The Cleanest Line

Patagonia Environmental Initiatives 2010 E-Book - Flip Through Our Year-in-Review

Working to protect and restore the natural world can be a dynamic endeavor. To capture the energy that goes into this work, we bring you an enhanced electronic version of our Patagonia Environmental Initiatives 2010 booklet.

View a fireside chat with Patagonia founder and environmentalist-in-chief Yvon Chouinard, accompany world-renowned photographer Florian Schulz as he sheds light on the beauty and struggles of the Arctic, and connect with other activists’ stories through powerful videos and images. Our new e-booklet does all this without sacrificing a forest full of trees.

Come get inspired and learn how you can join the fight.

Launch Patagonia Environmental Initiatives 2010 E-Book

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[A wolf carries one of the dozen salmon she caught in less than an hour during the July salmon run. Brooks Falls, Katmai National Park, Alaska. Photo: Paul Stinsa]

Innovation (OR show roundup from an ambassador's perspective)

Last week I wandered around the Outdoor Retailer trade show, where companies in the outdoor industry show off their new products and do business. Personally, it’s mostly a chance to see friends, drink beer, b.s. with friends, and drink beer. Er, I mean, “network.” Fun times, but it’s great to be home and climbing again.

One thing I did notice while, ahem, networking, is that it’s pretty cool how many companies increasingly focus on more sustainable business practices, like manufacturing with recycled materials, making products more durable, and trying to lessen their impact. Granted, I’m still looking for the bumper sticker that says, “Where are we going, and what am I doing in this handbasket?”

[Dude, no way! That’s Tommy Caldwell! Photo: Becca Caldwell]

So It Begins (with a margarita recipe)

At my margarita deck party here on the Solstice, of which I remember little, Tommy C had told Scotty D that this one obscure crag had three good routes, each a number grade apart. Scotty thinks he might have remembered that they went left to right, easy to hard. Our friend Ammon later told Scotty that he knows the crag – he’d been there before – even though, it turns out, Tommy was talking about an entirely different crag. I’d just started walking without a cane a month prior, and been out climbing a few times. Scotty told me, “Sounds like a 15-minute approach, should be OK for your leg.”

[Scotty D: “Is it over there?” Photo: Kelly Cordes]

Inside/Outside: Questions for Patagonia’s T-Shirt Line Manager Cheryl Endo

Cleanest Line contributor Craig Holloway is back with another installment of his employee interview series. Today, Craig speaks with Cheryl Endo, Patagonia's T-Shirt Line Director, about her job inside Patagonia and her interests outside the company.

Craig – What made you decide to come work at Patagonia?

Cheryl – In 1988 I decided to take a break from college and go live in Mammoth and be a ski bum. I was poor and had very little warm gear to withstand a cold winter in the Sierra. A schoolmate said that if you worked at the Patagonia Distribution Center (the old warehouse in Ventura) they’d give you free clothes from the “dog box”. The free clothes were well-worn returns from customers, and I wanted to work at Patagonia so that I could get free gear. I got a job there and hung out with a bunch of folks who loved to spend time in the outdoors.  We’d leave work early Friday afternoons, drive up to Mammoth and ski the entire weekend. We stayed at a Motel 6, eight of us stuffed into one room. Those were really great times and half of those folks still work here.

Craig – What do you value most about the people you work with at Patagonia?

Cheryl – My co-workers have incredible passion for their work. They have a wild-horse spirit, which allows them to work more creatively on design and business projects.

What Happened to Your Face? Kelly Cordes Joins The Cleanest Line Crew

“Dude, what happened to your face?” That’s the most common email subject line from my friends recently.

Editor's note: It's my distinct pleasure to introduce The Cleanest Line's newest contributor, Kelly Cordes. Most of you know Kelly from his photos and field reports in Patagonia catalogs, his ambassador bio, or his video Somethin Bout Nothin. Some of you know Kelly as senior editor of the American Alpine Journal, and a regular in places like Rocky Mountain National Park, Patagonia and Pakistan. Kelly's going to be covering the climbing beat for us. Please say "Hi" or ask him about his face in the comments. Did I mention he pours a damn fine margarita?

What the hell, let’s get things started with a little good-natured carnage. Kelly just got uglier. Since I’m recovering from a broken leg – an explosion of my lower leg nearly six months ago – I’ve been trying to get my gimp ass into overhanging sport climbing. It’d be good for me, since I haven’t done it much and am weak like kitten. Good for my leg, too, since I can’t walk far yet. Ahhh, sport climbing: aesthetic movement, nothing to hit if you fall. Fatty bolts. Chicks in sports bras. And, now, my bloodied and mangled face. Leave it to me to take the safest form of climbing and turn it into something dangerous.

[Quinn Brett warming up. Photo: Kelly Cordes]

Visions of the Arctic: Earthjustice, Florian Schulz and Patagonia Team Up to Protect Arctic Wilderness

As I type this, having just returned from a two-week photography trip to the Arctic, my fingertips tingle, possibly from the lingering cold, or possibly from the trepidation that the tragedy of the Gulf oil spill will someday repeat itself. Though President Obama has temporarily halted plans to allow drilling for oil in America's Arctic Ocean until the causes of the Gulf spill are more fully understood, the pause is but a fleeting victory whose transient nature is made all the more apparent by a recent federal district court’s decision to halt the six-month federal moratorium on new deepwater oil drilling in the Gulf.

Editor's note: Today's post comes from Florian Schulz, a professional nature and wildlife photographer who is currently working with Earthjustice and Patagonia to present "Visions of the Arctic," a stunning collection of photos showcasing the beauty of the Arctic and the threats the region faces from industrialization and climate change. Read on to see more of Florian's stunning photography. [All photos © 2010 Florian Schulz.]

Before oil drilling is allowed in the Arctic, companies must fully consider the impacts that an accident like the ongoing Gulf disaster would have on such a fragile ecosystem. They must also consider that there will be an increased difficulty of responding to such a disaster in the Arctic, which presents weather conditions incomparable to those found in the Gulf. During my treks through the Arctic wilderness, I encountered shifting ice sheets, bone-chilling temperatures, and areas of snow that were blowing so thick it traveled across the ground like a ghost of fog.