2010 Sneak Peeks: Espri 2P

We've been excited to finally show folks some of our 2010 products. Espri 2P is one of the new tents in our ultralight backpacking series that will weigh around 3.5 lbs (there's a 3 person version as well). Mike Daniel (Lion King) has been carrying around an earlier version of this tent on the AT this year.


-Suzanne

Lion King update on the AT

We've been following updates from Mike Daniel, aka Lion King, on his AT thu-hike this year. Suzanne and I met up with him previously in Damascus, VA at Trail Days, where we caught the premiere of his new film. Mike's been testing out a new NEMO tent for 2010 called Espri 2P, and is the man to talk to if you've ever contemplated flying a tent like a kite. Here's his latest update:

So here we are. New York State. Rain is falling, rocks are obvious and the bugs are biting. One thing though, the heat and humidity have been at all time lows this year, and for that I am grateful. Usually in PA/NJ/NY it is miserable with the heat this time of year. We have been out over 3 months and it is going by so fast. Really. I mean when you set out to hike, and you think, “6 months….that’s a lot of time.”, well, no, really it isn’t. Then you realize you still have about 800 miles to go and fall will be moving in fast, so even though Vermont/NH/ME are tougher and day light disappears quickly, I am still glad to be here moving along.

I have enjoyed my NEMO tent too. It has a rep all it’s own out here after taking flight on Max Patch early on in the trip. People dig the rain fly color as well, plus, the netting is so great you feel like you are cowboy camping even when you have the net up. Good tent and I am glad I get the chance to be the first person to use it on a long distance hike. Today, we plan on leaving the Mayors (Unionville NY) house and hiking over to Peekskill at the minimum. Flash flood warnings are in effect today, so that may throw a monkey in the wrench, but still…gotta’ walk ya’ know?

I look forward to Fall, the coming color changes, the cooling of weather, the big beauty of New England and the friendships I have made that will continue to grow.

It’s all about the walking, really. It's magic.

-Lion King

Natural Water Slides (Summer is here)

After more than 6 weeks of rainy weather, summer has finally arrived in New England. I thought it might be an opportune time to point out some of New England's natural water parks , as described by everyone's favorite Gear Junkie, Steven Regenold.

-Connie

Dear & Yonder, coming to Hampton

The NEMO team is back in the office after a couple crazy weeks of travel and shows. We're planning to give some updates on new 2010 products later this week (as previously promised), but wanted to first let folks know about the surf flick Dear & Yonder that's making it's way around the US right now.



We're always excited to see new surf films, especially one that focuses on the women who are doing (and have done) incredible things in and out of the waves. The cast spans women's surfing icons Rell Sunn, Lisa Anderson, Linda Benson to current day rippers Liz Clark and Belinda Baggs.


For New Englanders, the closest showing is this Tuesday in Hampton.

Hampton Beach, NH
Ashworth by the Sea in the Sandbar
295 Ocean Blvd
Tuesday, July 28th at 8:30 pm
Details: Join Roxy team surfer Kassia Meador for this free outdoor movie premiere and Roxy giveaways

-Connie

Scott Press Camp

Bill and I just got back from a cool event – Scott USA’s Press Camp. “What’s a press camp,” you ask? Riding next years’ bikes, hanging out with editors from the bike mags, camping, eating some great grub and drinking beers around the campfire. That’s right; it’s pretty much all fun. But before you get too jealous, know that we set up 25 tents and braved a lot of rain in order to get ready for this shindig.


We arrived in Sun Valley on day 24 of rain. Day 25 wasn’t much different. We took the time to drive around to various trailheads and campsites in the hopes of finding one that wasn’t washed out. By early evening we had settled on what ended up being a terrific choice; Corral Creek.

The following day magically turned sunny and warm – perfect for a ride. While the lucky crew over at Scott USA, along with the 12 editors jumped on their 2010 Genius’, Bill and I headed out to the campsite with the staff from Western Spirit to set up camp. On our way to camp we had a run in with a little local wildlife and got a few great shots of a beautiful adult fox.


