Last month Jen and I were invited by Scott Gibson of Wingnutgear.com, the inventors of the MPS Alpha pack, to support them at the 2007 Outdoor Retailer Show in Salt Lake City, UT. It was very last minute and I wasn’t sure if we would be able to pull it together so fast. But I was able to reroute my return business trip home and Jen was able to hop over from the Bay Area.

I arrived in SLC Friday morning and made my way over to the convention center in my sweet Pontiac Grand Am rental car.

I parked and walked up to the convention center, but words can’t describe the excitement I felt as I approached. Adventure racers are certified gear addicts. So sending one to the Outdoor Retailer show which is like an REI flagship store on steroids, could prove to be disastrous!

I opened the door and Scott was there to greet me with my badge, Jen was to arrive later that evening. When we reached the top of the stairs all I saw was gear, clothing and toys as far as the eye can see! Rows and rows and rows of STUFF.

For the rest of the day I assisted Scott at his Wingnutgear booth and demonstrated to passerby’s how we as Adventure Racers use his packs for racing. I did manage to peel off and make the rounds to check the scene out.

Buzz Burrell from La Sportiva’s Mountain Running team and our newest sponsor was there and shows us some of the new footwear for the ‘08 season. Gordon Wright, Bay Area icon for adventure racing press and the infamous BAAR BRAWL “training event” surprised me. I found Paul Romero and Karen Lundgren over at the Sole booth and was lucky enough to show up the same time one of my mountaineering idols, Ed Viestures was about to do a book signing.

Later that day Jen finally arrived and before Scott hosted a booth-beer-thirty party we made the rounds. We met lots of great people. One that stands out was Bert from Life is Good. The clothing line that you see at REI that have the little sick man on them. Bert was also having beer-thirty party. As we made our way back to the Wingnut booth we stumbled into a few more parties and an espresso café.

After the show, Scott took us and a few other gear addicts out for sushi for dinner. Turns out that Scott and a couple other had scored passes into the JanSport private party later that night. Jen and I were without the special “wristband” which could only be used once for entry. So no two-in and one-out scheme! So we made our own party down the street at the Red Rock Brewery… which looked to be full of other party rejects as well!

Saturday was more of the same. Mind bending quantities of booths, swag and things to test and play with. Even a couple rock walls and a tide pool!

I’m also including the blog post from Gordon Wright below. He the newest Checkpoint Zero author.

The first time I arrived in Salt Lake City’s Salt Palace Convention Center for Outdoor Retailer, I knew I had found a second home. Walking around was like seeing my Rolodex come to life. This year is no different.

Fellow CheckpointZero blogger Mike Bitton is here, working hard as always. Troy Farrar is making the rounds, representing adventure racing with his usual easy-going authority. I had dinner last night with Rebecca Rusch and Jon Dorn, the editor of Backpacker Magazine, to talk about our incipient plans to race in Primal Quest. Even Adam Doti, the face of adventure racing in the Bay Area and a key member of Team Dirty Avocados, is here, hitting up gear makers and generating sponsorships.

In a word, AR is well-represented. There’s been some talk recently, some hand-wringing, some whinging, about how how our sport is on the decline. To that I say: not really. Sure, it’s incredible growth hasn’t sustained itself over the past ten years, but that would be impossible. Adventure racing is now in a maturing phase, a phase that means we’ve actually made it as viable, well-known sport - at least around these people.

And these are the people who count most to our community. They’re the ones that run the retail outlets where we buy our gear. These are the people who cough up sponsorships so that we can AFFORD gear. And they’re the people who actually make the gear that we use.

I met with the two head marketing people at Wigwam, makers of killer socks, and they couldn’t have been more happy with Robin Benincasa, who has been relentless in putting out the word on her sponsor. I had a meeting with the PR maven of The North Face, Amy Goldhammer, who was pumped about her company’s new AR shoe, the Crusade. (An early look at this shoe is exciting folks - it’s a very light, really functional, grippy shoe that should really get some attention from us).

In the show’s daily magazine, they interviewed six people and asked, “Who is your Outdoor Idol?” That’s a big question, and the responses ranged from Magellen to Meriweather Lewis. But two people cited adventure racers: Rebecca Rusch and Ian Adamson.

So that, I think, shows that the exploits of racers still resonate with the people who count. So quitcher whinging and make plans to attend Outdoor Retailer next summer.

Did I mention that a ton of booths have free beer every afternoon???

- Gordon Wright 

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