Innovative products on the way Salt Lake City hosted the Outdoor Retailer Winter Market on Feb. 9-11. As average outdoor out-door enthusiasts we weren't invited, in-vited, since the show was strictly for people in the business of selling sell-ing outdoor products. However, as a respected member of the press, (I use those terms loosely), I managed a couple of hours wandering the floor looking for new and innovative products that might be valuable to those who enjoy the outdoors. The majority of the show was made up of manufacturers selling sell-ing backpacks, sleeping bags, tents, climbing gear, outdoor clothing and specialized boots. You can only visit a few booths with these items before you realize real-ize it is difficult to be really innovative in-novative with nylon, Gortex, and Thinsulate. The similar-looking products become a blur after a while, and you start looking for something different. That is when I turn to the little booths with one or two employees, who are introducing or offering their latest ideas to the outdoor industry. The first place I stopped was at a little booth selling one item, the "Nite Ize" mini-flashlight holder. The Nite Ize is an adjustable ad-justable nylon head strap with a stretch-band loop that holds a mini-flashlight. With a mini-flashlight mini-flashlight strapped to your head, providing light, your hands are free to take care of work in dark or in poorly lighted situations. If you have ever held a flashlight in your teeth while you FsV Utah Outdoors I 'J till Hemin9way were trying to repair a car, or have tried to tie on a tiny fly at dusk, you will realize the value of this product. Nite Ize is a real improvement over a bobbing light clipped to your hat or helmet. Its band keeps the light stable and .directs the light where you are looking. My next stop was at a booth that was offering an item called the Packtowl. The Packtowl is a towel made of 100 percent Vicose which is a very absorbent material. Because of the nature of the material, it will absorb ten times its weight in water. When it is full of water it can be wrung out until it is 92 percent dry, and used again. Its light weight is ideal for backpackers and hikers. Packtowl even features a model that will hang on a fishing vest. My wife thought it would be ideal in a 72-hour survival kit, and wants to try out mine. If you happen to be one of those people who drives a truck in the back country, you will be delighted to learn about the Max Multi-purpose Ax. The Max is a quality three-pound Hudson Bay style ax with a 36-inch grade "A" hickory handle. But it doesn't stop there. It is designed with various changeable tools that transform it into a sledge hammer, a shovel, a pick, a mattock, mat-tock, a broad pick, a rake, and a hoe. Instead of carrying a truckload of tools, the Max, with its heavy duty canvas carrying case will fit behind the seat of your truck and will always be ready to dig you out when you need it. It will also come in hand when clearing campsites, repairing roads, cutting cut-ting brush, and for other outdoor activities. This is one item I would like to have in my truck. And finally, in the "It's about time" department, the Reflect f Company has introduced Sun and Bug Stuff. This is a sunscreen and an insect repellent combined in one product. I don't know how many times I have put on insect repellent then sunscreen and wondered why no one combined the two. The people at Reflect had the same thought, and have gone through the process of getting Sun and Bug Stuff approved by the Federal Drug Administration and the Environmental Protection Protec-tion Agency. Obviously, there were thousands of other items at the show. I didn't see everything, but it was fun to wander the aisles and see what might be in the stores this next year. All of the people I talked to said they were having good sales, so the above-mentioned items will be showing up in the local sporting goods stores or your favorite outdoor catalogs in the near future.