Steep Planet ( a business and way of life )

Ski Here Now - Webisode 3 by Black Diamond Equipment

2011-01-03T19:21:00.000-08:00

SKI HERE NOW — Webisode #3 from Black Diamond Equipment on Vimeo.

Mtn Bike vs. Moto

2010-12-06T15:30:00.000-08:00

Waxin' and Milkin'

2010-11-12T20:33:00.000-08:00

All you ski bums; don't watch this film! (unless you want to be incredibly unproductive and distracted in everything you do that isn't on the slopes)

Chimæra from Sherpas Cinema on Vimeo.

Of Steel.

2010-11-10T22:39:00.000-08:00

Passion. Art. Industry. (some profanity if you read fast enough)

Winter Ride in Bend, OR.

2010-11-10T16:17:00.001-08:00

Columbia clad Backcountry Ski Adventure

2010-11-08T17:09:00.000-08:00

New Europe Athlete Vivian Bruchez shows off in his friend and filmmaker, Seb Montaznew's video: 4 descents made in one day on the Aiguille du Midi’s north face: Mallory, Eugster diagonal, Col du Plan, Couloir Ouest.

The Perfect day skiing. Chamonix, Mont Blanc range from sébastien montaz-rosset on Vimeo.

SKYLINERS - A Documentary by Seb Montaz

2010-11-05T15:50:00.000-07:00

Is it mountaineering? The Ultimate Tyrolean traverse? Mountain Circus? Hold your breath.

SKYLINERS - A Documentary by Seb Montaz from sébastien montaz-rosset on Vimeo.

MRP Rides with Danny Hart

2010-10-16T18:35:00.000-07:00

MRP Rides with Danny Hart - More Mountain Bike Videos

Commuting is thrilling

2010-10-10T21:55:00.000-07:00

pleasant commute from lucy Martin on Vimeo.

Full Movie: Lives of the Artists featuring Jeremy Jones and Xavier De Le Rue

2010-09-08T10:38:00.000-07:00

Part 2

2010-09-01T18:49:00.001-07:00

Part 1

2010-09-01T18:48:00.000-07:00

"I got 9 inch travel..."

2010-08-02T08:06:00.000-07:00

Wasatch PowderKeg 2010

2010-07-20T20:54:00.000-07:00

Our friends at Kuhl Clothing participate in this good time mountain race.

Bob, the movie by Seth Graham

2010-06-24T19:55:00.000-07:00

BOB from Seth Graham on Vimeo.

adrenaline rush hd demo 1080p

2010-06-14T19:50:00.000-07:00

It reminds me of that first step off a cliff when I start dreaming. Only someone had the forethought to strap on a camera...and parachute.

Creative trail building on the left coast or Kranked 8.5

2010-03-06T14:38:00.000-08:00

GoPro Helmet Hero HD Camera

2010-01-27T19:25:00.000-08:00

I don't know about you, but I love watching videos of athletes who excel at what they do best. I like taking pretty pictures sometimes too. And at some point I will upload some videos from the past that I shot and edited. But this is a whole different animal from what technology had to offer back in the 90s. Check out this device. Self contained, no wires, multi-mounts, 2.5 hour battery and a 170 degree lens lets you capture the action in High Definition. It is not your Bro's "lipstick" cam. Want one? Contact me at 541 306-3727, or scott@steepplanet.com

Backcountry Exploring

2010-01-26T20:03:00.000-08:00

Lance rips (even though it's for NIKE)

2010-01-18T21:26:00.000-08:00

Fat Cyclist blogger makes good on his word

2010-01-18T19:00:00.000-08:00

Fly

2010-01-13T20:59:00.000-08:00

Swiss Valley from steph davis on Vimeo.

Umm, OK. Now what?

2010-01-06T17:19:00.000-08:00

I like the unexplainable as much as the next guy, but this, if authentic, is perplexing and thought provoking. I welcome your speculations.

The spelling errors on the YouTube widget belong to the post(er).

Cross your frost-bitten fingers and your eyes... It's Cross Nationals in Bend, OR.

2009-12-18T20:04:00.000-08:00

It's Cross Season Again

2009-11-22T08:22:00.000-08:00

And this is the State of the Art, so to speak.

Umm Bobby Root...Skills Video?

2009-11-17T19:32:00.000-08:00

Powder Skiing

2009-11-16T19:35:00.000-08:00

Who is behind the camera work in this video montage? I can hold a camera and ski. But the results are not even close. Music by Paul O.

Nordic Skiers in funny race suits

2009-11-14T14:54:00.000-08:00

So you can cross country ski? Well good on you. If you have a ski outfit like these guys, and it can be seen from space, maybe you should jib off a cornice or something too!? Smiling all the way to the snow bank. See Steep Planet.com for a toned down version of ski apparel.

1st Ski Dream of the year.

2009-11-09T16:01:00.001-08:00

I had my first Ski dream last night. I was dressed and had all the gear. It was just past 4pm, frantic, I finagled my way onto the chairlift with a buddy (insert your name here). We were behind the patrollers and the light was fading. As we got off the chair the bull wheel made a groan and the cable and chairs suddenly stopped. Hauntingly beautiful as we skimmed around the corner of the ramp and skated over to the best vantage point to view the run. It was the magic hour for photographers. As we adjusted our gear, we allowed the patrollers who sweep time to pass and head down. We summed up the snow quality with that old familiar smirk; 8 inches of new poof on top of hard pack and was beckoning to us. Very quiet now. Buckles locked, skis felt greasey, all systems were go.
Just then, my daughter lost her pacifier and made the "WAKE UP! and come find my sucker poppa" sounds...oh the dissapointment. I guess I will need to wait until tonight.
Deep Dreams! Steep Planet Code: 1SteepDeal for 15% off.

dirtworld.com and Transition bikes Video.

