The Cleanest Line

It’s the Freakin' Weekend

2009-11-20T14:20:00-08:00

The rain has come back today, this time it looks as though it might never leave. Dark and dreary. We did however have a relatively nice week in general. Climbing was good all day yesterday, and we had a couple of beauties two days before that.

[Editor's note: Today's post from Patagonia ambassador Sonnie Trotter originally appeared on his blog on October 25th, 2009. It doesn't look like the weather's changed much in three weeks. Sonnie is currently in Moab doing some product testing with Kelly Cordes and other Patagonia climbing ambassadors. Special thanks to Andrew Burr for the great shots of Sonnie climbing. Rain drops photo by Sonnie Trotter.]

One of the first places to dry out after a good rain day is the Smoke Bluff area. There are a metric tonne of routes scattered about the park, and hundreds of climbs I still haven’t done, or tried to do, all within a 5 – 10 minute walk from the car. On a cold October day, the Bluff climbs are more like grit, than granite. One of these special lines is called ‘Dog Face’. Rated 5.12b in the book and put up by local legend Perry Beckham in 1989. Crickey that was a long time ago. 20 years now. Respect. The line is situated RIGHT beside the main trail – and I’m talking like 13 inches from the edge of the grass. It’s a striking feature really, a shallow corner, three rusty bolts, with three obvious crimps leading into a blank bulge of nothingness. The guidebook describes it as 5.12b if you’re 8 feet tall. As far as I know, the line is unrepeated, or so that’s the rumor I’ve heard since moving here. It’s hard to say because it was done so long ago and Perry the mullet sporting hardman ‘IS’ in fact 8 feet tall. Plus, when I got on it last Wed, I broke two holds, and spent 15 minutes scrubbing moss from the top 1/4 of the route. There’s no anchor and you need to build one with a few number 2’s.

The climbing is the kind of technical nightmare you wouldn’t recommend to a friend. Unless of course your friend is into that sort of thing. In which case, I would highly suggest it. I quickly realized I wasn’t tall enough to stick the jiggery, so I opted for the pokery, and after fudging with different sequences (and botching most of them) I unlocked the craziest moves. A high right foot and then sideways body smearing, pushing the shallow corner away from me with both hands. Never done anything like it before. On my third attempt, it was getting cold and I had lost a bunch of skin, so I opted for a TR burn, doh! I sent the climb, but barely. Ripping a hole in my finger during the process. Felt like 5.12d. Can’t wait to go back and finish it off. If anyone has any useful beta please let me know, I don’t know anyone else who’s been on it except for Andrew Boyd, and I would love to hear some stories. Any known ascents? I’m sure they’re out there.

Okay, I gotta go, it’s a good day for yoga. But I’ll leave you with a few pictures, check out these snap shots by Andrew BURR. These are images taken from my redpoint ascents of Air Sweden and Aesthetics, both 5.13. What’s amazing about working with Andrew is that you really don’t know he’s there. He’s like a gecko on the wall. One second he’s on top of you shooting straight down, the next second he’s off to the side with a different lens capturing a completely different perspective. He swings around, changes lenses, jummars up and down, and never fails to catch the action. This sort of photography is just as impressive as the climbing, you gotta be so focused, and super fit. I totally respect that. And hanging out with Burr was such a pleasure, he makes me want to take more photographs myself. A real inspiration. hope you enjoy them and thanks to him for letting me share them. Check out his site, and his blog, the boy is ACTIVE. www.andrewburr.com

A beautiful wall, a simple crack, a long way to go.

This is an interesting picture. If you climb Air Sweden you don’t get the chains, but notice how much torque I’ve got on the finger locks. I’ve never seen an image like this before, but the twisting of my wrist goes all the way to my elbow joint. Like when you wring a towel dry. It’s kinda gnarly.

Desperate tension here. No feet, no locks, you just gotta squeeze.

Wicked shot. 120 feet of the deck, Burr kicking back drinking a beer, flipping me surf symbols, while I’m up there sweatin my balls off trying to clip the chains. ha ha ha. I wish it were the other way around.

Warming up with the red toque. Good gear.

I love this shot, if the pinch in my right hand was any wider, I’m not sure how I’d ever do this move.

Knuckles up chump.

Miracle Grants Gets Employees Involved in Giving

2009-11-19T15:06:40-08:00

Patagonia employees are given a lot of latitude: flexible work schedules, hall passes for surf and snow, no one looking over shoulders making sure we’re working. In essence we’re treated like the big kids we are and trusted to get our work done.

We’re also invited to help determine which groups receive money through the company’s environmental grants program. Miracle Grants are the most direct method.

Our Miracle Grants program was initiated three years ago to encourage more employees to get involved in our grant-giving process and become better acquainted with local environmental issues. Presently, only employees at our Ventura headquarters can participate, though the program will likely be expanded next year to include employees at our Reno Distribution Center.

In September, $40K was divvied up among eight work groups here at headquarters. Members of each group nominated deserving nonprofit environmental organizations (mostly local ones) as possible grant recipients, then made a case for each to their colleagues, either in writing, orally or, as our accounting department did last year, with a bit of theater, margaritas and organic peanut butter (Who knew accounting could be such fun!).

[Our Creative Services department awarded its $5,000 Miracle Grant to Terra Resources Development, helping to bring healthy drinking water to Bolivian villagers.Photo: Justin Bastien]

The votes were tallied in October, with $5,000 to go to the top eight vote-getters. One work group was so large, they were given $10K to donate. Another split their $5K between two enviro groups. In addition to casting a vote, Patagonia employees are encouraged to volunteer up to eight hours of company-paid time to work for a group.

As someone with a longstanding interest in environmental issues and 11-year history here at Patagonia, it’s very cool to see employees embrace the program. Especially those who had little previous interest in environmental work.

“This experience not only let me work with my co-workers in a different way,” wrote one employee, “it gave me the opportunity to play a more significant role in Patagonia's amazing environmental grants program. To top it all off, it inspired me to be more environmentally active.”

That person went on to join our Ventura-based environmental grants council and attend this year’s Tools for Grassroots Activists conference. She’s now one of our more environmentally engaged and active employees.

Another wrote: “Members of our team spent several Saturday mornings wading in the icy Ventura River at various locations testing water quality as part of the on-site creek water testing that the Matilija Coalition (through the Stream Team) performs on a monthly basis. It was a hands-on way to learn about local habitat, the delicate condition of our stream waters and testing methods. It was also a great way to spend a few Saturday mornings, climbing through brush, rock hopping over rushing waters, and learning the history of the local dam-removal effort.”

At $40K, Miracle Grants are but a fraction of Patagonia’s overall support for environmental work, which last year totaled $3.8 million in grants and in-kind donations ($35 million to date). One percent of our sales are donated to groups working to protect and restore the natural environment, profits or not. Those monies are mostly disbursed through employee grants councils at our offices in Ventura, Reno, Europe, Japan, and in our individual stores.

The groups below will receive a Miracle Grant this year:

Terra Resource Development (http://www.terradevelopment.org/), which works to ensure clean, accessible water for villagers in Bolivia.
$5,000

Los Padres Forest Watch (http://www.lpfw.org/), leading efforts to protect the Los Padres National Forest and other public lands along California's central coast.
$5,000

Ojai Raptor Center (http://www.ojairaptorcenter.org/), dedicated to the rehabilitation and release of injured, orphaned and displaced birds of prey in Ventura County.
$7,500

Wishtoyo (http://www.wishtoyo.org/), a bridge preserving the wisdom of the ancient Chumash culture and linking it to the present day environmental issues.
$2,500

Channel Islands Marine and Wildlife Institute (http://www.cimwi.org/), committed to aiding and rescuing marine animals and wildlife affected by natural and unnatural causes.
$5,000

Thompson Divide Coalition (http://www.savethompsondivide.org/), committed to securing permanent protection from energy development for federal lands in Colorado’s Thompson Divide area.
$5,000

South Coast Habitat Restoration (http://www.schabitatrestoration.org/), emphasizing steelhead trout recovery projects near Santa Barbara and Ventura, California.
$5,000

Naples Coalition (http://www.savenaples.org/), helping to preserve the rural character of the Naples property on the Gaviota coast.
$5,000

Native Seed/SEARCH (http://www.nativeseeds.org/), promoting the use of ancient crops and their wild relatives by gathering, safeguarding, and distributing seeds of the American Southwest and northwest Mexico to farming and gardening communities.
$5,000

[Above, right - Doug Freeman, Vice President of Production, awards a check for $5,000 to Kim Stroud of the Ojai Raptor Center at his department’s Miracle Grants reception in November. The Naples Coalition also received a check for $5,000 from the Production Dept. Photo: Jim Little. Above, left - Members of the Production Department enjoyed Mexican food and chocolate cake at their Miracle Grants reception. Photo: Jim Little]

Introducing our First Online-only Catalog - Patagonia Surf Fall 2009

2009-11-18T14:56:55-08:00

Patagonia's first-ever online-only catalog is up and riding. Filled with stunning photography, videos and interactive product pages, our first foray into paperless page-turning highlights our fall surf line just in time for the swell-generating storms of winter. Check out Patagonia Surf Fall 2009 and let us know what you think.

