Good morning, Salt Lake City

I had a splendid drive down to Salt Lake… took the scenic route through Montana, and south through Yellowstone and the Tetons, Jackson, and then into Salt Lake via Logan Canyon. I’m here for the Outdoor Retailer show, so will be blogging as I’m able to in the evenings, and Tweeting throughout the day. I’ll also update this post tonight with some links to other friends / colleagues who are providing coverage during the show.

But, right now, I’m off! Have a great start to your week, and please — if you’re here at OR, let me know so that we can meet up!

Filed under: Gear, The Biz

Clearing the air: the dirt clean on my product reviews

shill (slang) n.: One who poses as a satisfied customer to dupe bystanders into participating in a swindle.

Last week I got together with some friends to tape a Confab show podcast over in Seattle. The confabbers that night were heavy on the new media folks, so during pre-show noshing, Richard asked if I’d be willing to talk about the details and ethics of my gear reviews during the podcast. I thought about it for a minute, and I don’t see any reason not to — I do this for fun, and ethical dilemmas aren’t fun, so if someone asks me a question about what I do here at rockclimbergirl.com, they’re going to get a full answer.

It turned out my contribution to that particular show was a “liberal elitism” ninja chop attempt and a discussion of how home-grown potatoes are totally worth the work, so we didn’t tread into my product review ethics. But, I did just finish a guest post for my friends at PembaServes and that got me thinking that it’s probably time for a little update here at my own blog, especially since I’m working on a spring Gear Guide, set to go live in mid-April.

First, the promise I make to you, dear reader, is that I am not, nor will I ever be, a shill.

Here at Rockclimbergirl.com, and on my Twitter feed I only review products that I use, and love. Sometimes those products are purchased by me, and once in awhile they’re provided by someone in the industry. When I review products that were provided to me for the purpose of a review, I’ll mention that — it doesn’t affect my review, but some readers might want to know, so I will mention it — but they’re usually products that but for being provided to me I would have bought myself.

Despite starting to build some really fun connections with real people at companies in the outdoor industry, this blog is still my totally beloved hobby. I do this because I love writing, climbing, gear, and the people I meet through my activities here and on other sites online.

It doesn’t matter how an item was obtained, if you read a product review here, it’s because I trusted my life to it and it performed and I decided the item was worth spending my free time writing up for you. Sometimes I feature “wish list” items, that I haven’t yet tried or used myself but that I’m lusting over — when an item falls into that category, the post content will be clear.

Second, while this time of year the blog is always a bit gear heavy because I’m doing my shopping for the season, this is a blog about rock climbing. Gear is a part of that, but not all of it. I trust that if you feel that I’m spending too much time talking about gear, and not enough time talking about climbing and my climbing life, you’ll speak up instead of unsubscribing from the RSS feed. Can I count on you for that, dear reader?

And third, you will, on occasion, see a brief mention of activities in the industry — for example, the link above to the guest post I wrote for PembaServes addressing questions I’m getting from folks in the biz. I hope that me engaging with the industry doesn’t make you see me differently. It’s no different than when someone asks me my advice on climbing shoes or for beta on a climbing area or route — when folks in the biz ask for my advice on a topic I’m interested in talking about or exploring, I’ll give it. I’ll try to do the long-winded part of that elsewhere, so that you don’t have to wade through it here at rockclimbergirl.com. But, I may make mentions here, just in case you’re interested in clicking through.

The questions I’m getting about my product review “ethics” are coming from outside the climbing community… but just in case any of you long-time readers or my newer industry folk readers have concerns or feedback, I wanted to clear the air.

Thank you for reading, commenting, complimenting and criticizing. I appreciate it all, and look forward to much more… now… for a post about climbing, up next…

Filed under: Gear, Shameless commercialism, The Biz

Pink biners, pink cams and pink ropes, oh my!

My friends over at Pemba Serves turned me on to this article abstract at SportsOneSource.com, about The Sporting Goods Problem with Female Consumers.”

I’ve only read the abstract available on the SportsOneSource site at that link above — there’s more in their March issue, according to the website.

Most of the story, even I can’t actually find fault with. Yes, sporting goods stores have a long way to go to really serve the needs of female athletes. Yes, men (and women, a point missed by the author) apply different criteria and a different approach to making technical purchases than casual purchases. I’m a walking, talking example of one of the points in the article — that “women spread positive experiences with brands and retailers to their … friends and social network” (I edited out “spouse” there, since not all of us have one of those).

“When women are passionate about a product or brand, they become strong brand advocates…With social networks and the speed of technology, they spread the word about what they like, directly influencing purchasing decisions with other women, but especially with the men in their lives.”

That’s from Dan Sullivan at New Balance. He’s right. Can’t argue there (though I’d say, some of us directly influence purchasing decisions with other women and men, period).

Here’s the part I take issue with.

“Five years ago we didn’t have a pink ball glove, pink bb guns or pink kayaks, but all that stuff is now part of our assortment…That’s where we’re going.”

That said, by Ken Meehan, Executive Vice President of merchandise at Dunham Sports.

Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy the occasional ironic “pink” purchase. I’ve about worn through my pink “I heart my rack” rockclimbergirl.com t-shirt. My ipod shuffle is pink, and I love it. Just yesterday, I picked up a pink ditty bag, but that was a function of price, not color.

I’m not anti-pink. I’d say, I’m pink-neutral.

But, I don’t own a single piece of pink technical gear. Full disclosure, I have pined for a pink Sterling Rope ever since climbing on a friend’s Sterling and falling in love with the rope’s hand, but that’s not because it’s pink. it’s because their ropes feel like buttah.

To hear an EVP say that “where they’re going” is “pink gear” makes me queasy. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt, and assume that by “pink” he really means “designed, from the ground up, based on research and real live hard work, with real female athletes’ input and testing, to meet the specific needs of women athletes.” That’s a lot to pack into a pithy quote, though, so when I read about “pink gear,” I’ll just assume that’s what’s meant. Since the alternative — that manufacturers and retailers think that what women want is mens’ gear painted pink with a flower on the label — just might trigger my ire.

The climbing industry seems to have a better handle on the Female Problem than the broader industry represented by this article… while there’s always room for improvement, many of our brands offer good-quality, designed-for-women products as an option for women or men who they might happen to fit better than the unisex versions. I’m thinking that’s why we haven’t seen pink climbing shoes for women so much… I know a lot of men with low-volume feet who find a better fit in womens shoes (and I happen to be a girl who finds a better fit in mens’). Were the climbing shoe manufacturers to paint their shoes pink, I think very few men would take a second look at them despite their potential fit.

I have yet to find a harness to replace my old BD that I really like (mens’ or womens’ models), but sometimes I do find a piece of womens’ gear that really does fit or work better for me. Adventure Medical Kits is on to something with a project that’s in the works… but you’ll have to sit tight for more news when it hits the prime time.

So, here’s a thank you from us athletic girls to the climbing gear companies who are devoting R&D to our small subsegment (women) of a subsegment (climbers) of a subsegment (adventure / “extreme sports”) of a segment (outdoor industry) of a market (sporting goods). By talking with and listening to female athletes and gear testers, the climbing industry seems ahead of the curve compared to other parts of the sporting goods industry. Please, keep up the good work. And now, if someone could just make a freaking harness to fit my freak of nature self…….

Filed under: Gear, The Biz