Many of us at Adventure® Medical Kits just got back from another busy but greatOutdoor Retailer Summer Market — the trade show for leading outdoor manufacturers and retailers, which takes place the first week of August in Salt Lake City, UT. Prior to and during the show, AMK was recognized by OR’s organizers as one of its ’40+ Legacy Partners’. The initiative, which included special call-outs on OR’s website and signage on the convention floor, honored AMK as one of only 54 companies that has exhibited at Outdoor Retailer for at least 40 shows. Below is a summary of other highlights that occurred during OR:
SOL ORIGIN & CORE LITE MANIA!
Buyers and media alike couldn’t get enough of the company’s first ever line of Essential Tools, the SOL Origin and Core Lite. The Origin was prominently featured on the local Salt Lake ABC affiliate and Park City Television, among a plethora of other media outlets. Representing AMK’s first entry into hard goods, the Origin and Core Lite — which will also be the first products to be released under the newly minted SOL brand — offer a multitude of survival components that will save your bacon, if you’re lost, hurt or stranded in the outdoors. Among other items, both the Origin and the Core Lite come with a fully featured knife — a folding AUS-8 locking blade with easy-grip handle that includes a built-in LED light and single-frequency, pea-less whistle. Both products will hit store shelves later this year — just in time for the holiday rush!
AMK ATHLETES IN THE BOOTH
Plenty of AMK’s athletes and other industry notables stopped by the booth, including International Mountain Guides‘ partners Eric Simonson and George Dunn. George recently became the first person to ever summit Mt. Rainier 500 times. An amazing milestone. Congratulations George! Only 500 more till you reach 1000, right? Women’s World Mountain Bike Champ Rebecca Rusch also hung out in the booth. Rebecca was preparing to compete in the Leadville 100, which is coming up this weekend. Rebecca won the event in ’09 and is gunning for the two-pete this year. Best of luck, Rebecca!
Rebecca Rusch hanging out in the AMK booth
Throughout the show, AMK was also helping to raise money for Epicocity’s Elephant Ivory Project, which aims to end the practice of elephant poaching in Africa. National Geographic Channel’s Young Explorer grant winner Trip Jennings and the Epicocity Crew are currently raising funds for a forensic biology expedition to the remote jungle of the Democratic Republic of Congo this fall, with the goal of saving wild elephants from the illegal ivory trade. You can help the cause directly, by donating money to the project here.
During the OR show, AMK also donated DEET-free Natrapel® 8 hour insect repellent and Ultralight/Watertight medical kits to the Four Corners School of Outdoor Education(FCS), a Monticello, Utah-based non-profit organization that provides outdoor education on and about the Colorado Plateau located in parts of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. According to executive director and founder Janet Ross, the Natrapel® 8 hour was sure to be an indispensable item for the trip the FCS was organizing for a group of outdoor industry leaders to the Canyonlands and Arches National Park, following the conclusion of OR. To learn more about the great work the FCS does, go here.
It’s hard to believe it already came and went, but it was another amazing Summer OR show for Adventure® Medical Kits. Now the real work begins, getting the new products onto retailers’ shelves – oh yeah, and preparing for Winter OR 2011. It’s, like, only six months away!
Backpacker recently honored Adventure Medical Kits by selecting three of our products for inclusion in the magazine’s influential Gear Guide issue.BP”s editorial staff chose AMK’s Day Tripper kit (first aid kit), Blister Medic (blister treatment) and the Heatsheets Emergency Bivvy (lightweight bivvy) for the Guide’s “Essentials” category. Here’s what Backpacker said about each product:
Heatsheets Emergency Bivvy
“It packs down to the size of a kiwi fruit and weighs less than four ounces, but this lifesaver reflects 90% of your body heat.”
Day Tripper
“Includes everything you need for trips up to a weekend. Bandages, blister treatments, anti-inflammatories and sting aids are organized by purpose, so you can find stuff fast.”
Blister Medic
“Includes everything for preventing and treating blisters.”
