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Outdoor Retailer Show – Lisa Reports – Lots of Gear Observations

By Lou

(Wife’s perspective on our work at trade
show ) Well, I had fun! What could be better than a vacation full of
shopping and backcountry skiing? I’ll be doing one of the Editor’s
Choice backcountry skiing clothing reviews for Couloir Magazine next
year and it was a decadent treat to cruise around the show ordering
items right and left. There was a plethora of pieces which combined
high tech function and runway-worthy style, and vendors were generous.
Samples of everything will be arriving on our doorstep – from pink
sheerling apre’ ski boots (for the trailhead), to a watch that monitors
hydration levels. Louie’s been doing homework all morning and now we’re
switching gears to do some skiing. The dogs will lead us up the ridge
behind the house for a few turns. The sun is out and it’s a postcard
day.

Brooklyn Samuels
— apre’ ski.

Here’s a
rundown on some of the swag we’ll be testing: scratch resistant,
camoflage-colored nalgene from Peter at Liberty Mountain, backpack
from Hydrapak, fuel by ProBar and Elete, ski bag by Kiva, ski socks
from Thorlo, softshell from Cloudveil, silky base layers from Isis,
sunscreen by ProTech and new shades from Coyote. Dogs are howling.
Let’s go skiing!

Lou again: Beyond OR Show
and skiing, the coolest thing about being out here in the Wasatch
is checking out the marriage of friends Andrew McLean and Polly
Samuels. Andrew is of course a big name in ski mountaineering and
the outdoor industry, and Polly’s no slouch herself, being a top
rated randonnne racer as well as a prosecutor for the Utah Attorney
General — quite a gal! New Yorker magazine is covering Andrew
in a major feature, and it turns out that their wedding will not
only be on the New York Times wedding announcements — but also
featured in a NYT article! I guess this is a celebrity wedding,
we’ll see if any paparazzi show up. If they do, I suppose Andrew
and Polly’s friends at Exum Guides could organize an effective
security detail, replete with ice tools.

A final Outdoor Retailer
screed: Yesterday I was
amused to note that both Couloir Magazine and Telemark Tips claimed
the new Ortovox S1 avalanche beacon was the "biggest news of
the show," even though
the only life sized unit was under glass (no touch), and one had
to experience it by reading a white paper and speaking with the guys
at the Ortovox booth. I like Ortovox and what they’ve done for ski
alpinism over the years, and have no problem with advance product
announcements — but to call this big news was a reach. More, the
new beacon is said to make multiple burials easier to handle and
perhaps make searching even more intuitive. Noble features, but not
earth shattering unless you’re a guide who has to march large groups
up and down avalanche slopes (many do) or a person using poor procedures
and getting more than one person buried at a time.

Moving on, what really was the "big news?
at Outdoor Retailer" I actually
didn’t see anything snow shattering — but there was tons of great
stuff that represented incremental improvements in gear, food, etcetera.

It was cool how many of next year’s packs will have excellent ski
carrying features. Indigo has a neato deal with a retractable cable
loop that you stick your ski tails in, but it’s a bit hard to operate
with the pack on your back. Granite Gear’s method is a bit more
low-tech, but designed so you can both attach and detach your skis
without taking your pack off. Very cool if you’re an alpinist or
randonnee racer. Other companies have similar systems, all based
on homebrew stuff cobbled together by Euro rando racers over the
past few years.

Louie with the excellent Timbuk2 computer travel case.

In the miscellaneous category, I’d been looking
to find a sleek laptop computer bag for traveling, and picked up
a beauty from Timbuk2
Designs — they make beefy bags that still look clean, without
all the jingoist junk that hangs off some of the el-cheapos you can
find at chain stores and such. Thanks Macy and Timbuk2!

Also, we’re
always playing around with water bottles and hydration bladders,
and found some cool stuff. Hydrapack is
making a series of small backpacks that include a hydradtion bladder
that turns inside-out for cleaning (just place in dishwasher).
More, as Heidi mentioned above, we like the cool style of the camo
Nalgene bottle we found.