Outdoor industry buoyant but facing challenges | Premier

Brandon Briscoe started Linkup Point in 2020 to fill a need he saw for outdoor sports enthusiasts to connect.

A social network and contact point for people to find partners, guides, trips and information about outdoor recreation, Briscoe’s app occupies a unique place in the industry — the use of technology. It’s an area where Becky Leinweber, executive director of the Pikes Peak Outdoor Recreation Alliance, foresees growth.

“There’s a lot of demand on public outdoor spaces,” Leinweber said. “Pikes Peak Highway is a reservation timed-entry system, and so is the Manitou Incline. The Bureau of Land Management has instituted designated, dispersed camping sites in some areas.”

Finding tech solutions to these problems is a fertile area, and Leinweber expects more apps to be developed to show users where trailheads are busy, where parking lots are full and where camping spaces become available at the last minute. (Learn about Springs local Noah Makaiwi’s work with the new Rock Garden app.)

Federal, state and local governments also have recognized the outdoor recreation industry as a significant part of the nation’s economy and an important partner in the preservation of public lands.

According to the Colorado Outdoor Recreation Industry Office, the industry accounts for $9.6 billion in value added to the state’s economy and provided more than 120,000 direct jobs in 2020. 

The office supports the industry through grants and business development efforts and assembles regional coalitions committed to growing outdoor recreation businesses, conserving public lands and waters, and connecting with local communities.

The Outdoor Retailer trade show, one of the biggest and most important industry events, has been held in Denver for the past four years and will convene June 9-11 at the Colorado Convention Center.

But the show’s organizers, Emerald Expositions, announced in late March that both the summer trade show and annual winter Snow Show will be relocated to Salt Lake City, Utah, in 2023, after Denver’s contract expires.

Leinweber told the Business Journal in February that the summer event, which draws tens of thousands of people, “is not just a trade show. It brings thought leadership as well.”

The OREC office “is in talks right now of how best to make the most of this moment and what we can do as a state to be a catalyst for bringing the industry together around thought leadership, innovative aspects to our industry and just supporting one another,” she said.

MAKING CONNECTIONS

Briscoe wanted to get into outdoor sports like climbing and ski mountaineering when he was growing up in Aspen but never found a mentor to learn the technical aspects.

By the time he got out of the Army in June 2020 after eight years of service, he had learned basic skills from friends but still hadn’t found partners or mentors to develop his abilities.

“I ended up breaking the backcountry rules and skiing peaks solo on many weekends,” he said. “I felt like there should be an easier way to find partners and mentors, and maybe even guides, trips and groups that people are willing to lead or offer.”

Briscoe said backcountry skiing is a sport that has grown since the early days of the COVID pandemic.

“There was like a big shock to the system when the resorts closed,” he said. “All of a sudden, you had all kinds of skiers that still wanted to go skiing. If they hadn’t already gotten into backcountry skiing, it was an impetus to get out there.”

Linkup Point’s aim is to empower users and promote recreation.

“Our initial focus is on backcountry mountain sports, but we’re open to all sports,” Briscoe said.

The app includes a partner finder through which users can search for mentors, partners and guides based on specific criteria such as ability level, experience and certifications.

“There’s also a Facebook-like feed that’s kind of the nervous system,” he said, where people can interact with each other, and a dedicated section where people can post about trips they are hosting and search for events. 

Briscoe worked with two startup organizations — UCCS’s Venture Attractor and Exponential Impact — to get the app going, and hired Rahulrajan Karthikeyan as chief technology officer in May 2021.

The Linkup Point forum has about 600 users now — “a small but excited community,” he said. “That’s all been just organic growth.”

Members mainly consist of backcountry skiers, climbers, hikers and mountain bikers.

“We’re reaching the point now where we’re getting ready to raise come capital so we can start doing some more paid marketing and get it to take off,” he said.

His ultimate vision is to see Linkup Point become an international player in the social media arena.

“More immediately, we want to just start saturating Colorado, and then grow into the Rocky Mountain West and eventually across America,” Briscoe said. “We’re eventually going to look into a subscription for courses or premium content.”

People of all ages are looking for sports connections, he said. 

“From a user’s perspective, it’s all about bringing the whole sports community and the outdoor recreation industry together —from the beginner to the advanced recreator, to the trip leader or mentor, to the guide, to the pro athlete,” he said.

