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Sneak Peek of the Week

Outside Festival, Outside Summit nearly double attendance in year two

If the goal is South by Southwest for the outdoors, the Outside Summit and Outside Festival last week in Denver is a solid step in that direction.

Attendance at the four-day event — two days of an outdoor industry gathering and two days of a festival in Denver’s Civic Center park — drew 35,000 attendees, nearly doubling the event’s debut attendance last year.

A two-day Outside Summit — with speakers and panels for 950 outdoor industry business leaders, policy makers and athletes — preceded the two-day festival. In the days around the four-day gathering, the Adventure Travel Trade Association held its annual meeting, the seventh annual Elevate Conservation gala gathered 20 outdoor advocacy groups, national and local politicians held meetings, Trout Unlimited held its annual Troutfest at Coors Field and there was a speed climbing competition on 16th Street.

In its second year, the Outside Festival — sponsored by the media-shifting Outside Inc. in and Visit Denver — has grown into a weeklong outdoor industry affair, drawing satellite confabs taking advantage of the larger rally.

And the festival in Civic Center park swelled to near maximum capacity on Saturday and Sunday, with companies and speakers filling the moments between music. Attendees sprinted to line up and hear climbing legend Alex Honnold speak. Swimming icon Diana Nyad hosted a walk that drew hundreds. Snowboarding mountaineer Jeremy Jones drew crowds with his adventure talks. Mountain biking superstar Rebecca Rusch showed folks how to quickly change a bike tire. Major musical acts like Khruangbin and Lord Huron anchored a decidedly festival vibe, with busy vendor booths and flowing beer and food.

“We’ve tapped into something far bigger than a festival,” said Robin Thurston, the entrepreneur who has corralled dozens of outdoor magazines and companies under the Outside banner. “This is becoming a movement.”

When the Outdoor Retailer trade show pulled out of Denver and returned to Salt Lake City in 2022, �ʹڲ�����ַ’s outdoor industry wondered if it was losing its perch as a national hub for the surging outdoor recreation economy. Outdoor businesses pined for an event that blended business dealings with something consumer-facing. The call from �ʹڲ�����ַ was to create a South by Southwest for the outdoors, an event that included business, networking, education, films, speakers and, of course, a massive party. The South by Southwest conference in Austin has done just that, growing into a global weeklong event that draws more than a half-million attendees who pretty much take over the Texas city.

Thurston sees future iterations of the Outside Festival following that SXSW path with multiple locations across the city.

“It’s clear that people need this type of interactions, these in-person moments, whether it’s the industry or consumers and that’s what we are excited about creating,” Thurston said. “These Outside days are emerging as the South by Southwest of the outdoors, a multi-day, multi-season experiential platform that anchors a new era of connection, innovation and culture.”

Click over to The Sun on Friday to read this story

In Their Words

A quick question for state OREC bosses: What if you were the biggest boss?

The surging outdoor recreation industry expects this year to sign up its 25th state office of outdoor recreation, a movement that began with Utah in 2013 and �ʹڲ�����ַ in 2015.

Armed with state offices and federal statistics showing outdoor recreation stirring a $1.2 trillion impact on the nation’s economy — bigger than oil and gas — the industry has spent the past couple years pushing to establish a federal office for outdoor recreation. That office would help formalize the industry’s emergence as an economic and cultural heavyweight.

“We have all been part of a movement,” said �ʹڲ�����ַ’s outdoor recreation boss Conor Hall at a gathering of state outdoor recreation directors at the Outside Summit in Denver last week. “We are bigger than major industries with tremendous influence and power, but we haven’t played in that way and we haven’t had the voice because we haven’t been organized in the right way. We need to be working together. This really is not political work.”

But a federal director of outdoor recreation would be a politician and have to navigate a roiling political environment that poses risks to conservation, access to public lands and the economic vibrancy of outdoor businesses. So �ʹڲ�����ַ asked those directors to role play for a minute.

Sun: Congratulations, you’ve just been tapped as the first-ever federal director of outdoor recreation. You are a cabinet member in the Trump administration and you have less than a minute to make your pitch at your first cabinet meeting. What do you say?

Luis Benitez, the first director of the �ʹڲ�����ַ Outdoor Recreation Industry Office and the current head of public affairs for Lululemon

“Our constellation represents a $1.2 trillion economy responsible for 5 million American jobs. We will easily equate to any other industry around this table and you need to understand when we are talking about the protection, promotion and preservation of our natural resources, we are talking about the protection of that economy.”

Jason Curry, the director of the Utah Division of Outdoor Recreation

“Think about the person in your life who has expressed things about anxiety, or depression or heart disease or type 2 diabetes and realize that, yes, the economic impact of outdoor recreation is massive and huge and it’s the driving factor but in reality it is those health issues that are the higher price we pay if we compromise outdoor recreation access.”

Conor Hall, director of the �ʹڲ�����ַ Outdoor Recreation Industry Office

“This is one of the few things that all Americans pretty much all agree on. We have the polling data to prove that. We want access to the outdoors and we want these places protected and this is integral to all of our livelihoods and to our health. This is not a partisan thing. It is one of the largest economic drivers in this country. It’s something we all rely on and it benefits every American.”

Karina Armijo, executive director of the New Mexico Outdoor Recreation Division

“Investing in outdoor recreation is investing in economic development. It’s investing in our communities, in our youth, in our workforce and in our health. If you are really into MAHA and Making America Healthy Again, here are showing that if we invest in outdoor places and getting more people outside, that will be a win for all Americans and lower our health care costs.”

Jessica Turner Wahl, president of the Outdoor Recreation Roundtable, which represents 110,000 outdoor businesses

“I’d say all these tariffs we have, let’s take that increase and put in a fund for outdoor recreation. So redirect all outdoor tariffs back into supporting the industry. Really I would take the tariffs off the table but if we must have them, not at 145% that’s terrible, but, at, say, 10%, let’s redirect those funds back into the outdoor recreation business community and the community can decide where that money goes.”

Brad Garmon, director of the Michigan Office of Outdoor Recreation Industry

“I’ve got an industry that is more authentic and impactful and American than anything else. If we build on the outdoor recreation economy we can create something nationally that no other country can do because this is the home of the people who built, created and designed the opportunities that made America’s outdoor industry so great. It is the future. And we should build it big in Michigan.”

Nathan Reigner, Pennsylvania’s first director of outdoor recreation

“Stop thinking about outdoor recreation as a good time. Start thinking about it as an industry and a strategic tool for economic development. It is not something that costs us money. It’s not something that we should only get to when we have free time. Outdoor recreation is something that generates money for us and it’s something we need to pay attention to as a critical part of our economic infrastructure just like broadband, highways, schools, hospitals and public safety.”

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The Outsider has a podcast! Veteran reporter Jason Blevins covers the industry from the inside out, plus indulges in the fun side of being outdoors in our beautiful state.

Subscribe on , or wherever you listen to podcasts.

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Breaking Trail

�ʹڲ�����ַ outdoor companies limping through uncertainty in trade war

Travis Campbell bought a soon-to-be-shuttered from VF Corp and moved the travel gear brand to his hometown of Steamboat Springs in 2021, joining nearly two dozen other outdoor companies in the city renowned for outdoor innovators. The former head of Smartwool and VF Corp. executive said Eagle Creek “is the kind of small business that America should be proud of.”

“But with these tariffs,” he told U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper at a in Denver last week, “it feels like our country is systematically working against businesses like ours.”

Right now Campbell has $1.8 million in Eagle Creek gear — burly packs, luggage, duffels built in Indonesia — that is about to be shipped to the U.S. When Campbell ordered that gear — which retailers have already signed up to put on their shelves — he was set to pay about $226,000 in tariffs. Under the most recent tariff plan proposed by the Trump administration, that duty would increase by $580,000.

“This is the kind of shock that is simply unsustainable for us,” Campbell said. “In our 50th year of operations, we could be put out of business by our country’s ill-planned trade policies.”

Campbell told the senator that the pause on tariffs gives him some breathing room but he’s preparing for losses and slashing spending and projections as the on-off tariffs destroy a nearly two-year planning process of designing, selling, ordering, manufacturing, shipping and distributing Eagle Creek gear.

“Today I have no idea where the tariffs are and a small business owner to not know where those tariffs inputs are is terrifying,” said Campbell, who worries about the stress on his dozens of employees as they plan and replan the business. “It’s a constant struggle.”