2009-11-03T14:29:00.000-08:00

Or maybe you prefer something on a larger more epic scale...I enjoyed this guy's trail selection, even if it is a bike commercial. Gimme some of that!

Brazilian DH POV RSVP ASAP

2009-11-03T14:23:00.001-08:00

There is nothing more fun than jibbing in the city. But if you are a sponsored kook, you may one day get the chance to rip it up in a foreign venue like the back alleys of Brazil. Enjoy!

London to Paris on Track Bikes

2009-10-10T08:23:00.000-07:00

Lance Armstrong posted this on Twitter. Thanks Mr. Armstrong!

LONDON TO PARIS from Amazing Grace on Vimeo.

Another short film about long boards

2009-10-02T15:14:00.000-07:00

Signatures: a backcountry film

2009-10-02T14:58:00.000-07:00

2009-10-02T13:20:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Steep Planet's blog. I run it, my name is Scott. If you look through the stories, videos, and images, it may give you some insight to a way of life that's just not right. In fact, more left of center...
Skiing almost all year,

Some riding,

Some Climbing

And general exploration and experimentation the rest of the time.

Heck, sure sounds good to me.
So from here we will explore the Steep Planet Zone. Or, "How to become a "Planeteer"
First, raise your right hand and repeat: I (Leonard)...

swear to be logical while in the wilderness. I will use common sense on the trails. I will not litter. I will pack out more than I brought with me! I will speak pleasantly to those who pass me on the trail and offer assistance to those in need. I will volunteer my free time to work on trails for the good of all. I will drive to the mountain for a day of skiing and pack as many people and runs in as I can.
I will offer to buy a round of beers after an epic day riding. There. You are a Planeteer. Now get outside and practice the oath.

Performance is the name of the game.

2009-08-12T19:41:00.000-07:00

TGR's 'Session' teaser

2009-07-27T14:33:00.000-07:00

A letter from your local bike shop

2009-07-26T14:12:00.000-07:00

Whoo-hoo Bend, Seattle, Portland (or the town you currently live in), the sun is out! Let's discuss a few things before you fumble with swapping the unused ski rack for the unused bike rack on the Subaru.

So yes, you've noticed the sun is out, and hey!- maybe it would be cool to to some bike riding. Let's keep in mind that the sun came out of all 600,000 of us, so for the most part, you're not the only one who noticed. Please remember that when you walk into my shop on a bright, sunny Saturday morning. It will save you from looking like a complete twat that huffs "Why are there so many people here?"

Are we all on the same page now about it being sunny outside? Have we all figured out that we're not the only clever people that feel sunny days are good for bike riding? Great. I want to kiss all of you on your forehead for sharing this moment with me. Put your vitamin D starved fingers in mine, and we'll move on together to some pointers that will make life easier.

SOME POINTERS FOR THE PHONE:

- I don't know what size of bike you need. The only thing that I can tell over the phone is that you sound fat. I don't care how tall you are. I don't care how long your inseam is. Don't complain to me that you don't want to come ALL THE WAY down to the bike shop to get fitted for a bike. I have two hundred bikes in my inventory. I will find one that fits you. Whether you come from the north or the south, my shop is downhill. Pretend you're going to smell a fart, ball up, and roll your fat ass down here.

- Don't get high and call me. Write it down, call me later. When I have four phone lines ringing, and a herdlet
of people waiting for help, I can't deal with you sitting there "uuuuhhh"-ing and "uuummm"-ing while your brain tries to put together some cheeto-xbox-fixie conundrum. We didn't get disconnected, I left you on hold to figure your shit out.

-I really do need to see your bike to know what is wrong with it. You've already figured out that when you car makes a noise, the mechanic needs to see it. When your TV goes blank, a technician needs to see it. I can tell you, if there is one thing I've learned from you fucking squirrels, it's that "doesn't shift right" means your bike could need a slight cable adjustment, or you might just need to stop backing into it with the Subaru. Bring it in, I'll let you know for sure.

- No, I don't know how much a good bike costs. For some, spending $500 dollars is a kingly sum. For others, $500 won't buy you one good wheel. You really need to have an idea of what you want, because every one of you raccoons "doesn't want to spend too much".

FOR YOU INVENTIVE TYPES AND DO-IT-YOURSELFERS:

- Just because you think is should exist, doesn't mean that it does. I know that to you, a 14 inch quill stem makes perfect sense, but what makes more sense is buying a bike that fits you, not trying to make your mountain bike that was too small for you to begin with into a comfort bike.

- If some twat on some message board somewhere says that you can use the lockring from your bottom bracket as a lockring for a fixie conversion doesn't mean that A: you can, or B: you should. Please listen to me on this stuff, I really do have your best interests at heart.

- I love that you have the enthusiasm to build yourself a recumbent in the off season. That does not mean however, that I share your enthusiasm; ergo I won't do the "final tweaks" for you. You figure out why that Sram shifter and that Shimano rear derailleur don't work together. While we're at it, you recumbent people scare me a little. Don't bring that lumbering fucking thing anywhere near me.

A DEDICATION TO ALL THE HIPSTER DOUCHEBAGS:

-If you shitheads had any money, you wouldn't NEED a vintage Poo-zhow to get laid. Go have an ironic mustache growing contest in front of American Apparel, so that I can continue selling $300 bikes to fatties, which is what keeps the lights on.

- Being made in the 80's may make something cool, but that doesn't automatically make something good. The reason that no one has ridden that "vintage" Murray is because it's shit. It was shit in the 80's, a trend it carried proudly through the 90's, and rallied with into the '00's. What I mean to say is, no, I can't make it work better. It's still shit, even with more air in the tires.

