Blogging OR - Part 2

Last week, I blogged about the first half of my annual trip on behalf of Washington Trails magazine as its volunteer gear editor to Salt Lake City to take in the Outdoor Retailer Summer Market. It’s the biggest outdoor industry trade show around, bringing together top gear manufacturers, retailers, industry insiders and members of the media.

Here’s what I saw.

Day 2 - I have momentum, and I’m not tired.  Right?

After a tasty and filling breakfast at the hotel, my first meeting comes way too soon. I’m already feeling a bit tired, and my feet already have blisters. Sandals without socks will do that.

It’s always fun and refreshing to see Montbell, a scrappy Japanese company that makes only technical gear, not bowing to the urge to go mass market with “lifestyle” stuff.  As usual, their line is not earthshattering, but it’s solid and does not disappoint. Then it’s off to Ibex, Kelty, Primus, and an appointment scheduled at the wrong time. Happens. So I walked the floor. Stopped by to see Sea to Summit, where I see more cool hiking and camping widgets than I can relate here.

Then I see the excellent footwear brand Kayland, and it’s there that I realize what my footwear angle will be for 2009. Approach shoes—a very popular piece in 2006 when we last covered it—an interesting subset of footwear often overlooked.

Then it’s off to a meeting that didn’t happen. The person I was supposed to meet with didn’t show up, so I went for another walk. This time, it was across the street to the SLC sports arena, which has, been commandeered this year for overflow new exhibitors. It was nothing less than a ghost town, the exhibitors looking lonely and hungry. It was worth my while. I found a cordlock with an LED light in it, and a transdermal patch loaded with Vitamin B1 that claims to make a human inedible. If this thing works, it will revolutionize how we deal with mosquitoes. Suffice it to say, you’ll either read about it in WT or you won’t, depending on the outcome.

I drop in to the Media Center to check my email and drop some stuff off, and lo, there’s lunch set out for us! It’s all icky tiny hamburgers and hot dogs, but it’s here, and so am I, so I ignore my inner healthy person and chow down. Ugh.

After my “lunch”, it’s off to the Salt Palace Ballroom to walk the floor. My work is immediately rewarded with another great find. Cameron’s makes a number of items for cooking and smoking, for our purposes they have a bag made of aluminum foil with smoking chips sandwiched in the bag. Think fresh fish here. This is another product I’m taking to Idaho for testing.

Then it’s off to Deuter for some packs. Nice stuff. Great stuff for kids. What will my pack review for 2009 be about? I still don’t know. I am relying on the brands to show me what’s interesting so I can work out the 2009 gear calendar.

I go see the gang at Crumpler. A lot of Crumpler’s gear isn’t quite right for the WT audience, but I appreciate the humor and the spunk of this brand.  Then it’s off to Patagonia Footwear, GSI, and Lowa. GSI has a great new line of “coffee management” tools, including collapsible silicone filter cones, a multitude of French Presses, and some neoprene-insulated brewing/containers. I wrapped up my day with a meeting with REI, where I see many cool pieces of gear and apparel. (Noteworthy: REI has a new eVent jacket coming out, the first eVent jacket to go mass-market.)

I wrap up my day with gyros and fries at a little place just far away from the OR madness to be quiet. Back to the hotel to watch Michael Phelps win all kinds of gold.

Day 3 – OK. This is now starting to get tiring.

I rise at 7am to pack up and drop my bags at the front desk. My scheduled flight departure time is 11am, but due to a late change in the show schedule, I’ve booked appointments all day. The airlines tell me it will be “no problem” for me to catch an evening flight. Should be fine, I tell myself.

First, it’s breakfast with a good pal who now works at The North Face, and then off to the big show for what’s turned into eight hours of appointments with no lunch break. I try to avoid doing that, but sometimes it needs to happen. In rapid succession, I see GoLite, Isis, Patagonia, Vasque, Osprey, Sierra Designs, GoPro, Julbo, La Sportiva, Integral Designs, Nemo, Cocoon, Keen, Teko, Mountain Hardware, Outdoor Research, Scarpa, and Westcomb without stopping for breath. That was eight hours of well, I just hope my friends in PR took good notes on what I saw, and what I think will be good to review.

Three things that stand out: Nemo makes tents with inflatable tubes instead of metal poles, Cocoon and OR have clothing that repels bugs, and Westcomb is using a new Schoeller fabric called coldblack that claims to make black fabric reflect light. Expect to see these innovations on the pages of WT in 2009. A quick stop at Guyot pays off: They have a new little charcoal filter (prototype, unfortunately) that fits in most water bottles and makes water taste mountain fresh.

Long story short on me getting home: Everything I’d been told turned out to be wrong, and I spent an extra night in SLC. Luckily a friend was able to put me up for the night. Overall, a good show this year, and hopefully I came away with enough good ideas to keep you all reading my gear column on the pages of Washington Trails magazine next year.
 

Photo: Montbell’s Scott Guenther demonstrates the stretchiness of their new diagonally baffled sleeping bag.