This week’s Friday Photo winner is Ben Canales, who submitted several fantastic shots, including the one above.

Here’s what he had to say about it:

Glowing tent “backlit” by the Milky Way! 

Congrats, Ben! You just won an Ultima 65 Spotting Scope with Astromaster Tripod, courtesy of Celestron.

Want your own chance at winning? Submitting is easy! Just fill out this submission form and make sure to include a description of the photo you submit and the address of where you want your gear sent in the body of the message. Good luck!

You can submit photos from anywhere in the world, but we will only ship prizes to addresses within the continental United States.

Feel free to submit as often as you’d like. We choose a winner every Friday. And help us spread the word—we have a new theme (and a new set of prizes) every month.

Submissions are due by January 15, 2012. A jury-selected group of finalists will have their work displayed at the VIMFF from February 10th to the 18th. But the big kicker is the grand prize: a 2-week guided expedition in Northern Pakistan with Nazir Sabir Expeditions (airfare is not included). Climb For Change is also giving away an Arcteryx Venta SV jacket ($450 value) to the entrant with the most votes.

For more information on how to submit your photo, check out the Facebook event.

For more information on Climb For Change, be sure to take a peek at their website.

It’s December and it’s dark. That is, for those of us in the northern hemisphere. For those of us in the Pacific Northwest—and it certainly isn’t markedly different in the rest of the country—the sun has been setting at about 4:30pm and rising at about 7:30am, leaving 15 dark hours in between.

And what should we do with all of these dark hours but get outside, breathe in the cold, crisp air and take some photos? Because Friday Photo is back and December’s theme is In the Dark. Send us an old photo you took of the sky from your campsite one night, submit a picture from that winter bonfire last week or simply send in an image of the moon reflecting off the snow. Submit whatever night scene you have. We want to see what kinds of images you come up with so long as they take place in the dark.

This month, we’re giving away four—count ‘em, four—Ultima 65 Spotting Scopes with Astromaster Tripods, courtesy of Celestron.

Want your own chance at winning? Submitting is easy! Just fill out this submission form and make sure to include a description of the photo you submit and the address of where you want your gear sent in the body of the message. Good luck!

You can submit photos from anywhere in the world, but we will only ship prizes to addresses within the continental United States.

Feel free to submit as often as you’d like. We choose a winner every Friday. And help us spread the word–we have a new theme (and a new set of prizes) every month.

[Photo via: Bhanu Tadinada]

National Geographic is famous for bringing us incredible photos that tell stories of culture, adventure, and exploration. Here, editors offer their favorite selections from the 2011 contest submissions. You can wander through each week’s gallery or browse the photo categories—people, places, and nature.

So grab a cup of coffee and peruse away: National Geographic Photos

This is Alexander Supertramp enjoying the view from his first summer in Colorado on the descent of his first 14er. Looking out over the wild flowers and valley under Handies Peak.

Congrats, Adam! You just won a Ruff Wear water fetching fun Hydro Plane toy and your choice of a Ruff Wear float coat to keep your pooch safe while swimming in the sun. You’ll also receive a D-fa five-and-half-foot Gandhi Lead, designed to promote peaceful walking for dogs who like to enjoy their freedom. And, because we know that a trip to the water for the dog typically means standing in the sun for the human, you’ll get a 16 oz. vacuum insulated Klean Kanteen water bottle; stick some ice in that bad boy and it’ll stay cold for the entire doggone summer!

Want your own chance at winning? Submitting is easy! Just fill out this submission form and make sure to include a description of the photo you submit and the address of where you want your gear sent in the body of the message. Good luck!

You can submit photos from anywhere in the world, but we will only ship prizes to addresses within the continental United States.

Feel free to submit as often as you’d like. We choose a winner every Friday. And help us spread the word–we have a new theme (and a new set of prizes) every month.

Massey loves running around in fields or meadows. This shot was taken at Mayflower Gulch near Copper Mountain, CO on August 10, 2011. I was amazed at the all the flowers. Obviously, she was too. Lazy days of summer don’t really apply to Massey. She ran non-stop for the 3 hours we were there. She sure looked like she was enjoying herself.