SO YOU'RE GONNA BUY A BIKE:

Good for you! Biking is awesome. It's easy, it's fun, it's good for you. I want you to bike, I really do. To that end, I am here to help you.

-Your co-worker that's "really into biking" knows fuck all. Stop asking for his advice. He could care less about you having the right bike. He wants to validate his bike purchase(s) through you. He also wants to sleep with you, and wear matching bike shorts with you.

- You're not a triathlete. You're not. If you were, you wouldn't be here, and we both know it.

- You're not a racer. If you were, I'd know you already, and you wouldn't be here, and we both know it.

- So you want a bike that you can ride to work, goes really fast, is good for that triathlon you're doing this summer (snicker), is good on trails and mud, and costs less than $300. Yeah. Listen, I want a car that can go 200 miles an hour, tow a boat, has room for five adults, is easy to parallel park but can carry plywood, gets 60mpg, and only costs $3,000. I also want a unicorn to blow me. What are we even talking about here? Oh yeah. Listen, bikes can be fast, light, cheap and comfortable. Pick two, and we're all good.

ABOUT YOUR KIDS:

Your kids are amazing. Sure are. No one else has kids as smart, able, funny or as good looking as you. Nope. Never see THAT around here.

- I have no idea how long you kid will be able to use this bike. As it seems to me, your precious is a little retarded, and can't even use the damn thing now. More likely, your budding genius is going to leave the bike in the driveway where you will Subaru the bike to death LONG before the nose picker outgrows the bike.

- Stop being so jumpy. I am not a molester. You people REALLY watch too much TV. When I hold the back of the bike while your kid is on it, it's not because I get a thrill from *almost* having my hand on kid butt, it's because kids are unpredictable, and generally take off whenever possible, usually not in the direction you think they might go. Listen, if I were going to do anything bad to your kids, I'd feed them to sharks, because sharks are FUCKING AWESOME.

I hope this helps, and have fun this summer riding your kick-ass bike!

District 9 desrves a thorough look

2009-07-22T20:27:00.000-07:00

Cross Crusade in Portland, OR

2009-07-06T14:49:00.000-07:00

Cyclocross Compilation

2009-07-06T14:34:00.000-07:00

Singlespeed Cyclocross World Championships 2008

2009-07-06T14:17:00.000-07:00

Singlespeed Cyclocross World Championships 2008 from bce on Vimeo.

HD Skiing in AK. Seth Morrison

2009-06-29T18:21:00.000-07:00

Lance training montage

2009-06-29T13:46:00.000-07:00

le Tour de France route

2009-06-29T08:57:00.000-07:00

Longboard Mini-Series EP7: "In Transition" Western Sessions longboarding finale

2009-06-21T17:28:00.002-07:00

Longboard Mini-Series EP6: "Coast to Coast" Western Sessions

2009-06-21T17:28:00.001-07:00

Longboard Mini-Series EP5: "Carnivorous Men" Western Sessions

2009-06-21T17:19:00.002-07:00

Longboard Mini-Series EP4: "Bears!" Western Sessions: Sierra Nevada Longboarding

2009-06-21T17:19:00.001-07:00

Longboard Mini-Series EP3: 'Everyday Husslin' Western Sessions: Las Vegas

2009-06-21T17:18:00.001-07:00

Longboarding Mini-Series EP2: Western Sessions "The Front Range"

2009-06-21T17:15:00.001-07:00

Longboard Mini-Series EP1: Western Sessions "Thunder Snow"

2009-06-21T17:10:00.000-07:00

View the series here.

Antigravity 3 teaser

2009-06-20T14:24:00.000-07:00

Marin Bikes ad

2009-06-19T20:45:00.000-07:00

Adventures in Speed

2009-06-18T21:02:00.001-07:00

K2 Playing with Fate

2009-06-18T20:40:00.000-07:00

World of Adventure Sports presents...

2009-06-18T20:34:00.000-07:00

Slope Style POV

2009-06-17T21:16:00.000-07:00

Protocol

2009-06-17T20:42:00.000-07:00

1%

2009-06-15T21:54:00.000-07:00

Bob Burnquist. The Best Run Ever!

2009-06-12T18:57:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe this was 8 years ago. I still get the shivs when I watch it. Word.

SBCC interview with Yvon Chouinard Part 1, 2 and 3

2009-06-12T16:25:00.000-07:00

Can I get a Witness?!

2009-06-12T16:11:00.000-07:00

"Fins" ad for the FUEL TV

2009-06-11T20:14:00.000-07:00

When I grow up, I am definitely gonna be a surfer.
Scott age: 47.5

Nils Larsen's "Journey to the Source"

2009-06-09T16:31:00.000-07:00

Excerpt from Nils Larsen's "Journey to the Source" on the roots of skiing in China's Altai region. Courtesy of Nils Larsen.

Just add water...or not.

2009-06-07T20:22:00.000-07:00

These are not a street punk vids with endless flip tricks and disrespectful, noisy young fellows with pants at half mast and a cig between the phalanges. I don't care much for that style of exhibitionism. That said, enjoy the videos.

Pure Sweet Hell

2009-06-07T08:44:00.000-07:00

http://www.bikebuzz.net/cyclocrossfilm/

2009-10 USA Cycling Cyclo-cross Nationals awarded to Bend, Oregon

The USA Cycling Cyclo-cross National Championships were last held in the Pacific Northwest when Portland hosted the 2003 and 2004 editions. Since then, the annual event has been held in Providence, R.I. (2005-06) and Kansas City, Kan. (2007-08). With scheduled dates of Dec. 10-13 in 2009 and Dec. 9-12 in 2010, the two-year commitment returns the national championships to one of the most popular hotbeds of cyclo-cross racing in North America.

