Osprey Athlete Beth Rodden poster signing at the booth.

The 10th Anniversary of the Red Rock Rendezvous not only had a great attendance rate by pro climbers and climbing enthusiast alike, but also had the best weather it has seen in the past years. The tormenting desert winds took a hike the weekend of the festival, which left climbers with the perfect conditions for enjoying the festival events and outdoor activities.

The weekend was filled with various clinics from wilderness first aid, multi-pitch climbs, trad leads and even mountain bike clinics by our very own Osprey athletes Jeff Fox and Alison Gannett. Osprey provided demo packs to attendees for a chance to test out our new hydration packs and reservoir as well as our climbing specific packs, the Mutant and Variant.

As the festivities began to wind down and outdoor enthusiasts returned from their adventures, Red Rock Rendezvous continued the party with events like the Dyno Competition, where individuals would miraculously dyno to holds 6-9 feet above, and with guest speakers including Conrad Anker and Malcolm Daly who spoke about some of their landmark climbs from the past years, to bumping beats from various DJs later into the night.

Whether you were a local from Las Vegas, a dirtbag from different parts of the country, or a newbie just checking out the scene for the first time, Red Rock Rendezvous offered experiences for all skill sets and allowed strangers from all walks of life to celebrate climbing and outdoor community.

Events, Osprey Athletes, photos, travel Beth Rodden, Climbing, mountain biking, Mountain Gear, mutant, Osprey Packs, Red Rocks, Varient

The Sea Otter Classic proved to be bigger than ever this year as the 22-year-old event brought together racers, fans and bike companies from around the globe to start the spring season with four days of festivities, races and all things bike. The attendance was staggering this year; it’s grown exponentially since 1991, when only about half a thousand gathered around the course, to nearly 65,000 people attending, all in the name of love for our two-wheeled friend, the bicycle.

This year, there were a variety of races from road races to downhill mountain biking. Sea Otter serves as the first race to kick off the season as top pros in North America and from around the world flock to Sea Otter. However, all of the events are also open to amateurs so if you want to race your bike, you have the chance!

One of the greatest things about Sea Otter is that it is open to the general public, which allows everyone to check out and demo different bike product for the upcoming season from a wide range of vendors. Osprey teamed up with Cambria Bike shop for a four-day sale of Osprey Hydration packs and demos.
Osprey mascot Talon also made an appearance at the event as he cheered on our Osprey athlete Macky Franklin and even had a photo shoot with the Sea Otter himself!

Start planning your trip here for next year as everyone is welcome!

Photo via Alex Strickland

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I had re-started my watch after last year’s previous million vertical feet. I wasn’t too concerned about going for it again.

Later in the season, I was up in Kelowna mountain biking with my brother, when he asked me “Are you going for another million”? As I looked at my watch, I was aloof, but all of a sudden something in me ignited. I got motivated. I did some quick calculations. Well, I wouldn’t say quickly. I actually had to grab a calculator. I was at 750,000 with only two months to go. I would have to average over 5,000 feet per day for the next two months. If I was this close I might as well keep going, right?

In the past on the bigger mountains I had a bad attitude and when I didn’t feel like it, I would bag it. So I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it. Yes, it was going to be hard and boring, and motivation would be low in the fall with less daylight and usually less snow. But the snow soon arrived with a vengeance and I was ready to rock.

Along the way you can’t help but ask yourself, “Why am I doing this? Where’s my lift pass”? But then you have those moments when you push on whether it’s raining or dark, where you find that flow state and start begging for more. That happens when you push through the pain and pressures in life and live in the moment; a moment you can only achieve through human powered travel. When it’s your tenth lap and the temps cool, the weather clears, and all of a sudden you are skiing knee deep pow when everyone went home, you know you were there for the moment because you were in the cycle.

The streak was still alive! I compared it to Henrik Sedin of the Vancouver Canucks game playing streak for some extra motivation. Like they say, it’s not the end result but the journey that counts.

I’ve been given the nickname Andy Gump for my obsession with traveling uphill. But as much as I enjoy the climb, it still really is about the down. It just feels more rewarding when you have to work to get there.

As in life, people will make fun of you for you doing something against the grain; like skinning up a run when they are skiing down. If I was a kid, I probably would have done the same thing. Not every day are the conditions right for backcountry travel due to snow stability.