Twenty five tents later, complete with Pawprints, Footprints, and extra goodies, we were done and enjoying the long hours of a Western summer day. Missing the ride, we hiked around the canyon and grabbed a few photos of Gogo LE and the beautiful Idaho scenery.


That night at camp, the staff from Camp Chef styled us out with pork loin, smoked tri-tips, potato salad, brownies and cake, baked right on site. The backcountry cooking set up these boys had was unreal. That night around the campfire, stories of the day’s ride were shared, along with beers from Big Sky Brewing and tequila that our friend Adrian from Scott had been saving for 4 years. And I gotta say, it aged well.


A chilly night brought a heavy frost to all of the tents. But waking up to sunshine helped thaw us out quickly. With a good cup of Joe in hand and some tasty breakfast burritos, and, like I mentioned before, tasty cinnamon rolls in our bellies, we were ready to seize another day on the great Sun Valley trails.

Sun Valley is renowned for its mountain biking and if you’ve never been, put it on your list. Many miles of buffed out trails with amazing vistas with a cool town to support it, make this area one not to miss.

Heading to OR this weekend – we’ll keep you posted of the cool new products we encounter.

~Kate

Moonlight Chronicles

NEMO's good friend Dan Price is the creator/author/illustrator of Moonlight Chronicles, an illustrated journal he publishes in series (he's up to issue #71). The issues are full of fun and inspiring stories of Dan living the simple life.



We met Dan a couple years ago at the Outdoor Retailer show in Salt Lake City. A couple months later, we were pysched to see that Dan was roadtripping out East in his hobo van, and had time to visit NEMO headquarters. Check out his shoutout to us in issue #61.


-Connie

Scraps of Scraps

As a continuation of the Ditto stories we've previously posted (the Ditto Backpack , repurposed design , and the Ditto Tote), here's another look inside the process as well as a sneak peak at something new.

The big story is that we have been looking at repurposing our old samples, manufacturing seconds, and outdated raw goods as a single step of a greater movement to make sure we are being as conscious of our environment as possible. The closer look shows that even when we make cool new bags and packs out of old tents, we still have waste that makes it to the landfill...as small as it might be, and as hard as we try not to. We use a computer and hand calculations to optimize the layout of pattern pieces on the old tent panels, but there ends up being odd shaped spaces that are too small to fit another piece.

I've been collecting these scraps and we are now starting to produce and even smaller product, the Ditto Wallet. Here's the sneak peak since we won't have enough to sell until 2010:






-Suzanne

Single Wall Airbeam Update

We've been getting several calls and emails recently about the status of single wall airbeams. NEMO started development of single wall airbeams to compliment our existing airbeams by providing an ultralight and compact alternative. These new beams will not replace our existing technology but will offer another option for specific applications.

Last fall, after much development work into the fabric construction and welding process of single wall airbeams, we made production samples for testing. We had high hopes of bringing this generation of development to market. But, during testing in a thermal chamber in a lab at MIT, we found that high temperatures (140-160F) caused the weld strength to decrease significantly. While it's extremely rare that the air temperature would ever reach those levels, it's not unusual for temperatures to be that high inside a tent in direct sunlight on a hot day as a result of absorption of thermal/radiant energy (think glovebox or trunk of your car on a hot day). In the end, we just weren't comfortable releasing a product that we weren't 100% confident in, and decided to do more development work to get it right. In fact, we basically started over from the very beginning to make sure we're on the best possible path.


Since then, the team of designers and engineers at NEMO has been steadfastly working on new single wall airbeam constructions that will better withstand extreme heat. We know some of you are really anticipating this new technology from us, and after being teased with the possibility of seeing it this season, you're anxious for us to make good on our promise. We're impatient too and we're sorry to make you wait. But we also know you expect us to deliver a top quality product that you can depend on under any circumstance. So it might be a little while yet before we're ready to debut single wall airbeams, but we're working hard on this project and we'll post an update again down the road a bit.

-Connie