With more than 2,000 athletes from around the nation expected to compete in Bend next year, 35 national titles will be on the line throughout several categories of racing; including junior, U23, collegiate, masters and elite divisions for men and women.

“Bend is a special place and our entire community is honored to host the cycling world for the USA Cycling Cyclo-cross National Championships,” said Doug LaPlaca, president and CEO of Visit Bend and co-chair of the local organizing committee. “Anyone who has visited Bend understands the enormous enthusiasm and opportunity here – not just for cycling and cyclo-cross, but for sports and recreation in general.”

Considered by many to be a hub for outdoor sports enthusiasts, Bend also plays host to the Cascade Cycling Classic, a USA Cycling National Racing Calendar event, recently hosted the XTERRA Trail Running National Championships, and will host the USA Triathlon Winter Triathlon National Championships next month. Additionally, the town has recently been named America’s Top Adventure Town by Men’s Journal, America’s Top Trail Running Town by Outside, one of the country’s Top-Five Ski Towns by Travel + Leisure, one of the Top-10 U.S. Triathlon Towns by Triathlete and “The Next Moab” by Mountain Bike.

The announcement of the 2009-10 USA Cycling Cyclo-cross National Championships leaves only three of next season’s national championship events yet to be determined.

The Art of Free Fall

2009-06-06T15:41:00.000-07:00

More LOVE for Brands like Patagonia

2009-06-05T13:19:00.000-07:00

We LOVE Patagonia. Not only are they arguably the leader in the environmental crusade for sustainable resources and but the design and materials of the many lines of clothing, travel luggage and accessories are unique, durable and built to withstand time.

From the earliest days of forging pitons in the tin shed to Great Pacific Iron Works to Chouinard Equipment and finally Patagonia, the lessons learned aren't just for business but for LIFE. A great company to work with and follow the success of.

The story in their words:

Beginnings and Blacksmithery
Yvon Chouinard, Patagonia's founder, got his start as a climber in 1953 as a 14-year-old member of the Southern California Falconry Club, which trained hawks and falcons for hunting. After one of the adult leaders, Don Prentice, taught the boys how to rappel down the cliffs to the falcon aeries, Yvon and his friends became so fond of the sport they started hopping freight trains to the west end of the San Fernando Valley, to the sandstone cliffs of Stoney Point. There, eventually, they learned to climb up as well as rappel down the rock.

Chouinard started hanging out at Stoney Point on every weekend in the winter, and at Tahquitz Rock above Palm Springs in the fall and spring. There he met some other young climbers who belonged to the Sierra Club, including TM Herbert, Royal Robbins, and Tom Frost. Eventually, the friends moved on from Tahquitz to Yosemite, to teach themselves to climb its big walls.

The only pitons available at that time were made of soft iron, placed once, then left in the rock. But in Yosemite, multiday ascents required hundreds of placements. Chouinard, after meeting John Salathé, a Swiss climber and Swedenborgian mystic who had once made hard-iron pitons out of Model A axles, decided to make his own reusable hardware. In 1957, he went to a junkyard and bought a used coal-fired forge, a 138-pound anvil, some tongs and hammers, and started teaching himself how to blacksmith.

Chouinard made his first pitons from an old harvester blade and tried them out with T.M. Herbert on early ascents of the Lost Arrow Chimney and the North Face of Sentinel Rock in Yosemite. The word spread and soon friends had to have Chouinard's chrome-molybdenum steel pitons. Before he knew it he was in business. He could forge two of his in an hour, and sold them for $1.50 each.

Chouinard built a small shop in his parents' backyard in Burbank. Most of his tools were portable, so he could load up his car and travel the California coast from Big Sur to San Diego, surfing. After a session, he would haul his anvil down to the beach and cut out angle pitons with a cold chisel and hammer before moving on.

For the next few years, Chouinard forged pitons during the winter months, spent April to July on the walls of Yosemite, then headed out of the heat of summer for the high mountains of Wyoming, Canada, or the Alps, and then back to Yosemite in the fall until the snow fell in November. He supported himself selling gear from the back of his car. The profits were slim, though. For weeks at a time, he'd live on fifty cents to a dollar a day. Before leaving for the Rockies one summer he bought two cases of dented, canned cat tuna from a damaged-can outlet in San Francisco. This food supply was supplemented by oatmeal, potatoes, and poached ground squirrel and porcupines.

In Yosemite, Chouinard and his friends were called the Valley Cong. They had to hide out from the rangers in the boulders above Camp 4 after they overstayed the 2-week camping limit. They took pride in the fact that climbing rocks and icefalls had no economic value, that they were rebels. Their heroes were Muir, Thoreau, Emerson, Gaston Rebuffat, Ricardo Cassin, and Herman Buhl.

Chouinard Equipment
There was soon enough demand for Chouinard's gear that he couldn't keep making it by hand; he had to start using tools and dies and machinery. So in 1965, he went into partnership with Tom Frost, who was an aeronautical engineer as well as a climber, and had a keen sense of design and aesthetics. During the nine years that Frost and Chouinard were partners, they redesigned and improved almost every climbing tool, to make them stronger, lighter, simpler, and more functional. They would return from every trip to the mountains with new ideas for improving existing tools.

Their guiding design principle came from Antoine de Saint Exupéry, the French aviator:

Have you ever thought, not only about the airplane but whatever man builds, that all of man's industrial efforts, all his computations and calculations, all the nights spent working over draughts and blueprints, invariably culminate in the production of a thing whose sole and guiding principle is the ultimate principle of simplicity?

