Trail Running & Mountain Biking - CPNT Brasov Promo Video - GoPro HD - DIY Glidecam

Here's a short promo video that I made for my friends in CPNT - youth and sport club in Brasov. This clip shows two of their outdoor activities: trail running and mountain biking. They also engage into climbing, trekking and other mountain sports but this action video is supposed to be a digital brochure for their mountain running competition - Marathon 7500 in Bucegi mountains.

If you happen to know any company that you think might sponsor this event please shoot me an email so I can hook them up with CPNT. The more sponsors the event has, the better the prizes you'll get if you hit the podium!

The video was shot with GoPro® HD Video Camera, edited with Magix Edit Pro 11, and I used my DIY glidecam for smooth shooting and image stabilizing. My laptop couldn't export in HD this time - some memory error issue - and that's why the footage looks pixelized...

If you can't import or you can't edit your GoPro HD videos, try to convert the MP4 files to MOV or AVI with MPEG Streamclip.

Go trail running and show us what you got!

Free Trekking T-shirt Vector Design - The Simple Pleasures

You walk up the mountain, carrying a heavy backpack, sweating a lot but... what for?

There's no ready made answer for such a question. The simple pleasures of admiring the view, lighting a fire and sleeping in a tent are sufficient. Passionate trekkers and outdoors enthusiasts know what I mean.

My suggestion for printing your trekking T shirts and hoodies

Be safe!

How To Light a Fire in One Try - Video

I love fire! For a few simple reasons: it brings light, it gives me warmth and it makes me happy.



There are occasions, often while being up on the mountains, when I light a fire for pure joy, just to lift my spirit. And since I'm such a big fan of fire I should be able to light one in almost any type of weather conditions, right? I thought so too but in my last mountaineering trip I had a little bit of a struggle...

It was dark, freezing cold, the snow was big and all the wood we could find was either wet or frozen. We even tried to light the fire using one of our camping mini-stove and still failed. So then we brainstormed and came up with a neat solution that worked first time like magic:

• Over prepare your fire starter fuel! Don't you ever think you've gathered too many twigs or that they are too thin. More is better and thinner is even better. Also, any other type of tinder will help - you can't find much in wintertime though - dry grass, leaves, pieces of dry tree bark.
• Find a small opening between trees. You want the smoke to go up and you don't want to set the forest on fire.
• Clear the snow or tread on it until you have a flat spot for your fire.
• Make a U shaped bed for your fire. You don't want to waste the fire's energy for melting the snow, at least in the beginning you don't want that as the fire is weak. Also by doing this, you will ensure a better ventilation for your fire as it will be slightly above the ground. Build the bed out of spruce branches, dried wood of various thicknesses.
• Take a few medium sticks and roll them into sheets of paper. Three or four will do.
• Put the kindling paper inside the U shaped bed and add the "paper sticks" across the bed.
• Add the bundle of thin twigs and tinder on top of the establishment.
• Light the paper under the paper sticks. Try to light it from both sides so you'll increase the chances of drinking hot soup later.
• You should now have a lively flame which asks for more wood. So add more wood to the fire. Increase the thickness of the wood as the fire grows stronger.

Now you can prepare your food, get some warmth, dry your clothes and let's not forget - tell stories by the fire.

Conclusions: It's essential to prepare thoroughly all the details before kindling. If the wood is wet or frozen you need more paper for starting out your fire. More tinder plus very thin twigs are always smart things to have before building the fire.

These tips are not necessarily for a survival situation. I usually carry matches and paper when I go outdoors, trekking or hiking, for more than one day. I sincerely believe it's good to be prepared for bad situations - frost or falling into water or whatever - and carrying some extra gear and gadgets is one way of being prepared for the unexpected.

Keep yourself dry and warm!