The Outdoor Media Alliance show hosts gear journalists twice annually in a converted warehouse in Denver, where we hear about upcoming products from dozens of top-shelf brands. After two days at OMA, I curated a list of six new products that got me excited for the upcoming camping, trail running, and skiing seasons.
Helinox String Trees Game
Any time I camp with kids, my first directive on arrival is to tell them to bugger off and go explore. I don’t worry if they’re gone for hours and don’t care what they do as long no one comes back bleeding. However, at some point their games of tag in the forest wear off and they start complaining about boredom. The next time that happens I’m breaking out this game, which I know will entertain for hours.
String Trees is loosely based on shuffleboard and consists of a rope that you string horizontally between two trees, pillars on a shade structure, or the like, and a series of rings that can be slid across the rope. Both players stand at one side of the rope and take turns trying to shove one ring at a time down the rope so that it lands in one of several color-coded sections that represent various points. The farthest section of color equals the highest number of points. But because players alternate shoving rings from the same side, they can push each other’s rings past the color-coded sections into the black, which erases previous points. The person with the highest number of points wins.
La Sportiva Prodigio Pro Running Shoes
$195 at La Sportiva $195 at Backcountry
I’ve skied in La Sportiva boots and spent many miles on the trail in their hikers but had never once run in their shoes because they were so darn stiff. The company designed shoes for mountain runners who wanted burly soles and tons of stability, but I grew up in the Hoka generation and wanted a little more squish. Then I got my hands on the Prodigio Pro at the OMA show and became a La Sportiva running shoe convert.
Thanks to a much more forgiving midsole, these shoes ate up chunk on trails, padded my feet when I came screaming down steep sections, and delivered lots of bounce-back when I was striding out on the flats. Like all Sportiva shoes, the last is fairly narrow, and the clever, reinforced mesh upper completely swallowed my foot for a conforming and protective fit with zero movement. I loved the knit collar around my ankle that kept all debris out, and chunky lugs gripped at all times, even in loose kitty litter that sometimes leaves me on my ass.
For more details on the Prodigo Pro read this review from our RUN editors.
Pelican AVP-D ModPak AV Double Pouch
Sometimes I want to bring a mirrorless camera on my trip but don’t want to carry around a camera bag. I don’t, however, want my camera and lenses just floating around in a regular pack with no protection. Now I can get that protection without the bulk thanks to this Pelican pouch, which is just big enough to hold a mirrorless camera and two lenses.
The protection comes from a smart internal design that keeps everything snuggly in place, combined with a rigid EVA and Cordura outer that prevents pricey gear from getting smashed. A giant zipper opens the entire front of the pouch for easy access, and molly straps on the back let you attach the pouch to your backpack, as long as it’s equipped with a molly system.
Nite Ize CamJam SlideLock Rope Tightener
At this point in history, you’d think we would have thought of every possible clever way to tie something down. But no, the nerdy and very smart engineers over at Nite Ize are still putting in long hours and finding new ways to help us secure whatever it is we need to stay in place. One of their newest inventions is the SlideLock.
Up top, the SlideLock is a carabiner, but at the bottom there’s a device that you can feed a medium-size rope through. You then keep pulling the rope until you’ve adjusted it to whatever length you want, at which point teeth in the device bite onto the rope to keep it from slipping back out. The uses are endless, but I plan on using mine to help me string up camping tarps (the carabiner will go through the tarp holes and the rope around a tree) or help me tie down junk in the back of my truck.
Deuter Freerider Pro 32 +10 Backcountry Pack
[Available Fall 2025]
Backcountry ski packs have always presented a goldilocks gear problem. You need several types because you don’t want a huge pack on single-day adventures, but smaller packs aren’t big enough for weekend hut trips. Deuter aims to solve that conundrum with the Freerider Pro, which holds 32 liters when packed down but grows to 42 liters if you expand the roll-top closure. Some people will say that 32 liters might be too big for one-day trips but I think it’s actually perfect because there’s enough room for extra gloves, a puffy jacket, or extra food. And while 42 liters isn’t enough for a week-long hut trip, it will store enough gear to get you through a couple days out in the woods.
As you would expect, the bag carries both snowboards and skis in multiple configurations. It comes with a dedicated avalanche gear pocket, and a hefty waist belt helps deal with the heft when it’s loaded down. You can access your gear through the top, but there’s also a zipper around the backpad that flays open the entire bag for easy access to everything inside.
Fjallraven Bergtagen Mountain Cap
[Available Fall 2025]
Every brimmed hat with ear flaps I’ve ever come across was made exclusively for winter wear, with both the hat and the flaps insulated, making them way too hot for spring or summer. Thanks to some out-of-the-box thinking, however, Fjallraven has now created an all-season hat with ear flaps that I can’t wait to test. I’m calling it “all season” because the hat itself is made from a polyester/wool/cotton blend that breathes well enough for use during high-output activities throughout the year, and the ear flap is made from a light wool/polyester blend that will cut the chill when backcountry skiing but not make me overheat if I want to use the flap for sun protection in the summer. The ear flap is also thin enough that it nearly disappears when tucked into the hat, adding to the cap’s all-season prowess.
The post Six Pieces of New Outdoor Gear I’m Most Excited About Trying appeared first on Outside Online.
