The Big Gear Show will combine with the (e)revolution e-bike trade show in June 2023 for the outdoor industry’s first-ever business-to-business-to-consumer event
outdoor industry
Posted inOutdoors
Colorado gear merchants find untapped promise — and profit — in secondhand stuff
Shifting demand, overstocked stores and a surging focus on sustainability are setting up 2022 as the best year ever for the growing recommerce industry
Posted inBusiness, Coloradans, Environment, News, Outdoors
Colorado’s outdoor industry knows it could be much more inclusive. Here’s how it plans to get everyone outside.
Michael Mojica was up for anything, so when a neighbor asked if he wanted to climb a 14er, a surefire induction for any new Colorado resident, he agreed to it. “Sure,” the transplanted Texan replied. “What’s a 14er?” A few days later, Mojica topped out on the summit of Mount Yale. His eyes blurred with […]
Posted inNews, Outdoors
All-Black team nearly doubles number of Black athletes who’ve summited Everest. Is the next generation watching?
The walls of the dining tent were covered with letters from elementary school students cheering on the mountaineers from afar. The Full Circle Everest Expedition climbers saw those letters every time they gathered for meals at Everest Base Camp. “That was our inspiration. It was real,” said Thomas Moore, the Denver mountaineer who last month […]
Posted inColoradans, Education, News, Outdoors
A Colorado camp connecting deaf students to the outdoors is reemerging from the brink of collapse
OLD SNOWMASS — With towering Aspen trees that catch every breeze from the Elk Mountains and water that cascades over giant rocks along Snowmass Creek, Aspen Camp of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing is a calming refuge tucked away from the bustle of nearby resort towns. Yet for all the serenity it offers campers, […]
Posted inEducation, News, Outdoors
The new standards for testing outdoor gear are being created by Colorado university students
GUNNISON — In the basement of the new Paul M. Rady engineering school at Western Colorado University, professor Greg VanderBeek directs six students using a horizontal bandsaw to cut 2-inch steel tubing. “Remember, perfection happens at the welding table,” VanderBeek says as the students measure. Soon the students are grinding corners and welding a frame […]
Posted inBusiness, News, Outdoors
Vail Resorts promises $175 million more for employees, bumps starting pay to $20 an hour
Vail Resorts will spend $175 million more a year on employees, increasing pay by more than 30% after a grueling season that saw North America’s largest resort operator vilified as it struggled to open chairs and handle crowds. Kirsten Lynch celebrated her 100th day as CEO of Vail Resorts this week, marking what was likely […]
Posted inNews, Outdoors
Colorado’s outdoor industry rallies to keep Outdoor Retailer trade show in Denver
The outdoor industry flexed its newfound political muscle five years ago by leaving Utah and taking its twice-a-year Outdoor Retailer trade shows to Colorado. Outdoor brands and advocates, irked over Utah’s push to dismantle protections for Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments, moved their annual gatherings — which draw 85,000 visitors and stir an […]
Posted inNews, Outdoors
Nathan Fey leaving Colorado Outdoor Recreation Industry Office after two years
Nathan Fey, who took over as director of the Colorado Office of Outdoor Recreation Industry in 2019, is leaving his post next month. Fey, a sixth generation Coloradan who spent 12 years as the state’s regional director of American Whitewater, is leaving the state’s recreation office to serve as director of a Colorado-based philanthropic foundation. […]
Posted inNews, Outdoors
Sale of Osprey Packs marks yet another public-company acquisition of a Colorado-raised outdoor company
Osprey Packs, a 47-year-old pack maker in Cortez, has sold to publicly traded consumer company Helen of Troy for $414 million. It’s the latest in a growing list of out-of-state, publicly traded companies buying Colorado outdoor businesses since last year. Compass Diversified spent $454 million to buy Denver-based Boa Technology last fall, marking one of […]