Trailspace Blog November 2009

It must be a Swedish thing: for 2007, both Primus and Optimus are introducing stove/pot systems that include insulated pot cozies. In your pack, these zippered bags can hold your pot, stove, and accessories – the same thing you’re probably doing now with a nylon stuff sack. But because they’re insulated, the new cozies also come in handy at meal time. If you’re cooking rice or par-boiling part of a meal, you can remove your pot from the stove once it’s come to a boil and put it into the cozy. The insulation will keep the heat in the pot and your food will continue to cook while you use the stove to prepare another part of the meal, or turn off the stove to conserve fuel.

It’s always nice to put faces with names. Friday afternoon I had the pleasure of meeting longtime Trailspace members Bill S and Brian in SLC over a pint of ale at the McNett booth. Brian, thanks for your tips on the Uintas. Sorry I wasn’t able to stick around longer…I hope they had some books left by the time you made it to the front of the line.

While I’ve known for years that hammocks are popular with a subset of backpackers and adventure racers, I’d never had the opportunity to try one out until today when I happened to walk by the Hennessy Hammock booth here at OR. When I was offered the chance to see how it works I eagerly climbed right in.

For any of you who’ve never been in a hammock before because you think it will be awkward to get inside or uncomfortable, fear not! It was simple: just duck under the suspended hammock, stand up inside, sit down, and lie down a bit diagonally with your feet inside. The hammock does all the work, even closing the bottom opening for you once you’re lying down. Once inside, I didn’t want to get out. It was fun and comfortable! I felt like a kid in my own tree house. I started wondering if I could be a hammock person too, or at least an occasional hammock person.

“I don’t worry about people trying them,” designer and founder Tom Hennessy told me. “When people try it, I know I’ve already sold it. Maybe not today, but next time they lay on the ground they’ll be thinking of me.”

Hennessy says he does no advertising because the “people on the trail are my salespeople.” He’s even received cell phone calls from other backpackers wanting to order a hammock while out on the trail.

Having finally tried a hammock, I now understand why people are drawn to this low impact shelter, especialy lightweight enthusiasts. With the new Hennessy Hyperlite they’ve got the weight down to 24 ounces, “but we can get down further,” said Hennessy.

For information on the Hyperlite Backpacker A-sym and other 2007 tents and shelters, read the ongoing 2007 Tents and Shelters Preview in the news section.

You'll also find an article on the revolutionary MSR Reactor stove system, “the fastest-boiling, most fuel-efficient windproof stove system available.”.

Earlier this year Timberland announced its acquisition of the GoLite brand name and its intention to launch a new line of trail running shoes under the GoLite Footwear label. The resulting shoes – six models from race and training to trail-inspired after-sport shoes designed by the Timberland Invention Factory – made their debut at Outdoor Retailer.

According to Timberland’s Doug Clark, the goal of GoLite Footwear is to meet the unique needs of trail runners. While road runners can concentrate on efficiency and technique, the number one concern for a trail runners is “not falling on your ass.” Instead of a traditional road-running sole, which is soft underfoot and hard against the road, the new GoLite shoes are softer on the outside, allowing them to absorb footfalls on rocks and roots while still providing a wide base of support. The core of the system are the large, deep lugs on the outsole; they’re soft enough that if one lands on a stone, it will compress completely, allowing the others to touch down around the obstacle and maintain solid footing.

The GoLite Footwear line will be available in stores beginning in spring, 2007. While GoLite has received positive feedback from their test base of New England running clubs, it will be interesting to see how the soft-on-the-bottom concept holds up, especially in terms of durability.

I’ve been toting my two-year-old son around the show. Mostly he’s been flirting with exhibitors and encouraging me to lay down in the tents that he likes, but we also found a few minutes to check out some technical clothing for the pint-sized set.

Mountain Sprouts outerwear includes a lot of little details that are missing from most kids’ clothing. Immediate standouts are reinforced patches in high-wear areas (knees and elbows for crawlers) and the use of reflective threads, which provide high visibility near traffic or when the little one scampers off into the woods by your campsite after dark. New products for 2007 include Mudskippers -- ripstop nylon bibs with adjustable shoulder straps -- and a silk-synthetic stretch polyester t-shirt and romper.