It is as if there were a natural law which ordained that to achieve this end, to refine the curve of a piece of furniture, or a ship's keel, or the fuselage of an airplane, until gradually it partakes of the elementary purity of the curve of the human breast or shoulder, there must be experimentation of several generations of craftsmen. In anything at all, perfection is finally attained not when there is no longer anything to add, but when there is no longer anything to take away, when a body has been stripped down to its nakedness.*
By 1970, Chouinard Equipment had become the largest supplier of climbing hardware in the U.S. It had also become an environmental villain because its gear was damaging the rock. Climbing had become more popular, but remained concentrated on the same well-tried routes in areas like El Dorado Canyon, the Shawangunks, and Yosemite Valley. The same fragile cracks had to endure repeated hammering of pitons, during both placement and removal and the disfiguring was severe. After an ascent of the degraded Nose route on El Capitan, which had been pristine a few summers earlier, Chouinard and Frost decided to phase out of the piton business. This was to be the first big environmental step we would take over the years. It was a huge business risk – pitons were then still the mainstay of the business – but it had to be done.

Fortunately, there was an alternative: aluminum chocks that could be wedged by hand rather than hammered in and out of cracks. We introduced them in the first Chouinard Equipment catalog in 1972.

The catalog opened with an editorial from the owners on the environmental hazards of pitons. A 14-page essay by Sierra climber Doug Robinson on how to use chocks began with a powerful paragraph:
There is a word for it, and the word is clean. Climbing with only nuts and runners for protection is clean climbing. Clean because the rock is left unaltered by the passing climber. Clean because nothing is hammered into the rock and then hammered back out, leaving the rock scarred and the next climber's experience less natural. Clean because the climber's protection leaves little trace of his ascension. Clean is climbing the rock without changing it; a step closer to organic climbing for the natural man.
Within a few months of the catalog's mailing, the piton business had atrophied; chocks sold faster than they could be made. In the tin buildings of Chouinard Equipment, the steady pounding rhythm of the drop hammer gave way to the high-pitched, searing whine of the multiple-drill jig.

Clothes for Climbers
During the late sixties, men did not wear bright, colorful clothes, not outside. "Active sportswear" consisted of basic gray sweatshirts and pants, and the standard issue for climbing in Yosemite was tan cut-off chinos and white dress shirts bought from the thrift store. On a winter climbing trip to Scotland in 1970, Chouinard bought a regulation team rugby shirt to wear rock climbing. Overbuilt to withstand the rigors of rugby, it had a collar that would keep the hardware slings from cutting into the neck. It was blue, with two red and one yellow center stripe across the chest. Back in the States, Chouinard wore it around his climbing friends, who asked where they could get one.

We ordered a few shirts from Umbro, in England, and they sold straight off. We couldn't keep them in stock, and soon began ordering shirts from New Zealand and Argentina as well. Other companies followed suit and we soon realized that we had introduced a minor fashion craze to the United States. We began to see clothing as a way to help support the marginally profitable hardware business, and by 1972 we were selling polyurethane rain cagoules and bivouac sacks from Scotland, boiled-wool gloves and mittens from Austria, and hand-knit reversible "schizo" hats from Boulder.

As we began to make more and more clothes, we needed to find a name for our clothing line. Why not "Chouinard?" We already had a good image going, why start from scratch? We had two reasons against it. First, we didn't want to dilute the image of Chouinard as a tool company by making clothing under that label. And second, we didn't want our clothes to be associated only with mountain climbing.

To most people, especially then, Patagonia was a name like Timbuktu or Shangri-La, far-off, interesting, not quite on the map. Patagonia brings to mind, as we once wrote in a catalog introduction, "romantic visions of glaciers tumbling into fjords, jagged windswept peaks, gauchos and condors." It's been a good name for us, and it can be pronounced in every language.

Capilene® and Synchilla®: A Layering Story

At a time when the entire mountaineering community relied on the traditional, moisture-absorbing layers of cotton, wool, and down, we looked elsewhere for inspiration – and protection. We decided that a staple of North Atlantic fishermen, the synthetic pile sweater, would make an ideal mountain layer, because it would insulate well without absorbing moisture.

But we needed to find some fabric to test out our idea, and it wasn't easy to find. Finally, Malinda Chouinard, acting on a hunch, drove to the Merchandise Mart in Los Angeles. She found what she was looking for at Malden Mills, freshly emerged from bankruptcy after the collapse of the fake fur-coat market. We sewed up samples and field-tested them in alpine conditions. It had a couple of drawbacks: a bulky, lumbering fit and a bad-hair-day look, thanks to fibers that quickly pilled. But it was astonishingly warm, particularly when used with a shell. It insulated when wet, but also dried in minutes, and it reduced the number of layers a climber had to wear.

It does no good to wear a quick-drying insulation layer over cotton underwear, which absorbs body moisture, then freezes. So In 1980 we came out with insulating long underwear made of polypropylene, a synthetic fiber that has a very low specific gravity and absorbs no water. It had been used in the manufacture of industrial commodities like marine ropes, which float. Its first adaptation to clothing was as a non-woven lining in disposable diapers.

Using the capabilities of this new underwear as the basis of a system, we became the first company to teach, through essays in our catalog, the concept of layering to the outdoor community. This approach involves wearing an inner layer against the skin for moisture transport, a middle layer of pile for insulation, and then an outer shell layer for wind and moisture protection.

It didn't take many seasons before we saw much less cotton and wool in the mountains – and a lot of badly pilled powder blue and tan pile sweaters worn over striped polypropylene underwear.

