A Corporate Outing, Outdoors

Twice each year the outdoor industry descends en masse on Salt Lake City. Manufacturers of hiking and backpacking equipment, paddle sports and climbing gear, footwear and outdoor apparel, fitness and rescue products, more than 12,000 of them, exhibit their products to wholesale buyers representing thousands of retail stores from throughout the world. These are the semi-annual Outdoor Retailer Markets held each August and January at the Salt Palace Convention Center. One of the many reasons that this trade association has selected Utah to stage its markets is that the surrounding mountains, rivers, canyons and trails are outstanding venues to test and display outdoor products to attending retailers. One of the better-known exhibitors is Thule Car Rack Systems.

Thule, an international company with over 2000 employees, is the world’s leading manufacturer of load carriers for cars; rooftop boxes, roof rails, bike carriers and trailers. The Thule USA division, based in Seymour, Connecticut, brings its innovative products to the Outdoor Retailer Summer Market with a large contingent of sales and marketing staff, along with their top executives. Thule USA, headed by its President, Fred Clark, employs 350 and accounts for 24% of the corporate sales. At the OR Market, Thule personnel and sales reps present their products to hundreds of customers over the five-day run of the show, beginning with a Demo Day at Little Dell Lake a short distance up Parley’s Canyon in the Wasatch Mountains east of Salt Lake City. Here, retailers can test gear in the venues where it will be used, the great outdoors. Canoeing, mountain biking, trail running, kayaking and, of course, how to transport all that gear. Which is where Thule comes in.

Have you ever tried to hoist a bulky kayak on the top of your SUV at the end of a hard day of paddling? By yourself? Probably dog tired and wet? Wishing someone would invent a one-person-operated-kayak-carrier? Thule to the rescue! At the 2004 Outdoor Retailer Summer Market Demo Day, Thule introduced just that. A uniquely engineered carrier that swings down off the rooftop to load, then easily swings up top and secures fast. One person loading, easy, quick and safe. If you’re an avid paddling guy, get one for yourself and one for the kayaking lady in your life.

At day’s end at Little Dell, and the testing’s done, there’s a Happy Hour and barbeque, sponsored by none other than the guys at Thule. Then it’s off to the Salt Palace for four days of solid presentations and sales appointments. These guys work hard!

But they know how to play hard, too!  Fred Clark and TJ Hanson, Thule’s VP of Marketing, have a welcome surprise for the group at the end of the show. A two day outing to one of Utah’s many outdoor playgrounds, Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area in the state’s northeast corner.

Fifteen Thulies, all fired up to burn off some energy after being confined to the Salt Palace for the last four days, pile into minivans for the three-hour, semi-boring drive east on I-70 to Flaming Gorge. Once off the Interstate, though, the landscape changes dramatically. The road winds up and up through red rock cliffs and lush pine forests to the plateau overlooking shimmering Flaming Gorge Lake a thousand feet below. After check-in at the rustic Flaming Gorge Lodge, the group joins up with the staff of Outdoor Utah to sample locally brewed, award-winning beers (yes, there are micro breweries in Utah. Believe it!). Over dinner in the Lodge, the group learns of tomorrow’s agenda, running the Green River Split Mountain through Dinosaur National Monument, a classic Utah one-day whitewater adventure.

Dawn breaks over the Gorge. Sunrise here is no less spectacular than sunset, the emerging rays illuminating the multi-hues of the cliffs and reflecting off the water below. After breakfast, back in the vans again to head to Vernal to meet up with our guides for Split Mountain, Hatch River Expeditions. This family run company equates to Utah river running history. Founded by one of the pioneers of the sport, Bus Hatch is a river rat legend.

The boats, PFD’s, beer and gear are ready for us, and the Thulies can’t wait. Several of them have never experienced a whitewater run, and the adrenalin is obviously pumping! For maximum excitement we ask for inflatable kayaks (I.K.’s) and the guides load several on the trailer. We board the Hatch people-mover and head for the put-in. On the way, we stop for a short hike to view an outstanding ancient Fremont petroglyph panel.

Finally we launch, and soon the water picks up as we head into the Canyon of Split Mountain. The Thule guys, athletes all, pick up paddling techniques fast. They really take to the fun of the I.K.’s, rockin’ and rollin’ through the rapids — Moonshine, S.O.B., Schoolboy and Inglesby. The patriarch, Bus Hatch, named these, and most of the others in this run, and each has a story behind the name. After a hearty shore lunch, it’s back on the river for more of the same. Alas, all good things must end, and around the bend we spot the take-out. We de-rig the boats, load the trailer, back on the bus, back to the vans, back to the lodge, back to beers, dinner, wine, and experiences of the day told and re-told, some even true. A memorable day, and tomorrow’s another.

The Green River below Flaming Gorge Dam is, arguably, one of the country’s finest trout streams. Flyfishers worldwide ply the waters in search of the wily, finicky Rainbow, Cutthroat and native Brown. The Green’s water is so clear that it appears as if the trout are suspended in air. This illusion makes the fish easy to locate, but by no means easy to catch. Yet the selective and wary trout, presenting a challenge to both predator and prey, share this quality of obser-vation. The Thulies are up for the challenge.

Two Utah outdoor adventures. A great way to wind down from the hectic Outdoor Retailer Show. This summer, Thule joins up with Outdoor Utah again, this time in the slot canyons of Zion.