Sometimes this game even leads me to where there’s no snow and I’m skiing on rocks. That was the case when I was visiting family in the Okanagan, so I had to make the most with what I had. There wasn’t really a dedicated backcountry zone, so I was relegated to doing short laps on Kelowna mountain with a 40 cm base. Now that tested the motivation!

In the end you have to follow your passion and enjoy being outside. I want to be out there every day, so I try to make it happen. This is where I truly feel alive and free.

Hopefully my 4 million feet motivates somebody to get out there and get off the couch, be it by climbing ten feet or riding the bike to the corner store.

Be calm like water, roll with the punches. Sit back, hold on, and enjoy the ride.

Osprey Athletes, Outdoor Activities, adventure 4 million, backcountry skiing, Climbing, mountain biking

As a professional skier I should be the kind of person who wants endless winter, yet I’m the person who can never get enough summer. Last night the temperatures dipped and we felt the first breaths of winter. Our gardens were safe, but I felt for sure that it might have frozen in Crested Butte, 3,000 feet above our farm in Paonia, Colorado. Between putting up food for the winter and work, I can only hope for several good months of riding here in the lowlands, dropping me fit as a fiddle into an epic powder skiing season.

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by Serena Bishop Gordon

Freedom to roam has a very different meaning in Scotland than it does in the United States. In Scotland you can walk, mountain bike or ride a horse on any and all land — public or private, as long as you do so without damaging it. This is meaningful because it means, if you know where to go, there are trails and routes “up there in them hills.”

So, naturally, we got off the marked trails and with the help of our new friends (an amazing community of Scots who have lived in the Borders Region for their entire lives) we were treated to some spectacular riding — unmarked, undocumented and completely legal.

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Bike, Osprey Athletes, Outdoor Activities, adventure, travel forest trails, mountain biking, Scotland, Selkirk, single track, travel tuesday, Tweed River Valley

Teaching mountain biking skills seems so straightforward… I’ve been teaching women during my Rippin Chix Camps with Osprey Packs since 2003. Watching the confidence build and the fears fade changes women’s lives, and not only in skiing, biking and surfing. It permeates into family, jobs and dealing with whatever life throws your way. At Red Rocks Rendezvous, Jeff Fox, the bike marketing manager for Osprey, and myself were in charge of teaching men’s and women’s mountain bike camps. Most of these participants are climbers, looking to do something in addition to all the amazing rock climbing camps at the event.

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Bike, Events, Osprey Athletes, travel Alison Gannett, Hydration Packs, KEEN Rippin Chix, mountain biking, mtn biking, Osprey Packs, Red Rocks Rendezvous, Rippin Chix

Osprey athlete, Majka Burhardt teaching a climbing clinic. Photo: Red Rock Rendezvous Facebook gallery

We had a great weekend at the Red Rock Rendezvous, catching up with old friends, fitting in some climbing and mountain biking and of course soaking up the sweet, desert sun. If you couldn’t make it this year, mark your calendar for Red Rocks in 2013, they just keep getting better!

Bike, Events, photos, travel Climbing, cycling, Majka Burhardt, mountain biking, Red Rock National Conservation Area, Red Rock Rendezvous

The Red Rocks Rendezvous kicks off today at Red Rocks Conservation Area — Spring Mountain Ranch State Park to be exact.

Powered by Mountain Gear and sponsored by yours truly here at Osprey Packs, the Red Rocks Rendezvous is a funtastic outdoor extravaganza featuring a full slate of outdoor clinics focused on climbing, mountain biking, trail running and much more.

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Events, Osprey Athletes, Outdoor Activities, video Climbing, clinics, mountain biking, Red Rock National Conservation Area, Red Rock Rendevous, Trail Running

Osprey 2011 Backcountry Canyon Trip. Photo: Emily Nuchols

Believe it or not, today is the first day of spring. Our friends at Adventure Journal kicked it off with 5 Reasons to Celebrate Spring. Just a few reasons to count your blessings and celebrate the season…

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Events, Osprey Culture, Outdoor Activities, adventure, travel, video adventure journal, Climbing, desert, fitz cahall, james Q martin, mountain biking, Red Rock Rendezvous, spring

Over the past three years I’ve been keeping track of my vertical feet of climbing, backcountry skiing and mountain biking. I have now climbed a total of three million feet.

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Osprey Athletes, Outdoor Activities, adventure backcountry, Canada, mountain biking, ski