SNEWS best outdoor reads from around the web

What did the SNEWS team learn this week that other outdoor industry insiders might find interesting? Well, read on to find out.

• We all know Lance Armstrong isn’t having the greatest week. First of all, Nike dropped him and he stepped down as the head of the organization he started. Now we’re reading stories about Fitness Clubs dropping his likeness from their promotional material. Now SNEWS confirmed that Honey Stinger will drop Armstrong’s endorsement and images from its products. If you want more dirt on Armstrong, check out this video about the whole doping scandal and its repercussions.

• We recently reported the results from the Outdoor Retailer Collective Voice Survey, which showed attendees are evenly split on wanting to move the show and wanting to keep it in Salt Lake City. Check out this Salt Lake Tribune story on what it would take for Salt Lake to keep the show. The article suggests it would take more hotel rooms and additional exhibit space.

• Got to love those college breaks. We did. Especially fall break. There’s so much promise in fall break. It was always a time to catch up on rest or homework or get a jump-start on those research papers coming up for midterms. But this Whitman Pioneer story talks about how fall break is also an opportunity for students to get outdoors and into your stores to buy things for their adventures.

• We know in the industry that just because the weather gets colder, that doesn’t mean we need to slow down any with our outdoor activities. Heck, that’s why we have Outdoor Retailer Winter Market, to debut all the cool winter stuff we can play with outside. But looks like other folks are getting in on that secret, which will probably be good for our business. Check out this Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel story about how outdoor activities are heating up in cold weather.

• All summer we read about Hantavirus outbreaks in Yosemite National Park and though that news has seemed to not be so prevalent lately, Hantavirus is still terrorizing people. Its latest victim is a man who contracted it during an Adirondack camping trip. Check out this Post-Standard story.

• What is this world coming to when we’re stealing things from children? This NWCN news story out of Puyallup, Wash., is about the how devastated the boys of Troop 503 were when they found that someone had broken into the storage unit where all their gear was and stole it. In all, the robber stole $4,000 worth of gear.

• “Fabulous and frugal.” What a catchy headline for this Commercial Appeal story about all of the benefits that outdoor adventures offer families. Gone are the times of expensive trips to Disney World and other expensive destinations for some families, but here are the days of heading outdoors for a hike or an overnight camping trip.

• Some of us like to think we’re so green and everything in this industry is too, including all our outdoor adventure. Turns out that’s not the case. According to this Greaner Ideal post, camping isn’t always the most environmentally friendly activity but this post offers tips on how to make your trips a bit more eco-friendly.

• We’ve been in the know about stand-up paddle boarding for quite some time in our industry, and judging from this New Zealand Herald article, its momentum is showing no signs of stopping. Looks like SUP is gaining some popularity down under as this story gives people the low down on what they’ll need to buy and how they can make the most of their SUP experience.

• We were all young once, and boy or girl, there was nothing more fun than building a fort. I don’t think our desire to build forts goes away with age. Right? Well, anyhow, ours didn’t so we were stoked to read this article in Scouting Magazine with instructions on how to build a snow fort-type structure. We are so hoping for snow this weekend!

Have you read anything interesting you’d like to share with us? Maybe we’ll include it next week’s column with a little shout out to whoever sent it to us. Send a link to the story with the subject line “SNEWS Reads” to be considered.

–Compiled by Ana Trujillo