After being featured on 60 Minutes a year so back, not to mention appearing in numerous magazine articles, blog posts, YouTube videos and television commercials, Alex Honnold seems to have become the face of rock climbing in many ways. He is also featured in a nice new add from Goal Zero that shows him free climbing a route called Fine Jade on The Rectory near Moab, Utah while sharing his motivations for why he climbs. At the end, he even uses one of Goal Zero's solar panels to recharge his cell phone so he can call home and let mom know he's safe. All in all, a pretty nice video for a commercial.

As rechargeable battery technology improves, more and more gear manufacturers are incorporating the power cells into our outdoor gear. Now days it is not uncommon for our headlamps, GPS devices and altimeter watches to all have lithium batteries keeping them powered up for our excursions into the backcountry. Not to mention our iPods, mobile phones and tablets. All of those items makes travel more convenient than ever before, but in order for those devices to be anything but dead weight, we need to find a way to keep them charged while away from home.

Thats where the BirkSun Solar Backpacks can come in handy. BirkSun offers two different packs, in two different colors, that range in price and size. Each of the packs has a built in solar panel and a built in battery pack. That battery pack can be either charged from a wall outlet at home or from the sun as you head out for the day. Whenever your gadgets need a recharge, you simply plug it into the battery pack, which stores 2400 mAh of power. That's enough to juice up your iPhone or Android device a couple of times.

The packs are reasonably priced at $125 and $150 and begin shipping in April.

I've mentioned the products from Goal Zero on more than one occasion. They make some of the most lightweight and efficient solar chargers on the market, providing excellent options for keeping our gadgets charged while in the field. I even reviewed their Guide 10 Plus Adventure Kit awhile back, finding it to be a great product for backpackers and climbers alike. Yesterday the company announced an entirely new product that is sure to be of interest to many, particularly those who require a lot of power in a base camp setting.

At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Goal Zero took the wraps off of the new Yeti 150 Solar Generator, a lightweight option for portable power while camping. The unit weighs 12 pounds and comes with a convenient built-in handle, making it fairly easy to carry to just about any location. It also comes with built in several built in power plugs including a 12-vold car port, a USB port and even a standard wall outlet. That means you can plug all of your devices, including laptops, into the Yeti 150 and get a quick power-up.

The Yeti 150 is essentially a high capacity battery that can be charged at home via a power outlet or in your car in the 12-volt port. In the field, the unit can be paired with GZ's excellent Nomad 13 solar panel for complete charging off the grid. Using the Nomad, Yeti 150 owners can reportedly top off their charge in as little as 5-10 hours depending on weather conditions.

According to Goal Zero the Yeti can provide up to 15 charges of a smartphone, six charges to a tablet such as an iPad, or two full charges of a laptop. The company says that a notebook computer can be completely powered up in two hours as well, which is a relatively short time all things considered.

This new solar powered solution from Goal Zero seems like a great option for those who are planning a prolonged stay in the backcountry or in a base camp somewhere. It's small size and relatively light weight should make it a popular system, and it's price tag of $400 with an included solar panel isn't half-bad either.

I look forward to hearing more about how well these work once they're put to use in the field.

Lets face it, when we hit the slopes these days, we tend to take a lot of gadgets along with us. Between our smartphones, GoPro cameras, regular digital cameras and electronic goggles, we have a lot of batteries to keep fully charged. That's where the latest creation from Signal Snowboards can come in handy. The mad scientists that work in the company's labs have managed to add a thin photovoltaic cell onto the deck of a snowboard and wired a convertor between the bindings. The results? A board that can collect power while you're shredding the slopes, then allow you to charge your devices when you take a break.

The video below shows you how they want through the process of creating the snowboard, which isn't meant for production. At least not yet. It is more about the Signal team having a little fun and pushing the envelope to a degree. Still, a very cool project that I'm sure some snowboarders would love to have.