OutDoor 2007: Review

For the outdoor retailer and media hound summer, and more precisely July, sees the return of the OutDoor trade fair in Friedrichshafen Germany. This ritual get-together is essentially a gargantuan powwow of manufacturers, distributors and sourcing agents from across the globe seeking to impress the attendees with their new wears for the forthcoming years trading.

For the uninitiated the event is an impressive affair to behold, incorporating vast hulk like hangers packed to the gills with flashy stands, pretty girls and shiny product. The pent up anticipation never fails to induce vast swathes of hype, propaganda and general back slapping over the usual collection of semi modified inline products rolled out once again with a last minute lick of paint. Occasionally within the morass of the “same old, same old” is a product/range which genuinely warrants the build up, and 2007 saw the launch of not one but two product groups which, for once, were truly worthy of the hype.

The Cream of the Crop
First up we have the product which won the OutDoor Industry Award 2007: The Edelrid Madillio. This is effectively a FOLDING helmet which packs down to 50% of the volume of a standard helmet, whilst not compromising any of the fit, strength, looks or durability of a standard modern shell helmet. The fit is excellent and, at 380g, it’s very light. The sizing is similar to that of the Size 2 Petzl Ellios. This is due out early 2008 and is set to retail at £70 - definitely one to look out for!

Under the guidance of UK ex-pat Mark Cole and the innovation expertise of a younger super keen design team - not to mention a huge cash injection from their new owners the European powerhouse Vaude - Edelrid appear to have had something of a rebirth over the last twelve months. With the incorporation of many interesting new products into their range, including the Madillio, a fine collection of new harnesses, the already available (and increasingly popular) Eddy belay device, a new belay device called the Zap-o-mat and also another good (if less innovative) lightweight (380g) helmet called the Targa (£40), they really seem to be on the way up. Also, and very uncharacteristically for a Germanic brand, they’ve seem to have worked out how marketing works with their new rope range colour coordinating (in decent colours!) with the harnesses and belay devices… look out Petzl the Germans are coming.

Unsurprisingly the next interesting innovation comes from those guys and gals at Arc’teryx. They have developed a nifty new solution to harness construction – Warp Strength® Technology. This is essentially a method of doing away with the usual, webbing stitched to a foam padding, system of waist belt and leg loop construction. Warp Strength® Technology is achieved through a unique process of unbraiding the webbing, at the point at which it comes in contact with the climber, and laminating the fibers uniformly in between a tough Scholler® face fabric and a thin Spacermesh on the inside face. The result is an extremely comfortable harness which not only spreads the load of the climber much more efficiently but is also lightweight and more importantly super packable!

WST creates higher levels of comfort and support by uniformly spreading the load across the entire harness, equally distributing weight and pressure from edge to edge. Arc’teryx 2007

As with all Arc’teryx products the standard features are all top draw, with the hot forged 7075Aluminum buckles being particularly neat and very slick. The tie-in loop is also a neat configuration of 12mm dyneema.

There are five models in the range all of which use a fairly intuitive naming principal.

• A300a (Alpine 300g Adjustable) – A unisex alpine harness with mountaineering and ski touring as a design brief. (RRP £90.00)
• S240 (Sport 240g) – Impossibly thin and lightweight sport/warm weather climbing. (RRP £65.00)
• X350a (Xtreme 350g Adjustable) – Designed for mixed and ice climbers interested in keeping weight down whilst retaining maximum movement. (RRP £100.00 - Image Above)
  
• R280 (Regular 280 Men’s) High performance jack of all trades harness, ideal for summer traditional climbing but equally at home clipping bolts in the Med. (RRP £85.00)
• R320 (Regular 320 Women’s) Women’s specific performance jack of all trades harness, ideal for summer traditional climbing but equally at home clipping bolts in the Med. (RRP £85.00)

The Arc’teryx harnesses are due to be available from spring 2008.

Best of the Rest
Of the other brands/products we encountered the following is my pick of the best new tweaks variations and modifications.

Five Ten Anasazi L.V. (RRP £75.00)
Continuing with the current trend of modifying the ever popular Anasazi range, the guys at Five Ten have come up with an improved version of the current blue low volume (L.V.) Anasazi Velcro. The Anasazi L.V. comes with the Stealth® Onyxx™ sole unit but has been fitted with the better fitting heel cup already popular with Verde and V2 users. It’s also is a nice new colour-way – Release Date: Spring 2008

Five Ten Prism (RRP £80.00)
After five years of R&D Five Ten have finally launched their Faceted Edge Technology (FET) shoe – the Prism. The Prism is a comfortable semi-asymmetric lace-up which incorporates two flat edges at “optimum angles” on the outside perimeter of the toe box. This apparently offers “unprecedented outside edge performance”. The sole unit is Stealth Onyxx™ – Release Date: Spring 2008.

Jetboil Hanging Kit (RRP £19.95)
A neat addition to the Jetboil range of fast moving alpine cooking equipment the Hanging Kit allows you to securely suspend your Jetboil stove from a the inside of a tent or a bolt/gear tie-in point on an uneven bivy ledge. It’s also light (55g) and easily packable (180mm) – Release Date: Available now.

Wild Country Xenon Lite Quickdraw (10cm: RRP £12.00)
With the continuing popularity of small lightweight snapgates and quickdraws Wild Country have decided to get in on the act with their new Xenon Lite. At 29g per biner it is a very light krab (although not quite as light as the 26g DMM Phantom) which has decent handling and aesthetics, and at £12 per 10cm quickdraw it’s good value for money. For me, however, the fact this is an eastern European or Far Eastern sourced product is noticeable in the feel and finish and I’m not sure it’s what Wild Country should be about in their top end kit?

POD
Finally just a quick note on the continuing revival/stabilization of the POD brand. As reported on UKClimbing.com last month, POD has been bought into by Equip UK (also owners of the Rab brand). Pete O’Donovan - founder of POD - is still involved in the design and development of the packs but Equip will be using their advertising resources and knowledge of overseas sourcing to help further the brands development.

Talking to the guys at Equip it was clear that they intend to keep the brands unique technical feel and build the brand slowly keeping with the ethos of only supplying stores known for their heritage and active/knowledgeable staff, suffices to say Rock + Run will be continuing to stock the POD range. Whilst we currently have some pack stocks the mainstay of the range will be readily available from November 2007.