Polypropylene, like pile, had some problems. It had a very low melting temperature – and customers were melting their underwear in commercial dryers, which run hotter than home dryers. Also, polypropylene is hydrophobic and repels water, so it was difficult to get thoroughly clean; it retained odors. And its wicking properties were not inherent in the fabric but a product of oils applied in the process of spinning and knitting that, after twenty washings or so, would wear off.

Although both pile and polypropylene were immediately successful, and we did not yet have significant competition, we worked hard from the start to improve our quality and overcome the problems by both fabrics.

Improving pile was a gradual process. We worked closely with Malden to develop first a softer Bunting fabric, a synthetic boiled wool that pilled less, and eventually Synchilla®, an even softer, double-faced fabric that did not pill at all. With Synchilla, we learned an important lesson in business. While Malden's access to capital made many of the innovations possible, the fabric never would have been developed if we had not actively shaped the research and development process. From that point forward, we began to make significant investments in research & design. Our fabric lab and our fabric development department, in particular, became the envy of the industry. Mills were anxious to work with us on developing projects; they knew that if Patagonia were to push them or help them, the developed fabric would likely be a better one.

But our replacement for polypropylene did not come from such a mutual development process with a mill; it came from out of the blue.

In 1984, while walking around the Sporting Goods show in Chicago, Chouinard saw a demonstration of polyester football jerseys being cleaned of grass stains. Polyester, like polypropylene, is made from melted plastic resins extruded through a die to create a thin, thread-like fiber. These plastic fibers are very smooth; clothing woven from them is difficult to clean because the slick fibers repel the soap and water of normal washing.

Milliken, the company that made the football jerseys, had developed a process that permanently etched the surface of the fiber as it was extruded, so that the surface became hydrophilic – water loving. It wicked moisture to the outside and the treatment was permanent. Chouinard saw the fabric as perfect for underwear. And polyester had a much higher melting temperature than polypro, so it wouldn't melt in a commercial dryer.

In fall 1985 we shifted our entire line of polypropylene underwear to the new Capilene® polyester. It was a big risk, similar to our introduction of chocks in 1972. During the same season we also introduced the new Synchilla fleece: between them, the older products made of polypropylene and bunting had represented 70% of our sales. But our loyal core customers quickly realized the advantages of Capilene and Synchilla, and sales soared.

Growing Pains
During the early 1980s, we made another important shift. At a time when all outdoor products were either tan, forest green, or, at the most colorful, powder blue, we drenched the Patagonia line in vivid color. We introduced cobalt, teal, French red, aloe, seafoam, and iced mocha. Patagonia clothing, still rugged, moved beyond bland-looking to blasphemous.

The runaway popularity of dramatic colors, and the growing appeal of technical fabrics like Synchilla, created a new concern. The Patagonia label had now become as much of a fad as the rugby shirt, and our popularity extended well beyond the outdoor community to fashion consumers. Although we devoted most of our selling efforts and catalog space to explaining the technical merits of layered clothing for hard-core enthusiasts, and had success with those products, the best-selling pieces were our least technical – Baggies beach shorts and shelled Synchilla bomber-style sports jackets.

We began to grow at a rapid pace; at one point we made Inc. Magazine's list of the fastest-growing privately held companies. That rapid growth came to a halt in the summer of 1991, when our sales crimped during a recession and our bankers, themselves in trouble and up for sale, called in our revolving loan. To pay off the debt, we had to drastically cut costs and dump inventory. We laid off 20% of our work force–many of them friends and friends of friends. And we nearly lost our independence as a company. That taught us a major lesson. We have kept growth – and borrowing – to a modest scale ever since.

Let My People Surf

We were able, in many ways, to keep alive our cultural values, even during the heavy-growth years, and after the shock of the 1991 layoffs. We were surrounded by friends who could dress however they wanted, even barefooted. People ran or surfed at lunch, or played volleyball in the sandpit at the back of the building. The company sponsored ski and climbing trips; many more trips were undertaken informally by groups of friends who would drive up to the Sierras on Friday night and arrive home, groggy but happy, in time for work on Monday morning.

Since 1984 we have had no private offices, an architectural arrangement that sometimes creates distractions but also helps keep communication open. That year we opened a cafeteria where employees can gather throughout the day that to this day serves healthy, mostly vegetarian food. And we also opened, at Malinda Chouinard's insistence, an on-site child care center, at the time one of only 150 in the country (today there are more than 3,000). The presence of children playing in the yard, or having lunch with their parents in the cafeteria helps keep the company atmosphere more familial than corporate. We also continue to offer – mostly for the benefit of working parents but also for others – flexible working hours and job sharing.

We have never had to make a "break" from the traditional corporate culture that makes businesses hidebound and inhibits creativity. For the most part, we simply made the effort to hold to our own values and traditions.

Early Environmental Ethics
Patagonia was still a fairly small company when we started to devote time and money to the increasingly apparent environmental crisis. We all saw what was happening in the remote corners of the world: creeping pollution and deforestation, the slow, then not so slow, disappearance of fish and wildlife. And we saw what was happening closer to home: thousand year-old Sequoias succumbing to L.A. smog, the thinning of life in tide pools and kelp beds, the rampant development of the land along the coast.

What we began to read – about global warming, the cutting and burning of tropical forests, the rapid loss of groundwater and topsoil, acid rain, the ruin of rivers and creeks from silting-over dams – reinforced what we saw with our eyes and smelled with our noses during our travels. At the same time, we slowly became aware that uphill battles fought by small, dedicated groups of people to save patches of habitat could yield significant results.

