My 3 year relationship with the Luci Inflatable Solar Light

Ben Nelson | June 2019 |
Lighting

I first met Luci in 2016 on a climbing trip to Horseshoe Canyon Ranch in Arkansas. My friends from RoKC climbing gym and I had spent the day climbing and were settling into camp and preparing dinner. As the sun went down, one of the guys grabbed a flat disk that he blew into to inflate and then hit a button that lit it up. This completely solar-powered lantern produced enough light to illuminate our picnic table as well any battery-powered lantern I’d seen.

Luci Orginal

After that, I had to get one for myself. I went to REI and bought the Luci Original. When deflated, the Luci light is only 4 inches square and 1 inch thick and easy to pack. When fully charged with sunlight, it provides up to 24 hours of light–plenty of light for any time I go camping. And since it’s water and dust proof, it’s been an essential item that I always take camping with me from Red River Gorge and Yosemite National Park to Moab.

It has several light settings, so you can choose how bright, from 15 to 75 lumens. My favorite way to use the Luci Original is to turn it into a nice table light by setting it on a roll of paper towels. (wish I had a picture of this on my last camping trip but I was packing light)

Luci Outdoor 2.0

Last year, I purchased the Luci Outdoor 2.0, which has an adjustable base strap that works great for attaching to the inside ceiling of my tent to provide a great angle for lighting up my tent. The strap also makes it incredibly easy to place it wherever I need light, such as a hammock, rope, or clothes line.

It also lasts longer than the Luci Original, giving 50 hours of light on a single charge and is brighter, with its highest setting providing 150 lumens.

I still utilize the Luci Original and typically charge both of them together on the dash of my jeep while out hiking or climbing to have it ready for sundown.

Luci Base Light

Luci recently sent me with a new Luci Base Light to review. It’s the perfect addition to my Luci family. The new model is its brightest light, but also has an added cell phone charging feature. It’s heavier and slightly larger, but allows me to always have a charged cell battery, even in the woods.

I found that it does require good sunlight, so on a cloudy day it didn’t provide enough power to my cell phone to fully charge it.

The new Luci Base Light also features a much brighter light. When compared to the previous models, it disperses 300 lumens of light, twice as much as the Luci Outdoor 2.0, but it’s not blinding, but rather a soft glow. And like the Luci Outdoor 2.0, it also provides up to 50 hours of light on a single charge.

The Luci Base Light makes camping with multiple people easier for seeing at night since it can light up a much larger space. It also has an adjustable strap so I can hang it from my tent ceiling when I want a ton of light.

Luci Base Light on full power inside a tent — Base Light on full power inside my tent

It is perfect for car trips to campgrounds or short hikes in to Camp.

I personally still love the 2.0 for how light it is, and it works perfect for me as a single camper. If you are going on a long hike and don’t care about being attached to your phone, I recommend the Outdoor 2.0. If you want to be always connected and have a short hike and don’t care about the weight, or have a larger group, the Base Light is your best option. Overall, MPowerd is a great brand, and I look forward to meeting their next Luci generation.

Please note that Mpowered is an affiliate to Huck Adventures, and at no additional cost to you, Huck earns a commission if you decide to make a purchase after clicking through the links above. We appreciate your support!

Ben Nelson

When Ben isn’t working on his computer, he is rock climbing, mountain biking or hiking. His goal is to grow the outdoor community and help connect people through their passion for adventure. Lasting relationships are built on trust. By venturing into the great outdoors with a new friend, it builds relationships that last a lifetime.

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Skiing in Switzerland close to Interlaken

Nikki Jones | June 2019

On the train from Interlaken, to Grindelwald, Switzerland to ski the Swiss Alps.

As I spent the past four months traveling around Europe, I have developed a profound interest in exploring the world Untraveled, the most memorable travel experience being skiing in Switzerland close to Interlaken. Living in Spain and spending my weekends in surrounding countries, my appreciation for the outdoors has expanded immensely.

The beginning of our journey

It was our third weekend trip in Europe, and everything had gone pretty smoothly up until this point. We flew into Zurich, Switzerland from Barcelona, Spain, arriving at around 11:30 pm on January 31, 2019. This being one of our first trips, inevitably left us missing our connecting train from Zurich to Interlaken. This forced us to get a hotel at the Zurich Marriott Hotel for the night. Our original intentions were to catch a train once we landed, but our lack of knowledge regarding how to speak the German/French language left us stumped trying to purchase the tickets at the self-checkout.

