If you are in the Big Apple May 3rd and 4th, don’t miss the chance to attend the Bike Expo New York as there will be more than 60 vendors attending, one of them being yours truly, Osprey Packs! This event is great for road bike aficionados, and we’ll be showcasing and selling our recently redesigned line of hydration packs.

Over 50,000 spectators are expected to attend and admission is free and open to the general public. Hours of the show will be from Friday, May 3rd from 10 a.m. -8 p.m. as well as on Saturday, May 19th 9 a.m.-7 p.m., so come after work and check out the product tonight or head over first thing tomorrow. The event takes place at the Pier 36, 299 South Street, Basketball City, New York, NY.

Want to know a little bit more about what to expect? Here’s the rundown from last year’s awesome Expo:

In keeping with its mission to provide free bicycle education in New York City, Bike New York held several of its signature Learn to Ride classes throughout the event. Garnering more than 43,000 attendees, Bike Expo New York 2012 presented by Eastern Mountain Sports was the most attended inaugural consumer bike expo in the country.  BE NY carried an unmistakable New York flair with street signs, carpeted bike lanes and even a massive Verrazano Bridge suspended from the ceiling.

We hope to see you this year!

Bike, Events, Outdoor Activities, Product, Retail Promotions, Uncategorized Big Apple, Osprey, Osprey Hydration, Osprey Hydraulics, Osprey Packs, road biking, Roadies

It’s that time of year again! Vertfest is and always will be known as “the best Festival of Freeride and Mountain Mettle in North America,” and it’s back, ready to kick off on February 16th and 17th in Alpental, WA. Naturally, we’ll be there to help celebrate. Here’s the full scope of what you can expect:

The weekend will begin on Saturday with the Monika Johnson Memorial Rally, with a race division that’ll take participants on two laps up Alpental and back — in addition to a recreational division, as well as a 50+ and splitboard division, all of which will offer up just one lap. Saturday will progress with a contest, an awards ceremony and an epic raffle with ski and pack giveaways. Saturday’s festivities will cap off with live music from Head Like A Kite and Daydream Vacation.

Sunday is the day of educational clinics, ranging from an Intro to Splitboarding with Neil Provo to a clinic focused on landscape photography to a Sidecountry Steeps Clinic with our very own Osprey Athlete Kim Havell. This clinic will take place from 9-12 and 1-4 p.m. You can check the full clinic schedule for details here, but be sure to stop by the Osprey booth on Sunday between 4 and 4:30 for a chance to meet Kim Havell, who will be doing a poster-signing!

Throughout the weekend, Osprey will be providing free demos on the Karve series of sidecountry riding packs, as well as the Kode 22 backcountry riding pack, so be sure to swing by to try on a Karve or Kode pack and get fitted by a professional. We’ll have Karve 6, 11 and 16 as well as the Kode 22 on hand for free demos. What’s more, we’ll be there with the entire Osprey winter collection and all of the new packs that will be coming in Spring of 2013. And while you’re at the Osprey booth, be sure to take the 3-minute Osprey Vertfest survey for a chance to win a brand-new Osprey pack. We’ll see you on the mountain!

Events, Osprey Athletes, Osprey Culture, Outdoor Activities, Product, adventure backcountry, Karve, kim havell, KODE, Osprey, ski, snowboard, splitboard, vertfest, Washington

It’s that time of year again — the biggest ice festival in North American is nearly here! This weekend, The Ouray Ice Festival will be back for three days of ice climbing, chatter, gear, equipment and competitions among world-class climbers. Held every January since 1996, the Ouray Ice Fest brings enthusiasts from around the world to Ouray, Colorado, with the end result being that the fest itself has become the primary fundraiser for the Ouray Ice Park.

This year’s event will be held this weekend, from January 10th through the 13th. And what’s more, we’ll be there to contribute to the festivities with a full display of all of our newest 2013 packs; free demos of Osprey Packs all day throughout the weekend, as well as free onsite professional pack fittings and daily pack giveaways. All you have to do is come by the Osprey Ice Fest booth to take a two minute event survey and you’ll be entered to win a Variant or Mutant climbing pack of your own. Adding to all of the goodness of the Ouray Ice Fest, swing by on Saturday between 2 and 3 p.m. to meet Osprey Athlete and pro climber Majka Burhardt!

For more information about the Ouray Ice Fest, you can check out the Ouray blog, and check out the 2013 competitor list here. We’ll see you there!

Events, Osprey Culture, Outdoor Activities, Product, video ice, Osprey, Ouray Ice Festival, Packs

Putting straw atop her compost pile on the farm. Photo courtesy The Denver Post

Alison Gannett is a World Champion Extreme Freeskier, founder of The Save Our Snow Foundation and an award-winning global cooling consultant who has spent her life dedicated to solutions for climate change.

