The Outdoor Retailer expo in Utah will begin next week, but the location will be a little different. The organizers have announced that the Open Air Demo will move due to low water levels at the Jordanelle Reservoir, the original planned location. Instead of Jordanelle, the demo will be held at the Pineview Reservoir near Ogden, on July 30.
Check back all next week for news from the Outdoor Retailer Show, which runs from July 31 to August 3.
While TV’s The Brady Bunch taught us not to play ball in the house the gang at Wasatch Indoor Bike Park are taking to Indiegogo to build a place to ride year round in downtown Salt Lake City. The group hopes to convert a vacant warehouse for use as an indoor mountain bike and BMX park. We’ve seen a few similar ideas take off and this one sounds like it has potential.
However, with just a few days to go the goal is still far away, so we’re not sure this one will pan out.
From Giz Mag: JF-Kit House makes you pedal for your breakfast
The JF-Kit House, by Spanish-based Elii Architecture, is an off-grid home concept which envisions occupants using exercise to offset their energy needs. To its credit, Elii Architecture makes it clear right off the bat that the JF-Kit House isn’t intended to be considered as suitable for human habitation yet. Rather, the architects did some brainstorming and imagined how our homes may evolve in a future of rapidly decreasing fossil-fuel resources. This was then used this as a jumping-off point to let imaginations run wild. Continue reading Weekend Reading List (05.18.2013): Home Fitness, Training Surfaces, Board Ban
While there was talk that the Outdoor Retailer Show would pull up stakes, it will in fact remain in Utah – and remain Utah’s largest trade show at least through 2016, but likely longer. The show pulled in about 22,000 attendees this January.
The show had looked to relocate as the attendance has increased, and has actually all but outgrown the Salt Palace Convention Center, which now utilizes temporary pavilions to accommodate all the exhibitors. The show, which continues to showcase advancements in outdoor technology, brings in an estimated $18.5 million of visitor spending and $40 million overall to the local economy.
Hopefully the show will continue to grow and Utah will find a way to accommodate the show going forward.
The pristine mountains often don’t look so pristine at the end of the season. And while winter turns to spring often much of the outdoor gear that won’t survive another season all too often ends up in landfills. But now the SnowSports Industries America’s Snow Sports Recycling Program has looked to repurpose much of that old material and help utilize it in construction or even landscaping, and in some cases into new products.
The Snow Sports Recycling Program has reportedly collected more than 350 tons of skis, snowboards, boots, poles and helmets – and that’s just in the Denver and Salt Lake City metro areas!
So far material such as composite lumber is being reused to make decking, furniture, store and tradeshow fixtures; while other materials are being recycled into stackable blocks and cultured rock for the landscaping industry. Continue reading SIA Looks to Recycle Old Gear
The Outdoor Retailer Show, which drew 27,000 people and more than 150 exhibitors this year, came and went too fast – much like many of the summertime products that were on display. And while summer will return year the show may not. Organizers have yet to announce next’s dates and while Salt Lake City has a contract to host next year’s event it is still very much up in the air. Continue reading Outdoor Retail Show Future in Jeopardy
Science-fiction novels such as Starship Troopers offered a vision of the future where soldiers would be equipped with power armor suits. These would enhance the ability to lift great amounts of weights, let soldiers run long and basically become bad-ass warriors. Now it seems that this isn’t just limited to the pages on the book, or movies such as Iron Man.
Raytheon has introduced what it calls its second-generation exoskeleton (XOS 2), which is essentially a wearable robotic suit. It was unveiled recent at the company’s Salt Lake City research facility. While it won’t allow the wearer to fight super villains, ala Tony Stark, or jump out of a starship from near orbit, it is capable of some nifty functions. The XOS 2 can aid in lifting, reducing the strain and exertion, and as such it can help do work faster – because it can also do the work of two or even three soldiers.
Now if only it could let soldiers fly, and drop from near orbit. Hopefully we won’t have a “bug” problem until those features are incorporated.
