It's with fond sadness that we bid farewell to Will Rietveld as the Senior Editor for Gear and Apparel. Though he'll still have a presence around Backpacking Light, he's decided to take his retirement more seriously. Please wish him and Janet well in their new endeavors of actually relaxing!

Will, it's been a delight and a pleasure working with you these past years. You and Janet have maintained a high standard of writing and testing that's made my editor's heart beat faster for the sheer quality. I will miss your steady help and stewardship, but I pray blessings on you and Janet - may these next years prove better than ever!

With love,
Addie

Will - you were one of the main reasons I was a member of BPL for 5 years.

Have fun in your retirement. No doubt much of it will be spent in the mountains.

You're contributions will certainly be missed, Will. You have given us many a good writeup, much objective information. It will be difficult for BPL to replace you and Janet. Thanks for what you've done.

Will, thanks for all you've done for the BPL community. Your articles will be missed.

Enjoy retirement!

Will,
Good Luck and Happy Trails! Your work in retirement surpassed most people in their careers.
Thank You for giving us the information we needed to make intelligent gear decisions, and at the very least, the information we needed to justify adding new gear to the closet!

NO! Say it isn't so. WilliWabbit and Janet are hopping away. What a terrible loss. Your in-depth reviews will be sorely missed.

Best wishes on your new ventures down the bunny trail.

Edited by wandering_bob on 10/04/2011 19:05:51 MDT.

Will,

Thank you so much for all you've done in making BPL a great resource for UL gear info. I've enjoyed reading your articles and test results immensely. Your insight has been invaluable to me as someone who came to BPL and ultralight backpacking relatively recently (about 4 years ago). I wish you all the best in this next chapter in your life.

Kendall

Edited by socalpacker on 10/06/2011 08:50:27 MDT.

Thanks for your detailed reviews of some great gear. I learned so much from you!!!!!

Enjoy the fun days ahead of you.

Will & Janet, I want to thank you for the conscientious work you have put into testing piles of UL gear. I've enjoyed reading your reviews over the 5+ years I've been a member. Half of what's in my gear closet is there due to your recommendations!

Enjoy your well deserved retirement butknow that you will be missed!

What a shock! I'm going to miss your wonderful reviews, Will. Perhaps some of the best gear reviews I've ever read anywhere. Your articles were part of the reason I kept coming back, and I still go back to your articles again and again to relearn something or refine how I think about certain gear or techniques. You will be sorely missed.

You have both been an inspiration to me--older folks who get out and far away a lot and are crazy knowledgeable gearheads. Have fun.

What a loss for us, but a gain for you two. Your gear reviews will be missed.

Happy trails.

Best to you Will and Janet - your words will continue to inform and inspire us as we venture back outdoors as well.

Will and Janet, you'll be missed!

Here's wishing you a happy and active retirement! Enjoy!

"We don't stop hiking because we get old; we get old because we stop hiking." (Finis Mitchell)

"What a shock! I'm going to miss your wonderful reviews, Will. Perhaps some of the best gear reviews I've ever read anywhere. Your articles were part of the reason I kept coming back, and I still go back to your articles again and again to relearn something or refine how I think about certain gear or techniques. You will be sorely missed."

Exactly what I wanted to say, only much beter expressed. +100

This is a real body blow to BPL.

I wish you and Janet many, many years of happy hiking.

Fare thee well Will and Janet. May your future trails be numerous and happy (or at least interesting).

I stumbled upon your Southwest Ultralight Backpacking web site very early in the search for info about lightening my pack and your mention of Bozeman Mountain Works Air Core line led me to BPL where, at that time, the forum formerly known as G-Spot was limping along at the anemic rate of a couple dozen postings per week.

I've found almost all of your articles useful and interesting, even when dealing with something I was not interested in ... have gained many tidbits of info that helped my in other areas. The ultra light winter footwear series revolutionized my winter hiking and snow shoeing.

Say it isn't so!

Good luck and bon voyage.

HJ

Best wishes and thank you for all of your work with BPL.

Please know that you will be missed here. I always read your reviews, absolutely the best on the site.

Will!
It's been a pleasure working with you. The time and effort you put into every single review (or mini review!) was unmatched. I hope you'll enjoy your actual retirement, and put in some good trail miles (without the extra weight 9 pieces of the same type of gear to review!)

Thanks for everything!

You'll be missed. The in depth SOTM reports and gear reviews were my favorites. Even if you weren't reveiwing the exact peice of gear I was using or considering your scientific approach and well organized articles still gave me useful information that I could apply in othe areas (The in depth review of frameless packs was one of the best and helped me improve my MYOG packs in a big way).
I wish you two well in your actual retirement but it will leave a big hole here.