Hardwear Sessions

By Paige Boucher

Steamboat Springs, Colorado, is still a real town. Sure we have a world class ski resort, amazing mountain bike trails and lots of attractions for tourists. But we also have normal families with kids. We love our kids and we want them to have every opportunity and grow up to be healthy, happy and successful just like in your town. I'm the mom of one of those privileged kids.

I'm also gravely concerned about how my community and our society and the world at large are all using way too much fossil fuel. So I joined the mom's Green Team at my kid's school, Strawberry Park Elementary. We're working on changing to green cleaning supplies and reusable lunch trays but the thing that I really wanted to see change is the ridiculously long line of idling cars picking up or dropping off one or two kids before and after school each day.

So we started a contest and we challenged the kids to become Green Commuters during fourth quarter. A Green Commuter rides the bus, walks, rides a bike, or car pools with at least three students or teachers in the car. We solicited all the local kid hot spots and our favorite outdoor gear companies for prizes. Big Agnes gave camping pads, the Steamboat Ski Resort gave passes to the Adventure Zone climbing wall and bungee jump, the Winter Sports Club gave us Howler Alpine Slide tickets, Mountain Hardwear gave day packs (OK, I work for Mountain Hardwear so I had some pull) and many other generous supporters gave us swag or cash for T-shirts. We promised every kid who Green Commuted at least 75% of the time a T-shirt and the top classes would win the prizes. The kids were psyched!

Excerpt from Soundings Magazine, May 2007. "Change in course proves fatal"

...An hour later, at 5 o'clock, Templeman saw the one-in-10 wave, another 45-footer, approach from astern, cresting twice. "The third time, it crested just as we came to the top of it and flipped the catamaran over," he recalls.

Klinges, in his port-hull cabin in full foul weather gear, simply walked out of his bunk and onto the overhead as his cocoon turned upside down. As he made his way aft, he encountered Hobley, still only in thermals and fleece. The skipper had taken just enough time to put on his life jacket. The pair went aft to the escape hatch on the hull. Klinges had grabbed the ditch bag, in which the EPIRB was stored, and had it fastened to his harness.

Outside, 35-foot waves attacked the boat relentlessly...

Kevin Klinges writes:

"I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for some of your gear that I was wearing. I have been a 14 year follower of your gear from tents to clothes. This winter I did something a little different than the usual backcountry skiing I do every year In Sun Valley Idaho."

"I was delivering a 38 foot catamaran from France to the States. I brought my entire top of the line gear including Mountain Hardwear base layer tops and bottoms and mid layer tops and bottoms. Wearing this gear on February 19th 2007 was a primary reason to my survival and the ability to tell my story."

"Necessarily but sadly the Coast Guard had to cut all of my gear off to treat my hypothermia. But thank you for designing something that really works.
Thank You Mountain Hardwear, a real life saver."

By Bridger Root

I have been climbing with my father, Brick Root, and John Culberson for as long as I can remember. My dad and I did all of the 14,000 foot peaks in Colorado before my fourteenth birthday, and then we went on to climb the rest of the Fourteeners in the lower 48. John came along on some of the trickier trips to assist with his vast skills in the area of climbing and mountaineering. He has also dragged me up many climbs in Utah, as well as the Grand Teton, Mt. Baker, and some towers in Washington. So, for my high school graduation present, John Culberson, my father and I climbed Denali as a culmination of our trips together. We had been planning this trip for a number of years but I am not sure that anyone actually expected it to happen. Two days after my graduation we flew into Anchorage with 100 pounds each of food and gear. After a day of sorting, packing and persuading ourselves not to bring some extra little tidbit we all crammed into a tiny orange Cessna 185 and flew into basecamp on the Kahiltna Glacier.

By Micah Dash

My good Jewish mother always wished I had become a doctor or a lawyer. To her great regret, I became a rock climber. All of the energy that I could have put into a professional career was completely flushed down the toilet and funneled into rock climbing. She of course blames it on my father. Needless to say, when I go home to visit I feel a bit socially retarded. It's as if my professional life has been severely underdeveloped.

This summer after an all-free ascent of El Capitan's 3,300 foot Freerider, VI 5.12d, 33 pitches, I found myself on the road headed to my mom's house for a few days of R&R and maybe even some homemade chicken soup. But first I stoped for a shower, shave and to do some laundry. Showing up at mom's house completely "disheveled," as she would say, is unacceptable especially at 30 years old. It's one thing to live out of my truck but it's another to look like it.

See the rest of these photos on Flickr.com

By William Meinen

It would be my second visit to Yosemite, and my first attempt at a route on Half Dome. After conversing with the seasoned locals over some beers in curry village, a game plan was set in motion. It was decided my partner, Andy, and I would take a fast and light approach, and bang it off the Northwest Face of Half Dome in a day. With a double set of cams, pizza in the belly, and only the clothes on our backs, we started the infamous slog up the John Muir Trail at 8pm. As soon as we started the hike, I could feel something in the air was different. Although there were no tangible signs, I could feel that the weather was changing. It left an uneasy feeling in my gut, so I asked around to see if anyone knew of a change in the forecast. I was told that there was going to be some clouds rolling in tomorrow, but no rain. I pushed the anxiety within, and continued on with the hike.

Click here to check out the rest of these photos on our Flickr site.

Our good friend Piero Vellutino recently sent us a few pics from his wild river run in a remote area of Peru. The group is sporting an impressive fleet of SkyLedge tents — camping amongst the Inca ruins. Piero, a world-class kayaker, is currently working on the first kayak descent of the Huayaga River in the jungle of Perú. More on that later.

Every quarter, Mountain Hardwear throws a BBQ, and this time around we decided to go for a Hawaiian Luau theme. It was a big success. Click here to check out more photos on our Flickr.com account.