The Outdoor 2016 – Friedrichshafen

After what felt like a lifetime, I was at the Outdoor 2016 in Friedrichshafen again,  the worlds largest trade fair for sports. Here is my impression of the day trip, a long day stood before.

5 a.m was an unruly time to wake up. Catching all the connecting trains and buses in the last second wasn’t exactly my cup of tea, but I managed not to miss any of them. My first experience with the Flixbus was a pleasant one, better than the trains  WiFi, electric sockets and the whole upper deck for myself  – the trip went smooth, I had lots of space to stretch out and peace. For just 8,50€ one way, I didn’t want to drive myself home after walking km and hours in halls.

3 hours later I was standing before the west gates of the Outdoor. My first appointment was on the east side and I was 30 mins late! I arrived on time to  miss one of the OBN Talks  with Erika’s (ulligunde) speech on  the Industry vs. Blogger. A hot topic. Thank goodness, there’s a video and podcast (thanks to vitaminberge.de) to make it up.

I started working my way back to the west for the next conference.   Getting caught every now and then at the different booths:

We all have seen the first generation of these foldable chairs that was once trendy. Outchair brought out now a model with heated seating generated by a rechargeable battery. A full battery keeps you warm for about 6 hours. Not a world new sensation but what a nice, cosy, idea!

I was lucky to catch Dave at the booth, the founder of Kletterretter hand cream. He gave me a good insight to the product. The hand cream moisturizes and repairs  without you getting everything you hold oily. Power Fingers is a new comer for the european market. It’s a nice little toy to train your fingers. You could warm up or do warm out exercises, or use it as an additional training circuit with them. Check out the video I made:

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Salomon brings out a new lightweight (367 g) One and Only 3L jacket Its breathable, durable and waterproof and made for speedy mountain activities. This jacket has ventilation zippers at both sides (not placed under the underarms)  so that ventilation works best even with a back pack on. At the same time, you have access to the midlayer. The material is soft and supple to the skin, the colar is fleeced.  Helmets fits in the hoodie. A good combination that goes well together with this jacket is the stretchy Wayfarer Utility pant which has now a new, more feminine cutting.Why not wear the pants on a night out, after spending the whole day out in the mountains?

It’s not anymore a secret: Lowa is targeting a bigger range of consumers. And therefore, they have now a bigger range of shoes. They are expanding on the climbing segment, specializing their range for the local climbing /boulder gymnasts or moderate climbers. Their goal: a shoe that’s comfortable enough to wear for starters. I was quite impressed with the variety of approach and travel shoes they had.  Functionality and design seem to work well together. They had colours that made me want to take them all. The Aerox GTX is a breathable and lightweight shoe with holes in its soles, yet its waterproof. Aggressive soles makes it perfect for trials on rough terrain.

ClimbOn, has a range of hand creams and sticks for climbers. Their products are  made from 100% natural ingredients.  Some come with aloe Vera or a herbal variety. Depending on your personal preference, they both do the same job, repair and revitalize the fingers after hours of workout.  At the same time, there was this huge, awesome  Sublime brushes  for cleaning the holds on a  boulder. These brushes has a small container behind to keep those bar sticks at bay. It was great to meet Harald Röker personally and talk-shop about these products and some of his personal favourite climbing areas.

Edelrid has a new Balance Crashpad that adjusts accordingly to its terrain. I had to sneak up a view for this product. Interesting idea with a rather wobbly handling. Nevertheless 2 gold awards for it.  Their new climbing harness – Loopo Lite weighs just 80g to be used for back country or glacier tours. Resembles a lingerie where every gram counts.  😉 (see pix in the gallery)

With Petzl ‘s new Noctilight, you can turn all your headlamps into a tent / hang lamp instantly.

An italian ultralight backpack caught my eye. The Radical 80 + 10 from Ferrino, weighs just 630 g  something once you’ve stripped them from the waist belt and removable lid. A pack that resembles somewhat like a plastic bag all sewn together, is made out of the durable Cubic Tech, DSM Dyneema fibre and Nylon. It’s so durable, it’s sometimes even difficult to sew them together. Something for your next expedition holidays.

Die Kraft des Urstromstals (what a tongue twister!)  manufactures vegan, gluten-free cereal bars. There’re no conservatives, but lots of natural sweetness, spices, and with a touch of asia in each bar. For those of you who are not the 2 V’s, you should definitely try out their Deer jerky bar. They peer to change the world – and create one with less plastic. That is why, each bar is wrapped up in bio degradable plastic wrappers. What a dynamic team, what a dynamic bar!

There’s a lot of hype around ultra light products.  Backpacks and garments that were already light last year gets even lighter this season (> 200++ g) The packs won’t always win any beauty awards, but are functional, lightweight and hmm, not always super comfortable. Colours are turning more natural. You see a lot of raspberries and pistachio out there.  The industries are seeing a lot of potential in the urban  target group that can do well with outdoor products, so yes, we’re heading there as well. Outdoor goes urban.

Outdoor Bloggers have become an important part of the Outdoor. Without them, many would not have so much insight in this trade fair, which is only opened to retailers. More than 130 outdoor Bloggers were out and about. The OBN (Outdoor Blogger Network) Team organized for the first time  a nice lounge for the Bloggers, working space and a few Talks from fellow influencers that’s worth sitting down and listening to.Awesome stuff! Apart from that it was the place to catch up with familiar faces and meet new ones.  I finally caught up with Nima from Abenteuer Spanien. (now newly renamed as Abenteuer Unterwegs ever since her adventures expands outside of Spain!)  If it doesn’t work out  in Spain then here at the Outdoor. 🙂

The Outdoor is not a trade fair, its cult!

More posts from a mix of other bloggers who were at the Outdoor can be found here:  (a growing list..)

• Geertje from the Nordic fAmily who also held one the OBN Talks on Blogger cooperation – opportunities and perspectives. 
• Ray from Via-Ferrata
• Robert’s Top 10 from Vitaminberge  (checkout his podcasts)
• Dennis & Florian from Abenteuersüchtig 
• Hendrik from HikingFinnland
• Simon from  Simon Patur  
• Tom from Istdochallesnursport
• A nice video on the Outdoor Blogger Base 2016 

More discoveries: