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What's cool in next year's winter gear? I'm in Salt Lake City with Backpack Gear Test to find out. This week on The WildeBeat; Winter OR two thousand eight.

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News from the Wildebeat, the audio journal about getting into the wilderness.

This is program number number one twenty three, made possible by your support and membership donations.

I'm Steve Sergeant.

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STEVE: The people around me are attending the Outdoor Retailer Winter Market of two thousand eight. The major and lesser known manufacturers of outdoor recreation equipment come here to sell their wares to the various retail merchants, large and small. Along with them, a lot of us journalists walk the aisles to learn about the new products. Testers from BackpackGearTest dot ORG are also here, to look for the new products they want to test in the coming year.

STEVE: I'm here with Jason Boyle. He's the director of test scheduling at Backpack Gear Test dot ORG. Jason, you said you've seen a few products that you're eager to hand out to your volunteer testers.

JASON BOYLE: Yes. One of the things I've seen... [3:19] ...or kind of alpine skiing with it.

STEVE: Christopher Nicolai is a volunteer tester for Backpack Gear test dot ORG. Christopher, what have you seen that you're just eager to get your hands on to test?

CHRISTORPHER NICOLAI: Well the whole show so far... [3:01] ...new features in an already good product.

STEVE: In both of your reports, I seem to be hearing an over-all trend toward sustainability.

JASON BOYLE: Right. I think the outdoor industry... [1:02] ...when the summer market rolls around, it'll be crazy again.

STEVE: My thanks to Jason Boyle, Christopher Nicolai, and the editors at Backpack Gear Test, for making this edition possible. Please remember that these opinions are those of the individual contributors, and don't necessarily reflect those of Backpack Gear Test, or of The WildeBeat. Backpack Gear Test is looking for qualified testers. To get qualified, you start out by writing reviews of gear you already own. After that, you could be offered free gear to review. Active testers can even be invited to scout new products at the O-R show. Find out more at our web site.

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STEVE: Two years ago, when I interviewed Jerry Goller, the founder of Backpack Gear Test, he had this to say about his testing program.

JERRY GOLLER: Everybody assumes that our biggest problem is getting gear to test. Actually, that's ther easy part. Manufacturers throw way more gear at us than we could ever, ever get tested. We desparately need qualified testers. So if you'd like to test gear, if you would like to give back to the community, if you would like to help others with their gear selections, if you would like to influence the gear that's going to be coming out in the next two to three years, you should come on board. We need you!

STEVE: Jerry wanted me to remind you that this is still true today.

STEVE: We'd like to hear your comments or questions about the gear mentioned on this show, or about anything else we do on the Wildebeat. You can call our toll free comment line at 866-590-7373, or e-mail us at comments at WildeBeat dot net. You can download an extended version of this show, on our web site.

STEVE: This edition was produced with funds provided by our WildeBeat members. For the next few weeks, WildeBeat members can get deep discounts on outdoor gear. Also, new members can get up to five books by Wilderness Press. Our way of saying thanks for your support.

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Our official website is WWW dot WILDEBEAT (that's W-I-L-D-E-B-E-A-T) dot NET. If we helped you get into the wilderness, could you help us do the same for others? Just click on our support link and become a member. The WildeBeat is produced by Steve Sergeant, with help from Jean Higham, as a nonprofit educational project of Earth Island Insitute.

This has been The WildeBeat, program number one twenty three. Thank you for listening.

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