{"id":41509,"date":"2022-03-21T18:56:05","date_gmt":"2022-03-22T00:56:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/the-new-standards-for-testing-outdoor-gear-are-being-created-by-colorado-university-students\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:01:30","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:01:30","slug":"the-new-standards-for-testing-outdoor-gear-are-being-created-by-colorado-university-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/the-new-standards-for-testing-outdoor-gear-are-being-created-by-colorado-university-students\/","title":{"rendered":"The new standards for testing outdoor gear are being created by Colorado university students"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Under
Under the watchful eyes of Professor Laren Cooper, back center, Western Colorado University engineering students Justin Perdew, left, Carolyn Goodwin and Zachary Hindes cut a steel beam in a horizontal bandsaw on March 2. The metal will be used to build a machine that tests carbon wheelsets and bike frames. (Dean Krakel\/Special to The Colorado Sun)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

GUNNISON \u2013 In the basement of the new Paul M. Rady engineering school at Western Colorado University, professor Greg VanderBeek directs six students using a horizontal bandsaw to cut 2-inch steel tubing.<\/p>\n

\u201cRemember, perfection happens at the welding table,\u201d VanderBeek says as the students measure.<\/p>\n

Soon the students are grinding corners and welding a frame they will use to stress test high-dollar carbon wheelsets for mountain bikes. Next they will devise tests for skis. Then helmets and technical fabrics. Then every other type of gear that is part of the red-hot outdoor recreation industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be so interesting to see what innovations come out of this testing. It will inevitably result in the advancement of new technology,\u201d says Jeni Blacklock, the director of the engineering and computer science school at Western that has partnered with the University of Colorado. \u201cIt\u2019s such an interesting question: how will the industry adapt to what we are doing here?\u201d<\/p>\n

The students \u2013 all juniors \u2013 are part of the country\u2019s first outdoor engineering program. And they are part of an even newer partnership between their school and Crested Butte\u2019s Blister Review, a wildly popular team that crafts in-depth, technical reviews for high-end outdoor equipment. As the engineering students in the new Blister Labs test wheels, skis, jackets and more, they will create a suite of new standards for measuring the claims, effectiveness and performance of outdoor gear. The data they collect will then route to the gear experts at Blister Review, who will infuse the scientific assessments into their long-form reviews that reach tens of thousands of followers.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdding these quantitative components just takes our work to the next level,\u201d says Jonathan Ellsworth, the founder of Blister Review. \u201cWe will be illuminating gear to the entire outdoor industry, globally. This will change everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gearmakers love to use wonky words to describe their stuff. Bike rims are \u201ccompliant.\u201d Bike designs are \u201ccomposed,\u201d \u201cintuitive\u201d or \u201cconfidence-inspiring.\u201d Skis are \u201cdamp\u201d and \u201cforgiving.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to know how numbers can relate to those words,\u201d says Justin Perdew, who is in the first cohort of Western\u2019s outdoor industry engineering program. \u201cMaybe that\u2019s just the engineer in me, but providing the public with this kind of data is not something that\u2019s been done before. You get all those buzzwords, but you don\u2019t have a quantifiable definition. Maybe that\u2019s what we can provide.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Zachary
Zachary Hindes, a student in the Engineering and Outdoor Recreation program at Western Colorado University in Gunnison, grinds the joints of a metal beam on March 2. (Dean Krakel\/Special to The Colorado Sun)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Gunnison County, with its end-of-the-road mountain town and growing university separated by wide-open valley, is an outdoor mecca. And a growing list of unique collaborations and partnerships is helping to guide the county\u2019s economic development away from a heavy reliance on tourism and toward a diverse collection of innovative entrepreneurs focused on the outdoors.<\/p>\n

The region\u2019s embrace of the outdoor industry began a few years ago, when tourism champions transitioned the region\u2019s visitor association into what\u2019s now called the Tourism and Prosperity Partnership. With marketing dollars collected from a lodging tax promoting not just tourism but economic development, the county began incorporating Western Colorado University into broader plans for growth and economic development.<\/p>\n

TAPP is investing $500,000 in Western\u2019s outdoor engineering program, which is joining with the school\u2019s first-ever outdoor industry MBA program to create a combined engineering and MBA track for students. That MBA program, which launched at the urging of then Gov. John Hickenlooper in 2018, offers graduate business degrees that focus on the outdoor industry\u2019s most pressing issues, including sustainability, climate change, stewardship, resource conservation and supply-chain challenges.<\/p>\n

Western also is home to the ICELab, an on-campus hub for businesses and students. The coworking space offers room for entrepreneurs and students to collaborate on new ideas and business models. The ICELab\u2019s new partnership with Moosejaw Mountaineering \u2013 an outdoor retailer owned by Walmart \u2013 offers a mentoring program for up-and-coming outdoor brands.<\/p>\n

\"Jeni
Jeni Blacklock, left, director of the University of Colorado-Western Colorado University Partnership at the School of Computer Science and Engineering in Gunnison, goes over course work with outdoor engineering students Kaiya Firor, middle, and Carolyn Goodwin on March 2. (Dean Krakel\/Special to The Colorado Sun)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

