More Target than Marmot

“I was in the local gear shop and picked up the new Marmot catalog. It is about 50 glossy pages of some serious outdoor adventure. I thought to myself - I am not even worthy of wearing Marmot (insert other favorites - TNF, Patagonia, Mountain Hardwear etc.) 'cuz all I do is walk around in the woods.

From the looks of the pictures I would utilize the "fancy" gear at about the same capacity that I use this Pentium II.

Maybe I need to climb a 14'r sometime to justify these Marmot Driclime Long Johns I recenlty purchsed.

I'm sure if I was up north I could put some of that gear to good use, but down here in FLA I think Target or Wallyworld covers most of my needs.

I still find myself in a bit of a covetous mood for fancy gear now and then though.”

“I'm with 'ya Big Guy. $200 golf clubs or $2,000 clubs, I'd still suck. (and $1,800 would go a long way to soothe the hurt at the 19th hole!)”

“The new Marmot catalog is quite an oxymoron. Wonderful pictures, enough to make any hardened, experienced outdoors person feel inadequate. Great little quotes from the "rock stars".....

But did you notice the lack of any useful information about the product? Even our Marmot rep was puzzled about this.

They make great gear, but their marketing dept blew it this year.”

“BWD - I did notice that - there are no weights for instance. Also, I would like to see real life situations where certain gear is most appropriate.”

“i got a marmot catalog last year and it actually pissed me off. i wanted info on some gear and there was absolutely none in it. it was a picture book with a couple pages with gear pictures. i wrote to them and complained. their website isn't that easy to get the low down on their stuff either.”

“I have not seen the catalog, but I bet the pictures include a lot of pretty girls with the deluxe equipment.

You will not be hurting, if you keep remembering to be practical.”

“With so many companies making quality gear out there, what did you expect? What we need is a good ole' fashioned capitalism generated PRICE WAR!”

“I noticed the same thing in my Prana catalog. Cool pics, very little usable info, IMHO. Maybe we ae heading the way of just getting this stuff to look cool.... :)”

“They should take a lesson from Stephenson. If all they want to show is pictures then he's on the right track.”

“They should take a lesson from Stephenson. If all they want to show is pictures then he's on the right track. Hard to believe Marmot doesn't include at least weights in the catalog.”

“What they need are pictures of average Joes (and Janes) faceplanting onto a muddy trail or picking themselves up out of a shallow creek after slipping on a loose rock.”

“Yes you too can look good when face-planting in our new....”

“Maybe Marmet is trying to go the same dirrection as TNF. You know, the brand that all the yuppie kids wear around town, never in the woods.

Buy the fancy gear, ON SALE!”

“that PRANA catalog is really cool. Prices were absurd. Looks like they are trying to capitalize on the yoga craze.”

“I just picked up the new Spring 2003 MH catalog. Now this baby is done right. All the specifics and measurements are there with numerous pictures of the gear. The articles are interesting and informative and the production is not too fancy.

I like catalogs, even as a little kid my sister and I would flip through the Service Merchandise and Sears catalog looking at toys - not much has changed.”

“I love those gear catalogs too. Great pics of the mountains and the world in the High end ones. Before the internet, I'd send in the reader reply cards from Backpacker mag, for all the big companies. I'm a printer, those catalogs cost a FORTUNE to have done!!”