Congrats, Bernadette! You just won a Ruff Wear water fetching fun Hydro Plane toy and your choice of a Ruff Wear float coat to keep Griffin safe while swimming in the sun. You’ll also receive a D-fa five-and-half-foot Gandhi Lead, designed to promote peaceful walking for dogs who like to enjoy their freedom. And, because we know that a trip to the water for the dog typically means standing in the sun for the human, you’ll get a 16 oz. vacuum insulated Klean Kanteen water bottle; stick some ice in that bad boy and it’ll stay cold for the entire doggone summer!

Want your own chance at winning? Submitting is easy! Just fill out this submission form and make sure to include a description of the photo you submit and the address of where you want your gear sent in the body of the message. Good luck!

You can submit photos from anywhere in the world, but we will only ship prizes to addresses within the continental United States.

Feel free to submit as often as you’d like. We choose a winner every Friday. And help us spread the word–we have a new theme (and a new set of prizes) every month.

Congrats, Bernadette! You just won a Ruff Wear water fetching fun Hydro Plane toy and your choice of a Ruff Wear float coat to keep Griffin safe while swimming in the sun. You’ll also receive a D-fa five-and-half-foot Gandhi Lead, designed to promote peaceful walking for dogs who like to enjoy their freedom. And, because we know that a trip to the water for the dog typically means standing in the sun for the human, you’ll get a 16 oz. vacuum insulated Klean Kanteen water bottle; stick some ice in that bad boy and it’ll stay cold for the entire doggone summer!

Want your own chance at winning? Submitting is easy! Just fill out this submission form and make sure to include a description of the photo you submit and the address of where you want your gear sent in the body of the message. Good luck!

You can submit photos from anywhere in the world, but we will only ship prizes to addresses within the continental United States.

Feel free to submit as often as you’d like. We choose a winner every Friday. And help us spread the word–we have a new theme (and a new set of prizes) every month.

It’s August. In other words, it’s the “hot, sultry period of summer between early July and early September.” In yet other words, it’s the dog days of summer–and we know half of the Northern Hemisphere is saying hell yes it is to that.

History says the romans coined the term dog days (dies caniculares) and attributed the high temperatures to Sirius, the dog star, which is said to have risen at the same time or directly after sunrise–though it doesn’t anymore.

Today, the particular dates of summer’s dog days vary depending on which source you choose to believe. So here at Wend, we’re taking the liberty to deem the entire month of August–and, in fact, August’s Friday Photo Theme–Dog Days. As a result, we’re welcoming you to share your own interpretation of dog days with some literal shots of your dog enjoying its summer.

If you check dictionary, you may find it says dog days are often a period of “sluggishness” and “inactivity” thanks to the excessive heat. For you (and your pooch), this may be the case; so submit images of Fido lazin’ and loungin’ ’round the campsite. But maybe for your canine, the dog days of summer simply require a mandatory trip to the water, where the barking domesticated mammals can cool off and play at the same time. Whatever your dog prefers on these toasty days, show us! Your pet will surely appreciate that you did if you win; August’s Dog Days prizes are a hot dog’s dream come true.

Each week, we’ll pick the shot we feel best demonstrates Dog Days. And this month, most of the prizes have gone to the dogs. The four weekly winners will receive a Ruff Wear water fetching fun Hydro Plane toy and their choice of a Ruff Wear float coat to keep the canine safe while swimming in the sun. Each weekly winner will also receive a D-fa five-and-half-foot Gandhi Lead, designed to promote peaceful walking for dogs who like to enjoy their freedom. And, because we know that a trip to the water for the dog typically means standing in the sun for the human, our winners will also get a 16 oz. vacuum insulated Klean Kanteen water bottle; stick some ice in that bad boy and it’ll stay cold for the entire doggone summer!

Want your own chance at winning? Submitting is easy! Just fill out this submission form and make sure to include a description of the photo you submit and the address of where you want your gear sent in the body of the message. Good luck!

You can submit photos from anywhere in the world, but we will only ship prizes to addresses within the continental United States.

Feel free to submit as often as you’d like. We choose a winner every Friday. And help us spread the word–we have a new theme (and a new set of prizes) every month.

[Photo Via: TheGiantVermin]

This week’s Friday Photo winner is Robbie Crawford, who submitted the above shot, which he calls simply, Murphy Bartling @ Wedge.

