Eco fabrics

Until the early 1990s, Styrofoam cups and food containers were the norm in the restaurant business. Now, recycled paper products dominate, being pushed into popular use by consumer demand for corporate environmental responsibility.

Jason Finnis, president and founder of Hemptown Clothing Inc., foresees a similar paradigm shift coming in the apparel industry. A bonafide hemp evangelist, Finnis believes recent advancements in the manufacturing of hemp fabrics plus a growing public consciousness about the impact of industrially produced cotton will spark industry change toward environmentally friendly fabrics.

Finnis says cotton is inferior to hemp on several crucial agricultural fronts. He lists hemp's bug and weed resistance as a big plus, noting that the plant does not require the extensive use of herbicides and pesticides. It also uses much less water and fertilizer than cotton, he says.

Despite cotton's faults, Hemptown Clothing (www.hemptown.com) still uses cotton in its clothing line, and many garments are compromised of about 55 percent hemp and 45 percent cotton. The company is developing a new enzyme-processing technique that it says will speed up hemp fiber processing and produce whiter, softer, more consistent hemp fabrics that could soon rival cotton.

Beyond hemp, there is a general trend in the outdoors industry toward the use of fabrics that are environmentally wholesome. Wool, bamboo, recycled-polyester and "organic" cotton are examples, and companies including Indigenous Designs, Earthpak, Icebreaker, Bamboo Textile, Ibex, Patagonia, Prana, Teko and many others have embraced an environmental ethos in the manufacturing of socks, shirts, shorts, backpacks, hats and trousers.

Icebreaker's Superfine line, for example, includes summer-weight shirts and tops made of 100 percent merino wool, which is an annually renewable resource that is all natural and completely biodegradable. Further, the company (www.icebreaker.com) gets its wool from small farms in rural New Zealand.

Prana, Patagonia and several other companies use organic cotton throughout their apparel lines, which means the cotton is farmed and processed with fewer chemicals but with similar quality controls. Prana's (www.prana.com) Men's Argus Short, for example, are 100-percent organic cotton shorts that feel smooth and soft to the touch.

Teko's Ecopet socks (www.tekosocks.com) are made from recycled material. The hiking socks are 92 percent recycled polyester, with a touch of nylon and Lycra. On a similar vein, Earthpak Corp. (www.earthpakgifts.com) has a line of backpacks, sports bags, baby packs, computer bags and duffles made of fabric derived from recycled soda bottles.

Gear junkies of all stripes are voracious consumers of fabrics, from rain shells to backpacks to tents and tarps, and thus we have a responsibility to be conscious of what goes into the making of any particular product. Fortunately, there's now a litany of gear and clothing companies that make it easier, designing and selling products that are manufactured with much more than just the bottom line in mind.

Canon EOS 20D digital camera

Whether it is the requisite summit shot on top of a mountain or a picture of an amazing sunrise over the ocean, photography has become a default part of any big adventure for me. When going fast and light, I carry a small Pentax Optio digital camera with 3-megapixel resolution. It fits in a pouch no larger than a cigarette pack and does a fine job for photo album snapshots.

On trips where photography is more of a priority -- or where the scenery cannot be ignored -- I bring my new big-gun camera, the Canon EOS 20D. This single-lens-reflex (SLR) digital camera has pro-level features and compatibility with dozens of lenses. It has 8.2-megapixel capture, which is enough resolution to produce huge, detailed photos up to 16 x 24 inches in size.

For usability in the outdoors, the camera has its pros and cons. Next to the point-and-shoot cameras most people have, the 20D seems huge, as it weighs 1.5 pounds and measures 5.7 x 4.2 x 2.8 inches without the lens. But from a durability standpoint, Canon (www.usa.canon.com) does make the camera capable of taking some abuse. It has a stainless steel chassis and a sturdy magnesium-alloy body.

It also has long battery life and auto-power-down features to save juice, which is a big plus when you’re on the trail and away from a power outlet for a couple days. Canon specs the camera's minimum operating temperature at 32 degrees F, though I've used it in temps below zero. (I did have to stick the battery in my armpit for a few minutes to get it warmed and ready before an ice-climbing photo shoot, however.)

Developed with photojournalists in mind, the 20D can take continuous photos at up to five frames per second, with a total burst of 23 photographs in a row at that speed. This amazing feature lets you fire off a round of exposures at a moving subject -- a skier hitting a jump or an eagle swooping at a fish, for example -- and you’re almost guaranteed to get the shot you were hoping for.

Other advanced features include nine-point autofocus, a shutter speed that can be set from bulb (continuously open) up to 1/8,000 of a second, professional-level white balance controls and a flash that adjusts and compensates in accordance to the exposure. I found the camera’s controls and menu system to all be easy to use.

The 20D comes with a lithium-ion battery pack, a charger, a neckstrap, software and a one-year warranty. It costs around $1,600 with a standard 18-55mm lens.

For storing photos in the camera, I use Lexar Media’s (www.lexarmedia.com) new 80X CompactFlash card with 2 gigabytes (GB) of capacity. This much storage space lets you take and save hundreds of photos. The card, which can write data at up to 12 megabytes per second, has performed superbly while handling the 20D’s large, unruly but ultimately extremely high-quality images.