Today’s entry is a collaborative writing and photo effort between Christine and I. We’re staying with Jerry in Salt Lake City to attend the Outdoor Retailer Winter Market 2006. Today was the Backcountry Basecamp, a demo day that preceeds the actual trade show event.

It was 20 F and snowing when we got to Brighton Ski area at 10,000 ft, 20 minutes from Salt Lake City. Backcountry Base Camp is the day to use demo versions of some of the new gear. Rebecca, Jerry and I (Christine) were ready to take it on. On a tour around the booths, we women were given pairs of the Fox River women’s winter socks. Very cute with embroidered girls and flowers.

Next, at Kahtoola, we found the new thing in snowshoes, ones with accompanying boots that clip in. A couple of booths over, we discovered TSL’s version of clip-in snowshoes have been winning all of the snowshoeing races.

As we continued around the booths, Jerry talked with Outdoor Research about tents. I learned about Jytte, a merino wool beanie company who makes their hats in Idaho. I was very appreciative to get one, since I hadn’t brought a hat and my hair was frozen into dreds from all the snow. JetBoil next door was using their new pot system to boil water for hot chocolate. We passed on that, but stopped by the warming hut for cookies and caffeine before Rebecca and I took a skate skiing workshop.

We both fell on our butts several times. I’m not as graceful as those guys that come barreling past me when I Nordic ski, but I got the hang of it, and it was fun.

After getting the hang of falling, we tackled the big hill on Airboards. These are big, blowup torpedo-shaped sleds that go fast. We both made it to the bottom of the hill alive. After that we were bushed. Jerry had talked enough people’s ears off, and we had seen what there was to see at this taste of the OR show. It was a very successful day. I’m looking forward to the big show tomorrow.

Outdoor Retailer Winter Market (01.2006)

20 photos