This month, we’re offering some incredible prizes to our four weekly winners, which are as follows: A pair of OluKai shoes, a GoPro HD wearable camera and, each week, a different surfboard from Global Surf Industries. That’s right, our week one winner will receive The Seaglass Project Tuna board, week two will receive a 7S Superfish board, Robbie, our week three winner will get the Aloha Stryka board and our final winner of the month will get the Superfish XL board.

Want your own chance at winning? Submitting is easy! Just fill out this submission formand make sure to include a description of the photo you submit and the address of where you want your gear sent in the body of the message. Good luck!

You can submit photos from anywhere in the world, but we will only ship prizes to addresses within the continental United States.

Feel free to submit as often as you’d like. We choose a winner every Friday. And help us spread the word–we have a new theme (and a new set of prizes) every month.

This week’s Friday Photo winner is Greg Maino, who submitted the above shot. Here’s what he had to say about it:

Here is my friend Sam Gardner waiting for just the right moment at one of the local spots here on the Keweenaw Peninsula on Lake Superior. The photo was taken in early December before everything was iced in.

This month, we’re offering some incredible prizes to our four weekly winners, which are as follows: A pair of OluKai shoes, a GoPro HD wearable camera and, each week, a different surfboard from Global Surf Industries. That’s right, our week one winner, Greg, will receive The Seaglass Project Tuna board, week two will receive a 7S Superfish board, week three will get the Aloha Stryka board and our final winner of the month will get the Superfish XL board.

Want your own chance at winning? Submitting is easy! Just fill out this submission formand make sure to include a description of the photo you submit and the address of where you want your gear sent in the body of the message. Good luck!

You can submit photos from anywhere in the world, but we will only ship prizes to addresses within the continental United States.

Feel free to submit as often as you’d like. We choose a winner every Friday. And help us spread the word–we have a new theme (and a new set of prizes) every month.

Let’s face it…we’ve all been there. Maybe it was that shop team kit that you bought when you got your first real bike. Or perhaps it was that on-clearance jersey with the cereal box characters. We understand that you’ve made some pretty horrendous choices in the past when it comes to your cycling gear. We have too. After all, it takes the dark to be able to see the light.

Road Holland will be collecting and posting images of crazily clad cyclists for the next couple of weeks and will announce its most horrendously dressed rider as the winner on July 19th, who will receive a brand-new jersey from Road Holland!

Yogaraj C P holds the Guinness World Record for having done the most consecutive yoga positions while on a motorcycle–as seen in the above video. We don’t typically cover feats completed by non human-powered means, but in all fairness, we’re pretty sure 23 yoga asanas couldn’t be done on a pedal-powered bicycle.

[Via: Elephant Journal, Guinness World Records]

Sure–we can’t walk on water–but we can absolutely surf it. The creation of the surfboard, originally a plank of wood, made wave riding possible; and that’s something we’re ever grateful for. Thanks to the surfboard, we’re able to experience the rush of gliding amid the borrowed energy of waves. This results in a feeling that is both liberating and powerful, exhilarating and fun. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: “Surfing unites human and sea. It blends the two together in an energy-bound relationship for moments, or minutes, depending on the human and depending on the wave. To surf, it can be argued, is to feel the energy of Earth first hand, in its most untainted form.”

With that, we ask you to show us the beauty and bliss of wave riding because July’s Friday Photo Theme is Surf. Submit an old, curled photograph of your first surf experience; send us a shot of a midnight, moonlit surf night or simply send in an image of your sun-tanned friend catching a wave on a weekend afternoon. Whatever surf shot you have (or take this month), submit it! We want to see the whole gamut of surfing, ranging from boards and waves to the emotions those two nouns elicit.

This month, we’re offering some incredible prizes to our four weekly winners, which are as follows: A pair of OluKai shoes, a GoPro HD wearable camera and, each week, a different surfboard from Global Surf Industries. That’s right, our week one winner will receive The Seaglass Project Tuna board, week two will receive a 7S Superfish board, week three will get the Aloha Stryka board and our final winner of the month will get the Superfish XL board.

