Interviews

There’s hiking like it’s your job—and hiking because it actually is your job. This summer, the lucky employees of Steamboat Springs, Colorado-based Big Agnes (plus sister businesses Honey Stinger and retailer BAP) are in the latter category. The brands are staging an ambitious ...read more

Joe Prebich has a theory: Emerging outdoor enthusiasts come for the lifestyle apparel and stay for the technical goods. As climbing gyms explode and the more seasoned indoor climbers literally seek new heights, Mammut—and the industry as a whole—have an opportunity to help those ...read more

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper is the kind of guy who will stand up in front of a room of outdoor industry professionals, realize he’s overdressed, pause to take off his tie, and then keep speaking as if nothing happened. Before he was governor, before he and three friends ...read more

Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, columnist, and author Timothy Egan spent years covering the West—past and present—as a correspondent for The New York Times. His books have covered everything from the origins of the U.S. Forest Service to exploration of the Pacific Northwest to ...read more

When he's not obstacle course racing, surfing, biking, or trail running, Craig Cooper—former co-host of the CNBC outdoor investment show “Adventure Capitalists”— is looking for the next best company to invest in. Next week, he's joining the outdoor industry to judge startup ideas ...read more

Maybe you've heard of Norrøna, but it's probably not your first choice when it comes to outdoor apparel. At least not yet. The Norwegian brand is in its 90th year of making technical outerwear for a wide range of mountain athletes—from polar explorers to downhill mountain bikers. ...read more

On Aug. 1, Indigenous Women Hike Founder Jolie Varela and a dozen other indigenous women will take their first steps on the 210-mile-long Nuumu Poyo, more widely known as the John Muir Trail in the Eastern Sierra Nevadas. The three-week journey is unlike anything Varela has done ...read more

The same year Jen McLaren bought her first road bike, she completed her first century ride with the Smartwool team, traveling from Steamboat Springs, Colorado, to Salt Lake City, Utah, for Outdoor Retailer. She’s been riding ever since and this year on the way to Outdoor Retailer ...read more

What's happened to Jim Lamancusa is every startup owner's dream. Since launching Cusa Tea in May 2017, the company has rapidly expanded distribution of premium instant tea packets to more than 750 retail locations in the natural grocery, conventional grocery and outdoor ...read more

When Cailin O’Brien-Feeney attended Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon, more than a decade ago, he was introduced to backcountry skiing, went on his first overnight rafting trip on the Rogue River, and explored the wonders of the redwood forests and Sierra Nevada ...read more

We’ve heard lots of chatter from Outdoor Retailer attendees wondering how to plan their show calendars. Most of the questions revolve around the November Winter Market and the January OR + Snow Show: How will they be different and how will they be the same? Show Director Marisa ...read more

Flavie Dokken’s first experience with cannabis as a training recovery tool was a decade ago, back when she was still a bodybuilder. Then, she used it to heal from severe stress fractures from her time serving in the U.S. Army. Now as a competitive ultrarunner based in Boulder, ...read more

At the end of last year, the community of Montpelier, Vermont, was crushed when Onion River Sports turned off the lights after 44 years in business. But behind the walls, something was cooking. Former manager Kip Roberts and his wife, Jen, were in talks about owning a bike shop ...read more

Pro adventurer Pete Ripmaster, 41, has been home in Asheville, North Carolina, for a whole month and he still can't wrap his mind around what he considers to be the most intense trip of his life. Understandably. After 26 days, 13 hours, and 44 minutes mostly alone in the Alaskan ...read more

On April 16, L.L.Bean sent off the first of 43 pairs of employees relay-style hiking the Appalachian Trail through August. Once the relay is over, collectively the teams will have passed through 14 states and by 20 L.L.Bean stores along the 2,180 miles. Their hike coincides with ...read more

Imagine it's summertime and one of those days when the breeze is gentle and cool, and the sun is shining, and everyone's smiling, beckoning you to play outside. But you're stuck inside at your desk. We've all had those days, and surely, there are more to come. To alleviate that ...read more

Two years ago, Nate and Steph Yarbrough, both now 29, posted their first YouTube video announcing their move into a van. Both their channel and blog, Adventure in a Backpack, were created as journals to share their new lives working full-time on the road with family and friends. ...read more

Fred Beckey’s best friends were the mountains and everything else in his life was secondary to them, up until the climbing renegade passed away in October 2017. One man had the unique opportunity to spend the last 12 years with Beckey, when his wrinkles were deeper, gray hair was ...read more

In celebration of the amazing women in the outdoor industry, and of March as Women's History Month, SNEWS has featured a number of female leaders in stories about Camber Outdoors' Deanne Buck to 10 rad women-led companies. In this new Q&A series, we asked women in all sorts of ...read more

On a trip to the Lower Salmon River in Idaho, Alan Davis had his first vision for his own company. Someone had brought along a two-piece chair that didn't last through the trip. He wanted to create one for himself that was invincible and wouldn't break under any weight. He ...read more

In celebration of the amazing women in the outdoor industry, and of March as Women's History Month, SNEWS has featured a number of female leaders in stories about Camber Outdoors' Deanne Buck to 10 rad women-led companies. In this new Q&A series, we asked women in all sorts of ...read more