salomon xt wings challenge

so, here's the details on this challenge that i've been hinting at for a while.  a few weeks back i was contacted by a guy from buzzparadise.com asking if i'd be interested in a challenge that salomon trail shoes and nokia phones were putting together.  it involved the new salomon xt wings trail shoe and the new nokia n82 phone.   

the whole focus is to go out and adventure in the salomon xt wings and use the nokia n82 to tell the stories.  the marketing push involves participants to come up with a challenge that fits their capabilities, perform the training and the event in their salomons and use the nokia n82 to report back on the event.

i'm really excited about the shoes.  i've tried on salomons in the past and they seemed to fit my feet pretty well.  these are supposed to have a really decent grip along with good wear on the outsoles along with self cleaning lugs.  they claim to be highly breathable and quick drying.  that means, depending on whether i'm a glass half full/half empty sort of person that my feet can be comfortable after a stream crossing or soaked easily when it's raining.  heh...we'll see!

now the nokia n82 is the gadget that i'm anxious to try out.  i've been using the timex body link system for gps, carrying a small camera and often skipping the cell phone.  this replaces the need for all of those.  with a 5mp camera, gps capabilities and the sport tracker software, i'm all set to replace the three items with just one tool.  you know me and my love for taking video of singletrack.  let's hope that the video quality is as good as it's claim!

so, my challenge is "portal to peak".  i'll be scooting up mt. whitney, trying to make trail camp before dawn (to catch the sunrise on video and in stills) and, depending on snow conditions, make my return down the mountaineers route.  i'll need to complete the attempt before july, so that means the mountain has a month to shed some of it's winter blanket.  the chute on the mountaineers route might prove, um, interesting!  my challenge is up over at the salomon website where you can vote on whether or not you think i'll be able to complete it.  they've created a widget that you can include on your blog if you're interested in promoting my challenge.

it appears that they're opening the challenge up to other folks, with a monthly winner selected to receive a pair of the shoes and a phone.  check out the video for a better description.

wish me luck and stay tuned for all the training related posts!

Posted by jeff at May 2, 2008 09:21 AM