Everything You Need To Know (Maybe)

As an enthusiastic skier and ski patroller, my life moves in predictable rhythms. Beginning around Thanksgiving, I find as much time as possible to click into my skis—hiking and touring the backcountry before and after work to find some turns, and hit our local resort when time allots. My goal is always to put skis on 100 times from the start of the season to the end of April or mid-May depending on how long the snow lasts.  

Once ski season ends, I turn my attention to building/maintaining my fitness for the next season—spending time lifting, mountain biking, and keeping up with my yoga. As the summer turns to fall, I start getting antsy. I begin obsessing over my gear (and my family’s gear), figuring out what needs to be replaced, what new items have been released and then trying to decide if I really need that new thing or if I’m getting emotional and making a bad decision (hint—I’m almost always getting emotional).

To help me separate fact from fiction and make good decisions on equipment and travel, I turn to the industry Bible—Blister Review’s Annual Buyer’s Guide. It breaks down the new equipment choices and give me deeper insight into what the new crop of skis and technical clothing felt like to their reviewers.  

This issue—our Annual Buyer’s Guide—is working to provide you with the same level of insight into the camp market. Inside, you’ll find an expanded list of vendors, internal market research we conducted in the last 12 months and easy access to online articles that might be of help in your decision-making process.

As we move through the rest of the calendar, you’ll see the buyer’s guide grow online—integrated into all our content sections and, hopefully, starting to include data from the crop of experts we’re working with to provide deeper insight into camp products and services.

And, for the first time, you can purchase the Buyer’s Guide as a stand-alone issue. If you don’t want to purchase an annual print subscription ($48) or prefer the digital version, you can get your hands on a hard copy of the Buyer’s Guide for $15 by using the QR code below.

I hope you enjoy the fruits of our labor. If you do, or if you don’t, let us know. We love mail.

Till next month…

Rodney J. Auth

Publisher