The first lesson had come right here at home, in the early '70s. A group of us went to a city council meeting to help protect a local surf break. We knew vaguely that the Ventura River had once been a major steelhead salmon habitat. Then, during the forties, two dams were built, and water diverted. Except for winter rains, the only water left at the river mouth flowed from the sewage plant. At that city council meeting, several experts testified that the river was dead and that channeling the mouth would have no effect on remaining bird- and wildlife, or on our surf break.

Things looked grim until Mark Capelli, a 25-year-old biology student, gave a slide show of photos he had taken along the river – of the birds that lived in the willows, of the muskrats and water snakes, of eels that spawned in the estuary. He even showed a slide of a steelhead smolt: yes, fifty or so steelhead still came to spawn in our "dead" river.

The development plan was defeated. We gave Mark office space and a mailbox, and small contributions to help him fight the River's battle. As more development plans cropped up, the Friends of the Ventura River worked to defeat them, to clean up the water and to increase its flow. Wildlife increased and more steelhead began to spawn.

Mark taught us two important lessons: that a grassroots effort could make a difference, and that degraded habitat could, with effort, be restored. His work inspired us. We began to make regular donations, to stick to smaller groups working to save or restore habitat rather than give the money to NGOs with big staffs, overheads, and corporate connections. In 1986, we committed to donate 10% of profits each year to these groups. We later upped the ante to 1% of sales, or 10% of profits, whichever was greater. We have kept to that commitment every year since.

In 1988, we initiated our first national environmental campaign on behalf of an alternative master plan to deurbanize the Yosemite Valley. Each year since, we have undertaken a major education campaign on an environmental issue. We took an early position against globalization of trade where it means compromise of environmental and labor standards. We have argued for dam removal where silting, marginally useful dams compromise fish life. We have supported wildlands projects that seek to preserve ecosystems whole and create corridors for wildlife to roam. We hold, every eighteen months, a "Tools for Activists" conference to teach marketing and publicity skills to some of the groups we work with.

We also, early on, began initial steps to reduce our own role as a corporate polluter: we have been using recycled-content paper for our catalogs since the mid-eighties. We worked with Malden Mills to develop recycled polyester for use in our Synchilla fleece.

Our distribution center in Reno, opened in 1996, achieved a 60% reduction in energy use through solar-tracking skylights and radiant heating; we used recycled content for everything from rebar to carpet to the partitions between urinals. We retrofitted lighting systems in existing stores, and build-outs for new stores became increasingly environmentally friendly. We assessed the dyes we used and eliminated colors from the line that required the use of toxic metals and sulfides. Most importantly, since the early nineties, we have made environmental responsibility a key element of everyone's job.

Our Switch to Organic Cotton
When we commissioned from an independent research company an environmental impact assessment of four major fibers, we expected to learn that oil-based polyester and nylon were big energy consumers and sources of pollution. And so they proved to be, but not on the scale of cotton.

The "natural" fiber used in most of our sportswear proved to be by far the greatest environmental evildoer of the fibers studied. We learned that 25% of all toxic pesticides used in agriculture was (and is) used in the cultivation of cotton, that the resulting pollution of soil and water was (and is) horrific, and that evidence of damage to the health of fieldworkers is strong, though difficult to prove.

Cotton was the biggest villain – and it didn't have to be. Farmers had grown cotton organically, without pesticides, for thousands of years. Only after World War II did the chemicals originally developed as nerve gases become available for commercial use, to eliminate the need for weeding fields by hand.

We experimented. At first we made only T-shirts with organic cotton. Then, after several trips to the San Joaquin Valley, after we smelled the selenium ponds and saw the lunar landscape of cotton fields, we asked a critical question: How could we continue to make products that laid waste to the earth this way?

In the fall of 1994, we made the decision to take our cotton sportswear 100% organic by 1996.

We had eighteen months to make the switch for 66 products – and only four months to line up the fabric. We found that there simply wasn't enough organic cotton commercially available to buy through brokers. We had to go direct to the few farmers who had gone back to organic methods. And then we had to go to the ginners and spinners and persuade them to clean their equipment after running what would be for them very low quantities. We had to talk to the certifiers so that all the fiber could be traced back to the bale.

We succeeded. Every Patagonia garment made of cotton in 1996 was organic, and has been ever since.

Next Steps
We continue the search for more environmentally friendly fabrics. We are using more hemp, in some products in combination with recycled polyester. Recently, one of our suppliers has found a way to recycle polyester from sources other than soda bottles – and we're making use of the fabric in some of our best selling products. More importantly, clothes themselves potentially can be recyclable. In the future, it should be possible for consumers to return a polyester-based jacket to us to then forward onto a processor to be re-made into fiber or other forms of plastic.

Thirty years after the Patagonia label first appeared, we continue to make the best product. The pace of innovation during the most recent five-year period has been one of our most significant. We have developed body-mapped, or variable-knit Capilene® base layers that, through their thoughtful construction, wick moisture more efficiently and allow the wearer more freedom of movement.

Regulator® insulation represents a significant technical improvement over Synchilla. It's lighter, warmer, wicks moisture more quickly and is far more compressible in a pack. And it works in concert with a remarkable new generation of shells – hard, soft, and hybrid – that are also lighter, stretchier, and more supple than any of their predecessors.

Indeed fabrics have advanced so far – in the direction of St. Exupéry's functional minimalism – that construction methods long limited to the needle and thread must now catch up. For spring 2005, we are introducing new seaming methods for both soft and hard shells that reduce bulk, improve drape, and more significantly, improve performance in wet weather.

