This year there were five awards issued to the following brands and products:
- C.A.M.P – Tricam Evo
- Delorme – inReach Explorer
- Mammut – Courmayeur Advanced Pant
- Salewa – Pro Guide Boot
- SteriPen – Freedom
AAI Director Dunham Gooding for the Tricam Evo.
Read more about the 2014 Guides Choice Award winners.
OR is a lot more than just buying and selling. Every year these thousands of outdoor industry professionals use OR as a time to come together to converse, collaborate, and find ways to benefit the consumer and the environment through educational sessions, meetings and the occasional cold beverage. While at OR we use the opportunity as guides to talk to product developers about their existing products and how they can be made better, or even present ideas for new products. On several occasions product improvements have been made based on product development meetings between AAI and company designers.
OR is all about the new gear that will be coming to market the following year. Over the course of the show you will always find a few new and intriguing items mixed in with all of the other things that have not been changed. Here are just a few of the cooler things that we were shown.
CAMP’s new assisted braking belay device the Matic features very smooth rope feeding and has a clutch that locks the device off if the belayer pulls the lowering lever too far back. This safety feature helps to eliminate the potential of a climber being dropped if the belayer panics and pulls back too far on the device. The Matic is equipped with a soft grabbing stainless steel rope cam. When loaded suddenly a small amount of rope is allowed to slip through as the cam starts to pinch the rope. This reduces impact forces on your anchors and allows for a softer catch as well. The Matic should be available spring of 2015.
Every year single rated ropes are getting skinnier and skinnier. This year Beal debuted their 8.5mm Opera rope. Rated as a single, twin and half rope the Opera is sure to bring versatility to the alpine climbing wold where snow, rock and ice are all likely to be encountered. It is not decided yet but while speaking with Fred Beal at the show, they would like to make it available in 50, 60, 70, 80, 90 and 100 meter lengths! With a 5 fall rating, Unicore technology, and only weighing 48 g / meter the Opera will prove to be a very versatile rope.
Julbo is bringing the 80’s back thanks to AAI Guide Liz Daley. On a trip to France she requested retro shades with modern technology, and Julbo is delivering. The Cortina is part of their new Heritage Collection. With Spectron 3 lenses and available in a fun variety of colors you can look rad in the backcountry and around town.
Outside of the showroom floor there are endless opportunities to take part in special events, fundraisers and attend some pretty amazing parties. This year myself and Richard received a special invitation to the grand opening of the new Petzl North America location. The facility was specially designed with the environment in mind. It is located within minutes of mass transit, making it very easy for employees to leave their cars at home. The facility has state of the art energy limiting technology, and approximately 25% of the energy consumption is offset from a solar array located on the new warehouse roof, with the intent to be fully solar run in the coming years.
Outdoor Retailer is always a very rewarding experience. From the people that you meet to the new gear the you get to preview, you always come from away from the event super excited for the coming year. Now the countdown begins until next OR.
–Jeff Voigt, Guides Choice Manager