Backpacker‘s Gear Guide (April 2010) will be hitting news stands shortly. Be sure pick up a copy.
Adventure Medical Kits’ co-founder Frank Meyer spoke recently with outdoor radio show Backcountry Utah about the benefits of using powerful DEET-free insect repellent Natrapel 8 hour. Clickhere to listen to the interview.
Natrapel 8 hour contains CDC-recommended active ingredient Picaridin
Along with providing protection from insect bites and stings that is equal to or greater than that of DEET, Natrapel 8 hour’s formula — containing 20% of the active ingredient Picaridin — is also gear safe, meaning it won’t melt your fishing line, sunglasses, camera lens or other pricey plastic or synthetic materials like DEET can.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommends people use Picaridin-based repellents to help ward off ticks (which are responsible for the spread of Lyme Disease) and mosquitoes (which are responsible for the spread of West Nile Virus, Dengue Fever, Malaria and other serious illnesses).
We’ve always thought the Travel Medic was the perfect stocking stuffer, but you needn’t take our word for it. Outdoor gear columnist Stephen Regenold (A.K.A. The Gear Junkie) recently included the TM in his Last Minute Holiday Gift Guide:
“Made for one person traveling to Mexico, the Caribbean or Europe, the Travel Medic is a grab-and-go envelope with most all the meds and wound-care items you might need on a getaway.”
The arts, culture & news weekly San Francisco Bay Guardian has named Adventure Medical Kits’ Women’s Edition Outdoor Kittops in its ‘Best of the Bay’ issue. The annual feature, in which the paper’s senior editors highlight the most prominent people, places and things in the Bay area, singled out AMK’s Women’s Edition Outdoor kit in the ‘Sports & Outdoors’ category for its high quality components, superior organization and tasetful, decidely non-girly design. Wrote the editors:
AMK’s women’s edition outdoor medical kit comes jam-packed with all the fixings adventurous boys get — wound care materials, mini tweezers, insect-bite salve, a variety of medications, and a first-aid booklet — plus a couple things only ladies need, like tampons, leak-safe tampon bags, menstrual relief meds, and compact expands-in-water disposable towels. And it’s all packaged in a sporty blue nylon bag that weighs less than a pound. No lipstick? No diet pills? No frilly, lacy case made to look like a purse or a bra or a tiny dog? We’re buying it.
The SF Bay Guardian held a gala event to celebrate its 2009 ‘Best of the Bay’ winners at swanky San Francisco night club Mezzanine. Joe Sementilli (AMK’s National Sales Manager), Sarah Tantilo (AMK’s Sales Co-ordinator) and Chris Gubera (AMK’s President) selflessly gave up their free time to represent whilst sampling some nosh and suds along the way. Click here to read the SFBG’s full write up on the Women’s Edition Outdoor Kit.
“Two years ago, amidst a hailstorm in the middle of the night, I hunkered down and pulled out my space blanket, only to be showered with little metallic shardes that had once been part of the useless clear sheet I held in my hand. Needless to say, that was a miserable night!
Since then, I have been an avid user of the Thermolite 2.0 Bivvy and Emergency Bivvy from Adventure Medical Kits. Whether I’m competing in expedition-length adventure races like Primal Quest or the Adventure Racing World Championship or just out for some training or backpacking, these items are crucial in my gear kit.
Combine one of these bivvies with your choice medical kit from AMK, and you’re good to go. I slept in a single Thermolite 2.0 Bivvy every night at Primal Quest Montana, and the warm sleep provided was paramount in pacing our team to a podium finish.
I highly recommend these products to anyone looking for a high quality emergency or planned-sleep option–and to all of us who have experienced the disheartening shower of metallic shards at 2:00 a.m.!
Travis Macy
Professional Multisport Athlete, Team Salomon/Crested Butte
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And we ain‘t talking about credit cards. … We found the perfect take-along items for those sojourns you will be taking this week and next. Trust us: Spend the few bucks on these items, and your trip will go smoothly and safely. Read more…
