XO, from NEMO

Top 10 Ways to Survive NEMO with NEMO Equipment

Top 10 Ways to Survive NEMO with NEMO Equipment

1. Huskies make really great warm blankets.
2. NEMO Ditto Tote good for making igloo blocks, fill and dump to build your winter shelter while also feeling satisfied about using an up-cycled fabric construction device.
3. High pressure showers are amazing when you don’t have water – have you filled your Helio?
4. No heat, no water, no electricity…why NOT go camping!
5. Sledding, Tuo pad, ‘nuff said.
6. Grandma’s quilt has nothing on the Muse.
7. Hilarious phone calls from your Mom stating “Can you believe they named the storm NEMO, just like your company!”  (… guess you need to work here)
8. Snuggling in the back country or snuggling in your freezing cold house NEMO has you covered, Tango Duo.
9. Drinking whiskey in the dark by headlamp is way more enjoyable in a tent then in a house, trust us.
10. Dream about NEMO’s launch of their winter sleeping bag line, the Cannon series – coming soon…..

Working Name, Kicka$$ 1P

New tent for 2014. And no, we haven't set our color scheme to "circus" setting (yet). Fun color schemes are often an unexpected result from prototyping.

Any guess to the GDP of Red Bull, if it were a country?

At some point in the last 7 or so years, it became apparent that Red Bull has resources beyond most of our means. Which is really a polite way of saying that they have an operating budget that would undoubtedly put them in the top 10 list of countries listed by highest GDP.

Every industrial designer in the house can't help but to be utterly impressed by some of these prototyping capabilities.

Albedo and More: Designing for Intense UV

We just heard from the expedition team at Antarctic Logistics and Expeditions (ALE), who have been using NEMO's Isopod 300 at their Mt. Vinson Low Camp this year.

We're psyched to hear that the tent is being used as a cooking/dining/lounging area for clients and expeditions.

The tent has been up for 3 rotations on Vinson—about 3-4 weeks in total, seeing a fair amount of use. Want to know a little nugget of information? UV can be the single biggest factor in tent deterioration for Arctic expeditions. Even though the UV level is not as intense as in equatorial regions, factors like heightened ozone depletion, continuous 24 hrs of daylight, and a crazy high albedo from snow/ice reflectance all contribute to the extremely high UV index.

Expeditions like ALE's put up the tent for the duration of the trip (max of 90 days) —meaning that a typical season can see from 1000-2000 hours of exposure. If you don't take this bit of data in account for design, the fabrics will wear out and fall apart FAST. We designed the outer shell fabric for Isopod 300X with UV durability at the forefront.

The base fabric is a 150D polyester, since polyester has much more UV stability than nylon fibers. A Dyneema ripstop is then woven in to reinforce the fabric and give advanced UV protection. Dyneema is a super fiber of sorts, and exhibits almost no degradation with respects to UV exposure, water absorption, etc. UV inhibitors are also added to both the color dye, and the microporous breathable coating, giving a rock solid construction for environments like Antarctica. Proof is in the pudding though, so we look forward to hearing from the ALE team for many years to come.

Map out your tent map on the ground!

This is the technique we like to use to set up our aluminum poles too.

Snowy with a chance of knee-high sets