Want your own chance at winning? Submitting is easy! Just fill out this submission formand make sure to include a description of the photo you submit and the address of where you want your gear sent in the body of the message. Good luck!

You can submit photos from anywhere in the world, but we will only ship prizes to addresses within the continental United States.

Feel free to submit as often as you’d like. We choose a winner every Friday. And help us spread the word–we have a new theme (and a new set of prizes) every month.

[Photo Via: Tai Gray]

June is officially National Men’s Health Month. It is also National Safety Month. And, as of Tuesday evening, June is pride month in Iowa City (as it is nationwide). This month is one of the four that has 30 days; and, in the northern hemisphere, is the month with the longest daylight hours. According to Icelandic folklore, bathing in the morning dew–nude–on June 24th will cause you to age less rapidly.

Apparently, June is a lot of things. What is it to you? Is it defined by a quirky tradition or celebration? Or is it simply the sun-filled sky that makes the month of June mean something to you? Whatever it is, show us! (And be sure to include an explanation of your shot.) Because this month’s Friday Photo Contest theme is (you got it) June.

To us, June is the perfect time to celebrate and inspire adventure, so we’re offering our winners a free one-year subscription to Wend magazine. And, those who post the winning Friday Photo post to their Facebook page and tag Wend Magazine will be eligible to win a free one-year subscription themselves.

Want your own chance at winning? Submitting is easy! Just fill out this submission formand make sure to include a description of the photo you submit and the address of where you want your gear sent in the body of the message. Good luck!

You can submit photos from anywhere in the world, but we will only ship prizes to addresses within the continental United States.

Feel free to submit as often as you’d like. We choose a winner every Friday. And help us spread the word–we have a new theme (and a new set of prizes) every month.

[Photo Via: gfpeck]

“My wife and I traveled for a few months throughout northern Europe and were lucky enough to be able to visit the tiny island of Æro (Aero) in southern Denmark.  We rode our bikes around the entire island through green meadows, passing thatched roof cottages and windmills.”

As if digging through old cycling shots or biking your favorite route to get one wasn’t enough motivation, you could also win a very pretty prize package. This month, our winners will receive the following from Chrome: a pair of men’s or women’s Kursk shoes, a women’s Vanya pant or men’s Telegraph knicker and a women’s Marysia or men’s Anza jacket. Our winners will also receive a pair of Icebreaker men’s Cadence or women’s Halo bike shorts. In addition, winners will get a Planet Bike Ozone ATB Comp Mini Pump and a Superflash Stealth Tail Light. Add to that a Rickshaw Pipsqueak handlebar bag, a Rickshaw messenger bag, any glove you want from Giro and a Nutcase helmet… and you just may have our best Friday Photo schwag bag yet!

Want your own chance at winning? Submitting is easy! Just fill out this submission form and make sure to include a description of the photo you submit and the address of where you want your gear sent in the body of the message. Good luck!

May’s Friday Photo Contest theme is Bicycling

You can submit photos from anywhere in the world, but we will only ship prizes to addresses within the continental UnitedStates.

Feel free to submit as often as you’d like. We choose a winner every Friday. And help us spread the word–we have a new theme (and a new set of prizes) every month.

Last weekend, paddlers of all kinds, from all locales, gathered on Maui’s North Shore for the third annual OluKai Ho’olaule’a. The event is a celebration of the ocean–and ocean culture. The two-day event offers an elite eight-mile SUP and one-man outrigger canoe (OC1) race, as well as a three-mile, un-timed ‘Ohana Fun Paddle and a traditional luau celebration for everyone.

During this year’s event, both the SUP and OC course record times were broken. Jimmy Austin broke the men’s elite OC1 race record time with 00:47:37; Kai Bartlett took first place in the men’s Elite SUP race with a course record time of 00:49:02.

Over 100 participants showed up for the Fun Paddle and over $100,000 in money, donations and volunteer time went to benefit causes–such as the Hawaiian Lifeguard Association/Junior Lifeguard Program, Maui Cultural Lands and the Lae ‘Ula O Kai canoe club in Hawaii–through the OluKai ‘Ohana Giveback Program

This week’s Friday Photo winner is Jim  Williams, who submitted this beautiful bicycle shot. Here’s what he had to say about it:

“I took this shot out on the course of the 2010 Cascade Cycling Classic in Bend, Oregon. The spot I picked waiting for the cyclists to come had a perfect view of the Three Sisters mountain peaks.  As the cyclists came through I was able to capture their wheels spinning along with the mountains. I wish this photo could have sound effects so you could hear the whirring of the bikes ans they sped by.”

