The Cleanest Line

I Will Catch a Wave Every Day, Even in My Mind

This past Monday evening surfing great Shaun Tomson gave a slideshow presentation to a packed house at our Ventura retail store, Great Pacific Iron Works. Brett from the GPIW staff sent over some pictures from the event and a short writeup (more photos after the jump).

Patagonia once again outdoes itself by bringing in a guest speaker of monumentous proportions to speak of life lessons and breathtaking accomplishments. Shaun Tomson, a South African native, has been surfing the great ocean blue for over four decades. As a 1977 world champ and a 14-year veteran of the pro tour, Shaun spent a lot of his life learning unspoken rules of conduct and his new book, Surfer’s Code – 12 Simple Lessons for Riding Through Life, details his experiences.

Steve House Fjallgöngumaður

While in Iceland, Patagonia ambassador Steve House appeared on the primetime news/talk show Kastljós. He was interviewed by Ragnhildur Steinunn Jónsdóttir about his 2005 ascent of Nanga Parbat's Rupal Face with partner Vince Anderson. If you're familiar with the story of the climb you won't learn much from this interview, but what a great opportunity to bring some Icelandic flavor to The Cleanest Line. Does anyone know what fjallgöngumaður means?

Steve House interview (click Steve's link on the right)

[With thanks to dagskra.ruv.is]

The Future of the Piolet d'Or: An Open Letter from Steve House

Vince Anderson and Steve House.
Photo: Jeanne Young

Steve House just contacted us from Iceland. He wanted to share his opinion regarding the future of the Piolet d'Or and how it might better reflect the values of hard alpinism. Marko Prezelj initiated this discussion by declining to accept the award at this year's ceremony. Those in the know can skip straight to Steve's letter. Otherwise, please take a moment to familiarize yourself with the issue before reading Steve's response.

Steve House and Vince Anderson Win 2005 Piolet D’or Award
2007 Piolet D’or Winner Questions Awards
Alpinism and the Media: A Way Forward?

An open letter to the public regarding the Piolet d’Or:

I am happy to hear Phillipe Descampes declare that this is a good time to have a “very open discussion” about the value and the future of the Piolet d’Or award. With the withdrawal of the GHM and the recent history of the award, the time is right to talk about the future Piolet d’Or. To this end I think it would be constructive to try and forget the award's history and examine it abstractly, as an idea, as if we were to create it anew.

If You Liked the Movie: Join the Walk

Just got word from a tipster in the edit department about an opportunity for Patagoniacs in the Northeast to affect the climate change discussion. Sorry for the late notice on this one. I'm sure you can join up with the walk at any point.

Action Now on Global Warming: Join Bill McKibben on the Interfaith Walk for Climate Rescue, March 16-24

The De-fence of Patagonia

Patagonia's environmental commitment extends to its extensive support of the Conservacion Patagonica program.  Each year, employees have the opportunity to participate in one of three separate service trips designed to tackle the mountainous work required to transform retired ranches into a stunning new national park.  This report comes to us from recent trip participant Andy Mitchell, of Patagonia's Dealer Services Dept. 

We left Ventura at 8 am Sunday morning, and arrived some 32 sleepless hours later at the Estancia Valle Chacabuco, region XI, Aysen, Chile.  The trip is over 7000 miles, and we ultimately settled farther south on the planet than South Africa and even New Zealand; farther east than the entire United States.  Completely zonked, we met the expectant Doug & Kris Tompkins, philanthropist founders of Conservacion Patagonica.  Malinda Chouinard also greeted us on behalf of Patagonia Inc, and her curiously missing husband Yvon (who would reappear the next morning, having slept the night in his waders, in his car, in a ditch).  The opportunity to meet these people was tremendous, and only overshadowed by the fruits of their efforts.

[Andy Mitchell of Patagonia's Dealer Services Dept. finds that he already has a home in the heart of Patagonia. Photo: Suzy Reinhardt.]

Scraps to Shoes - The DIY

If you've spent any time browsing our new Footwear line you probably came across a funky little number called the DIY. Do It Yourself shoes are part craft project, part recycling effort and part moccasin for the masses. They're made from leather scraps left on the floor of our manufacturing facilities and come unassembled. The DIY was incorrectly referenced in a January issue of Newsweek as a design-your-own shoe, when in reality it's a build-your-own shoe.

I built one myself and enjoyed the meditative process of slowly threading each lace until eventually a shoe was born. The end result was an extremely lightweight moccasin that felt more like being barefoot than wearing a shoe. My only concern was the way the lacing felt against my heel. Anybody else put a pair together?

If this concept is still a bit fuzzy, here's a short video showing the construction process. We're always looking for ways to reduce manufacturing waste and the DIY is one step in the right direction.

Light Lunch

While parts of the West have been enjoying some of the best snow in decades, Winter '06-'07 in the Sierra has been among the worst many can remember. Recent storms close to our Patagonia Distribution Center here in Reno have been a balm to our wounded winter spirits, but we're still a far cry from the incredible snows of 2005. Fresh snow flying outside our office windows just the other day took me back to that amazing season, when fresh turns could be had literally right outside the office door...

Podclimber & Timmy O'Neill Part Two

In part two of Podclimber's behind-the-scenes with Timmy O'Neill and the making of the Common Threads Garment Recycling video things get a little more uncommon. Timmy and Morning Glory Farr visit a Buddhist temple, interview Nagai from the Patagonia Shibuya store and have a run-in with the bidet in their hotel room. Patagonia is not responsible for the splash damage from this episode.

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[Photo courtesy of TimmyO'Neill.com]

The Great Irritant

The self-professed 'Great Irritant', Doug Peacock, stopped by the Patagonia campus today.  I first learned of Doug and some of the other personalities upon which Edward Abbey's seminal book, The Monkeywrench Gang, was based during my 'angry-environmentalist' years in high school.  Abbey's descriptions of their antics and lifestyle struck a chord with me. Suffice it to say, getting the chance hear him speak was a real treat.

Ron Kauk Breathes New Life Into Fern Spring

Whenever Patagoina ambassador Ron Kauk visits the office I always try to track him down and say hello. I have great respect for Ron even though I'm not much of a climber. His love for Nature is deep and he seems to carry the spirit of Yosemite with him wherever he goes. Here's a short video of Ron talking about his efforts to help restore Yosemite's Fern Spring.

Visit the Yosemite Multimedia page at Patagonia.com