Outdoor Retailer - Winter 2016 - 37

Presented in no particular order:

01.

Photo by Chris Hunt

JIMMY CHIN

WHY HE'S HOT: Jimmy Chin
has ascended from "outdoor
photographer" to mainstream
darling by doing nothing more
than the things he loves to do.
That's a testament to two things:
One, his natural talent as an athlete and mountaineer-consider
his ascent, with Conrad Anker
and Renan Ozturk, of the Shark's
Fin of Meru, one of the greatest
alpine climbs ever completed.
And two, his instincts behind the
lens. Chin's photogrpahy captures more than athletic achievement; it shows an appreciation
for being alive in some of the most
extreme landscapes on the planet. And while some aspiring shutterbugs with the same type of soul

may worry that this age of easy
digital photography and rampant
social-media self-promotion
has lowered the cred of professional image-makers, the opposite is true. With nearly a million
followers on Instagram (many of
them having nothing to do with
the outdoor industry), Chin and
photographers like him have become the greatest ambassadors
of the outdoor experience.

02.
SKIP YOWELL

WHY HE'S HOT: The outdoor industry lost one of its pillars when
Yowell passed away at age 69 in
October. People who have previously been mired in more sedentary and cutthroat industries
often rave about how different is
it in this business, how everyone
manages to get work done while
still having fun doing it. Chalk
that outdoor-industry-wide
good feeling up to Skip Yowell.
The JanSport co-founder was
also one of the founders of the
Outdoor Industry Association
(OIA) and he realized the potential that this business has to

create positive change as well
as make money. Yowell helped
develop technical innovations
such as the dome tent, but he also
helped usher in the backpack
as style accessory. The industry
has never been the same since,
and many of those who do best in
it understand what Yowell was
pushing: that the outdoors can be
marketed from the heart. It was
hard to be around Skip Yowell
without smiling.

can ignore the bikes themselves
(and even the bike-specific bags),
but they should not forget that
bikepackers are basically minimalist campers on wheels. Those
frame and seat bags carry plenty
of traditional "outdoor" gear essentials. Tent and sleeping bag
brands like Nemo are already designing kits with bikepackers, as
opposed to backpackers, in mind.

03.
BIKEPACKING

ALPENGLOW
MOUNTAIN FESTIVAL

WHY IT'S HOT: Streamlined
frame bags, 29-inch mountain
bikes and the rise of self- supported enduro races like The Huracan
300 Challenge in Florida have
pushed bikepacking into the
mainstream, where it's thriving.
Forget yesteryear's panniered
ride across Europe. Lighter suspension mountain bikes and the
low-cost appeal of riding fat tires
into American wilderness are the
new cool. Outfitters and retailers

04.

WHY IT'S HOT: This biannual
ten-day celebration of humanpowered sports in Northern
California has become a rallying point for Tahoe's outdoor
faithful and an example of how a
retail store can build into something beyond stuff for sale while
creating dedicated customers.
Brendan Madigan, owner of
Alpenglow Sports in Tahoe City,
started the Alpenglow Mountain
Festival as a way to take the intimidation out of backcountry

Illustration by Name Here

03.

photograph by NAMEGOES HERE

Winter 2016 / OUTDOOR RETAILER 37

Outdoor Retailer - Winter 2016

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Outdoor Retailer - Winter 2016