A reporter asked me yesterday how I find time to shovel pig poop and run a farm with my busy schedule. In general, I avoid this job at all costs, but for some weird reason, I bonded with it this week and decided that it is extremely similar to skiing powder.

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Osprey Athletes, Osprey Culture, Outdoor Activities, Southwest Colorado Alison Gannett, farming, Osprey, powder, skiing

“219 miles and 25 days to complete the John Muir Trail. Each day another story, another achievement and another photo. The smiles sometimes wavered, but my Osprey backpack never did.”

We always dreamt of creating a documentary to share the adventure and grandeur of the John Muir Trail, and after nine years our eclectic group of five finally stepped into the California wilderness. Truth is, that first day on the trail, July 10, 2011, we didn’t know what all to expect. It was a record snow year, which in and of itself presented a formidable challenge. We had no idea whether we’d be able to overcome the endless obstacles set out before us, let alone capture enough footage along the way to produce a feature-length film.

With a bit of luck and a lot of perseverance, we finished all 211 miles of the JMT (as well as the 8 miles required to return to civilization after summiting Mount Whitney). As we had cautiously hoped, we left the trail with more than just sore feet. Our packs were often ridiculously heavy and the amount of work was no small task, but we truly exceeded our own expectations in capturing the images, sounds, and experiences of the trail.

Check out the trailer for Mile… Mile & a Half here, read our interview with Dave and Kelly on the Osprey Blog here (and be sure to check out their Kickstarter campaign before the 28th)!

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I only wish this was a real cover of me on Outside Magazine, but alas, it is just a fun promo souvenir from my participation in Outside In Aspen.

In addition to lots of fun activities at the event, I was asked to be a member of a pro-athlete panel for the closing event Adventure Saves the World.

At first I was put off by the title, as I am always mortified by the carbon footprint of even my human-powered expeditions. Then I received an outline, from moderator Mike Roberts, executive editor of the Outside — and to my surprise and delight, this guy wanted to dig deep! He had quotes from Will Gadd, spouting about the BS of many expeditions with a cause, to the polar opposite — powerful athletes really making a difference, like Jake Norton, fighting for clean drinking water. Were we going to have to put on boxing gloves and fight it out? Were many people just using expeditions to raise money for their hedonistic activities under the fake umbrella of a cause?

Turns out, all the world champion athletes at this symposium were all in favor of philanthropy, but all had some key points that charity givers should note…

Polar Explorer Eric Larsen talked up the benefits of bringing nature’s gifts into the classroom with social media, and noted that donated money should go to the cause — not to fund an expedition’s travel expenses.

Willie Kern responded eloquently regarding how effective we were in reaching millions, saying that if even one person was inspired or changed, that made it all worthwhile. Olympic snowboarder Chris Klug mentioned that he is flooded with emails from organ donation recipients like himself, inspired to do even more with their new lives.

How do we recognize if an expedition is doing the right thing? Of course you can check if corporate sponsors are funding expenses and donation money is going directly to causes, and check to see the validity and rating of a nonprofit, but there really is more. At the end of the forum, I had an epiphany regarding the issue… maybe what it boils down to is authenticity: in the days of Google, one can really check to see if an cause-driven expedition is really true to that person’s heart and soul. Based upon the passion I saw and heard at this symposium, I was inspired to keep saving the world, one snowflake at a time!

Alison Gannett is a World Champion Extreme Freeskier, founder of The Save Our Snow Foundation and an award-winning global cooling consultant who has spent her life dedicated to solutions for climate change.

Osprey Athletes, Outdoor Activities Alison Gannett, Ambassador, Aspen, Osprey, Osprey Packs, Outside in Aspen, Outside Magazine

KEEN Rippin Chix Steeps Camp at Silverton with Osprey Packs

Silverton brings me back to what skiing was like as a kid — no frills, no heat, no fancy food, but great skiing with great friends. Again this year, we had several feet of powder… I’m knocking on wood as we speak.

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Events, Osprey Athletes, Product, adventure, causes, video Alison Gannett, KEEN, Osprey, Rippin Chix, Steeps Camp, women

Alison at Silverton, CO - credit Sherri Harkin Photography

As a World Freeskiing Champion, the founder of the Save Our Snow Foundation, and award-winning global cooling consultant, I’m often asked about my viewpoints on climate change in regard to snow droughts, like we are experiencing this year.

I found that people couldn’t relate to “climate change” and that the term “global warming” left people confused, so I switched to “global weirding.” That term more accurately describes what is happening — while the planet is warming, the actual result is extreme weather. Global temperature increases result in really strange local weather — record low temperatures, record heat waves, more windy weather, record droughts, and yes, even record snowstorms. As the air warms, it can hold more moisture, so in the short-term we can have larger snowfalls. In the long term, more of those storms will fall as rain.

