Another year, another OS Outdoors Show another hard core
expedition to the extreme terrain of the NEC and a chance to eat
loads of sausages, find out about the outdoor paradise that is
Lincolnshire and lots more besides.
Some people hate it, some love it. The undoubted hit this year was
the innovative Sky Masters indoor climbing competition with a
difference featuring some of the world's leading climbers tackling
overhanging man-made obstacles high up under the roof of the NEC -
awesome, but a pig to photograph with the low-powered OM flash
gun...
Anyway, here, if you're wondering what you missed or want
reminding of what you didn't, is this year's show in pictures.
Sunday morning...
This was early on Sunday morning before things got frantic around
the middle of the day. Compared to last year, things had been moved
around a bit and climbing and outdoors areas were close together,
which made sense to us.
Five-toed socks...
Possibly the silliest thing we saw all day, these socks are,
according to the hype, the answer to end of day foot dampness because
the individual toes give more efficient wicking. And Gordon Brown is
a penguin...
Skymasters - Wow!
Designed by the indoor climbing specialists at Entreprises, the
Skymasters comp' wasn't the easiest thing to photograph, but it was a
breath of fresh air and the undoubted star of the show, helped by
being incredibly easy to see. Awesome...
The OUTDOORSmagic Competition
Only marginally less dramatic was the OM / Anquet competition on
our very own stand. All you had to do was recognise the mountain in
three 3D fly-through sequences. This one was, erm, Mount Fuji. Or
maybe the Ben...
Lectures and talks...
The other big show hit, for those who went, were the talks and
lectures. These folk were garnering crucial map reading information
from the nice man from the Ordnance Survey, but there was lots more
besides.
Alpkit Innovation
Another undoubted show hit was the Alpkit National Outdoor
Innovation Award stand where the finalists had the chance to display
their ideas and canvas for votes and there were some great ideas on
show too. Our favourite was this one, an innovative truly waterproof
zip based on a zip-lock style seal, seen here on the testing rig.
Will it clog with grit in use? We don't know, but it certainly makes
sense.
And while we're Alpkitting...
These are a new one from Alpkit, a pair of denim jeans made from
Epic treated cotton. The fibres are encapsulated in silicone meaning
that they don't soak up water like normal denim. We've been using
some for the past few months and they're great for drizzly meandering
and wet northern shopping trips. Watch out for a production version
soon.
More Innovation at the Innovation Centre
It was bring on the dancing girls over at the innovation corner of
the show where a small number of brands showed off their latest kit,
dancers danced and a frenetic Graham Thompson hurled free kit into a
bemused audience.
Meanwhile in the booths...
Montane had an interesting selection of their kit due out in the
autumn with a couple of really nice looking new eVent jackets on
display. Not sure about the reflective nipples though...
Meanwhile eVent were showing a mix of kit from different brands
who use the fabric. One of the more bizarre was this Norwegian
climbing jacket which features integrated mitts and a massive face
mask. Scary stuff with a very claustrophobic feel, but probably very
protective at the same time.
Then there was this belay parka with an eVent outer shell from
minimalist climbing specialists Crux which should be spot on for
cold, wet conditions. Did anyone say Scotland in winter?
Last but not least, here's a new British footwear brand using
eVent. It's called Carn and you can expect to see it in the shops
about this time next year....
Sausages
There were loads of food options at the show including lots of
sausages.
Keeping the kids happy.
To be fair to the organisers, there were a load of activity stands
for the kids, though not so many for adults. From aerial confidence
courses to the statatory climbing wall and an amusing zip-wire that
went straight over the top of the Cumberland Arms pub. And of course,
those cow-print climbing trews were back... the stuff of
nightmares.
The Bear Necessities...
Well, it had to happen. Craghoppers has a whole range of survival
clothing endorsed by none other than TV survival celeb, Bear Grylls
who was present in oversized cut-out form. To be honest, we were
rather more taken with the Crags' tuk-tuk in smart green and prayer
flag regalia.
Our favourite stand...
We have no idea who landed the best stand in the show award, but
this Indian tourism stand would have got our vote for being simple,
colourful and just all-round bright and cheery. It made us want to go
to India rather than the Lincolnshire Wolds.
And a few more for luck...
And yes, that really does say Alpkid In Production - it made us
smile :-)
And then we bought this brilliant mahoosive 4x4 pick-up so that we
could get to the outdoors more easily...
Actually that was a lie. This is much more our style...
Meanwhile cheery Royal Marines were displaying their death-dealing
weapons to small children. Is it just us or is there something quite
wrong with that?
And that's all for this year, foiks...
Andrew Gifford