One graduate of the program, Georgia Grace Edwards, moved her innovative SheFly business to Gunnison, creating 24 new jobs for the valley. Other graduates of the ICELab Accelerator programs include First Ascent instant coffee, bike pedal maker Hustle Bike Labs and Pact Outdoors, which makes a kit for properly burying human waste in the woods.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s really interesting to think about how we can bring private and public and educational sectors all together to solve this challenge of economic diversification,\u201d says Taryn Mead, an assistant professor and coordinator of the MBA program\u2019s track for students studying product development. She helped launch the first ICELab accelerator program. \u201cIf I can say to my MBA students, \u2018Come here and develop your product, we have all this great equipment and facilities to be able to do that, get your MBA at the same time and join this incredible network of professionals,\u2019 there\u2019s just so much energy and momentum around that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now comes Blister Labs, which partners the million-visitors-a-month Blister podcasts and reviews with an engineering school that will soon be setting new standards for mountain toys.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s just this collective momentum in the valley around the outdoor industry right now,\u201d says Blacklock, whose long-term plans include developing an outdoor manufacturing center \u2013 with residential apartments \u2013 for startup entrepreneurs in the valley.<\/p>\n

\u2018Digestible\u2019 metrics from Blister Labs<\/div>\n

The traditional trajectory of engineers and MBAs in the outdoor industry involved students working in other industries and then eventually moving into jobs that involved their passions. Western is helping to change that, with graduates ready to work in an outdoor industry that is evolving into an economic powerhouse.<\/p>\n

\"A
A student in the Engineering and Outdoor Recreation program at Western Colorado University in Gunnison holds pieces of plastic that broke under stress during testing. (Dean Krakel\/Special to The Colorado Sun)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The outdoor focus eased \u201cone of the scary parts\u201d of engineering school, says Perdew, who grew up fishing and exploring around his home in Bailey.<\/p>\n

\u201cEventually you have to choose a specialty and that\u2019s your job, potentially for the rest of your life,\u201d Perdew says. \u201cThe more I do stuff like this, like what we are doing right here, the more I want to be a part of the outdoor industry. Originally I was thinking I\u2019d go into aerospace, but I really like having fun outside. So being able to be outside while at work. That\u2019s the ideal for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t that long ago that outdoor recreation was a pursuit outside of work. Now, as the outdoor industry\u2019s contribution to the national economy reaches $788 billion a year and is recognized as a leading economic engine for rural communities, there are high-paying jobs waiting for graduates who specialize in outdoor recreation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the industries are finally getting to a place where they can start paying engineers engineering salaries,\u201d VanderBeek says. \u201cAnd so this is now an outlet for engineers to pursue their passions, it\u2019s not just \u2018Well, I will take a low salary because I want to work in the ski industry or the bike industry.\u2019 Now, it\u2019s like, \u2018No, this is actually a viable career for me.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

VanderBeek and Blacklock say big-name and up-and-coming outdoor brands are reaching out to work with the engineering students and professors at Blister Labs, eager to help create \u201cmore digestible\u201d metrics for measuring the effectiveness of high-end gear.<\/p>\n

Ellsworth, who studied philosophy before launching Blister in New Mexico more than a decade ago, has a long list of measurements that can be improved in the outdoor world.<\/p>\n

\"Jonathan
Jonathan Ellsworth, center, skis Crested Butte Mountain Resort in early March with a crew of his reviewers who craft in-depth analyses of skis and other outdoor gear for Ellsworth\u2019s Blister Review. (Jason Blevins\/The Colorado Sun)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cDo you actually know what DIN is?\u201d he says about the measurement of pressure for ski bindings set decades ago by Germany\u2019s national standardization agency, the Deutsches Institut f\u00fcr Normung.<\/p>\n

How about all the European waterproofing standards for outwear? Or the stiffness and flex numbers used for ski boots, which range from 60 to 140.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose flex rating numbers for ski boots, they don\u2019t mean anything,\u201d says Ellsworth, who envisions a future with all new standards for measuring outdoor gear. \u201cI want to start using meaningful, real-world, applicable information for outdoor enthusiasts. I\u2019m going to be most interested in seeing what we can carry back to non-engineers to help inform their purchasing decisions or help manufacturers better understand and better think about the products they are building.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blacklock says \u201cthe stars are aligning\u201d at Western in Gunnison. The 75,000 square-foot Paul M. Rady School of Computer Science and Engineering just opened, hosting both Western and CU students. Students are lining up for specialized training.<\/p>\n

Western\u2019s focus on the outdoor recreation economy is turning into a recruiting tool for both students and faculty, Blacklock says. She has seniors she\u2019s teaching at CU Boulder who are transferring to Western for their final year so they can participate in the MBA program and Blister Labs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a recruitment tool. It\u2019s a marketing tool,\u201d she says. \u201cWe are seeing the best people coming here because, it turns out, the best people love the outdoors.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Colorado Sun is a reader-supported, nonpartisan news organization dedicated to covering Colorado issues. To learn more, go to coloradosun.com<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Engineering program prepares innovative entrepreneurs for a red-hot recreation industry<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":41510,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[233,359,28,976],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-41509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-coloradosun-com","tag-engineering","tag-headlines","tag-outdoor-recreation"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41509","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41509"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41509\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84993,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41509\/revisions\/84993"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41509"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=41509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}