Black Diamond Equipment, Ltd., a leading global innovator in climbing, skiing and mountain sports equipment, announces a series of recent accomplishments and product awards for forthcoming 2012 offerings.

“Our R&D process, lab time and field testing continues to benefit BD in terms of earning these accolades,” explains Ryan Gellert, President of Black Diamond Equipment. “Winning these awards conveys our team’s ability to understand the needs of climbers, skiers and mountain athletes by bringing to market the most relevant, thoughtfully-designed and high performance gear.”

Coming on the heels of the Men’s Journal 2012 “Gear of the Year” award for their current freeskiing series’ AMPerage ski, Black Diamond Equipment’s ski category earned another accolade for next winter’s Carbon Megawatt ski. Outside magazine awarded the touring series Carbon Megawatt “Gear of the Show” at the recent SIA Snow Show in Denver, Colorado. The Carbon Megawatt, the touring-specific version of Black Diamond’s legendary Megawatt, matches the same dimensions underfoot as the freeskiing model, with a 125mm waist, but is 2lbs lighter per pair making it the ultimate backcountry powder ski.

At ISPO 2012 in Munich, Germany, Black Diamond Equipment was honored with the prestigious Plus X Award for its Magnetron GridLock magnetic locking carabiner. The Plus X Award is a prize that honors manufacturers for innovative technology and distinguishes products that are unique and viable for the future, possessing at least one “Plus X” factor – the additional value of a product. The patent-pending Magnetron GridLock, which uses the power of magnets to reinvent the auto-locking carabiner, will debut at specialty retailers this summer. Black Diamond Equipment also received an ISPO Award nomination for innovation in the accessories hardware category for their new Carbon Probe ski pole, which features the completely redesigned FlickLock Pro. Next winter’s Carbon Probe ski pole, along with 8 other new ski pole models, all feature the new FlickLock Pro locking mechanism. The FlickLock Pro features a stainless steel construction, low-profile design and more than twice the holding force of the classic FlickLock mechanism featured in all of Black Diamond Equipment’s current ski and trekking pole lines.

“Despite the low snowfall totals that we are experiencing just about everywhere this winter, we come home from the outdoor trade shows with a real sense of optimism,” comments Gellert. “We saw huge traffic at our Outdoor Retailer, SIA and ISPO trade show booths and the positive response to our new product lines from retailers was impressive. Add the fact that we collected several awards spanning different product categories, Black Diamond Equipment is excited for what the future holds.”

Riding a wave of momentum in 2012 thus far, Black Diamond Equipment was also recognized by REI (Recreational Equipment, Inc.), as a divisional vendor partner award recipient in the camp/travel category at Outdoor Retailer Winter Market. The annual awards program, established in 1993 by REI, recognizes three key vendors for divisional awards and one vendor as its overall “Vendor Partner of the Year.” Companies are nominated by the co-op’s three merchandising divisions — camp/travel, actionsports and outdoorwear — for their efforts to build a strategic and successful relationship focused on meeting member and customer needs, and for their work to bring quality, innovation, outdoor stewardship and performance to the industry.