They Don't Need Our Money Anyway.

Every small business knows surprises are unavoidable, BivWak is no exception. I learn something new everyday and usually I can take a step back and answer the question "Why?". There is however one thing that has not only taken me by surprise, but everyone that tries to purchase anything from their 100% legally owned and operated firearms and hunting supplier. Every online payment company will cancel your account and quite possibly freeze your money if you buy anything firearm related using their services. The key words are of course "their services" and they do have the right to decide how their services will be used, but it does seem like one of them would step outside that box and take on a considerable amount of business. Every time we think that we found an answer to this dilemma, they shut us down. So, since my calls and emails have done nothing to really help us out I thought I would post the Terms of Service regarding this exact topic and the phone number of each company, which isn't always readily available.



PayPal

"PayPal prohibits all account holders from buying or selling any type of firearm and certain firearm parts and ammunition. PayPal may allow certain U.S. merchants to sell items addressed by this policy if they have been approved by PayPal and can ensure transactions and shipments comply with all applicable laws and regulations.

Firearms – Include all rifles, shotguns, and handguns, whether they are intended for use in sporting, as collectibles, or as curio and relic firearms. These items are prohibited regardless of their present working order.

Firearm parts - Include, but are not limited to, receivers and frames, silencers, kits designed to convert a firearm to automatic firing capability, high capacity magazines, multi-burst trigger activators, and camouflaging firearm containers.

Ammunition - Includes ammunition with propellant, such as gunpowder or blank ammunition. Ammunition is defined as ammunition or cartridge cases, primers, bullets, or propellant powder designed for any firearm.

Stun guns - For U.S. residents, PayPal allows transactions for stun guns only if the transaction is permitted by law in both the buyer's and seller's jurisdictions. U.S. sellers must ensure that each transaction is legal in both locations before completing the sale. Transactions for stun guns involving account holders outside the U.S. are prohibited.

Other Related Items – PayPal allows transactions for paintball guns, blank guns, and air-soft guns as permitted by law in the applicable jurisdiction. These items must display all markings required by law, must not be convertible to shoot a lethal projectile, and must not include blank ammunition."

1-888-221-1161

Update: Paypal has agreed, by phone, to allow us to use their service for anything that isn't a firearm or ammunition so we can once again have automatic payment for bullets, brass, etc...


Google Checkout
Firearms, ammunition, and other items including but not limited to firearms, disguised, undetectable or switchblade knives, martial arts weapons, silencers, ammunition, ammunition magazines, BB guns, and tear gas

(650) 253-0000


Amazon Payment

Firearms and Weapons - includes ammunition, guns, rifles, shotguns, pistols, other firearms, knives (automatic, spring-loaded knives, throwing, etc.), brass knuckles, or other weapons.

1-800-201-7575

Conservation Expo

It's been a while since the last time I got a chance to sit down and write. I'm currently sitting in my hotel room in Salt Lake City, getting ready to visit some friends at the Conservation Expo that will be happening at the Salt Palace the next few days. Everyone that can attend should stop by and check it out, use it as an excuse to take off to SLC because the weather is great and I bet Brighton and Snowbird are amazing. I doubt I'll get a chance to hit the slopes but if anyone does, let me know how it was.

Best Snowboard Video Ever.

That's right, I said it. That's It, That's All takes the standard shred flick and turns it into a high-def National Geographic special on steroids. If you liked Planet Earth and you liked Die Hard, imagine what they would be like together. Not since Subjekt Haakonsen, where Terje Haakonsen defined an entire generation of snowboarding in 45 minutes, has one person changed the the level of impossibility so much. Travis Rice pulls off so much technical riding that it makes you wonder what they cut out. If you think that the pinnacle of snowboarding is defined by a wavy haired ginger that rarely makes it out of the half pipe, you are sadly mistaken. Just like Rodney Mullen goes greatly unappreciated for his advancements in skateboarding, I feel that Travis Rice has been overlooked because he doesn't really participate in the competitions that prime time television wants you to see.

The Alaska segment of the video shows that Travis isn't just a park rat, he rides because he loves to ride not just to pay the bills. He has fun, and you can tell by watching the video. Also when Terje himself goes on camera to say how good Travis is, well it's hard to beat a testimony that comes directly from the father of modern snowboarding.

Travis Rice is the best snowboarder on the planet, for now. I have yet to see Double Decade by Mack Dawg, and even though I'm a huge fan of their films, I would be very surprised if they could produce a film of this caliber.

That's It, That's All

Trek-Tech TrekPod II Product Review

The very first thing that I noticed about the TrekPod when I pulled it out of the box was the size of the MagMount ball head. I was skeptical about it being able to handle the weight of my camera body, let alone with a lens attached.

However, I threw caution to the wind and attached the mount to my Canon 20D. It looked absolutely ridiculous, until I secured it and stepped away. Not only did it not fall, but it was very secure considering it was being held by a modified monopod and a magnet. Not only that but the TrekPod is very light, about 27 ounces. The aluminum body also adheres to my rule for tripods, if needs be it can be used as a very sturdy weapon (just in case one of those deep woods muggers happens to take a liking to your camera). It does help to be handy with a bo staff.