On the first day, half of the people we met up with intended to go skydiving, while the other half had planned to go paragliding. These types of extreme sports are activities that are typically done here, due to the breathtaking views that the country has to offer. Due to the weather, midst-of-winter, both excursions were cancelled for safety reasons and pushed to a further date.

After day 1

Spending our night hanging out at a local hostel, we were able to retrieve second opinions regarding skiing in Switzerland close to Interlaken. We received nothing but good connotations regarding how unreal the experience was. This made us think how mindless of us it would be, for us to pass up the opportunity. Initially, we had planned on paragliding the second day, but ended up reversing our decision. We ended up contacting the paragliding company last minute, to switch out reservation to Sunday so we could shred Saturday.

The first few runs

Growing up in Colorado, skiing on the weekends was something that I had grown up doing. Prior to this experience, I was convinced I had seen it all. I was beyond wrong. A mixture between the mountains, fog and powder was like nothing I had ever seen nor experienced before. The mountains made Colorados look like hills, and all I could think about was how lucky I was to be there.

On the very first run at Jungfrau Ski Resort, I lost the two people I was with, taking the trail all the way to the other side of the mountain. I am convinced the sole reason behind this was due how distracting the views were. It felt as though I was looking at a green screen and that it almost did not seem real. It was soon recognizable, that I was on the completely opposite side of the mountain, but ensured the friend I was with that I would find my way back to meet up with her. At this point my phone was on 18%, but remained calm, as there could not possibly be a better place to traverse. All that mattered at the time was fresh powder, good music and the world at large.

The last few runs

Eventually, I made my way back to the people in my party, but we soon after found ourselves separated again. This time I was with two others, but had gotten separated from the remaining six. Naturally, we found ourselves at the wrong side of the mountain. This raised concern considering we were already cutting it close to the departure time.

Distracted by what this world has to offer, we found ourselves resting by a creek. We were able to drink the freshest water I firmly believe I will ever have the opportunity to taste. Using Chris’ flask, we passed around the numbing liquid, in disbelief at the chilling temperature and refreshing savor. This, all organic, was the best water I have yet to taste. Distracted by mother nature, we eventually made the executive decision that it was time to make our way back to where our train was departing from, to avoid spending another night in the wrong city.

We skied as fast as we could across the mountain in attempt to make it to the last lift that could transport us to where we were supposed to be. Fortunately, we were able to navigate back just in time, with the common event of me taking a hard fall. All-embracing, I wouldn’t have preferred this day to go any other way. A day spent in the Swiss Alps, is a day that can not go wrong. What a life it is, experiencing this world one day at a time.

Nikki Jones

Nikki is an undergraduate at the University of Colorado majoring in Public Relations with a minor in Business. Her profound love for music, travel and the outdoors has prompted her to share her creative energy through business marketing. An extrovert, conversationalist, and team player, Nikki is devoted to sharing her passion for connecting outdoor extremists. Her favorite way to Huck is to combine the excitement of travel with live music, forever searching for music venues that coincide with travel opportunities.

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Gear Review: Lems Women’s Trailhead Shoe

Malia Maunakea | June 2019 |
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Note: Lems is redesigning the Women’s Trailhead, and the new version will be released soon. You can get the version reviewed in this blog post on clearance now at lems.com.

My family and I recently loaded up our camper van and headed to Mesa Verde National Park and Chaco Culture National Historical Park for some hiking and history and to Santa Fe for some urban exploring.

It seemed like the perfect opportunity to test out the Lems Women’s Trailhead shoes that they had sent me to review. I wore them during the whole adventure, which included hiking on trails, sidewalks, and even a little bit of snow.

In the end, these shoes have earned their place as my go-to as a road trip and trail-to-town shoe. I do want to note that they feel narrower than some of the “wide toe box” trail runners on the market today (such as Altra Lone Peak or La Sportiva Wildcat). If you are a Lems fan, you’ll find this shoe is narrower than their other lines. The shoes also have their limitations, which I’ll touch on in just a bit.

