Stephen Regenold

Battery-powered gloves. Pants with a stitched-in mountaineering harness. Electrolyte-laced hot cocoa. These are a few of the innovative products soon coming to market in the $289 billion outdoors industry. Last week, at the Outdoor Retailer Winter Market trade show in Salt Lake City, I got a peek into this future of outdoors gear and apparel. Here's the rundown on five items that caught my eye.

* Mountain Hardware Red Savina gloves

These electrically-heated gloves send warmth to fingers and thumbs via a system that reacts to the temperature of the hand. A light and flexible heating layer is housed in a protective polyurethane film inside the glove. Three lightweight and flexible lithium polymer batteries provide power for up to six hours of continuous heat.

Available in men's and women's versions. ($300; {M7www.mountainhardwear.com; available August 2008)

* Merrell Apparel Gatherer

This DIY puffy coat is made of a semi-transparent nylon shell that comes without any insulation. The idea is that this jacket, which will come in a men's and women's model, is a blank canvas of sorts ready to be stuffed with whatever insulating items the wearer desires. Just zip open the long pockets and cram in crumpled newspaper, dead leaves, Styrofoam packing peanuts, or whatever else. Anything light and fluffy

- and colorful and cool - are candidate for insulating this customizable winter coat. ($99; {M7www.merrell.com; available autumn

2008)

* CLIF SHOT Hot Electrolyte

Clif's electrolyte-laced hot cocoa powder was made for wintertime athletes who want a warm drink to help hydrate and refuel muscles after activity. Hidden under the guise of hot cocoa, this sports drink has amino acids, antioxidants, electrolytes, protein, carbohydrates, vitamins, and even green tea to hydrate your body and replenish muscles. Just add eight ounces of hot water to the powder, stir it, and you have a steaming cup ready to drink and do its magic. ($1.69 per packet; {M7www.clifbar.com; available now)

* Pacsafe Computer Bags

Pacsafe's new collection of theft-deterring bags include backpack and messenger-style models, all with slash-proof metal mesh panels and straps embedded with high-tensile stainless steel wire. The zippers are tamperproof. The messenger bags - the MeshSafe M100 and M200 models - have a built-in combination lock on the strap, letting you affix the bag to a solid object like a table leg in a café or your seat on a train. ($99.95 to $199.95; {M7www.pacsafe.com; available this

spring)

* Rossignol Harness Pant

These winter shell pants integrate a mountaineering harness stitched right into the trousers. Whenever you put these pants on - for ski mountaineering, peak bagging, or light rock climbing - you automatically then also are wearing a supportive webbing harness with a tie-in point for a rope. The pants are made with a stretchy fabric that's breathable and waterproof, protecting you from the cold, wind, rain, and snow as well as falls off a cliff side. ($295; {M7www.rossignol.com; available September 2008)

Look for more coverage of the Outdoor Retailer Winter Market trade show next week.

Stephen Regenold writes The Gear Junkie column for nine U.S. newspapers; see {M7http://www.THEGEARJUNKIE.com for video gear reviews, a daily blog, and an archive of Regenold's work.