As if digging through old cycling shots or biking your favorite route to get one wasn’t enough motivation, you could also win a very pretty prize package. This month, our winners will receive the following from Chrome: a pair of men’s or women’s Kursk shoes, a women’s Vanya pant or men’s Telegraph knicker and a women’s Marysia or men’s Anza jacket. Our winners will also receive a pair of Icebreaker men’s Cadence or women’s Halo bike shorts. In addition, winners will get a Planet Bike Ozone ATB Comp Mini Pump and a Superflash Stealth Tail Light. Add to that a Rickshaw Pipsqueak handlebar bag, a Rickshaw messenger bag, any glove you want from Giro and a Nutcase helmet… and you just may have our best Friday Photo schwag bag yet!

Want your own chance at winning? Submitting is easy! Just fill out this submission form and make sure to include a description of the photo you submit and the address of where you want your gear sent in the body of the message. Good luck!

May’s Friday Photo Contest theme is Bicycling

You can submit photos from anywhere in the world, but we will only ship prizes to addresses within the continental UnitedStates.

Feel free to submit as often as you’d like. We choose a winner every Friday. And help us spread the word–we have a new theme (and a new set of prizes) every month.

“I looked out my hotel window one morning while staying in Stone Town, Zanzibar, just in time to see this older Zanzibari man ride past on his bicycle, likely on his way to the mosque for prayer. The call to prayer from the mosque would wake us each morning of our two week stay at around 4 a.m.”

As if digging through old cycling shots or biking your favorite route to get one wasn’t enough motivation, you could also win a very pretty prize package. This month, our winners will receive the following from Chrome: a pair of men’s or women’s Kursk shoes, a women’s Vanya pant or men’s Telegraph knicker and a women’s Marysia or men’s Anza jacket. Our winners will also receive a pair of Icebreaker men’s Cadence or women’s Halo bike shorts. In addition, winners will get a Planet Bike Ozone ATB Comp Mini Pump and a Superflash Stealth Tail Light. Add to that a Rickshaw Pipsqueak handlebar bag, a Rickshaw messenger bag, any glove you want from Giro and a Nutcase helmet… and you just may have our best Friday Photo schwag bag yet!

Want your own chance at winning? Submitting is easy! Just fill out this submission form and make sure to include a description of the photo you submit and the address of where you want your gear sent in the body of the message. Good luck!

May’s Friday Photo Contest theme is Bicycling

You can submit photos from anywhere in the world, but we will only ship prizes to addresses within the continental UnitedStates.

Feel free to submit as often as you’d like. We choose a winner every Friday. And help us spread the word–we have a new theme (and a new set of prizes) every month.

The select crew, while chosen for varied expertise, all have one thing in common: an affinity for the preservation and conservation of the world’s ocean. Our job on this journey–in addition to actually working on the boat as crew–is also to help promote the work of 5 Gyres, raise awareness and educate others on the exponentially increasing amount of plastics accumulating in the world’s ocean and the ramifications of marine species consuming plastics accidentally and as food.

Tomorrow we plan to leave Tahiti aboard the Sea Dragon, a 72-foot sailboat with a crew of 14 people total. Like most islands, however, time moves slowly here and the only two motors for the boat have not yet returned from the mechanic, which was supposed to happen several days ago. Fingers crossed, they’ll show up midday tomorrow and we’ll set sail!

Along the five day journey we plan to sail, snorkel and swim in some of the deepest waters in the world. In addition to having a kick-ass time, we will be trawling for plastic marine debris, taking fish samples and cutting them open to see if plastic ingestion is taking place, and removing the livers and tissue samples to send to a lab in Sweden called MTM Reasearch Institute to measure the levels of persistent organic pollutants accumulating in the species.

We will be taking many photos and notes along the way, so stay tuned for more updates when we arrive in the Lower Cook Islands!

