TNF Raleigh: Demo in Review

Demo in Review

Demo Gear was just one tool that enabled exploration for our awesome team here at TNF Raleigh! We are thankful to have had the opportunity to try out some gear. Not sure if it was the gear or this amazing state that we live in, but our team really got out and did some exploring! Here are some our favorite highlights of 2011. Be sure to check out the video!

Our team kicked off the season with some climbing at Pilot Mountain that is about 2 to 3 hours west of Raleigh. This became a favorite place and many of the team went back there all year. We had associates that have never climbed before and now they can’t get enough. We have created a great relationship with a local climbing center, Triangle Rock Club. There is not a week that goes by without us talking to each other! We even finished the year by climbing out there.

Chris, Brad and Beth teamed up with National Park Trust to participate in National Kids to Parks Day. The day turned into an awesome adventure with yoga, bird watching, ultimate frisbee, a hike and a swim in a watering hole! The team had a great interaction with getting kids out to explore parks and not explore their couches! This by far could have been the most rewarding event of the year. We really hope to do more events that will allow us to interact and help our area youth.

Maybe it wasn’t the best day, but it seemed half of the staff went camping at a local state park on one of the hottest days/nights of the year. The team themed it “80’s Campout!” Bright colored clothes, goofy games, ridiculous photos and a ton of 80’s music made a night of camping a night to remember. We even brought our pups with us to take part in the fun! Asked why we picked the eighties, we asked why not! You know we had a totally rad time and next year we might have to do it each month!

We can’t forget the Warrior Dash! In late August, ten (even 2 former employees) of us took part in this 5K race! Not only was it a 5K run, it was 3 miles of running through an obstacle course! We jumped over, ducked under, and weaved through some many different obstacles. We really enjoyed trekking through the green stale swamp, then to jump over fire and then cool it off by crawling under barbwire! Luckily we had Chris with his GoPro camera on to give his POV. We couldn’t have done it so well if it wasn’t for our friends at H.E.A.T. Studios. This training center gave us free classes every Sunday running up to our event! We found that it was more painful at our workouts than the actual event! We think that was a good thing! FYI, we all made it out alive!

As the season ended, Chris participated in the Tour to Tanglewood, a VF sponsored cycling event to raise money for MS research! Chris camped out and cycled for VF! A great event that ended up raising over $1 Million Dollars! We also saw Geoff and how he commutes to and from work. Not living too far away, Geoff went from driving everyday to riding his bike. Now he has helped reduce his carbon footprint.

We had a great year! We really worked the demo gear! We had so many ideas! We are very thankful to have such an amazing team that loves to get outdoors! The excitement was infectious that even former employees would tag along with us for adventures. Several of us learned new activities that we now crave! The demo gear did not fail us. We found the Angstroms to be a great fit our day travels, but no crave larger packs for longer travels and exploring. The Minibus rocked! This little guy held up in all kinds of weather and could fit a lot more than the recommended amount of sleepers! We think we got like 5 people and 3 dogs in it one night! Te Re Meows are awesome, but a 40-degree bag could work better in our climate! We can’t wait for next year to get out and explore. The team has done a great job trying new things and we can’t wait to see all the new adventures we go in 2012!

TNF Raleigh

Never Stop Exploring