Every year, Vertfest returns to Alpental, Washington as the biggest Freeride and Mountain Mettle Festival in North America. What’s more, this year Vertfest will celebrate with festivities at two locations, adding Vertfest January 19th at Mt. Bachelor near Bend, Oregon! As stated on the site, “This new venue will host a challenging course, backcountry/sidecountry oriented clinics, demos and loads of fun. Come join us at Mt. Bachelor for the first ’series’ race in the Vertfest Series. Elite racers will earn points towards the series point total.”

The 7th Annual Vertfest in Alpental will be hosted February 16th and 17th, and will kick off on the 16th with the Monika Johnson Memorial Rally, to be followed by an awards ceremony and a raffle boasting skis, packs and gear galore. The event will also host live music from Head Like A Kite and Daydream Vacation, featuring Asya of NYC based Smooshand. On the final day of Vertfest, special guest Jessica Baker of Ski Divas and Neil Provo, professional splitboarder from Salt Lake City will be there to show their skills in clinics.

Want to experience all of the glory that Vertfest promises to be? Get your tickets here, ASAP!

Events, Osprey Culture, Outdoor Activities, adventure alpental, Freeride, Mount Bachelor, North America, Outdoor Retailer, vertfest

The cold, dark month of January is plodding along after the madness of the holidays and a New Year Celebration. And that can only mean one thing, Winter Outdoor Retailer is nearly upon us again! The show kicks off with an all mountain demo on the 22nd, and the trade show will take place from January 23rd through the 26th. Of course, we’ll be there to showcase our brand-new packs and innovations, roosting at  Booth #5011. We hope to see you there!

We’re excited for the show as always, but we’re also stoked to announce that this OR, The Conservation Alliance Breakfast will welcome the incredible Cheryl Strayed, author of the incredibly powerful memoir WILD, which details Strayed’s journey as a 22-year-old solo-hiking the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mojave Desert through California and Oregon to Washington State. Strayed will present on Thursday, January 24th from 7 to 9 a.m. at The Marriott, Salons F-I in Salt Lake City. This is a breakfast you won’t want to miss, and we hope to see you there!

Conservation, Events, Osprey Culture, adventure, causes 2013, breakfast, Cheryl Strayed, OR, Osprey Packs, Outdoor Retailer, the conservation alliance, WILD, winter market

It’s that time again… Outdoor Retailer Summer Market kicks off this Wednesday and we’ve got a great line-up of events and giveaways for you! Here’s our down and dirty list of events…

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Last week, wildlife photographer Florian Schulz transported us to the Arctic through his collection of beautiful images. We didn’t even have to leave our seats at The Conservation Alliance breakfast at Outdoor Retailer Winter Market to catch the chill of polar wind, hear the cries of migrating birds and feel our hearts thump as we watched baby polar bears fleeing from danger.

via Chris Kassar and Elevation Outdoors:

Schulz is, John Sterling of the Conservation Alliance told us, “a truly gifted story teller who transports us to places we may never otherwise get to visit.”…

He didn’t just “wow” us with images or stories of braving harsh conditions (though he did tell some amazing ones about that). His message was simple, clear, and inspiring: “My connection to the environment is something very emotional; it comes from the heart for me especially now that I have become a dad,” said Schulz getting noticeably choked up when talking about the arrival of his son in December. “I hope we can keep this planet the way it is for a while longer…. Fighting for this is essential.”

On Schulz’s website, he says:

“For many years now there has been strong interest in expanding oil drilling in the Alaskan Arctic, both on land and offshore. Many have considered the Arctic landscape a barren wasteland or a flat, white nothingness.

I take these sentiments as a personal challenge to document an extremely remote and mostly unknown area of North America — for a public that otherwise might never see it. It’s true that at first glance some areas may seem desolate or barren. But those same areas may be teeming with life just days later, with tens of thousands of migrating caribou, or wolves or grizzlies.”

While many of us have never been to the Arctic, as these images show, it’s a special, wild place full of life — and worth protecting. Learn more about what you can do to help protect it by visiting alaskawild.org.

ALL PHOTOS © FLORIAN SCHULZ

Conservation, causes, photos, travel Alaska, alaska wilderness league, arctic, florian schulz, Outdoor Retailer, photos, the conservation alliance

It’s that time again… Outdoor Retailer Winter Market kicks off this Wednesday and we’ve got a great line-up of events and giveaways for you!

Save our Snow Foundation Trivia With Alison Gannett
When: 2 to 4pm, Wednesday, January 18, 2012 ~ All Mountain Demo
Where: Osprey Packs Booth ~ All Mountain Demo at Solitude Resort

Play climate change trivia with Osprey athlete Alison Gannett for a chance to win a Karve sidecountry pack.

