Ryan Stuart, explore's gear editor
Ryan Stuart's tell all blog spot on his gear addiction and life and times as explore magazine's gear editor
Here I am: Salt Lake City
Boxes full of outdoor gear wait to be unloaded for the Summer Outdoor Retailer Show outside the Salt Palace, in Salt Lake City.
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I'm in Salt Lake City for the Summer Outdoor Retailer Show. I arrived this afternoon, on a plane full of Vancouver outdoor industry folk (it looked like half of Mountain Equipment Co-Op and half of Arc'Teryx was on my flight) to a solid furnace blast of desert heat. And I've already checked out some of the new gear coming out this fall and next spring. One of the PR firms that represents a bunch of companies held a little presentation so I was able to see new gear from Metolius, Osprey, Rab, La Sportiva, Jet Boil, Julbo and Sierra Designs. Some cool stuff is coming down the pipe, including 17 new tents from Sierra Designs, expensive approach shoes and climbing shoes designed by pro climbers from La Sportiva and a massive bouldering crash pad from Metolius, all for next spring.
The show starts at 9 am on Friday, but it's been in the works all week. The winter and summer OR shows start with demo days, two days where people can try some of the new products. The summer one is mostly paddling gear. Demo days ended today. This is also the busiest day for setting up in the massive convention centre known as the Salt Palace. The place is huge; I've heard it's five football fields worth of space and after walking it last year I believe it. Walking from one end to the other takes 10-minutes if there's no traffic and the floor is usually pretty congested. From my hotel window I look down on it. You can see a picture in the gallery of about one third of it.
Each company that has a booth brings all their stuff in these wooden boxes, which are piling up fast outside as they are unloaded. There's also a pic of a small number of these boxes. From them the companies assemble some elaborate spaces to show off their gear. Over the next few days I'll take some pictures from inside the show and update you on some of the cool things I see and hear. Right now I'm off to sample some local micro-brew. Salt Lake is home to some excellent beer. If you have any questions about the show fire them off and I'll do my best to answer them.
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