We popped along to the OS Outdoors Show on Friday. So many
stands, so many people that we couldn't hope to do everything justice
and unfortunately, we got so caught up in jawing with people that we
didn't even manage to get to the bar.
Overall, we thought it was an improvement on last year's slightly
disappointing effort. There seemed to be more interactive stuff
around plus lots of stuff to buy too. On top of that, we spotted the
odd interesting new product - more elsewhere on the site - and
discovered that the excellent all-natural US Clif Bars are back in
the UK.
Anyway, here are a few photos to give you an idea of what it was
like, the first one shows what happens when the Royal Marines abseil
off the roof a little too enthusiastically for the opening ceremony -
that window looks expensive... Ooops.
Meanwhile, inside main sponsors the Ordnance Survey were showing
off their massive range of maps and map-related products.
The European Bouldering Championships gave a chance to see
how it should be done...
But there were plenty of opportunities to try a bit of indoor
climbing for yourself, for example with the aid of the Royal
Marines, who were also staging regular displays of unarmed
combat...
If climbing wasn't your thing however, there were plenty of other
options. Scuba diving for example in a large indoors paddling
pool...
Or mountain biking over an indoor North Shore-style obstacle course -
nice trousers fella...
And then you could do some shopping if you wanted. Some
interesting stuff there and not always quite where you'd expect to
find it. Fatface, for example, now has a range of technical clothing
using proper technical fabrics and created by specialist outdoor
clothing designers - below.
Online specialists Alpkit were there too with kit to sell but also
previewing some new stuff including this rather fetching pink
prototype bivvy bag. Yum ;-)
Something else that caught our eye was this uber headtorch from
bespoke bike kit people Hope. More elsewhere, but it's a very neat,
CNC-engineered housing with twin high-powered LEDs and a rechargeable
battery pack that should blow away anything else out there in terms
of brightness. Ideal for evening fell running, but not cheap at
£175. Gulp... serious light, serious price.
Lurking quietly on the Aku stand was this; it's called the Stealth
and, believe it or not, was originally designed for the Navy Seals.
It's very light, has no membrane liner, so is extremely breathable,
and sports a soft, flexible sole for sneaking up on people. And of
course, it's black :-)
There were more new things too, notably in the new for this year
innovation section where brands like Patagonia, Paramo, Rab, Sprayway
and others were showing off their wares and previewing some new stuff
too...
Arguably more interesting though, was the regular fashion show
with dancing models in outdoor kit, erm, dancing really, and showing
off. The Rab bit got our vote, clearly top kit for sub-zero
clubbing.
Last but not least, outdoors bloggers and podcasters were much in
evidence, if you knew where to look. Here Cameron McNeish, who we
unaccountably missed - sorry Cameron - turns the tables of podaster
Andy Howell.
The outdoor bloggers convene, coincidentally at the exhibition
bar, how did that happen?
And OM's blogging / podding scene correspondent, Weird Darren,
talks outdoors podcasts with Andy Howell.
And last, but very definitely not least, OM routes editor and
caver, Dave Mycroft tells us that this fella was demonstrating speed
prussicking on the caving stand. Figures like five seconds for 30
metres of ascent were mentioned... we can barely run that fast. Dave
says it's a 'new technique', which we can well believe. You can't see
the rockets in the picture though...
And that's it for this year. Apologies to all the people we missed
as well as to those we didn't ;-)
ROGER JAMES