The one thing that I thought they could have put more thought into was the way the legs are held together. It is heavy-duty velcro, but it's still velcro. It makes transforming the pod to a tripod into a two handed operation. The MagMount is just so cool and unique, but the velcro around the legs might as well be duct tape.

For day hikes and as a substitute to lighten your load it is the perfect camera multi-tool. I'm not going to be throwing out my six pound Bogen tripod anytime soon. For night shots, portrait work and extreme weather situations I still want a rugged heavy tripod with a mount that has two locks and allows me to just fold up the legs and throw it over my shoulder. The TrekPod will certainly cover a lot of miles with me and I can't wait to fold it up and throw it into my luggage the next time I travel instead of the Bogen.

Trek-Tech now also has a MagMount that they claim will hold up to 13.5 pounds which I would feel more comfortable using my 70-200 zoom lens with (I haven't built up the courage to try it with the current mount). All their products can be seen at their website, Trek-Tech.com and look for them soon on BivWak.


The TrekPod that was used for these photos.

Trading Green for Gold

It doesn't seem like it was that long ago that we were welcoming the first signs of spring and watching what was left of last year's long winter melt away. As I sit and write this I am watching the first round of snowflakes fall. It makes me excited and a little depressed all at the same time. I am more than ready to get out on the slopes and play in the deep Cascade powder, but last year's winter was so long and cold the warmth of summer was very comforting. The one joy that Fall always brings, whether you are ready for winter or not, is the changing of the leaves. People drive for hours, if not days, to witness some of the most beautiful color schemes that nature has to offer. If you live somewhere that this happens locally, consider yourself extremely lucky and don't take it for granted.

Now's the perfect time to get your camera out (or go buy that one you've been looking at all summer) and get a few more miles out of your hiking boots before they get put away until next spring. Make sure to be very cautious of weather conditions and take lots of pictures, I'd love to see everyone's photos once you get back.

In Search of Solitude

In this month's Backpacker Mark Jenkins looks for the most remote spot in the lower 48. While I think his journey is very noble, I think his definition of remoteness is a little skewed. I don't think that solitude can be found with a satellite image and a GPS. 3.3 million people visit Yellowstone a year, and while most of those people barely ever leave the safety of the asphalt, it's almost impossible to get away from everyone completely. Shouldn't the overall goal of finding the most remote spot be to get as far away from every other living breathing human being on the planet. The fact that Mr. Jenkins had to pause on his journey to allow other people to pass on the same trail multiple times should be a clear indication that he had not found the most remote spot in the lower 48. Just being on a trail should be another clue. Within two hours I can be standing where there hasn't been another human being for at least ten years, and it's on public land, not a trail in sight. I'm sure it's within a few miles of an overgrown logging road that probably showed up on Mr. Jenkins's satellite, leading him to believe that there had been a disturbance to the natural order of everything within a 25 mile radius.
I think it's a pretty safe assumption that the most remote place is not within a national park or monument. While these places are truly magnificent they have had more human traffic than Paris Hilton's penthouse on New Years Eve. I do commend him on the effort and the trip sounds amazing, I'm sure he will have a lifetime's worth of stories and some of the wildlife he saw is something few people will get to witness. I guess I just have a different definition of solitude. When I go camping or leave the confines of civilization for any amount of time, I don't want to see even the slightest evidence of humanity let alone another member of our society.
My challenge to everyone reading this is to go out and find your own solace in solitude. Go somewhere that is so quiet you can hear the wind blow on a perfectly still day. Don't do it because I told you to, don't even do it for yourself, do it for the future generations that may not have an opportunity like we have then make a resolution to do some volunteer work next year to help ensure they do. If you do donate money to an organization make sure you know what they do, not just in the public light but what they stand for. We have a few organizations locally that think they are helping but nobody sees what they do where nobody is paying attention. Understand how nature works first then try to help, not the other way around.


Go where you can see all the stars and the Milky Way without street lights washing them out.

Outdoor Retailer Summer Market 2008

Outdoor Retailer this year was great (not that we have anything to compare it to). We met a lot of great people, got to see a lot of great products and made some very important contacts within the industry. We could have been down there an entire week and never ran out of people to talk to or items to look at and try. Our meeting with Zach from Backpacker went very well and we were both impressed with how knowledgeable and willing to help they were. Look for our ad in their magazine starting in November.





We spent a lot of time in the Energy Solutions Arena where all the new exhibitors were placed. The traffic was a little slower than the exhibitors would have liked but it was a welcome relaxing environment after spending a few hours making our way around the Salt Palace. Everyone was very friendly and we found some great new products that are just emerging onto the market. Since we were talking directly to the founders and inventors for most of the companies they were all very excited and informative when it came to describing their product to us. We walked away from the Arena with a great sense of accomplishment and some of that enthusiasm put a spring back in our step that our early morning flight had drained from us.





We think that BivWak should have a Unimog. Maybe someday.





Saturday was filled with all sorts of events and exhibitions of every kind. We watched the Five Ten team put on a Slackline show for quite a while. They were very impressive and drew a very large crowd.





Sometimes trying out a product is both relaxing and rewarding at the same time. I think I could have spent the rest of the day in this hammock.

We would like to thank everyone that we talked to for spending some time with us. We took a lot of information from the show and hopefully we passed some along at the same time. Thanks for a great show, we can't wait until the next one.