One piece that immediately caught my eye was the Rogue Jacket – a true soft shell (Polartec ThermalPro) for kids. Mountain Sprouts founder Jen Taylor told me that the jacket was designed/inspired by her oldest child, who wanted to have a jacket “just like his father’s.” I don’t know many five-year-olds who need a soft shell, but it’s a nice-looking jacket.

The AquaStar water purifier has been on the market for a couple years, but yesterday was the first chance I’ve had to see it in person. In essence the AquaStar is a 32-ounce, Nalgene-type water bottle with a tubular lamp built into the cap. When activated, the lamp shines ultraviolet UV-C light into the bottle, which kills of most pathogens – bacteria, cysts, and viruses -- in pretty short order. AquaStar operates on the same principle as the Hydro-Photo SteriPEN, but appears to be a bit easier to use: with the AquaStar you can fill the bottle, cap it, press the purifier’s only button, and then throw it in your pack and it will purify as you hike. The AquaStar also comes with a small mesh pre-filter that fits over the bottle mouth to keep out the largest floaties, although those who prefer their water crystal clear may want to stick with a traditional filter.

Apologies for the lack of coverage from day one of OR. A laptop died on us yesterday, and we lost several hours of the day to troubleshooting, recovering data, and getting a replacement – luckily we’re just a couple blocks from the Apple Store. Not long after we got that squared away the Internet connection here at the hotel went dead. You just have to love technology…

Now that we're back up and running I'll try to post a few highlights from day one before heading back to the Salt Palace.

This is the first in a series of live reports we'll be filing from the Outdoor Retailer trade show in Salt Lake City. Outdoor Retailer is a twice-a-year gathering of the outdoor industry, where manufacturers debut their latest gear, and retailers stock their stores for next season. The show starts tomorrow with over a thousand companies showing off their products, and we're here to get the scoop on the new gear that you'll be seeing on retailers' shelves for spring and summer 2007.

While the show doesn’t start until tomorrow, downtown Salt Lake is crawling with show attendees -- exhibitors, retailers, press, etc. -- and the Salt Palace convention center is abuzz with exhibitors setting up their booths. We had to dodge forklifts, dollies, and all manner of frenzied construction activity on our way to pick up our admission/identification badges.

This year marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of Outdoor Retailer, and this is the biggest show yet. We'll be walking the floor and meeting with manufacturers and retailers to bring you info on the latest and greatest tents, backpacks, sleep systems, and more.

Stay tuned for highlights from the show over the next four days, as well as more detailed write-ups of significant trends and gear in the coming weeks and months.

I sleep warm. Usually very warm.

I’m also on a bit of an ounce-counting kick lately, and yet I continue to haul a 3+ pound, 20-degree sleeping bag on just about every trip. My EMS MM 20, has served me well for years, in all seasons, and I always stuff it into my pack without a second thought. Last week I finally realized the obvious: the bag is total overkill for summer trips, and even for late spring and early fall. Even in its advanced stage of loftlessness, I usually end up sleeping with the bag mostly unzipped, my arms and one leg exposed to avoid overheating. Often I just sleep on top of it. I’ve only used the hood a couple times, in winter.

So this week I went shopping for a new summer bag. I wanted something lightweight, with a high temperature rating and a minimum of features. That meant no hood, no pockets, and possibly no insulation on the bottom. Must-haves were a partial or full zipper for ventilation control, and down fill (mostly because of down’s superior packability). I looked at bags from a number of manufacturers, eventually narrowing it down to:

• Big Agnes Horse Thief 20 oz., 50-degree top bag: an early contender at a decent price, but I didn’t like the fact that it wouldn’t work with my existing rectangular sleeping pad.

• MontBell U.L. Alpine Down Hugger Thermal Sheets 12 oz., no published temperature rating: the lightest bag I looked at, with a full zip and only 0.3 oz. less down than MontBell’s 50-degree hooded model.

• Feathered Friends Vireo: 17 oz. (avg), 45-degree hoodless mummy. Zipperless design is intended to be used together with a FF down jacket.

