SNEWS Your source for outdoor, snow sports, and adventure travel news
REI to lay off 400 employees
In an email sent to REI staff members last week, CEO Eric Artz reportedly confirmed plans to lay off 400 retail employees by Wednesday, cutting the company's 13,000-person customer-facing workforce by roughly 3 percent. Though SNEWS was unable to obtain a copy of the email, ...read more
Why Gearmunk forces its employees to take two weeks off every year
In matters of social activism at a corporate level, outdoor companies are often some of the first to throw their hats into the ring. Our industry has a long history of putting people before profits, and that often translates into downright enviable employee perks. Patagonia ...read more
Grassroots Outdoor Alliance announces large membership spike
Grassroots Outdoor Alliance dropped some big news this week. The specialty retailer advocacy group added 10 new member companies to its nationwide roster in a single stroke, one of the biggest spikes since the organization's founding in 1994. According to the association's ...read more
Industry Buzz: Anti-racism in the industry, MEC layoffs, new adventure travel data, BACKPACKER video series, tariff exclusions
Industry headlines: Intriguing reads from around the web Building anti-racism in the outdoors: Transforming the industry will require immediate, deliberate, and sustained action. [Outside Online] MEC in trouble: The Canadian retailer announced more layoffs as a direct result of ...read more
Recent Press Releases
Since 1984, SNEWS has been the outdoor industry’s most trusted source for trade news, company and retailer profiles, outdoor politics and issues, gear trends, and important interviews with power players.
Catch up on all the stories that are making news in the outdoor industry
Industry Buzz: Pipeline cancelled, Yosemite promotes cultural outreach, national parks and recycling, Nepal climbing, racist climbing route names
Appalachian Trail pipeline cancelled: Construction of a highly controversial natural gas pipeline that would have crossed the Appalachian Trail at multiple points was cancelled due to possible litigation costs. [BACKPACKER] Yosemite’s new cultural outreach ranger: 33-year NPS ...read more
Poll: Have you encountered racist climbing route names?
The system for naming climbing routes is about as unofficial as it could possibly be. Ninety-nine percent of the time, the first person to climb a new route simply makes up a moniker, starts using it, and eventually it catches on. There is no vetting process, no checks and ...read more
Industry Buzz: Rock and Ice publisher resigns, Trump appoints climate denier, rival bike conferences, Vail harnesses wind, TGR's new location
Industry headlines: Intriguing reads from around the web Rock and Ice publisher steps down: A shocking admission by the publication’s leader precipitated the resignation. Anti-environmentalist heads Bureau of Land Management: William Perry Pendley, a noted climate denier, was ...read more
Q & A with Robin Thurston, CEO of Pocket Outdoor Media
On July 1, 2020, Pocket Outdoor Media (POM), the leading endurance sports media platform, acquired SNEWS and many of our sister brands within Active Interest Media’s Active Living Group, including Backpacker, Ski, Climbing, Warren Miller, Yoga Journal, and others. Read the full ...read more
Weekend Watch: "The People of Climbing"
Color the Crag, a climbing festival for communities of color hosted at Horse Pens 40 in Alabama, isn't the most storied or historic event on the industry's climbing calendar—it was founded just three years ago, in 2017—but it's unquestionably one of the most unique and ...read more
Coronavirus impacts on the guiding community: “It’s bad.”
It's nine o'clock on a Monday morning. Tom Wolfe sits down to start his week. He checks his email, then his Google AdWords account. He fires off a few text messages to clients, asking how they're doing. Still fine. Nothing new. He gets ready for a Zoom call. This might sound ...read more
Pride month is over. That doesn't mean the work stops.
Now that Pride month has come to a close, brands across the industry will once again begin taking down their rainbow logos, packing them away until next summer. There's no question we've come a long way in our celebration and amplification of LGBTQIA+ people in the outdoor space ...read more
Industry Buzz: In Solidarity Project grants, virtual Tour de France, L.L.Bean opens new locations, woman hospitalized in Yellowstone
Industry headlines: Intriguing reads from around the web Grants for marginalized communities: In Solidarity Project, the organization that oversees the Outdoor CEO Diversity Pledge, has announced a grant program to support underrepresented and underserved people in the outdoors. ...read more
The business case for improving diversity
As the outdoor industry works to rebound from the pandemic, many companies are looking for innovative ways to connect with consumers and to make back what they’ve lost in profits. The answer is simple: connect with Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC). Nearly half of ...read more
Poll: What are you most excited to read in the summer issue of The Voice?
Today is a very special day for us here at SNEWS. Our print publication, The Voice, heads to the presses this evening despite major pandemic-related disruptions to the production process. We're very proud of everyone on the team for getting the issue across the finish line ...read more
An accident involving an ENO hammock paralyzed a young woman in 2017. Now she's seeking damages.
A young woman injured in a 2017 accident involving an ENO hammock has sued the brand's parent company, Eagles Nest Outfitters, for unspecified damages to be determined at trial. Erin Field, 23, was paralyzed from the neck down after a brick chimney—to which an ENO hammock had ...read more
Industry Buzz: Rose Marcario, MEC in trouble, teaching Black Studies outside, Colorado Blackpackers, ski resorts panic, VF Corp. expands
Industry headlines: Intriguing reads from around the web Rose Marcario on the Facebook boycott: The former Patagonia CEO gives her thoughts on the outdoor industry’s refusal to accept Facebook’s moral lapses. [Fast Company] Will MEC survive the coronavirus? The pandemic might ...read more