Staj is the winner of the Chaco Waves for Change Art Contest Grand Prize trip of traveling aboard the Sea Dragon with the 5 Gyres crew from Tahiti to the Cook Islands, so we asked her to blog about what she sees, experiences and learns along the way.

What you need to know, beyond that, is that May’s Friday Photo Contest theme is Bicycling. During a month when the simplest of statements rings true to the utmost degree (read: biking in the sun is absolute fun), it’s a simple theme we want you to entertain us with. So, send us your shots of bicycling. And help us celebrate National Bike Month through the beauty of the bike or the action of bicycling in still shots. Show us your early a.m. commute (just don’t get injured taking the shot) or show us what the best sunny ride of your life was. Show us people biking or show us bikes, just show us what beauty in bicycling means to you. Whatever the inspiration, show us bicycling at its best!

As if digging through old cycling shots or biking your favorite route to get one wasn’t enough motivation, you could also win a very pretty prize package. This month, our winners will receive the following from Chrome: a pair of men’s or women’s Kursk shoes, a women’s Vanya pant or men’s Telegraph knicker and a women’s Marysia or men’s Anza jacket. Our winners will also receive a pair of Icebreaker men’s Cadence or women’s Halo bike shorts. In addition, winners will get a Planet Bike Ozone ATB Comp Mini Pump and a Superflash Stealth Tail Light. Add to that a Rickshaw Pipsqueak handlebar bag, a Rickshaw messenger bag, any glove you want from Giro and a Nutcase helmet… and you just may have our best Friday Photo schwag bag yet!

Want your own chance at winning? Submitting is easy! Just fill out this submission form and make sure to include a description of the photo you submit and the address of where you want your gear sent in the body of the message. Good luck!

You can submit photos from anywhere in the world, but we will only ship prizes to addresses within the continental UnitedStates.

Feel free to submit as often as you’d like. We choose a winner every Friday. And help us spread the word–we have a new theme (and a new set of prizes) every month.

[Photo Via: fihu]

To participate in Bike It Forward, all you have to do is go here, and using your Facebook or e-mail account, choose a friend and pick the Schwinn bike you’d like them to win (you can pick from cruisers, hybrids, mountain and road bikes and more). If your friend wins, Schwinn will Bike It Forward and give you a bike as well.

Schwinn will be gifting a new pair of bikes every day this May, and every time you Bike It Forward to a new friend, you’re entered to win again.

Last week we presented the above video and asked you to post this blog entry on your personal Facebook page and tag both prAna and Wend. We’re sure many of you did just that–so, thank you! Of course, there can only be one winner–and that person is Liz Thomas.

Congratulations, Liz!

Happy Earth Day! And Happy Spring!

Wend‘s newest issue has hit newsstands, and, as you’ve probably noticed, is also available online in digital format. With that, we’re re-introducing our springtime offer: Sign up for a two-year subscription to Wend magazine now through May 6th and receive a free Wend logo-emblazoned 20 oz. insulated Klean Kanteen Wide to bring along on any springtime adventure. [This offer applies only to domestic subscriptions--we cannot ship prizes outside of the continental United States.]

To subscribe, click here, order a two-year sub and get a free stainless steel Klean Kanteen!

Send us your shots for April’s Friday Photo Theme: Trail Running! And our winners will win an entirely re-vamped trail running wardrobe, including a pair of men’s or women’s Saucony ProGrid Peregrine trail blazing shoes, a Saucony men’s (or women’s) Transition Sport Top II, as well as a men’s or women’sBoston pant.

In addition, winners will get the perfect companion for a long trail runt an ultra comfortable, gender-specific hydration pack from Osprey. Gents, you’ll receive a Viper 10 pack; ladies will receive the Verve 10 pack.

Want your own chance at winning? Submitting is easy! Just fill out this submission form and make sure to include a description of the photo you submit and the address of where you want your gear sent in the body of the message. Good luck!

You can submit photos from anywhere in the world, but we will only ship prizes to addresses within the continental UnitedStates.

Feel free to submit as often as you’d like. We choose a winner every Friday. And help us spread the word–we have a new theme (and a new set of prizes) every month.

