Outdoor Retailer Show – Summer 2011

The North Face: Phoenix 3 TentI’m in Salt Lake City for the next few days checking out the latest and greatest of outdoor recreation gear that will be hitting the markets in the very near future.

The show started at Jordanelle Park where participants could try out many of the new paddleboards, kayaks and the various accessories that go along with them from sails to clothing to booties and more.

Next, we head to the Salt Palace convention center in downtown SLC where hundreds of outdoor brands have set up shop to display their goods. I’m tweeting about what I find as I go at @offyonder and below are the videos I’m producing for Elevation Outdoors magazine each day. I’ll also be doing a recap writup for Snowshoe Magazine.

Click on the title of the post, above, to check out the videos.

Review: OR DryComp Ridge Sack

This waterproof backpack from OR did just the job I wanted it to on the river. Check out more about it in the Gear Review section at offyonder.com.Most river trips are not limited to just being on the river. Sure, on some trips there is plenty of time to make the transition from being on the river to exploring the land along the river. But sometimes you want to hit the ground running right as you’re pulling your boat onto the shore. For both of these scenarios OR’s DryComp Ridge Sack fits the bill.

I have a nice little Mammut backpack that I love and use for the majority of my terrestrial trips. For it to come on my river trips it needs to be stored in a dry bag taking up valuable waterproof room. Enter the DryComp Ridge Sack.

Review: OR Lateral Dry Bags

These 45L lateral waterproof bags worked great for the 15-day river trip in the Alaskan Arctic. Check out more about them under the Gear Review section at offyonder.com.Lateral access to my gear was a phenomenal convenience on my recent 15-day river trip in the Arctic. The biggest concern anyone has regarding the functionality of a dry bag is “does it keep my gear dry?”. In short, yes. Granted, I never tipped my boat to have it mauled by massive rapids as a potential test. But everything I put in those bags for days on the river stayed totally dry – guarding against full over-the-bow waves and a few squalls of rain.