Outdoor Retailer - Winter 2017 - 37

with the driving plan to show me, a Coloradan,
his local haunts. But the back pain hit him so
hard he cringes getting in and out of his van.
He'll seek help, but as a Navy veteran, he faces
a tedious process to get an appointment with a
VA doctor. But the pain will eventually ease up,
allowing him to be his true self, Ace Guide, again.
The current situation is rough for someone who
makes a portion of his living-as the visionary,
owner, and lead guide for Brooklyn's Gear To Go

[

GET AVISUAL
Want to learn
more about Kevin
Rosenberg and
Gear-to-Go
Outfitters?
Take the time to
watch the latest
installment of
#WeAreOutdoor
on YouTube
bit.ly/2dR0tmw

Outfitters-Pied Pipering newbie and seasoned
Rosenberg. "Meaning it's a family-friendly
neighborhood, practically a Brooklyn version
hikers alike to local backcountry spots as well as
ones in Greenland, Norway, and Iceland. Yet if
of a Norman Rockwell painting."
there's one Ultimate Truth about Rosenberg, it's
It's no surprise that Rosenberg chose this lothat he knows the Ultimate Truth about running
cation to set up shop-he's a born and bred New
a successful business: It's the need to persevere
Yorker who grew up on Long Island. But Gear
no matter what life hurls at you.
To Go has several qualities that even mountain
At 43, Rosenberg has seen more than his
town stores don't. For one, it's a full-service outshare of struggle, something he's been unravelfitter, meaning that in addition to selling brands
ing for me as we've wound down two lane roads
like Patagonia, Marmot, Mountain Hardwear,
that slice through the 700,000-acre Catskills.
and Biolite, it also has the largest fleet of rentHe's gone over and above with the driving
al equipment per square foot in the U.S., issues
tour, because he couldn't deliver the hike we
hunting and fishing licenses, and offers repair
both wanted. I've gotten a good taste of rural
services. And being in Brooklyn, where a big
chunk of the population somehow survives
New York, which starts about an hour past the
George Washington Bridge with occassional
without a car, it offers a town-to-trailhead taxi
views of the Manhattan skyline. We've breakservice-the van that shuttled us to Woodstock.
fasted in Beacon, home of the insanely popuNeed to brush up on your map and compass
lar 1,250-foot-high, cliff-lined, 10-out-of-10
skills? Rosenberg and his staff lead classes in
nearby Prospect Park. New
on the danger scale-rated "Breakneck
Ridge." We've visited Woodstock, New
to the region but love to hike?
TASTE OF FREEDOM
York, which, shockingly, is a full hour
Gear To Go leads single- and
Rosenberg has a
customer base of eight
from the farm that hosted the 1969
multi-day trips each month.
million New Yorkers
Never gone backpacking but
Woodstock Music and Art Fair.
whom he guides to
want to try it? Rosenberg is
Soon we'll make our way back to the
outdoor adventures in
spots
ranging
from
as
developing a series of videos
brick-and-mortar shop Rosenberg
close as the Catskills to
to teach renters of his gear
built literally from the street curb up.
as far away as Iceland.
how to use, say, a sleeping
It's called Gear To Go Outfitters, and
bag (because someone once
at least some people-unobservant
millennials-think the sign over the front door
slept in his inside out). Not new at all and cravis an Urban Outfitter's rip-off. I've seen it and
ing an adventure far from this election-ravaged
can say definitively that it's not. It's quaint and
place? Rosenberg also leads annual trips to
welcoming, just like the gorgeously renovated
Scandinavia and Greenland.
1,000-square-foot space inside, which is filled
You've made a vow to shop only in socially rewith all of the accouterments of camping, backsponsible stores? Get here. A veteran who served
packing, and climbing: packs, bags, hiking
in the Persian Gulf twice, Rosenberg makes hirshoes, stoves, cookwear, water bottles, and othing vets a priority, saying, "A lot of people won't
er essentials (think beer growlers). In its former
hire them because they think they have PTSD.
life-before June of this year-the space that
And PTSD conjures images of guys going postal.
Gear To Go now inhabits was a family-owned
But they're not going to kill others; they're more
pharmacy for 100 years. Chasing a very specific
likely to kill themselves. So not hiring them only
vibe, Rosenberg drew all of the plans and helped
adds to the problem." And all of this is only some
renovate the space.
of what makes Rosenberg's Gear To Go one of
What's amazing to me is that when he did the
the most interesting-and successful-inderenovation, he'd never visited an outdoor shop
pendently owned gear shops around.
in a real mountain town like Telluride, Colorado,
or Ketchum, Idaho. Because once you're in,
"MY LIFE IS A HORATIO ALGER STORY," SAYS
if you avert your eyes from the windows, you
Rosenberg once we're back and settled at the
shop. It certainly started that way, back in the
could just as easily be there-at the Jagged Edge
(Telluride) or the Elephant's Perch (Ketchum).
mid-70s. Rosenberg and his older brother grew
But Gear To Go sits on the corner of 7th Avenue
up in a "tough neighborhood" on Long Island.
and Garfield Place in the Park Slope district of
His mom was a master teacher in the NYC school
Brooklyn. "The saying is 'Dogs and kids,'" says
system and his dad a certified public accountant.

Winter 2017 / OUTDOOR RETAILER 37

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Outdoor Retailer - Winter 2017

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