• Nunatak Gear Arc Edge: 12 oz. (long), 40-degree down quilt. While the quilt concept is intriguing, I don’t think I’m quite sold.

• Western Mountaineering MityLite 1lb. 10 oz., 40-degree mummy: continuous baffles allow you to shift down from the bottom to the top of the bag for added insulation. But a 40 degree rating and 12 oz. of down put this bag on the warm and heavy side in this search.

In the end, the extreme light weight and full zip of the MontBell Thermal Sheets won me over. (The reasonable price and ready availability also helped to reinforce my decision.) The new bag should be arriving today and I’m planning on taking it to Utah later this month.

Of course, that light weight comes at a cost. I am a little concerned by the lack of insulation – only 4.6 oz. of 725-fill down. Do I really sleep as warm as I think I do? We'll find out soon.

Update: Read my review of the MontBell bag.

Here at Trailspace we’re dedicated to helping hikers, backpackers, climbers, and other backcountry enthusiasts get outside to enjoy the natural world, just like we do. That mission comes with a responsibility to be good stewards of the very environment we encourage our readers to explore. That’s why I’m happy to report that Trailspace has joined 1% For The Planet, an alliance of companies that each donate at least one percent of their annual sales to environmental organizations worldwide.

Trailspace’s mission is to help outdoors people find the right stuff—information, experience, know-how, and gear—to get out and enjoy various forms of human-powered backcountry recreation. Being outdoors in nature is what our family loves to do, and I hope others find the same challenge, achievement, joy, and peace from trekking through a dark forest, standing atop a mountain peak, visiting an alpine lake, or skiing across a snow-covered field.

So, why did we join 1%? We already donate a portion of our own money and time to several environmental organizations, like our local land trust here in central Maine. But making a public commitment toward improving the health of our planet means we take our own environmental impact seriously and have made reducing it part of Trailspace’s mission, responsibilities, and values. Joining an alliance of like-minded companies also shows we think it’s time for corporations—and their leaders—to start having a positive impact on the environment and to recognize the true cost of doing business on our planet.

Because Trailspace is a community of backcountry recreationists, we aim to support organizations that work toward protecting and enhancing the wild lands we all cherish, specifically organizations that:

• Protect land and water quality,

• Maintain access to trails, parks, and wilderness areas,

• Support alternative and renewable energy sources, and

• Pursue other important environmental efforts.

In the coming weeks and months, we’ll use this space to tell you about some of the organizations we support and the work they’re doing.

1% For The Planet is out to prove that taking environmental responsibility is good for business. The organization was launched in 2001 by Yvon Chouinard, environmental activist and founder of Patagonia, and Craig Matthews, owner of Blue Ribbon Flies. The alliance now includes nearly 400 companies that together have contributed more than $10 million to environmental causes. As Chouinard wrote in his 2005 memoir/manifesto, Let My People Go Surfing, “Every time we’ve elected to do the right thing, even when it costs twice as much to do it that way, it’s turned out to be more profitable.”

If you haven’t read Chouinard’s book, go find a copy. He shows that it’s possible, even advantageous, to do the right thing for the environment and people, while making quality products and running a successful company with values and vision.

And while none of us lives a completely sustainable or zero-impact lifestyle (yet), each of us can find ways to lessen our own footprint—on the trail and off. That’s what we’re trying to do here at Trailspace. How about you?

If you’re reading this, chances are you've already noticed a few changes around Trailspace.

What’s new?

This blog, for starters. This is the place where we'll announce new site features, share interesting products, locations, and web sites we discover, and sound off with our personal opinions.

We’ve also added a news section. It’s accessible from the home page and from the main navigation at the top of every page on Trailspace. Thanks to Alicia’s hard work, we’re increasing our editorial coverage, which will include new product announcements, events, outdoor trends, and more.

With all this new content, we’ve tweaked the design of the home page a little bit. A featured story along with the most recent headlines from the blog and news sections will always be listed on the left side, and content from the gear guide has moved under the heading of “Advice, Tips, and Tutorials.”

Those are all the major changes, for now. I hope you find them helpful and would love to hear what you think. As always you can post bug reports, suggestions, complaints, etc. in the feedback forum, or leave a comment on this post.