Putting them to the Test

I did a lot of walking on our trip in many different settings. We hiked at a decent pace through the lower great houses of Chaco Canyon and on a five-mile Pueblo Alto trail. We also slowly meandered through all of the art galleries in Santa Fe.

In my opinion, this shoe handled the slick, sand-covered sandstone in the narrow slot canyons as well as any of my other trail runners and hiking shoes. The toe box of the Lems Women’s Trailhead felt a bit narrow and took a little getting used to. But, I found myself enjoying the shoe more and more with each passing day. I’m not sure if it stretched to accommodate my foot, or if I had just been in wide trail runners for so long that I was originally unused to being hugged by a more form-fitting shoe. Whatever the case, I was comfortable after walking all day on a variety of surfaces. I found that the shoe easily accommodated my orthotics if I chose to insert them (having Morton’s Neuroma is a drag).

Great for on the Town

One major benefit of the Women’s Trailhead is I didn’t need a set of “nicer” shoes for exploring Santa Fe. On previous trips, I’d bring my trail runners and another set of shoes that are more appropriate for city use (and city outfits) so that my Boulder-ness wasn’t TOO glaringly apparent. These Lems were cute enough to pair with nicer jeans and tops, and looked good walking through the galleries. The best part? My feet were so much happier after a day of art perusal in Lems than in my other city shoes! We hit Santa Fe at the end of our week of exploring, and the shoes still looked great. I wiped the trail dust off, and they were good as new.

We ended up doing a random side hike to Jemez Falls. The road was closed to vehicles due to snow, so we hiked in from the highway. It was another great opportunity to test out these shoes. This time, we took them on snow and cross country on our “short cut.” I am pleased to report that my feet stayed dry, and I didn’t slip too much on the snow. Climbing down some boulders to the waterfall was all in a day’s work for these versatile shoes.

Conclusion

The biggest limitation was that were a little narrow for longer backpacking trips where my feet tend to swell. This would be a problem for me on any trip where I am backpacking over 10 miles per day for multiple days in a row. I need more room in the toe box for that sort of use. Also, they don’t really work with a cocktail dress. I may still need to pack an extra set of shoes for that if I ever have a more fancy occasion. For everything in between, I have my Lems Women’s Trailhead.

Malia Maunakea

Ever since hiking the Pacific Crest Trail as her honeymoon back in ‘06, Malia has loved exploring, and now takes her kids along with her. When she isn’t adventuring, Malia can be found blogging about her family’s adventures at www.followingourownpath.com, sitting on her Party Patio chatting with her neighbors, or curled up in her room reading a romance novel while procrastinating on reading her book club assigned book.

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GoPro Mountain Games IFSC 2019 Bouldering World Cup Winners.

Ben Nelson | June 2019 |
Bouldering, IFSC World Cup

This past weekend, Huck Adventures was in Vail, Colo. for the GoPro Mountain Games for the 2019 Bouldering World Cup put on by the International Federation of Sport Climbing.

The main event was at Vail’s Mountain Plaza where a 30-foot bouldering wall was constructed, challenging climbers to defy the laws of gravity as they reached, stretched, and leapt towards their next target.

Janja Garngret flashing the final boulder problem winning the World Cup

Slovenia’s Janja Garngret was the standout in the women’s competition, winning her sixth straight World Cup and setting a new circuit record. Each series of climbs had escalating challenges that caused other climbers to fall, including the final stage: a 45-degree plane that inverted climbers over the stage before reaching the final crest.

It’s worth noting that the only American to place in the top 10 of the women’s competition was Natalie Grossman from Boulder, Colo. Keep an eye out for our upcoming interview with her.

Going into the men’s competition, Adam Ondra (CZE) and Tomoa Narasaki (JPN) were neck-in-neck in the rankings. During his attempt of the technical slab climb, Ondra’s ranking slipped to fifth place. Narasaki continued to lead with another climber from Japan, Yoshiyuki Ogata, quickly closing rank.

Yoshiyuki Ogata climbing the finishing route | Photo by Nic Daughtry

The first four climbers to secure the zone on the final wall were stopped by the next hold. Ogata was able to overcome the obstacle, earning his first IFSC World Cup gold medal. Narasaki fell four times trying to transition from the 45-degree inverted angle to the final panel. Narasaki finished second, clinching the season World Cup title.