Online catalogs aren't completely new to us. About six years ago we offered online replicas of our print catalogs. Unfortunately, we were a little too far in front of the curve and there wasn't enough interest to justify the cost. Now times are different and we're giving it another go.

The amount of resources it takes to produce paper catalogs has always made us squirm. Online catalogs free us from the creative constraints of print and potentially allow us to reach more readers with less environmental impact, but only with your help. Would you consider sharing the link to this catalog on your social networking platform of choice?

Share with friends: http://www.patagonia.com/surfcatalog

The Environmental Defense Fund's Paper Calculator is a great tool for identifying the resources we saved by not printing this catalog:

WOOD USE – 175 tons/1,222 trees
NET ENERGY – 2,805 million BTUs
GREENHOUSE GASES – 598,206 lbs. CO2 equivalent
WASTEWATER – 1,506,301 gallons
SOLID WASTE – 220,860 lbs.

As it stands, the vast majority of our customers still love the print catalogs. But we've heard from enough of you (thanks John) to start taking the first steps towards a more diversified approach. Stay tuned. As we make progress we'll share it here.

Thanks as always for your support and for telling us what works best for you. Hope you enjoy the catalog.

The Drifter - Rob Machado Presents his New Surf Film at Patagonia Cardiff this Friday

2009-11-17T18:03:31-08:00

[Drifter Trailer from Poor Specimen on Vimeo.]

Devon Howard and the crew at Patagonia Cardiff have another great evening planned for the shop. Here's Devon with the scoop:

Hey everyone,
We are super stoked that Rob Machado will be here at the shop this Friday to hang out, play a few tunes with his friend Jon Swift, then show his new film, directed by Taylor Steele, called The Drifter. Hope to see you there. If you can't make it please forward this to your tweets, peeps and Facebook homies.

Devon

Hit the jump for details about the event.

The Drifter
An evening and surf film screening with Rob Machado

Friday, November 20
7 pm
Patagonia Cardiff

Join Cardiff's own Rob Machado for the final screening of Hurley and Warner Brothers' U.S. film tour for The Drifter, directed by Poor Specimen's Taylor Steele. Machado’s much-anticipated autobiographical surf movie is a personal journey as much as it is a showcase of some of the world’s most flawless waves.

Machado will play a few songs with special guest Jon Swift starting at 7 pm, followed immediately by a screening of The Drifter.

Be sure to meet Rob for a signed poster or DVD copy of The Drifter between 6 and 7 pm, as well as following the film screening. A Wegener Alaia and some Nixon watches will also be given away.

This outdoor event is free, but donations for the Rob Machado Foundation will be gladly accepted at the door. Seating is based on a first come first serve basis -- and please dress appropriately for the weather. In case of bad weather, the event will be moved indoors. Be sure to follow Patagonia Cardiff for updates on Twitter and Facebook.

Patagonia Cardiff thanks Hurley and Warner Brothers for helping to provide Rob's hometown with this special engagement screening.

To see photos and a video on the making of The Drifter, check out Surfline's feature on the movie.

[Photos courtesy of Rob Machado.]

Backyard Corridors: Which wild animals did you see in your area this week?

2009-11-16T17:45:57-08:00

The Backyard Corridors series continues with a new question about the animals roaming in your neck of the woods. Last week you told us about all the animals that live in your area. Now we're curious about the ones that are currently out and about.

Which wild animals did you see in your area this week?

Please share your stories in the comments on our blog, The Cleanest Line, or on Patagonia’s Facebook page. We'd love to hear from you. [Photo: Ron Hunter]

Kim Stroud, an employee we've featured before, has a wonderful story to get you inspired to share.

