MSR® Reactor® Named Backpacker 2007 Editors' Choice Award Winner

The industry’s most coveted award honors
the best new gear and essentials for outdoor enthusiasts

SEATTLE, WA, March 13, 2007 – The MSR (Mountain Safety Research) Reactor has been honored as a recipient of a 2007 Backpacker magazine Editors’ Choice Award, the most prestigious award in the outdoor industry, given annually to products in recognition of their outstanding innovation in design, materials and/or performance.

Backpacker Editor-In-Chief Jonathan Dorn and his staff of editors and testers presented the MSR Reactor with the award at the annual Outdoor Retailer Winter Market in Salt Lake City, Utah on January 27h.

The Backpacker Editors’ Choice Awards, bestowed annually since 1993, honor the products that Backpacker editors have chosen as the best of the year based on months of trail testing by teams of highly experienced hikers and climbers. With no set categories for the awards and no set number of recipients, the products and the testing process drive the award categories.

The MSR Reactor was one of only 16 innovative products that have been honored with a 2007 Backpacker Editors’ Choice Award.

MSR was an early industry pioneer in camping stoves and has maintained a level of excellence in outdoor gear performance for over 35 years. MSR stoves have become household terms to high-altitude mountaineers and Fast & Light backpackers alike, while the Reactor is making waves as what many consider to the be “the fastest stove on the planet.”

“This year’s winners withstood the most rigorous testing process yet,” said Editor-In-Chief Jonathan Dorn. “Our test team started off with 49 new products, narrowing them down to a final 20 after months of trail-testing. The finalists were then taken on extreme outdoor adventures from Oregon in a streak of epic weather to a wind-whipped day at Mt. Hood. Those that survived have earned the distinction of becoming the 2007 Editors’ Choice Award Winners.”

“We have worked for several years to develop and refine this truly groundbreaking product,” said Jon Almquist, MSR Brand Manager. “While stove systems and heat exchangers are not new to camp stove design, the Reactor uses these and other innovative technologies to deliver unrivaled boil times and fuel efficiency in even the most challenging conditions, when performance matters the most. This all-condition performance translates to a greater degree of safety and comfort in the backcountry, as well as less fuel carried and, most important of all, the guarantee of a hot meal when you want it – fast.”

The Backpacker Editors’ Choice Awards are the gold standard against which all outdoor products are measured, and are a seal of approval that can help put an outdoor company or product on the proverbial map. Each year at the Outdoor Retailer show, retail buyers use the awards announcements as a must-buy shopping list, knowing that their customers will be asking for these products in the spring.

Since their inception 17 years ago, the Backpacker Editors’ Choice Awards have come to be regarded as the most sought-after award for outdoor equipment and apparel found in the industry. The impeccable outdoor credentials and rigorous field-testing standards of the Backpacker staff guarantee that these awards are an undisputed mark of quality for the companies and products selected.

All winners must excel under extensive field-testing conducted by Backpacker’s team of editors, who take hundreds of new products every year into the backcountry to put them to the test. This rigorous process ensures that the performance of the winners is truly worthy of distinction and meets the guiding principle behind the program: gear that is of real value to the readers of Backpacker magazine, who are very active, long-term outdoor enthusiasts.

The complete list of Backpacker 2007 Editors’ Choice Award winners will be officially announced to the general public in the magazine’s April issue, on newsstands March 13th.

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About MSR (Mountain Safety Research):
MSR, one of Cascade Designs’ flagship brands, has been engineering the most reliable, high-performance outdoor gear on the market for over 35 years. A commitment to quality manufacturing and innovation ensures customers are outfitted with the finest gear available for outdoor and military use. MSR product lines include stoves and fuel, cookware, water filters and purifiers, hydration bags, tents, snowshoes, and camp towels. For more information on MSR, call 1-800-531-9531 or visit www.msrgear.com.

About Backpacker:
Backpacker brings the outdoors straight to the reader’s doorstep, inspiring and enabling them to go more places and enjoy nature more often. The authority on active adventure, Backpacker is the world’s first GPS-enabled magazine, and it’s the only magazine whose editors personally test the hiking trails, camping gear, and survival tips they publish. Backpacker’s six regional editions offer accessible, close-to-home getaways with detailed, tear-out maps to dozens of nearby hikes, as well as practical tips on day hikes, camping and the best gear information available. This combination provides outdoors enthusiasts with the tools they need to make active outdoor travel and backcountry experiences an everyday reality. Backpacker’s Editors’ Choice Awards, an industry honor recognizing design, feature and product innovation has become the gold standard against which all other outdoor-industry awards are measured. Published by Rodale Inc., Backpacker has a circulation of 340,000, is published 9 times a year, and last year was a recipient of a coveted National Magazine Award for editorial excellence. Backpacker’s companion web site, www.backpacker.com, is updated daily and features more than 30,000 hikes, a searchable and comprehensive database of outdoor gear with reviews (www.gearfinder.com), a special section for female hikers, and an all-new map and GPS center.