Outdoor Retailer (OR) Show Part II, rappers, rejuvenation room, and the latest and greatest

Well, our first OR show was memorable to say the least. I'm in a hazy state of recovery at the moment, and I know plenty of ya'll are out that attended are in a similar state. Speaking of states Utah is a weird state. I think it always will be. In a way for me though Utah is a home away from home, especially in the red rock desert, and sometimes in Salt Lake City. I lived there for awhile and wrote my first zine there, so it is an important place in my life. That said, here's some photos and thoughts on the great Salt Lake City, Outdoor Retailer Show.

We didn't really know what to expect at the show. Shaun Matusawicz and yours truly simply went into this with the attitude that we would promote The Climbing Zine, cover it on my blog and otherwise study the scene. A recon mission; getting set up for success and experiencing the show fully in the Summer. Some highlights after rolling in Saturday afternoon: hip hop MCs, DJs, and good beer. Beautiful people, passionate folks who love their jobs, and of course, the freshest gear on the market. It had the vibe of a great party, in the midst of like-minded people On Sunday everything was really mellow, and we learned about companies like Sherpa, chatted about the latest gear Petzl and Black Diamond have in the works, checked out some really cool running sandals from Luna Sandals, met some people at Mountaineers Books that I hope to work with more in the future, ran into PR Man and Rep Todd Walton that I collaborate with at Deuter, and discovered that there is a functioning dog harness on the market. Who would have known? Next time we'll do much more, and at the last minute we discovered there was a rejuvenation room. I could use one of those now.

La Sportiva beer. Good marketing if you ask me.

Chatting with Justin Roth of Petzl. Justin was super psyched on The Climbing Zine. He used to be an editor for Urban Climber, we're going to do some reviews of their latest headlamps and some climbing gear when we launch our website, in a month or so.

I think this headlamp from Petzl is going to be a game changer. It will be released this summer, and we'll be doing a review in the near future. Among the dope features is the ability to change with the amount of light that is needed, more when its really dark and less with it is lighter, or you are reading something close to your eyes. Def. the coolest headlamp I've ever seen. Can't wait to get one on my head!

The lightweight Luna Sandals. Shaun's feet on the right and on the left is Barefoot Ted, a guy who is a character in the best selling book, Born to Run by Christopher McDougall that works for Luna Sandals. We met this crew through our good friend Amber.

Amber hanging in this structure in the lobby. Not really sure what this was all about, but maybe this is what it is all about.

We changed out some Mormon propaganda since we were in the neighborhood.

A Ghost Bike in the city, a tribute to fallen cyclists. word to that!!!

I was digging on this car. I've seen it around, I think it belongs to one of the Yoga Slackers crew. Much props to a fellow owner of a ghetto car with stickers and spraypaint!

It ain't over till you're safe back home. It was a long drive back to Durango, but all in all Shaun and I agreed it was a very successful OR show, and we're psyched to return in August for the full experience.

Oh Are You? Our First Day at Our First OR Show

Representing The Climbing Zine crew, Shaun Matusewicz and I hit up our first ever OR show today. We arrived into Salt Lake City after driving through lots o' snow on the mountain passes. It was raining as we rolled in, but then turned to big fat flakes of snow as we headed into the Salt Palace Convention Center. No doubt we were both thinking of our good friend Adam Lawton, who recently died in an avalanche. Adam's home was Salt Lake, and I know he would have been proud that we were representing The Climbing Zine at the OR show.

We didn't really know what to expect, and we're treating this first show as a recon mission for the future. We have big plans for The Climbing Zine and hope to attract the biggest sponsors out there for our publication. We know this will take time so for this show we're soaking it all in to see how things go down within the industry.

We really enjoyed ourselves. We chatted with some really friendly people within the industry, and saw some climbing rock stars in person (Chris Sharma, Lynn Hill, Dean Potter). We got to check out some new gear, and drank several varieties of good beer (sometimes a rarity in Utah :). Most of all we received a positive welcoming from the various folks who checked out The Climbing Zine, and we truly know we have a future in the climbing world. It's only a matter of time before we reach a large audience. We're taking our time with this, because we know all good things happen in good time. And, we are PSYCHED for tomorrow.

(This is where I stayed last night and woke up this morning, the Castleton Tower campsite. I love waking up here, and wished I could have started the day by climbing this. But alas, I didn't have a partner, and had to meet Shaun in Crescent Junction by 10:00 a.m.)

Shaun having some fun.

Super cool new magnetic locking beaner from Black Diamond that will be released this summer!

Lowe Balls and Tri-Cams oh my!

A Blast from the Past, Underwear Model Story

This is a piece I found while cleaning out an old thumb drive. I totally forgot about my dream to become an underwear model until I stumbled over it. Anyways, I submitted it to Patagonia, but they didn't ever publish it. Maybe I'll resubmit. Hope you like it, it's quite different than anything I've ever wrote.

The Underwear Story (You can rename the story)
By Luke Mehall
March, 2008

My dream job would be being an underwear model. A friend helped me figure this out one day after I’d just purchased some new undies, and we were looking at the models on the packaging.

“What a job that would be, wearing underwear for a living.”

“You could do it,” she answered. “And since you’re a climber you could model for Patagonia.”

A quick check of the Patagonia catalog showed that they didn’t use the same advertising technique that we imagined, (my visual image was Victoria Secret style for the female models).

Winter. Salt Lake City, Utah. I’m on a date. Her house: throwback, psychedelic, complete with record player, Polaroid camera, and a little fireplace we sat next to and talked. She’s the intuitive type, the kind of girl who references her dreams often, and talks of love and living in harmony with the planet.

In her room later she’s showing me energy stones, and waxing poetic. For some reason I mention that I’m going to the Patagonia outlet store in the morning for a sale.

Then she begins to tell me about a dream she had. The focus of the dream: me just wearing a fire red pair of underwear.

The next morning my friend Sara and I are up at the crack of dawn, waiting in line behind a hundred or so shoppers as the line pours out winding around the store.

Later, waiting in line to check out, we’re behind a hundred and fifty or so people, and there’s a box of underwear. I tell Sara about the dream. She looks in and sees a fire red pair, tosses it into my bag, and says, “Maybe you’ll get lucky.”

The following night, I’m taking off my clothes. Clear sky, the stars above and mountains blanketed in snow. Sara and I are at the Midway hot springs. The scene is strange; Lynyrd Skynyrd blasts out of a trailer-truck. A fellow, who appears to be on some sort of crack, is doing flips in the 110 degree water. A fog emits from the springs and I can’t identify my surroundings other than the Skynyrd and the people in the springs. It feels like the beginning of a horror movie.

The idea of kicking back in the hot springs doesn’t seem relaxing anymore. Still there is hot springs to be soaked in. I strip down, almost all the way down to what else, my new red underwear. Was this the scene that my ladyfriend imagined? In my new underwear I then slipped into the heat and the weirdness of the hot springs.

I never got to hang out with the young psycadelic woman again, but I think of her every time I wear my red undies. I feel like I would feel comfortable in them in many different situations, and after the odd hot springs experience being in front of a camera would be pretty chill. So Patagonia if you have an opening for some underwear models, give me a call.