BIPARTISAN SUPPORT

Angler’s Covey, one of the region’s longest-standing outdoor recreation businesses, has seen record-breaking growth in the past few years, Leinweber said.

During the pandemic, “people were purchasing big-dollar items, like bikes, boats and fly-fishing gear,” she said. “Many of us thought, well, maybe after COVID, we might see a big drop-off, but that has not happened.”

Leinweber co-owns Angler’s Covey with her husband David, who is the founder and chairman of PPORA and serves on the board of the Cheyenne Mountain chapter of Trout Unlimited.

The Leinwebers bought the business in 1999 from Kent Brekke, who founded it in 1981.

Fly-fishing enthusiasts themselves, the Leinwebers grew the business to include Colorado Tackle Pro, a bait and tackle shop, and Pikes Peak Outfitter, a recreational water sport retailer and rental store.

They also created two casting ponds outside their facility at South 21st Street and Highway 24 so anglers could try out gear before they purchased.

As business owners and outdoor enthusiasts, the Leinwebers organized PPORA to advance outdoor recreation and conservation and to strengthen the outdoor recreation industry through leadership and collaboration.

Leinweber said there is “movement” on federal legislation that will impact the industry.

The Simplifying Outdoor Access for Recreation Act, which “had been wobbling around for years, got wrapped into a package with some other outdoor recreation legislation and hopefully will be going to the Senate for a full vote,” she said.

The SOAR Act, introduced in April 2021, addressed special recreation permits to engage in recreational activities on federal recreational lands and waters.

“There are challenges for businesses who deal with public spaces,” Leinweber said. “We have to get permits to use those public spaces, and the permitting process is very bureaucratic. This legislation will help to streamline that process.”

The SOAR Act now is a part of a suite of bills collectively titled the America’s Outdoor Recreation Act of 2022. The package would not only improve the permitting process but would establish a financial assistance program to help businesses set up and expand near outdoor recreation hotspots, among other things.

Several of the bills that were rolled into the package have already been reviewed by Senate committees, and Leinweber hopes to see it move to the Senate for a full vote soon.

“All of this legislation is fully bipartisan, which is great because it sees both sides of the political arena coming together on what’s important for our outdoors and our outdoor businesses,” she said.

The state outdoor recreation office will be opening up more than $4 million in grants for nonprofit outdoor projects in June and will administer a grant program for businesses that were adversely affected by the pandemic in October, she said.

INDUSTRY CHALLENGES

Local outdoor recreation businesses overall are doing well, Leinweber said.

“Some are looking at where they can make investments or expand services,” she said. “But there are still some big challenges that make that difficult,” including workforce and supply chain issues.

PPORA is teaming up with the city of Colorado Springs and Colorado Parks and Wildlife to celebrate Get Outdoors Day from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. June 4 at Prospect Lake in Memorial Park — a free, annual event that showcases a wide array of outdoor activities.

Get Outdoors Day was cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic, and the organizers expect a big turnout this year to kick off the summer recreation season.

But “some of our vendors have not been able to join us this year because they just don’t have enough staff,” Leinweber said.

PPORA is posting jobs on its website, PPORA.org. 

Supply chain issues bring uncertainty to businesses’ cash flow.

Angler’s Covey placed larger-than-usual preseason orders this year, Leinweber said.

“We ramped those up because we don’t know how much of those are actually going to come in and when those shipments are going to come in,” she said, adding that she’s talked to other outdoor businesses are doing the same thing.

As Memorial Day weekend approaches, Angler’s Covey and other outdoor recreation businesses are gearing up for another record season serving both local outdoor enthusiasts and tourists.

Tourism officials don’t think that high gas prices will significantly deter visitors from coming to the Pikes Peak region.

“The most recent research we’ve seen from Tourism Economics is that 80 percent of people in this country are ready to travel, and 90 percent plan to travel in the next six months,” said Doug Price, president and CEO of Visit COS. “I think RV travel will be down because of the cost of gas, but what we think we’ll probably see is that people are going save money in other ways.”

Visit COS has developed a page on its website to help people find free activities, both indoors and outdoors, he said.

Price said tourism during spring break was very strong, but he has heard that early May has been slow. But given advance ticket sales and hotel bookings, “starting Memorial Day, everybody is very optimistic.

“What I’m most concerned about this summer is COVID coming back — the things we really can’t control,” he said. “We’re watching that very carefully.”