OR News - Backcountry Base Camp Dispatch: January 29 (Outdoor Retailer Winter Market 2004)

The Outdoor Retailer 2004 Winter Market starts tomorrow, but we spent today at Backcountry Basecamp, a backcountry ski and snowshoe demo day held at Brighton Ski Resort.

We had the opportunity to try new telemark and randonee gear, avalanche probes, transceivers, shovels, snowshoes, poles, and other snow gear.

Some of the product highlights today include:

• M MSR Lightning Ascent Snowshoes. MSR launches a beautiful and lightweight snowshoe design that capitalizes on innovative engineering with a vertical rail design that offers agressive traction well suited to icy traverses while being light enough for powder snowshoeing on rolling terrain.
• M NEOS Overshoes. Overshoes have historically been a hard sell for lightweight backpackers. NEOS finally breaks through the barrier with a fully waterproof (think: stream crossings and wet slush), lug-soled overshoe that has a full-height gaiter, adds tremendous warmth to a running shoe for cold and snowy conditions, and weighs less than a pound on each foot.
• M Ground Apparel Powershield Micro Zephur Jacket. With a seemingly saturated technical apparel market, it would seem overwhelming to break into it with anything less than an outrageous design. Ground, a new company offer premium fabric brands in smart and technical apparel designs, adds exceptional styling. A weak branding strategy means they're not going to become a household name anytime soon, but don't overlook the quality of their designs - some of them truly set the standard in technical apparel. Case in point: the Ground Zephur Jacket, made with Powershield Micro, is the lightest Powershield soft shell on the market and features remarkable simplicity in a well-fitting design perfectly suited for lightweight backcountry enthusiasts.