Hickenlooper’s committee hearing — held at History �ʹڲ�����ַ and titled “Beyond the Trailhead: Supporting Outdoor Recreation in an Uncertain Economy” — included Mike Mojica, the founder and CEO of , which designs adventure survival equipment in Englewood, and outdoor apparel veteran Trent Bush, the founder and co-CEO the new in Boulder.

Mojica, a mechanical engineer who fine-tuned his survival gear business in the Moosejaw Business Accelerator program in 2022, said his company posted a record year in 2024.

“What I thought was a path to the American dream has become quicksand,” he said of tariffs that have forced him to sell his gear for zero profit. “Trade policy is supposed to provide business with the certainty we need to make long-term decisions and right now that certainty is missing. I’m no longer trying to thrive. I’m trying to survive.”

>> Click over to The Sun on Monday to read this story

The Playground

13.8 million visits to �ʹڲ�����ַ ski areas in 2024-25 more proof that post-pandemic bump in skiing is the new benchmark

�ʹڲ�����ַ Ski Country on Thursday announced the state’s ski areas hosted 13.8 visits for the 2024-25 ski season, marking the third-busiest season ever.

The nation’s ski areas counted 61.5 million visits in 2024-25, the second highest showing for American resorts. The record ski traffic affirms a hope that an uptick in outdoor participation following the pandemic could be permanent. Since 2021, the U.S. resort industry has counted four of its five busiest seasons ever. Similarly, the last four seasons have been the busiest ever for �ʹڲ�����ַ ski areas.

�ʹڲ�����ַ Ski Country counts visitation from its 21 member resorts and estimates of visitation to Vail Resorts’ five �ʹڲ�����ַ ski areas.

Vail Resorts, the largest resort operator in North America, in April reported in 2024-25 compared to the previous season, when its 35 North American ski areas, roughly 20% of all ski resort visitation in the U.S. and Canada.

Last year Vail Resorts said its Breckenridge ski area was the busiest ski area in the country, followed by its Vail ski area at second. The company’s Keystone ski areas ranked ninth for skier traffic and Beaver Creek ranked 11th. Based on historic traffic reported before ski areas stopped releasing individual visits, Vail Resorts’ �ʹڲ�����ַ ski resorts — including Crested Butte Mountain Resort — likely log between 5 million and 6 million visits a year, accounting for around 40% of the state’s skier traffic.

Vail Resorts does not break out visitation by individual resorts and its resorts are not part of �ʹڲ�����ַ Ski Country.

�ʹڲ�����ַ Ski Country credited the heavy skier traffic with a robust roster of events and innovations at its member resorts. Ski Cooper saw record traffic in response to its $45 weekday lift tickets. Aspen Snowmass bustled with the Winter X Games and the debut of the new Snow League contest. Arapahoe Basin hosted the Freeride World Tour and Copper Mountain the USASA National Championships.

“Across our member resorts we saw people carving their first turns, reconnecting with annual traditions and finding their place on the slopes,” said �ʹڲ�����ַ Ski Country president Melanie Mills in a statement. “In a chaotic world, skiing remains a meaningful touchstone for so many.”

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A quick highlight from the Outside Summit: A new ski resort model

Reed Hastings co-founded Netflix and was looking for his next chapter when he went snowboarding at Utah’s Powder Mountain. The owners were losing money — $5 million to $10 million a year, he said in a discussion at the Outside Summit. So the billionaire in 2023 bought the nearly 8,500-acre ski area, which is the largest in North America. Hastings later bought more acreage to give him close to 13,000 acres of skiable terrain.

Hastings, whose creation of Netflix made him a billionaire, has hatched a one-of-a-kind plan in the ski resort realm, Instead of partnering with Alterra Mountain Co. or Vail Resorts to join those companies massive Ikon and Epic pass programs and fill the resort with skiers, Hastings is pursuing a public-private business model. He’s selling about 600 $1 million lots to skiers who will build slopeside homes and pay as much as $100,000 a year for memberships to access private slopes. And that revenue will support public access to the rest of the mountain.

“I knew nothing about ski resorts. I knew nothing about real estate,” he said at the Outside Summit last week, joking that when he purchased the ski hill up the road from Snowbasin and the private Wasatch Peaks Ranch ski areas he didn’t know the difference between a plot or a plat. “This is a passion project more than a business plan. We are wanting to show a model that can thrive outside the Epic-Ikon model.”

— j

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Type of Story: News

Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.