Today in Colorado, we are seeing record dust storms that are assisting in extremely early snowmelt — up to 40 days earlier than historic records. I don’t think anyone has to be a rocket scientist to see that the weather is a bit weirder than usual. The extremes are just so much more pronounced. It’s January, and I’m going for a bike ride. How strange is that? In Pakistan, I saw glaciers advancing in 2005 due to increased snowfall, and then watched them retreat up to 50 percent by 2007. On one ski expedition it was raining at 17,500 feet — something I have never seen in my lifetime. In Bolivia, I skied the highest ski area in the world at 18,000-plus feet, but that glacier disappeared forever in 2009.

Folks ask me about a critical tipping point.  In my opinion, we have already passed a critical point in the concentrations of carbon dioxide on our planet. But I’m an optimist and I believe we have the ability to change.

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Conservation, Osprey Athletes Alison Gannett, climate change, global weirding, Osprey, Save our Farm, Save our snow

Wild & Scenic Headquarters

Driving into Nevada City, California, I was fascinated by the historic Broad Street buildings and visions of the surrounding hills during the 1849 gold rush.  I was there to represent Osprey Packs as a National Partner of the Wild & Scenic Film Festival.

The Wild & Scenic Film Festival is put on by the South Yuba River Citizens League (SYRCL) and celebrated its 10^th anniversary this year.  In a nutshell, the festival is a combination of films, activist workshops, speakers, art, music, food, drink and human energy, although it is hard to capture the essence of the experience in a sentence of words. One really must attend the festival and participate in all of its offerings to truly comprehend what is going on.

SYRCL’s stated mission for the Wild & Scenic Film Festival is “to inspire people and unite communities to heal the earth”.  Admittedly, this sounded a little “hippy-dippy” at first appearance and I wasn’t sure what to expect. After spending a jam-packed weekend partaking in all that is the Wild & Scenic Film Festival, I walked away with a renewed sense of what an awesome planet we live on and the tremendous adventure opportunities that exist in our own backyards as well as across the oceans in faraway lands. I also have more knowledge of the threats and challenges that our planet is facing and increased resolve to make a difference in maintaining and improving these adventurous opportunities forever. Film topics varied, ranging from the story of conflict resolved between the US Forest Service and mountain bikers building illegal trails in Washington as documented in Pedal-Driven: a bikeumentary to Animal Beatbox, a 2-minute animated film with music that you can’t get out of your head.

Watching the stories of how bicycles changed the lives of five individuals in different parts of the world in With My Own Two Wheels made me feel a touch of guilt as I reflected upon a conversation I had with my wife the previous evening regarding which new road bike I wanted to purchase. The problem is I already have a shed with 14 bikes hanging in it. Seeing the difference that one bike could make to someone that really needed it but could not afford it, changed the way that I think. From now on, each new bike for me will be complemented by a new bike for someone else through a program like 88Bikes or World Bicycle Relief.

This is exactly the type of difference that most of the film makers were hoping to achieve when embarking on the sometimes monumental task of creating a documentary film. There were films about cycling, paddling, climbing, world travels, environmental issues, human interest stories, wildlife and just about every other topic. No matter what your interests, there was a film at the festival for you. Wild & Scenic now embarks on a nationwide traveling tour. It is definitely worthwhile to check the schedule and set aside some time to see when it comes to an area near you. For dates and more information check the Wild & Scenic Film Festival website.

Events, causes, film festivals animal beatbox, nevada city, Osprey, pedal driven, wild & scenic film festival, with my own 2 wheels

Alison at Gears and Beers Bike Parade

It was a love/hate relationship with my former hydration pack for biking. The hose hit my leg and got water everywhere except my parched mouth, the bladder was hard to fill, hard to clean, tasted like plasti, and became a bloated sausage that wouldn’t squeeze into my overfilled pack.

Then one day Osprey founder and head designer extraordinaire Mike Pfotenhauer had an idea: to design the world’s best hydration pack. A few years ago, he laid out the conceptual plan to a focus group of active Osprey dealers from around the world, U.S. champion athlete ambassadors and the ever-exploring, outdoor-loving Osprey staff. What did we think? Would it be worth spending four years designing, testing and then forging into a new market?

We all eagerly agreed, and excitedly talked for days about what we didn’t like with existing hydration systems. Mike went to work with his design team and now, many years later, we are all reaping the benefits.

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Bike, Osprey Athletes, Product Alison Gannett, Bike, BPA, Breast Cancer Fund, Endocrine Disruptors, Estrogen, health, mtn biking, Nalgene, Osprey, Osprey Hydraulics, plastic