Outdoor Retailer, summer ’08: a recap of sore feet and good times

For those of you who don’t know, the biggest trade show in the outdoor industry convenes twice a year in Salt Lake City, Utah. It’s called Outdoor Retailer. For a Portlander, SLC is a few steps away from hell. When you live in a place where the best beer in the world is brewed, and some of the best coffee is roasted, you get spoiled. Good beer and coffee are hard to come by in SLC. But, beyond those stark realities, Outdoor Retailer is a place to learn a great deal about what’s going on in the industry. The Wend sales staff goes to build new relationships with different brands, and keep up with our existing ones. The editorial staff goes to look at design, and in our case, green design. We go to see who is walking the walk, and who is talking to the talk. Sure, there is greenwashing, but a lot of brands are making serious efforts in the realm of sustainable design. But nothing beats looking at the “Green Issue” of magazines that print on the cheapest, most environmentally destructive paper. (Don’t worry, Wend practices what we preach).

The outdoor industry is funny business–It’s a constant blur the between business and pleasure–much to our delight. Ian had a conversation with a really cool PR woman from SPOT, who is used to NYC tech clients, and she was amazed that people can drink beer and wear flip flops and actually get real business done.

One of the highlights from the show was the Epicocity boys’s presentation at the NRS booth on Saturday night. Trip Jennings, gave a presentation of the team’s white water/science/environmental missions to Papua New Guinea, China, and The Congo. One of Trip’s partners in crime, Kyle Dickman, penned a piece on PNG in the current edition of Wend, which is truly epic. Thanks to NRS for the beers and putting together the program, and supporting some truly great folks.

Later in the evening, we partnered with Granite Gear for an after party. The boys from GG sure as hell can throw down some mean BBQ. If you missed this event, your loss. GG sponsors Gregg and Deia, who have just returned from walking the ENTIRE length of the Andes Mountains, and have penned a two part story for us coming in our fall (sept.) and winter (dec.) issues. Gregg and Deia gave an excellent presentation to highlight the evening’s events, and I sat watching, jaw open and shedding tears. Truly some of the most remarkable adventurers I’ve ever come across— they endured all manner of hell– typhoid, hook worm, ring worm, starvation, you name it. And when you talk to them, they’re the most humble people on the planet. Thanks GG, Gregg and Deia.

I also got to meet Will Steger who is a personal hero of mine, a great adventurer, and one of the most important climate activists of our time. AND HE’S GOING TO WRITE A STORY FOR WEND!!!

Emily Nuchols, from Save Our Wild Salmon, who penned the Platform piece in the current issue, was up to her old tricks, fishing around for support to help repopulate this noble Northwest icon.

One of the rivers Emily and SOS work on is the Snake River, which switches back under Interstate 84 several times on on the drive to SLC. Seeing the effects of damns first hand, I snapped a few pictures of a river in pain. Note the algae blooms from fertilizer runoff. Algae in a moving RIVER? BAD.

A couple of other gems:
Dinner at Happy Sumo with SOS, Wend staff, and the good folks from Osprey Packs (who also love salmon and work with SOS).

And last but not least, the Wend staff had a little argument over cleaning services at our hotel. Ian, Brian, and myself preferred to forgo maid service while we were there, but Melissa, fearing that us boys would be up to no good, wanted to keep things clean and went over our heads at the front desk. When we came back from the first day of the show, we noticed that in her bedroom, the bed had been made, and in ours, it was just as we left it. So, we decided to short sheet her bed. For anyone who ever went to summer camp, you know what I mean.

Here’s a photo that should give you faith in Wend’s Editor and Publisher, doing great work between the sheets.

Good luck getting into bed Melissa!