Entries filed under 'Big Agnes'

Summer Outdoor Retailer: Pads, Packs, Pants, a Platinum Tent, Magnetic 'Biners

In sleeping pads, air is the new self-inflating foam. Therm-A-Rest, creator of the self-inflating open-cell foam pad which enjoyed enormous popularity among backpackers for decades, will mark its 40th anniversary in 2012. Yet even that iconic brand is putting plenty of effort into its air pad offerings. Imagine: Its original air pad, the game-changing NeoAir, was introduced in early 2009. That original design will be mothballed in 2012 and replaced by 3 new models. Other air-pad makers have ...

Posted by T.D. Wood on February 6, 2012 5:13 PM & Tagged Big Agnes, Exped, Kuhl Outdoor Retailer, Merrell, Osprey, Probar, Therm-A-Rest and Vibram | permalink | Comments



A Lightweight Tent and the Guy Who Helped Dream It Up

I know a little something about Big Agnes tents. I spent a night in one, the Fly Creek UL3, next to the guy who co-owns the company—the always entertaining Bill Gamber. I've seen Bill's tents, such as the Big Agnes Seedhouse SL series (light), the Copper Spur UL group (really light) and the impressive Fly Creek UL series (way, way light), become trophy-winning regulars when magazines dish out their annual best-of awards. It's encouraging to see innovative thinking rewarded—and like his ...

Posted by T.D. Wood on April 5, 2011 3:59 PM & Tagged Big Agnes and Big Agnes Fly Creek UL3 | permalink | Comments



OR Report 3: A Little Face (and Tent) Time with Unconventional Thinkers

Want to learn about someone? Share a tent with them. Want to really get to know them? Pitch your tent someplace odd—like downtown Salt Lake City, on the main exhibition floor of the Salt Palace Convention Center where the annual summer Outdoor Retailer trade show is going on. And do it while cracking jokes with a late-night security crew that has been caught off guard. Folks, meet my tentmate, Bill Gamber: • Founder of Big Agnes gear and Honey Stinger energy foods. • Cyclist, skier, climber, ...

Posted by T.D. Wood on April 4, 2011 10:12 PM & Tagged Big Agnes, Bill Gamber, Bob Swanson, JETBOIL, Kevin Boyle, Kuhl, Outdoor Retailer and Perry Dowst | permalink | Comments



A Sneak Peek at New Gear: What Do You Want to Know?

Interested to know what clever new wrinkles will appear in next year's outdoor gear? Me, too. Got a few questions you'd like to ask? Great; send them my way and I'll add the best of them to my own list. Next week I'm zooming to Salt Lake City for a popular trade show known as the Outdoor Retailer Summer Market, an annual preview party for outdoor gear due to arrive this fall, winter or in 2011. I have not previously attended OR (those 2 letters serve as the event's hipster shorthand), but with ...

Posted by T.D. Wood on July 30, 2010 6:34 PM & Tagged Big Agnes, Black Diamond. Jetboil, Brooks, Exped, Marmot, Merrell, Nike, Outdoor Retailer, Petzl, Saucony, Teva, Vibram Five Fingers and camelbak | permalink | Comments