Pack Sale for Paradox Sports and SOS Outreach
When: Thursday, January 19 through end of show, or until we sell out!
Where: Osprey Booth #5011

Pick up an Osprey Flap Jack, Flap Jill or Comet daypack for only $30 with $10 of each purchase will be donated to Paradox Sports and SOS Outreach.

Benefit for the Colorado Mountain Club at Brewvies featuring Sweetgrass Productions’ Solitaire
When: 7 to 10pm, Friday January 20
Where: Brewvies, 677 South 200 West Salt Lake City, sponsored by Osprey Packs

Check out Sweetgrass Productions’ Solitaire, enjoy great beer and food, and win a pack. $10 admission gets a beer and benefits the Colorado Mountain Club.

“What Are YOU Wearing Today?” Happy Hour
When: 4 to 6pm, Saturday January 21, 2012
Where: Osprey Booth #5011

Enjoy a White Russian and keep the glass. Meet the girls in white dresses, boys in tutus and environmental mascots. Donate to Leave No Trace, Alaska Wilderness League and Save our Wild Salmon and win great prize packages.

Conservation, Events, Product, Retail Promotions, causes, video donations, happy hours, or show, Outdoor Retailer, winter market

I’m crammed into the middle seat of an oversold United flight, sandwiched between a close-talker and a person that is half in my seat in addition to his. Along comes the flight attendant, and even though I want to sleep this nightmare away, my coffee addiction is calling. I contort sideways to reach my bag at my feet, glad that I’m only 5’3” tall, or this maneuver would be physically impossible even with years of yoga. I’m just barely able to loop a pinky and remove my Klean Kanteen insulated thermos and present it to the aisle. The stewardess looks annoyed at my offering, then pours the coffee instead into a Styrofoam cup transfers it to my vessel, and then throws the cup away.

I can barely contain myself , but decide that today I won’t give her my rant: that we could power one million cars if we gave up our addiction to petroleum-based plastics; that Americans throw away half a billion plastic bottles a week, enough to circle the globe twice; or that most plastic ends up in landfills, oceans and fish bellies, and is never ever recycled.

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Here we go… it’s Outdoor Retailer time again! Lots of great events and promotions lined up at OR Show this year. Hope to see you soon!

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As an outdoor company, our roots are set deep in our wild lands. Our favorite places to hike, ski and climb are the very places that inspire us to create our packs. With Summer Outdoor Retailer madness upon us, we’re psyched to be a supporting member of the Conservation Alliance. The Alliance is a is a group of outdoor industry companies that give back to the outdoors by disbursing its collective annual membership dues to grassroots conservation groups.

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Unless you’ve been living in a deep, dark cave… You may have noticed that there is a lot of cool stuff going on out there. So, we thought it was high-time we started rounding up some of our faves each Friday. Every month, we’ll be choosing a theme that fits with the Osprey lifestyle. Since we’ve hit the ground running into 2011, we figured there was no better theme than “taking a leap”. So all month we’ll be highlighting people, organizations that are going for it — leaping, diving and running as fast as they can to live this life. Welcome to the Osprey Friday Round-Up!

We’re still digging ourselves out of Outdoor Retailer withdrawals, but we managed to pull together a list of a few of our favorite things from the show…

You really “Like” us! Thanks to everyone for spreading the Osprey love over the last few weeks to push us over 10,000 Facebook fans. To celebrate, we brought together a few of our favorite things to share with all of you at Outdoor Retailer: Timmy O’Neill, beer and trucker hats. Take a gander at some of the fabulous shots from our party in the gallery below… More here. Have any shots of your own from the party or OR? Share them on our Flickr page!

Giving back to our wildlands. It wouldn’t be OR, if we didn’t do something to give back to the very places that form the bedrock of our industry. We’re proud to have joined dozens of other Conservation Alliance member companies in raising more than $40,000 for the Alliance. All of which will go directly to protecting the wild places we love.

We also joined Winter Wildlands Alliance for a packed showing of the Backountry Film Festival. It’s hard not to be inspired after watching such awesome films that celebrate the human-powered experience to the max. Excited to be a part of the movement. Keep an eye out for screenings near you!

And finally, thank you to REI for naming Osprey Packs your 2010 Vendor of the Year in the Camping Division! Lots of love and gratitude to REI and Outdoor Retailer!

Happy Friday!

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We had a blast out at Demo Day at Outdoor Retailer — see how much fun Jeff and Sam are having?? — where we had plenty of people out testing our new Karve series.

Try one out and like it? We’ve got 50 of the Karve 6 for sale tomorrow, at only $30 (they’re usually $79), with all proceeds going to Conservation Alliance. But there are only 50, so you better swing by the booth early to snag one.

Osprey Culture Outdoor Retailer