heaven

Define heaven for yourself...

So there I was having a reasonably nice dinner with collegues on business travel. That was good and I was driving back to the hotel when I saw the flash of shiny cloth taking up a full city block. I swerved off the city street into a parking spot, got out, and walked towards the shimmering material.

The biggest convention in SLC is underway. "Outdoor Retailer" is a twenty thousand person strong event where manufacturers and buyers get together to make deals. All the outdoor brands you've heard of (and many you haven't) are here. Surely the REI buyer gets plennnnty of attention. So it's a place where you'll find not-yet-available outdoor gear.

mmmmmMMMMMMmmmmmmMMMMMMMMmmm gear

So I was creeping around a tent city where each one represented the best innovation the builders could produce. North Face, MSR, Kelty, Mtn Hardware ... they were all there and the stuff looked amazing. The materials look thinner and lighter with a shimmering translucent look, the designs abandon tradition and symmetry. Some of it may be flash for flash's sake but much of it is really great stuff. My tent was absent from the line-up but it's not new after all. It was really cool to see. Kelty has what looks like a 1 person single pole pyramid that will be insanely light and comfortable. I need to get back into that stuff.