Check out this video of 16-year-old climbing prodigy, Enzo Oddo, prAna’s youngest ambassador. He hails from Nice, France and, prior to the trip he took this February to Bishop, California, he had never been on a trip for the sole purpose of bouldering. Despite the foreign terrain and tough climbs, Oddo made the fourth-ever full ascent of the Bishop highball, Ambrosia.

You may not be able to climb or boulder like Oddo–in fact, we’re willing to bet you can’t. But you can participate in this contest. Enter to win any item from prAna and a 20 oz. insulated Klean Kanteen by posting this blog entry on your personal Facebook page and tagging both prAna and Wend between today (Tuesday, April 19th), and next Monday (April 25th). On Monday we’ll pick a random winner and post it here on the Wend blog.

Good luck!

On Sunday, April 30th between 11:30 and 3 p.m., up to 120 skiers and snowboarders will convene at Mt. Hood Meadows for the epic 5th Annual Snow-Kona Pond Skim. Once there, participants will attempt to rack up enough speed on their way down the hill to make it across the frigid water at the bottom. Registration is now open, can be done here by those 21 and over, and closes April 28th. Registration costs $30 per person, and includes a Kona beach towel and a Kona beer.

The event is sponsored by Hawaii’s own Kona Brewing, so contestants during the day will be aiming to win the grand prize of a trip for two to the Islands. Those who make it across the pond the first time around will be entered into the skim-offs. From the Mt. Hood Meadows site:

Judges will be encouraged to judge costumes on craftsmanship, creativity and time spent putting the costume together. It’s not a race to see who can wear the skimpiest costume or shock the crowd.

We’ll have prizes for the top three places, as well as for best skimming style, best costume, best impression made by a woman, and best showmanship. Let’s not forget about the grand prize of a round trip vacation for two to Hawaii!

Send us your shots for April’s Friday Photo Theme: Trail Running! And our winners will win an entirely re-vamped trail running wardrobe, including a pair of men’s or women’s Saucony ProGrid Peregrine trail blazing shoes, a Saucony men’s (or women’s) Transition Sport Top II, as well as a men’s or women’sBoston pant.

In addition, winners will get the perfect companion for a long trail runt an ultra comfortable, gender-specific hydration pack from Osprey. Gents, you’ll receive a Viper 10 pack; ladies will receive the Verve 10 pack.

Want your own chance at winning? Submitting is easy! Just fill out this submission form and make sure to include a description of the photo you submit and the address of where you want your gear sent in the body of the message. Good luck!

You can submit photos from anywhere in the world, but we will only ship prizes to addresses within the continental UnitedStates.

Feel free to submit as often as you’d like. We choose a winner every Friday. And help us spread the word–we have a new theme (and a new set of prizes) every month.

On Monday, we asked you, Wend readers, to sign up for the digital edition of Wend, ‘Like’ us on Facebook and share the link to the post on your (personal) Facebook page. To those of you who did, thank you! And to our winners, congrats!

JanSport launched its video contest, “What’s Your Outdoors,” on March 4th, and through August 31st, it will be collecting submissions from participants–challenging people to define their own meaning of the outdoors through film.

Everyone experiences the outdoors differently. Maybe your most beloved outdoor spot is a river-side slab of granite or maybe it’s your city’s boardwalk. As JanSport puts it, “As long as there is no roof, it qualifies.”

Capture your outdoors shot and submit it to the JanSport submissions pool here. Want to make sure your shot is a contender? Check out the ‘helpful hints’ section of how to film your 360-degree shot here.

Check out other people’s definition of their outdoors here.

Did you know you can read Wend magazine–from the very first issue to the most brand-spanking new–online, for free? We hope so. But if you’re not already signed up to read Wend digitally, this is the week to do so–because in addition to getting the green, guiltless pleasure of instant, on-screen Wend–you could win a 16 oz. insulated Klean Kanteen (with your choice of standard loop or café top).

How? It’s as easy as 1, 2, 3.

1. Sign up for the digital edition of Wend. Click here.

2. ‘Like’ us on Facebook.

3. Share the link to this post on your (personal) Facebook page.

This week–starting today, ending Friday–we’ll give away Klean Kanteen water bottles to five lucky people who follow the above three steps. What are you waiting for? Get on it!