 37
Average salary: $54,800
Vacation time: Unlimited PTO after one year.
Perks: Weekly organic catered lunches and 鈥渞andom BBQ鈥檚鈥� for the staff to connect and build relationships. Plus: A 鈥淏e Well Stipend鈥� offers $60 a month for every team member to spend on wellness 鈥渉owever they see fit.鈥�
What they say: 鈥淲e like to recognize and celebrate our team, whether it is their birthday or recognition from a client. Our team brainstorms a custom, creative gift or gathering for each person.鈥�

46. Nuun

Location: Seattle, Washington
What they do:
Number of employees: 49
Average salary: $73,000
Vacation time: 16 days of PTO after one year.
Perks: Commuter benefits: Staff is incentivized to commute by any means other than a single-occupancy vehicle 听(i.e. bike, walk, run, bus, train, carpool).
What they say: 鈥淲e 鈥榬unch鈥� (run at lunch) together almost every day.鈥�

47. Blizzard Internet Marketing, Inc.

Location: Glenwood Springs, Colorado
What they do:
Number of employees: 19
Average salary: $65,838
Vacation time: 10 vacation days after one year.
Perks: Silly Hat Day! Chili Cook-offs! Bi-annual meetings with river rafting, skiing, and other outdoor activities! Also: Employee Appreciation Week with games, massages, prizes, food, and 鈥渁 white elephant party鈥�
What they say: 鈥淲ork/Life Balance is a core value. Meaning that performance is assessed based on the contribution to the company and employees can work flexible hours (or from home) in order to maintain a work/life balance.鈥�

48. Verified First

Location: Meridian, Idaho
What they do:
Number of employees: 66
Average salary: $70,000
Vacation time: 5 days of PTO after one year.
Perks: Movie Day (鈥淲e closed the office at noon and rented out a movie theater for the rest of the day!鈥�) and 鈥淭reat Yo Self鈥� Day (free coffee, massages, lunch, and swag).
What they say: 鈥淲e structure our work schedule so that those with kids can be off by 3:30 and have a better work/life balance.鈥�

49. Nemo Design

Location: Portland, Oregon
What they do:
Number of employees: 42
Average salary: $79,000
Vacation time: 15 days of PTO after one year.
Perks: Skate Lunch (company pays for skate park rental for employees and friends to skate every Wednesday) and a company wake surfing boat. Because: 鈥淲e can鈥檛 think of a better way to start or end the day than in the water.鈥�
What they say: 鈥淪ince 1999, Nemo has built a company culture that counters traditional advertising agency norms. In that time, we have grown from three founders to 41 full-time fun-loving, brand-building, skateboarding, marathon-running, turkey-bowling, bike-riding, split-boarding employees that care as much about each other as the work we put into the world.鈥�

50. Powder7

Location: Golden, Colorado
What they do:
Number of employees: 17
Average salary: Not provided
Vacation time: 5 days of PTO after one year.
Perks: In addition to on-site foosball, a liberal pets-at-work policy, and 鈥渟urprise powder ski days off,鈥� employees get a month sabbatical after working five years.
What they say: 鈥淓mployees have access to discounts from their first day of employment, including a fleet of shop skis to be used for free, whenever staff wants.鈥�

51. Haberman

Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota
What they do:
Number of employees: 53
Average salary: $88,000
Vacation time: 15 days of PTO after one year.
Perks: The Dude Ranch (鈥渙ur organic company garden and CSA鈥�), Dudestock (鈥渙ur end of season family harvest party鈥�), and the Fun Committee (which organizes an 鈥淥scar party, beer-and-bingo, random happy hours, birthday celebrations, and much more!鈥�)
What they say: 鈥淪taff members are able to leave the office at 12:30 on Fridays between Memorial Day and Labor Day to enjoy our amazing summers!鈥�

52. SummitCove Vacation Lodging

Location: Golden, Colorado
What they do:
Number of employees: 47
Average salary: $58,397
Vacation time: Not provided
Perks: Various team-building days, including: a company rafting trip, a Hike for MS team, Highway Clean Up day, and meal prep for cancer survivors.
What they say: 鈥淲e sponsor up to three children of employees per year to participate in the Keystone Science Camp, a fantastic, outdoor based camp.鈥�

53. Mondo Robot

Location: Boulder, Colorado
What they do:
Number of employees: 33
Average salary: $92,000
Vacation time: 15 days of vacation after one year.
Perks: Full bar on the premises with 2 micro beers on tap. Plus, an annual company outing 鈥渨here we rent a school bus and tour local breweries.鈥�
What they say: 鈥淲e provide a yearly $300 Wellness Benefit to be used toward any type of sports equipment, gym memberships, hiking permits, etc. People are encouraged to go on walks, bike rides, and hikes for their monthly one-on-one meetings with their managers. Regularly scheduled mountain and road bike rides happen at lunch and after work.鈥�

54. Eagle Creek

Location: Carlsbad, California
What they do:
Number of employees: 56
Average salary: Not provided
Vacation time: 20 days of PTO after one year
Perks: Annual week-long horseshoe and cornhole tournament, on-site meditation room and yoga classes, and early-out Fridays.
What they say: 鈥淥ur employees can attend more than 50 鈥楩eed Your Mind鈥� classes per year. Topics vary from Leadership, Influencing, Time Management, and Presentation skills to more technical classes like Excel and Illustrator.鈥� Plus: 鈥淵ou can bring your dog to work on Fridays!鈥�

55. Ecology Project International

Location: Missoula, Montana
What they do:
Number of employees: 34
Average salary: $44,220
Vacation time: 15 vacation days after one year.
Perks: Summer Float Lunches鈥攊nner tubes kept in the basement will appear at will on sunny summer afternoons for a river break in the middle of the workday.
What they say: 鈥淔rom our pro deals to our Commuter Challenge to the ability to take days off with no notice, EPI creates an office environment that encourages employees to be active and take full advantage of our incredible setting in Missoula.鈥�

56. TDA_Boulder

Location: Boulder, Colorado
What They Do:
Number of Employees:听29
Average salary: $92,000
Vacation time: 15 vacation days after one year.
Perks: One powder day per year 鈥渢o go chase the unexpected storm,鈥� ice cream truck visits on summer half-day Fridays, and TDA matches employees鈥� donations to their favorite charities.
What they say: 鈥淲e encourage employees to be鈥攁nd remain鈥攁ctive by sponsoring sports leagues, having weekly golf outings, and taking hikes.鈥�

57. Workshop Digital

Location: Richmond, Virginia
What They Do:
Number of Employees: 27
Average salary: $49,869
Vacation time: Unlimited vacation days after one year.
Perks: Volunteer Fridays鈥攑aid time off to volunteer at a charity or nonprofit of employee鈥檚 choice.
What they say: 鈥淲e encourage walking meetings as a practice to get teams outside鈥攖he James River and its park systems are literally in our backyard. We also provide unlimited vacation, which has resulted in some amazing trips: Three weeks paddling the Grand Canyon, hiking in Nicaragua, snorkeling in the U.S. Virgin Islands, exploring Japan, and many other trips promoting personal well-being and wellness.鈥�

58. CampMinder

Location: Boulder, Colorado
What They Do:
Number of Employees: 听47
Average salary: Not provided
Vacation time: 14 days of PTO after one year.
Perks: Community service is a big deal: The company has donated backpacks and school supplies to an underserved Denver school, volunteered at Food Bank of the Rockies, and run a canned food drive.
What they say: 鈥淭hrough CampMinder鈥檚 affiliation with the outdoor industry, we are able to offer employees access to Experticity, a provider of pro deals, including steep discounts on over 300 outdoor brands.鈥�

59. SlideBelts

Location: El Dorado Hills, California
What They Do:
Number of Employees: 听28
Average salary: $64,149
Vacation time: 15 vacation days after one year.
Perks: On-site basketball hoop, foosball, Netflix, ping-pong, and cornhole for employee use at lunchtime and breaks.
What they say: 鈥淭here are countless things we do on a regular basis to promote fun, such as an annual Halloween costume contest, ice cream truck at the office, Pajama Day with a cereal potluck, unicorn frappuccino taste tests, weekly Fresh Kick Friday contests, and more.鈥�

60. RA Nelson

Location: Avon, Colorado
What They Do:
Number of Employees: 听87
Average salary: $94,847
Vacation time: 14 days of PTO after one year.
Perks: 鈥淲e offer a yearly scholarship program for employee dependents from 1st grade through college and support physical and intellectual pursuits, including academics, athletics, and the arts.鈥�
What they say: 鈥淲e are unique in that most of our work is outside. Seventy-five percent of our staff are outside on the job site, in the mountains, overlooking rivers, every day. No one is micro-managed, and everyone has the flexibility to support their personal passions outside of work. We all choose to live in the mountains for a reason and the owners of the company respect, understand, and encourage that.鈥�

61. Outward Bound California

Location: San Francisco, California
What They Do:
Number of Employees: 23
Average salary: $58,406
Vacation time: 19 days of PTO after one year.
Perks: Free enrollment in Outward Bound course; opportunity to attend Outward Bound course events in the field and the backcountry; Community Day hikes.
What they say: 鈥淪taff strive to complete outdoor activities together outside of work. During the 2016-17 winter, we organized two OBCA ski days in the Lake Tahoe area. In July 2017, five of our administrative staff members, including our Executive Director, ran together in the San Francisco Marathon.鈥�

62. Beach Cities Health District

Location: Redondo Beach, California
What They Do:
Number of Employees: 75
Average salary: $73,037
Vacation time: 15 vacation days after one year.
Perks: Employee garden; family access to 国产吃瓜黑料Plex fitness facility (with rock wall, basketball court, ropes course, and 鈥淭oddler Town imaginary play center鈥�); and 鈥淢indfulness workshops to learn how to live in the present.鈥�
What they say: 鈥淎s part of our wellness challenges, departments have created outdoor activities (such as hiking, running, canoeing). We also have a community initiative called Free Fitness Weekends where employees can take advantage of free fitness classes that also take place outside (e.g., paddle board yoga, beach boot camp).鈥� 听听

63. Zen Planner

Location: Highlands Ranch, Colorado
What They Do:
Number of Employees: 听91
Average salary: Not provided
Vacation time: 18 days of PTO after one year.
Perks: Weekly on-site fitness classes (yoga, pull-up progression workshop, bootcamp) taught by team members. Plus: 鈥淒ogs in the office every day.鈥�
What they say: 鈥淲e have a sabbatical program to encourage team members to dream big and live large鈥攍ife is short and if we only get one shot at this, we want our team members to make the most of each minute.鈥�

64. BSW Wealth Partners

Location: Boulder, Colorado
What They Do:
Number of Employees: 21
Average salary: Not provided
Vacation time: 15 days of PTO after one year.
Perks: Mentorship program, on-site meditation and relaxation groups, and financial support for professional education and development
What they say: 鈥淲e had four staff members running a half-marathon and one competing in an Ironman in one year. We all train together, provide encouragement, training/nutritional advice, and are extremely supportive in each other鈥檚 endeavors.鈥�

65. First Descents

Location: Denver, Colorado
What They Do:
Number of Employees: 18
Average salary: $54,800
Vacation time: 25 days of PTO after one year.
Perks:听鈥淲e believe strongly in local community creation. Festive contests, family-style pot luck meals, and ping-pong tournaments abound!鈥� Also: Pro deals with dozens of outdoor vendors.
What they say: 鈥淭he 鈥極ut Living It鈥� mantra drives every facet of our organization鈥攆rom strategic planning to staff retreats. To be a true leader in Outdoor Behavioral Health, our staff must embrace adventure and mindfulness as a part of their everyday lives.鈥�

How I Work

Gear Designer Nancy Hoo

Meet the woman behind your favorite Arc鈥檛eryx trail running kit.

66. Buzz Franchise Brands

Location: Virginia Beach, Virginia
What They Do:
Number of Employees: 35
Average salary: $81,608
Vacation time: 10 vacation days after one year.
Perks: Monthly fun activities designed to get employees out of the office during work hours to unwind and bond: go-karting, adventure ropes courses, Top Golf, and happy hours
What they say: 鈥淥ur office space includes a caf茅, phone booths for private calls, various conference rooms, ping-pong and pool tables, a workout room, bright colors, and more! We also host a Toys for Tots drive in during the holidays, and include our customers, asking them to leave toys on their porch during the week, so our technicians can pick them up.鈥�

67. Backbone Media

Location: Carbondale, Colorado
What They Do:
Number of Employees: 44
Average salary: $65,836
Vacation time: 15 vacation days after one year.
Perks: Staff has a fleet of eight cruiser bicycles to share and use for commuting around town.
What they say: 鈥淚n the winter we have a powder day clause: Employees can go skiing in the morning as long as they get to the office by 1 p.m. and get all their work done. In the summer we go on weekly staff mountain bike rides, dubbed 鈥楧irty Thursdays.鈥欌��

68. Greater Yellowstone Coalition

Location: Bozeman, Montana
What They Do:
Number of Employees: 26
Average salary: $57,400
Vacation time: 15 days after one year.
Perks: Outdoor 鈥淐ulture Committee鈥� excursions, generous paid time off benefits, customizable flex-time and telecommuting policies.
What they say: 鈥淲e combine traditional meetings with hikes, walks, sitting around campfires, and Wiffle ball games. We also host a week-long cycle tour through the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and staff are encouraged to participate by biking or assisting along the route.鈥�

69. Wilderness 国产吃瓜黑料 at Eagle Landing

Location: New Castle, Virginia
What They Do:
Number of Employees: 22
Average salary: $20,000
Vacation time: 5 days of PTO after one year.
Perks: Employee-of-the-month bonuses, 鈥淪taff Happiness鈥� days (鈥渨here we get to spend a work day doing something fun outside鈥�), and regular campfire outings at New River Gorge.
What they say: 鈥淎s a staff, we do a lot of team-building exercises and learn to how to work together as well as improve our communication.鈥�

70. Carmichael Lynch

Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota
What They Do:
Number of Employees: 280
Average salary: Not provided
Vacation time: 18 days of PTO after one year.
Perks: In 2016 alone, the agency logged more than 1,000 hours of volunteer work.
What they say: 鈥淲e do our best to encourage healthy, active lifestyles and access to the outdoors through agency bikes, rooftop yoga, free local fitness classes, agency locker rooms with showers, a discounted on-site massage program, agency-sponsored intramural teams, and a treadmill desk.鈥�

71. IDX Broker

Location: Eugene, Oregon
What They Do:
Number of Employees: 54
Average salary: $78,245
Vacation time: 15听days of PTO after one year.
Perks: Catered gourmet lunches, on-site video game arcade, company-issued Nerf guns and ammo.
What they say: 鈥淚DX is a proud, active member of our vibrant community in Eugene. As we continue to build new relationships, we鈥檝e also strengthened our partnership with McKenzie River Trust, which protects and cares for special land and rivers in Oregon.鈥�

72. Cairn, Inc.

Location: Bend, Oregon
What They Do:
Number of Employees: 17
Average salary: $35,000
Vacation time: Unlimited PTO.
Perks: Office-sponsored gear closet; 鈥�4:00 Beer Fridays鈥�; remote work policy that allows employees to work from home two days per week.
What they say: 鈥淔our times a year we gather up the team to get outside together for a group activity. We can be found participating in a trail clean up, fat-biking in the snow, or touring Central Oregon caves.鈥�

73. Foundant Technologies

Location: Bozeman, Montana
What They Do:
Number of Employees: 59
Average salary: $64,000
Vacation time: Unlimited vacation.
Perks: $1,200 personal development perk for team members; free yoga at a studio within walking distance of headquarters; local trainers host fitness boot camps for team members.
What They Say: 鈥淔oundant has an unlimited time-off policy that can be used year-round. Some choose to take advantage of the great skiing Bozeman has to offer, others use it in the fall during hunting season, and others use it in the summer for all of the awesome hiking, fishing, and other recreational offerings. Part of our culture is to get out and enjoy Montana however works best for the team member.鈥�

74. The Frontier Project

Location: Richmond, Virginia
What They Do:
Number of Employees: 33
Average salary: $67,399
Vacation time: Unlimited vacation days after one year.
Perks: Project Well鈥攁 monthly program designed to challenge employees to think differently about health/wellness, nutrition, sleep, financial well-being, community engagement, and professional development.
What They Say: 鈥淢any of our employees do creative work. As such, they鈥檙e encouraged to get out and do what they need to do in order to recharge.鈥�

75. Voyageur Outward Bound School

Location: Saint Paul, Minnesota
What They Do:
Number of Employees: 37
Average salary: $55,000
Vacation time: 10 vacation days after one year.
Perks: A paid 鈥淪ervice Flex Day鈥� enables team members to get involved in a cause of their choosing (i.e. helping at food shelf, Women鈥檚 March, Save the Boundary Waters, etc).
What They Say: 鈥淎t Outward Bound, it鈥檚 less about work/life balance. Because our work is outside and often in the areas and places that our staff are passionate about, we work to have a work/life integration. We work to have an inspiring mission and constantly ask our staff what could be better鈥攖hen ask them to help create that.鈥�

76. Montana Wilderness Association

Location: Helena, Montana
What they do:听
Number of employees: 23
Average salary: $47,551
Vacation time: 16 vacation days after one year.
Perks: A Commuter Health Challenge provides monetary incentives for green commuting or exercising. Also: 鈥渟taff retreats in beautiful locations.鈥�
What they say: 鈥淪taff are encouraged to spend four听workdays a year connecting with the wild places. 鈥楾rail Days鈥� lead to resiliency and improve our knowledge of the places we seek to protect. All staff are eligible to participate and people get paid to hike!鈥�

77. Namaste Solar

Location: Boulder, Colorado
What they do:
Number of employees: 157
Average salary: $71,147
Vacation time: 5 vacation days plus 15 flex days
Perks: Weekly road bike rides, periodic acupuncture and massage sessions, yoga classes, seasonal softball and bowling leagues.
What they say: 鈥淲e have a solar array on our office building, and offer a substantial employee discount for residential solar on their homes.鈥�

78. Digital Operative, Inc.

Location: San Diego, California
What they do:听
Number of employees: 31
Average salary: Not provided
Vacation time: Unlimited PTO.
Perks: Game room with foosball, corn hole, musical instruments, 鈥渁nd board games!鈥�; wellness room (equipped with yoga mats, neck rollers, kettle bells and 鈥渁n essential oil diffuser鈥�) includes a quiet space for meditation.
What they say: 鈥淲e compete in Spartan races or mud runs together as a team and offer working remotely at any time to all employees to promote a healthy work/life balance.鈥�

How I Work

Alpinist and Trauma Nurse Anna Pfaff

The fine art of balancing two high-adrenaline jobs.

79. Taptica

Location: San Francisco; New York City; Tel Aviv;听London;听Tokyo;听Beijing;听Seoul
What they听do:
Number of employees: 17
Average salary: $143,000
Vacation time: 14 days of PTO after one year.
Perks: Ping-pong tables, team-building 鈥渇un days,鈥� unlimited bonuses, and in-office happy hours.
What they say: 鈥淲e have an annual international company retreat: Open to all employees, all expenses paid.鈥�

80. Ska Brewing Company

Location: Durango, Colorado
What they do:
Number of employees: 72
Average salary: $53,000
Vacation time: 15 days of PTO after one year.
Perks: 鈥淔REE BEER!鈥� Also: Ska and Avery Brewing companies co-founded 鈥淏oulDurango,鈥� a six-day road biking charity event challenging brewery employees to ride from Boulder to Durango or vice versa.
What they say: 鈥淓ach employee receives two shift beers after they are done working their scheduled shift. This encourages employees to hang out at the brewery with their co-workers outside of working hours.鈥�

81. SheerID

Location: Portland, Oregon
What they do:
Number of employees: 38
Average salary: $104,908
Vacation time: 15 days听after one year
Perks: Fund-raising and planting trees for the McKenzie River Trust; flexible work schedules; 鈥渁chievement celebrations鈥� when goals are reached.
What they say: 鈥淲hether it鈥檚 happy hour, holiday parties, spontaneous lunch BBQs, retirement parties, days at the lake, hiking, rock climbing, or kids movie nights, SheerID loves taking an afternoon off and getting the team together for a good time.鈥�

82. Tendril

Location: Boulder, Colorado
What they do:
Number of employees: 111
Average salary: Not provided
Vacation time: Unlimited PTO
Perks: On-site masseuse twice a month; zero waste initiative that involves recycling and composting with the aim of creating zero waste.
What they say: 鈥淎 standing initiative at Tendril is to turn as many one-on-one meetings as possible into walking meetings. We also offer a commuting challenge with prizes in the summer to encourage people to walk and bike to work.鈥�

83. New Belgium Brewing

Location: Fort Collins, Colorado;听Asheville, North Carolina
What they do:
Number of employees: 783
Average salary: $86,300
Vacation time: 14 days of PTO after one year.
Perks: Local Grants Program 鈥渟erves and connects with the communities where we sell our beer. Since 1991, we鈥檝e donated $8 million.鈥� Also: one hour of PTO for every two hours volunteered.
What they say: 鈥淭here are regular opportunities to join a running or cycling club, and coworkers are encouraged to bike to work by being given a bicycle on their one-year anniversary and by having on-site showers and covered bike parking.鈥�

84. Apto

Location: Denver, Colorado
What they do:
Number of employees: 83
Average salary: $84,574
Vacation time: Not provided
Perks: 鈥淧owder days鈥� policy lets employees take day off at last minute in winter and on beautiful off-season days, too
What they say: 鈥淲e hold Monthly Town Halls where employees submit anonymous questions and leadership answer them honestly and thoroughly. It creates a culture of transparency, trust, and accountability.鈥�

85. Ascent360, Inc.

Location: Golden, Colorado
What they听do:
Number of employees: 21
Average salary: $91,000
Vacation time: 15 days of PTO after one year.
Perks: Annual pool party picnic for employees and their families. Also, once-a-year Habitat for Humanity group build project
What they say: 鈥淲e offer an annual company ski trip, Ragnar Trail Run, hump day hikes, and often employees take advantage of lunch time hikes/runs/bike rides around the area and use our in-office shower after.鈥�

86. EPTDESIGN

Location: Laguna Beach, California; Pasadena, California
What they听do:
Number of employees: 40
Average salary: $81,236
Vacation time: 10 vacation days after one year.
Perks: Flexible work schedules. Also: Staff landscape architectural services for Habitat for Humanity, and design and construction drawings for low-income home projects in Orange County.
What they say: 鈥淚n 2001, EPTDESIGN began our travel incentive program called TREK, which stands for 'Travel, Renewal, Exploration, Knowledge'听and offers two employees per year an additional 40 hours and a $3,000 stipend to complete a study trip.鈥�

87. Toad and Co

Location: Santa Barbara, California
What they听do:
Number of employees: 55
Average salary:听Not provided
Vacation time: 20 days of PTO after one year.
Perks: Loyalty program that rewards employees for years of service: 鈥淭he rewards are meant to inspire active lifestyles and range from a custom surfboard to paid sabbaticals and even trips to Telluride and Nepal.鈥�
What they say: 鈥淲e have an on-line library of industry pro deals that keep our employees well equipped; each employee is also given an annual stipend to purchase Toad and Co product. We also have two stand up paddle boards at the office to get out on the water.鈥�

88. BCF Agency

Location: Virginia Beach, Virginia
What they听do:听
Number of employees: 42
Average salary: Not provided
Vacation time: 20 days of PTO after one year.
Perks: Annual company lip-sync battle! Twice-a-year canned food drive! Office competitions! (鈥淥ur office competitions get pretty serious. Easter egg hunts, derby races, and pi帽ata whacking are just a few.鈥�)
What they say: 鈥淲e strongly encourage an environment where the idea is king鈥攚here it doesn't matter who comes up with something or how 鈥榮enior鈥� the person is. We passionately believe that the best ideas often come from the most unexpected places.鈥�

89. Turner

Location: Denver, Colorado
What they听do:
Number of employees: 40
Average salary: $81,812
Vacation time: 15 vacation days after one year.
Perks: 鈥淩ecess鈥� activities, organized group volunteer outings, and comp time.
What they say: 鈥淓mployees are encouraged to engage in 鈥榮weat working platforms鈥� with clients and journalists. Our staff skis, cycles, and sails with journalists and clients; we also do yoga, spin, and barre classes on a regular basis with editors.鈥�

90. Balihoo

Location: Boise, Idaho
What they听do:听
Number of employees: 33
Average salary: Not provided
Vacation time: Unlimited PTO.
Perks: Parking and gym stipend; bike room on premises; monthly chair massages.
What they say: 鈥淎fter five years, employees take a mandatory sabbatical with pay and bonus for two weeks.鈥�

91. The Honest Kitchen

Location: San Diego, California
What they do:听
Number of employees: 45
Average salary: Not provided
Vacation time: 10 days of PTO after 90 days.
Perks: $60 a month toward fitness memberships and massages; discounts on pet insurance; organized charitable giving on a monthly basis through Pawlanthropy.
What they say: 鈥淲orking with our dogs helps us get outside for brisk walks twice a day. Not only do we get to work with our best pals, but we have a more balanced work day.鈥�

92. Red Frog Events

Location: Chicago, Illinois
What they do:
Number of employees: 67
Average salary: Not provided
Vacation time: Unlimited PTO after one year.
Perks: Month-long, fully paid sabbatical after five years with company; catered family lunch every Monday; office bar and craft beer fridge.
What they say: 鈥淭here are no required office hours for Red Froggers. Work schedules are very flexible, and every employee is allowed one work-from-home day per week.鈥�

93. Deschutes Brewery, Inc.

Location: Bend, Oregon
What they do:
Number of employees: 526
Average salary: $79,781
Vacation time: 10 vacation days after one year.
Perks: Employee stock ownership program. Plus: 鈥淵oga in our private event space, a company bike share for off-site meetings and to get around our campus, and a horse shoe pit on-site.鈥�
What they say: 鈥淲e donate $1 per barrel of beer that we sell鈥�$374,000 this year鈥攖o nonprofit organizations that support environmental, family service, youth, and arts programs within our distribution footprint.鈥�

94. CCY Architects

Location: Basalt, Colorado
What they do:
Number of employees: 33
Average salary: Not provided
Vacation time: 15听vacation days
Perks: Annual wellness allowance of $850; annual education allowance for continuing education, conferences, and community leadership programs; Friday 鈥淏eer30鈥� events鈥攁 weekly in-office happy hour.
What they say: 鈥淐ollaboration is our day-to-day working style鈥攐ur design studios are open (we鈥檝e never had a private office at CCY)鈥攁nd that approach carries over to our other working relationships.鈥�

95. Arapahoe Basin Ski Area

Location: Dillon, Colorado
What they do:
Number of employees: 68
Average salary: $69,875
Vacation time: 10 vacation days after one year
Perks: Access to ample pro deals for gear and apparel (both winter and summer); ski passes (allowing employees to ski nearly everywhere in Colorado for free); twice weekly yoga classes.
What they say: 鈥淲e hold the occasional weekly staff meeting on the ski hill and encourage employees to ski or snowboard to and from. During ski season we encourage year-round staff to ski in order to understand the product we are offering.鈥�

96. C1S Group, Inc.

Location: Dallas, Texas
What they do:
Number of employees: 27
Average salary: $89,767
Vacation time: 16 days of PTO after one year
Perks: Remote work policy allows employees to work from home two听days per week; summer hours from Memorial Day to Labor Day; breakfast tacos every Friday.
What they say: 鈥淓veryone got a FitBit Blaze for Christmas and we had weekly step challenges during our Biggest Loser Competition to see who walked the most. Winners were posted in the kitchen and got a $20 gift card. Lots of good trash talking!鈥�

97. Rustic Pathways

Location: Chardon, Ohio
What they do:
Number of employees: 76
Average salary: $54,234
Vacation time: 16 days of PTO after one year.
Perks: 鈥淢y Rustic Pathway鈥� program helps employees chart a career path鈥斺�渨hether it is always with us or with another company…and that provides our team the opportunity to be the best version of themselves.鈥�
What they say: 鈥淐yclone Winston caused major damage to much of Fiji, and our community partners were hit hard. Following the storm, the RP Foundation (the philanthropic arm of Rustic Pathways) raised $35,000 and we were able to provide food and supplies to remote areas that had yet to receive aid.鈥�

98. Infinite Energy

Location: Gainesville, Florida
What they do:
Number of employees: 318
Average salary: $91,748
Vacation time: 10 vacation days after one year.
Perks: Half-mile walking trail听along perimeter of company campus; cross-fit style fitness area complete with heavy ropes, kettle balls, and tires. Plus: 鈥淲e also have a ping-pong table.鈥�
What they say: 鈥淲e have a casual dress code and host events including Olympic games, picnics, chess lessons, and chili cook-offs. We have an on-site gym, full-time personal trainer, and extensive wellness programs. And we even give away a total of $100,000 in prize money at our holiday party each year to 11 winners.鈥�

99. EMC Research, Inc.

Location: Irving, Texas
What they do:
Number of employees: 47
Average salary: $73,865
Vacation time: 10 vacation days after one year.
Perks: Costco membership. Plus: in-office composting.
What they say: 鈥淢arch Madness competitions!鈥�

100. DryCase

Location: Wilmington, North Carolina
What they do:
Number of employees: 20
Average salary: $30,000
Vacation time: 5 days of PTO after one year.
Perks: 鈥淐ookout Friday鈥檚鈥� (with a prize bequeathed to the 鈥渃hef of the month鈥�); mini basketball court in the back of the office; pool table. Plus: They like to party. 鈥淎nything we can celebrate, we do.鈥�
What they say: 鈥淲e have a skateboard-friendly warehouse/office space. Keeps the blood flowing and makes it easy to get around.鈥�

The post The 100 Best Places to Work in 2017 appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

On Sunday night, like a desert hurricane, winds heavier than 70 miles per hour whipped Napa Valley, California from the northeast. Then the fires began. Were they the work of an arsonist with a sick sense of timing? Or multiple snapped power lines? We still don鈥檛 know the cause, but by night鈥檚 end, flames from 听were sweeping down from the hills of wine country and into Bay Area suburbs鈥擧ealdsburg, Redwood Valley, and Santa Rosa.听

For twelve long hours, the Diablo winds howled. Flames leaped from brush to home, unbeknownst to sleeping families, utterly impossible for firefighters to control. The embers raining down were unquantifiable. 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 count the number of raindrops in a downpour,鈥� says Mark Finney, a research forester with the National Forest Service. Every planter box, pine needle, garden, or roof touched by the blizzard of flames ignited. More than and overnight. Thousands of residents and visitors evacuated. At least . Six hundred and seventy others remain missing. With the winds forecast to return tonight, and increase again in severity this weekend, the disaster rages on.

Just how bad are the Napa fires? 鈥淭hese things aren鈥檛 unprecedented at all,鈥� says Finney. True. But for now, these fires have few modern rivals.

听

October 8, 1871

Day the Peshtigo Fire and the Great Michigan Fire killed 1,600 people and burned 3.8 million acres in Wisconsin and Michigan. That same day, the Great Chicago Fire killed 300 in the Windy City.

听

1923

Year the Berkeley Hills Fire torched 584 buildings on the backside of the University of California Berkeley. Forty-one years later, Diablo-wind-fanned fires would blacken 83,000 acres in Napa Valley.听

听

$1.5 Billion

Total cost of the 1991 Oakland Hills Fire, which听killed 25 and destroyed more than 3,000 homes, the most destructive fire in modern history

听

3,500

Approximate number of structures lost in the 2017 Napa firestorm as of October 11, 2017

听

42,166

Population increase in Napa County since 1980

听

280

Increased number of trees on an average Californian acre when compared to 1910, when America started aggressively suppressing wildfires

听

62 Million

Estimated number of trees killed by beetles and drought in 2016 alone

听

89.7 inches

Rain that fell on Northern California from October to April. The record rainfall led to the bumper crop of the grass and brush now burning in the fires.

听

106 degrees

Temperature recorded in San Francisco on September 1鈥攖he highest on record

听

120 days

Length of time since Napa Valley鈥檚 last wetting rain. Meteorologists say the valley is in a flash drought.

听

79 miles per hour

Peak winds measured Sunday night. The peak winds during the 1991 firestorm measured 23 miles per hour.听

听

16,000听

Homes and businesses threatened by the听Tubbs听Fire, one of 17 currently听burning听in the state

听

2

Number of听 severe wind events forecast for this weekend

听

2 miles

Distance that 60 to 80 mile per hour gusts can throw embers

听

7

Days before forecasters see a break in the weather

The post Napa’s Burning. Just How Bad Is It? appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

A backpacking听skillet, being only a skillet, is a piece of gear I always forget about until I'm about to whip up a backcountry meal. But then I pull听my听听out听and remember why I love it so much.听

The eight-inch diameter is large enough to cook a hearty backcountry听meal for two, yet small enough to fit in a backpacking pack.听And at just seven ounces (without the separately sold lid), it won't weigh you down. I particularly love the two-inch-tall sides, which are higher than any other skillet I've听tested, and听let me cook without making a mess. They also allow me to听boil听water in a pinch.

After a recent camping trip, I was reminded of one of the skillet's best features:听its ceramic non-stick surface. A quick scrub washed听away the remains from four sausages (which, by the way, it cooked perfectly).听

Other pots and pans I've owned were either too small or too heavy, and I tend to lose parts from听those complicated, nesting setups. I've found that the skillet is the only pan听I need for听backcountry trips, as long as I don't want to boil pasta.

Like all great听gear, the听Ceramic Flex is also versatile. I gladly pack it along for car camping trips, and wouldn't be ashamed to use it at home, either.

The post How MSR Made the Best Camping Skillet, Ever appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.