People

For most people, the first week of any job entails meetings, paperwork, introductions, a building tour, and lots of administrative details to contend with. But Shannon Davis's first week as BACKPACKER's new editor-in-chief was much more, well, BACKPACKER. The team spent last ...read more

The outdoor industry has lost One Tough Mother. Gert Boyle, Chairman of the Board (she hated the term “chairwoman”) and former CEO of Columbia Sportswear, died on Sunday, November 3, 2019, at the age of 95.  Gert never retired; she loved going to her office at the brand’s ...read more

It's not even 8 a.m. one Thursday morning in mid-September and people are erupting with laughter at Mountainsmith's headquarters in Golden, Colorado. I'm gathered around a pot of coffee and a pile of backpacks with a lively bunch of writers and Mountainsmith employees before we ...read more

Celebrating 45 years in business, Skinny Skis is a Jackson Hole institution. It first specialized in Nordic and cross-country skis, but has since expanded to serve runners, mountaineers, and other high-endurance and high-performance athletes living in and visiting the resort ...read more

From a first ascent on Denali to a 70-foot fall during a staff climbing trip, Phil Powers shares about the highs and lows of his climbing lifestyle in a short adocumentary by Chispa House. The video comes only a few weeks after Powers announced he is leaving the American Alpine ...read more

New Mexico isn't just miles and miles of barren desert: There are plenty of outdoor adventures to be had. Axie Navas will tell you. It's now her job to promote the state's outdoor recreation opportunities and uplift its outdoor business as the first-ever director of the Office ...read more

Half-Moon Outfitters breathed new life into a 15,000-square-foot auto parts building by relocating its Greenville store and inviting three other businesses to share the space. The location is now home to one of eight Half-Moon stores along with Grace Coffee Company, Circa ...read more

In 2009, Jahmicah Dawes and his college friend embarked on a road trip from their home in Texas to California in a 1986 Datsun truck. His friend's only rule was that they couldn't stay in hotels. Dawes thought he meant they'd be staying at friends' houses—not camping. Sleeping ...read more

REI's stock rooms just got deeper. The retail giant announced last week that it will be enabling select brands to ship orders directly to customers, making it easier for customers to get the right products, colors, and sizes through REI.com. The new shipping program is starting ...read more

Within an hour of disembarking a small plane at the Redmond Municipal Airport near Bend, Oregon, I find myself in the woods at the front desk of my hotel, LOGE Camps, for the weekend. Except it doesn't feel like a hotel. There's a cafe and bar, where a group of mountain bikers ...read more

When I enter the nearly 25,000-square-foot space of REI’s new North Conway store, it feels slightly different and familiar all at once. My eyes search the room for the recognizable features I’ve come to expect in my dozens of visits to REI stores. Displays of small outdoor ...read more

As retailers, we all choose our own buying adventure, beginning with what shows we elect to attend. Shows are, of course, a key part of specialty retail business. They are efficient places to see key vendors, nurture relationships, partake in learning opportunities, and so much ...read more

Leading up to the second annual Women-Led Wednesday on Nov. 27, Cassie Abel is building her directory of companies either founded by or led by women. She’s calling any businesses with women at the top to join her community of more than 300 brands of all sizes, so far representing ...read more

Gaze around at contests such as the GoPro Mountain Games and Red Bull Rampage, and you might think that only men play sports—on a professional level, anyway. Women’s sport sponsorship lags well behind men’s, and although comparative data is scarce, the one nation that did study ...read more

In 1986, Bob McCain thought Jackson, Mississippi, ought to have its own outdoor equipment shop. His home state might not have massive mountains, but trails, waterways, hill, and views are plentiful. Buffalo Peak Outfitters is now in its 33rd year, as a Grassroots Outdoor Alliance ...read more

Amy Roberts served her last day as executive director of Outdoor Industry Association (OIA) yesterday. Roberts, who been with the organization for the last decade and in the ED role for the last four, turns her focus this week to her new gig at The North Face, serving as the ...read more

When Phil Powers took over as CEO of the American Alpine Club (AAC) in 2005, his membership had lapsed, not out of any deliberate protest, but simply because he had forgotten about it. He was no doubt an active climber, although he didn't see the relevance or benefit of the club ...read more

If Patagonia National Park isn’t on you bucket list, add it. Like, now. The massive 752,503-acre crown jewel of the region is gorgeously diverse, featuring unclimbed snow-capped peaks, sparkling glacier-fed rivers and expansive golden grasslands that are home to a diverse array ...read more

Up until July 2018, the last time I'd been around 16 other women in the woods was as a teenager at Girl Scout camp. So when I was invited to the Project16x women's leadership summit in Telluride, Colorado, needless to say I felt a little self-conscious about being new to the ...read more

It's a regular Sunday morning in Bend, Oregon's old Box Factory building: pairs eat sweet and savory treats at Foxtail Bakeshop & Kitchen, men sit still as hairdressers trim around their ears at West Side Barber Shop, and groups of people sift through consignment backpacks, kayak ...read more

After tossing some trash into a bear-proof trash can, Dana Watts pauses to brush her palm on a sign posted along the trail to Mt. Sanitas in Boulder, Colorado. "It's good luck" she says, adding that it's just something silly she's always done. So I do it too, before her and I, ...read more

When the venerable Denali closed its doors in July 2019, leadership’s reason was that they “could not find a responsible path forward.” It got me wondering, what does it mean to be a responsible retailer today? To be successful, outdoor specialty shops have to offer much more ...read more

When Kristin Carpenter started the Channel Mastery podcast in October 2017, there was no blueprint for navigating outdoor specialty retail. One hundred episodes later, there still isn't. But through her interviews, Carpenter has answered many of specialty's biggest questions, ...read more

This year, Nike released its first-ever female-specific skateboard shoe. The World Surf League now pays out equal prize money to men and women. Burton Snowboards just amended their athlete contracts to support and protect their female riders during pregnancy. We are in a unique ...read more