New outdoor gear to lighten up your life
Editor’s note: Last in a two-part series on new gear from the 2008 Outdoor Retailer trade show.
This report from the recent 2008 Outdoor Retailer trade show offers a peek at to-be-released gear and gadgets, including carbon-fiber kayaks, 1-gram tent stakes, and a climbing harness that incorporates the same polymer as used in a NASA spacesuit.
Passage 65 backpack by REI: Made for teens, the Passage 65 is touted to grow as your kid grows.
The pack has a highly-adjustable suspension system to fit a range of body sizes, from the scrawny 13-year-old hiking his or her first trail to the buff high-school senior trekking out alone. REI didn’t skimp on components, using the same quality straps, zippers and fabric as seen in its adult line. Nice touches include a top lid that detaches and can be used as a lumbar pack, and a pre-curved hip belt to better match your youngster’s anatomy from day one.
$149; available spring 2009; www.rei.com
Confluence concept boats: These carbon-fiber/fiberglass hybrids took cake as some of the coolest products at the trade show. Available next spring in limited quantities, Confluence was calling these boats “concept designs,” meaning the company was flexing some of its design muscle to show the potential of what they can do with the right idea. Lift one and you won’t believe the (absence of) weight: The whitewater concept is a airy 19 pounds; the sea kayak, a full-length schooner that’ll purportedly be priced around $5,000, is a feathery 35 pounds.
Available spring 2009; www.confluencewater sports.com
Titanium tent skewer: The absurdist’s dilemma of trying to find the lightest-weight tent stake on the market just got even more absurd. U.K.-based Terra Nova sells titanium tent “skewers” that weigh just one gram apiece. That’s gram, not ounce. They’re 12cm tall and thin as swizzle sticks. But company testers claim they keep in the ground through wind and rain if placed correctly in the turf.
About $30 a six-pack; available now; www.terra-nova.co.uk
Kayland 6001 boots: Kick some alpine butt with these beefy expedition boots. A full boot-wrapping gaiter made of Neoprene and a Schoeller soft-shell fabric provides extra warmth, while the footbed is packed with Primaloft for insulation from below. A Vibram outsole is made for climbing rubber-to-rock, or clip on crampons to the sole’s heel and toe grooves and you can work your way up a vertical wall of ice.
$550; available March 2009; www.kayland.com
Climbing harnesses by Black Diamond: Deploying a liquid-crystal polymer that’s been used in NASA spacesuits, Black Diamond’s new men’s and women’s Ozone, Aura and Chaos harnesses are advertised as taking climbing gear a quantum leap ahead. While most harnesses use strands of padded nylon webbing for support, Black Diamond’s build distributes the pressure when a climber hangs on a line through the harness’ entire structure. The result is a look and feel that’s slimmer and lighter than most anything else on the rock today.
Starting at $99; available March 2009; www.bdel.com