During the past thirty years, we've made many mistakes but we've never lost our way for very long. Although we first intended Patagonia as a way to free ourselves from the limitations of the original climbing business, precisely those limitations have kept us on our toes and helped us thrive. We still pursue climbing and surfing, activities that entail risk, require soul, and invite reflection. We favor informal travels with friends – doing what we love to do – to the camera-covered event. We can't bring ourselves to knowingly make a mediocre product. And we cannot avert our eyes from the harm done, by all of us, to our one and only home.

The Brands we LOVE, like Pearl Izumi

2009-06-05T12:41:00.000-07:00

We LOVE Pearl Izumi. They have created functional and stylish clothing for the Cyclist and Runner for 50 years. We started selling PI in 2004. The company is based in Broomfield, CO. and nearly all the employees ride road, MTB, or are avid runners. The people at PI are easy to work with and will do anything to make sure you are satisfied with their product...like a lifetime guarantee! See our collection of Pearl Izumi clothing here.

The history of Pearl Izumi in their words:

More than 50 years ago in Tokyo, a father produced Japan's first bicycle racing apparel for his son, a promising racer. Today, Pearl Izumi USA, Inc. has evolved into the world's foremost line of technical- performing and quality manufactured sports apparel.The name Pearl Izumi USA, Inc. is derived from the gem "pearl" and an area of Japan known for its clear water "Izumi." Literally translated, our name means, "fountain of pearls." The line has been distributed in the United States since 1981. Pearl Izumi USA, Inc. sponsored the US National Team (the team that won nine gold medals in the 1984 Olympic Games) and several major trade teams during the mid-eighties. Through these associations and the actual performance of Pearl Izumi USA, Inc. products, the line enjoys an almost cult-type following. In 1989, the company acquired the license for the US market. This allowed product to be developed outside of Japan, combining the best of East and West performance apparel technology. With the help of an excellent in-house staff and 40+ person outside sales force, the company has developed Pearl Izumi USA, Inc. into one of the most well respected brands in the United States. The focus of the Pearl Izumi USA, Inc. line remains dedicated to meeting the needs of the serious sport enthusiast. The company's long-term plan for the Pearl Izumi USA, Inc. brand has been to strengthen its position in cycling and apply the same formula for quality, innovation and technical performance into other sport categories. These categories now successfully include cross-country skiing, triathlon, duathlon, running and other outdoor sport activities. In the summer of 1991, the company gained the license and distribution rights to essentially the entire world with the exception of Asia. New distribution has already been established in 14 countries. In 1997, the company purchased the Pearl Izumi USA, Inc. brand name and trademarks for the United States. This will ensure continued opportunity for the brand.

Deeper Thoughts

2009-06-04T15:00:00.000-07:00

Sale at Steep Planet

2009-06-03T14:40:00.000-07:00

I guess the social network would not be complete without shameless, bold and hopefully humorous plugs to draw attention to my business. So forgive me, but here we go...

Maybe you need new Road Shorts or Jersey? We sell Pearl Izumi, Fox MTB, Sugoi, Castelli, Smartwool, Swobo, Showers Pass, Louis Garneau and Giordana. We also sell accessories like Tifosi Optics, Ryders Eyewear and SockGuy.

a 2 hour tour

2009-06-02T13:56:00.000-07:00

Just got in from a dank soil session. One of the benefits to having an office on the West Side is the location of the trails. It is a 3 minute spin to dirt and about 10 minutes to the trailhead. Then there are about a half dozen options from there.

I like Ben's trail. It is a mild start to a moderate climb. The trail contains tight bermy tree sections, some technical rocky spots, long smooth spin sections in low Manzanita and tall Ponderosa pines. The climbing doesn't stop where Ben's meets road 300. The run out for the Whoops tail is just across the road, but don't climb that, it's one way only and riders are ripping down that manicured rollercoaster of air-time with no regard for the uphiller.

So once there it's up behind the Whoops trail to road 310, which climbs for 3 or 4 miles. Double track uphill with no real flat spots to speak of. Then you reach the "Bench / Feature" for a break. One can turn left and start the Whoops trail from there or continue uphill for 150 feet to my favorite options; The Helicopter Pad or Storm King.

I chose the Heli Pad as it is a shorter distance of the two, has technical sections and tight steep downhill turns keeping one focused on the terrain. It's a riot. Once I get back down to road 300, I cross over to Jimmy's section. This section is very entertaining with swoopy carving turns and windy woods and Manzanita landscapes. Jimmy's section intersects the Voodoo and Laura's Lane sections, but if you have a rhythm here, you won't want to stop for a 90 degree right or left turn. The best flowy parts of Jimmy's puts me in a trance, and I try not to use or hold my brake levers. The operative term here is "carve".

Once I reach the split I can follow the traditional downhill through Phil's Canyon or the fun and sometimes lesser traveled Kent's trail. Either choice gets me back to the trailhead. I took Kent's today and saw only 2 guys working their way up.

Kent's can be broken up into sections in the mind's eye, like the fast and flowy first section to the drop across an old road and get into the turny woods area, complete with mini hits and rock gardens. Once I get down to the "Elevator Shaft" I split right through the sidehill woods and take the newer section to the young short forest and meander through more woods and Manzanita, but not before getting a little air over the 4 rollers that lead me out to the trailhead.

The end of the ride? Not until I ride the new section which parallels the asphalt road leading out to Skyliner Road. Home in 10 minutes. The ride takes about 2 hours to complete.

Video Action

2009-06-01T17:59:00.000-07:00

As it is the first installment, I think it only fitting to add video to the mix immediately.

CLP - Ain't Nobody Cooler (Video edit) - BNR27 from CLP - Chris de Luca vs Phon.o on Vimeo.

AllRide Edit of Whoops Trail in Bend, Or from Kirt Voreis on Vimeo.

Downtown Lisbon 2008 from Guilherme Nunes on Vimeo.