Outdoor: Did you hear?…

>> Outdoor Retailer Expo has selected the Sporting Goods Business team (they also produce Outdoor Business) to be the official publisher of the trade show’s Winter and Summer Market show handbooks and on-site show dailies, effective with the 2004 markets. “We wanted to put additional resources, editorial expertise and a dedicated staff behind these products for our customers, and because of the shared corporate ownership this makes for a terrific in-house partnership,” said David Loechner, president of the Sports Group that runs Outdoor Retailer.

>> American Whitewater has entered into a partnership with Adventure Medical Kits to reprint the American Whitewater Safety Cards for sale as part of the AMK Ultra-Light Paddler first-aid kit for the 2003/2004 season. This marks a return to market for a card that offers quick-access reminders summarizing what paddlers should have learned during paddling safety classes — river hand signals, tying safe knots, rigging Z-Drags, and basic first-aid tips such as reducing a dislocation. SNEWS View: This is a natural partnership since AMK founder Dr. Eric Weiss, his wife and president of AMK, Amy Quirk, and AMK marketing vice president Frank Meyer are all avid paddlers. For more information, contact Risa Shimoda at American Whitewater at risa@amwhitewater.org.

>> Patagonia is the new official supplier of outerwear products to the National Ski Patrol (NSP), the Professional Ski Instructors of America (PSIA), and the American Association of Snowboard Instructors (AASI). Patagonia is only the third uniform sponsor in the history of the NSP and the third uniform supplier for PSIA and AASI. Patagonia will outfit the PSIA Alpine and Nordic demonstration teams, as well as the AASI Snowboard Team, beginning with the 2003/2004 season. Patagonia products will also be available to members through the product catalogs and websites. The NSP’s 26,500 members represent 98 percent of the nation’s patrollers, whether they are paid or volunteer their services. PSIA and AASI are non-profit associations with a combined membership of more than 28,800 members who are dedicated to promoting snowsports through instruction.

>> Ralph A. “Doc” Des Roches, 86, died peacefully on June 30 at his home on Clearwater Lake in Industry, Maine. Doc was born in 1916 in Mexico, Maine, the son of Alec and Angelina Des Roches of Prince Edward Island. He was educated at Mexico schools and Fryeburg Academy and attended the University of New Hampshire in the class of 1943, where he participated in intercollegiate, national and regional ski meets, achieving Class A Downhill, Cross-Country and Combined. During World War II, Doc served in the 10th Mountain Division, training ski troops at Camp Hale, Colo., and Lake Placid, N.Y. Doc’s collegiate and Army ski experiences led him to a distinguished lifetime career in skiing. In 1946, Doc married Yvonne “Toby” Stone and taught her how to ski, and they worked side-by-side in ski area management at Laurel Mountain Slopes in Ligonier, Pa., from 1946-1963, where Doc was ski school director, mountain manager and ultimately president and CEO, while Toby taught skiing and raised four children. From 1963-1981, Doc served as executive vice president and CEO of Ski Industries America (now SnowSports Industries America), the national trade association of manufacturers, importers and distributors of consumer ski products, again with Toby working by his side.

>> Mary Margaret Sloan, president of American Hiking Society, wrote the following for SNEWS: “From across the table, my mother mouthed, ‘What the heck have you gotten me into?’ We were being briefed by Bureau of Land Management staff in California’s spectacular King Range National Conservation Area before setting out on a weeklong Volunteer Vacation, a work-trip program run by American Hiking Society. All the Volunteer Vacations vary by difficulty and location, but they all bring volunteers to our chronically under-funded public lands to work on trails. As the president of AHS, I aim to walk the walk annually, and this year invited my mother to join me on a trip that launched on Mother’s Day. We backpacked the 26-mile Lost Coast Trail — one of only several wilderness beach trails in the country. We kept one eye out for the promised rattlesnakes, bears, poison oak and high tides and the other on fabulous views, wildflowers, whales and sea lions that followed us curiously down the beach. At the end of the week, our group of Volunteer Vacationers and BLM staff had picked up and packed out hundreds of pounds of trash from the beach (almost all washed up from big winter storms), re-routed and maintained upland sections of eroded trails, and cleared several areas of invasive plant species. By then, my mother’s initial trepidation had turned into passion for the Lost Coast. Over 50 more work trips are scheduled in 2003, accessible via a searchable database on www.AmericanHiking.org. AHS couldn’t run nearly as successful a program without our strong partners and supporters — Galyan’s, Hi-Tec, Backpacker’s Pantry, Bureau of Land Management and the USDA Forest Service.”