Raptor Notes
By Kim Stroud
Golden eagles come in for rehabilitation to Ojai Raptor Center (ORC) about 2 or 3 times a year. (ORC receives eagles from several facilities in Southern California as we have the largest flight cages for them to recover in.) We infrequently get to release these birds, as the injury that brought them into our care is usually pretty severe. Often, they have been hit by a car, electrocuted or shot.
In 2008, ORC received a call from a Tehachapi facility saying they had picked up a Golden from a ranch, found in the field with an unknown injury. We had recently signed up a new volunteer who is a private pilot, and she flew down to pick up the eagle. When the pilot brought the bird in, we noticed she was a female Golden, at a light weight, so she must have been unsuccessful at hunting. We examined the bird, tested her for lead, and took fecal samples, with no clear reason for her weight loss. A mystery.
Normally, we would have an eagle for rehabilitation for one to two years, as they take a long time to heal and become reconditioned. This girl recovered fairly quickly in about three months.
We try to put a bird back in the location it was picked up from if it is an adult, as they have an established territory and usually a mate. Since we had the information on this bird, we called the rancher that found the bird and made arrangements to take her back home. Our pilot met the rancher, and the folks from the other center, with the eagle for the release back at his ranch. He commented that there had been another eagle hanging around. And then he said, “Oh, by the way, there it is right over there in that tree.”
The female was released and the male flew off the tree. They met in the air, circling and dancing with each other in the wind. My pilot called me crying as she watched the flight and reunion of these two majestic birds. As I listened to the story on the phone, I felt my spirit there with the birds and the people witnessing the release.
May we keep wildlife corridors open for all wildlife to be able to survive in our world, together, so that releases like this one are successful and the birds can reproduce, and our children’s children can enjoy what we witness.
Kim Stroud became a trained wildlife rehabilitator while working for Patagonia for the last 17 years. (Many of us remember the baby blue jays screaming for food at her desk.) She now runs the Ojai Raptor Center, a 501 c3 non-profit, licensed by the Department of Fish and Game & Federal Fish and Wildlife, as well as continuing to work at Patagonia.

[This is Shytan, a nonreleasable Golden eagle that lives at the ORC (not the one featured in the story). Shytan will never fly again because he severed his right wing on a power line as he was flying after his prey. Photo courtesy of Ojai Raptor Center]

[Kim Stroud. Photo: M. Kim Faust]

Dirtbag Diaries: The Shorts - Friends In High Places

2009-11-13T12:03:59-08:00

Kelly Cordes has invited you to listen to The Dirtbag Diaries with host Fitz Cahall:

Climber and Diaries contributor Kelly Cordes is what you would call an early adopter. Kelly may live in a shack at 8,000 feet, but the guy is no cretin. He’s had an email account for four years now. He knows how to program a VCR. He’s even considered buying one of those new-fangled Blueberry phones. What can I say? Kelly is a mover and a shaker. The guy’s approach to new technology is as cutting edge as his alpine endeavors, but even seasoned pros have the occasional misstep. Two and a half years ago, Kelly signed up for a Facebook account, promptly forgot the password and found out that negotiating social media can be every bit as difficult as picking a path through gaping crevasses, rotten ice and snow-covered rock. It’s certainly just as time consuming.

Download "Friends in High Places"
(mp3 - right-click to download - contains some expletives - music from this episode)

In between full-length episodes of The Dirtbag Diaries, listeners like you have the chance to narrate your own story on the show -- these are the Shorts. To submit your story for consideration, visit The Dirtbag Diaries and look for the Story Suggestions? link in the sidebar. You can subscribe to the show via iTunes and RSS, or connect with Fitz via Facebook and Twitter.

By the Numbers: Quantifying Some of Patagonia’s Environmental Initiatives

2009-11-12T15:53:48-08:00

Today we repurpose an easy to digest, numbers-based summary of Patagonia’s environmental work in fiscal year 2009. First published in July in our Environmental Initiatives booklet, we’ve updated it slightly and present it Harper’s Index style. Perfect grist for a blog post, we think you’ll find it chewy but not filling.

By the Numbers
Quantifying Some of Patagonia’s Environmental Initiatives

Dollars in grants and in-kind donations given by Patagonia to environmental causes since 1985: 35 million
Dollars in grants and in-kind donations given by Patagonia in fiscal year 2009: 3,816,750
Number of environmental groups that received a grant this year from Patagonia: 398
Dollar amount (retail) of clothing Patagonia donated to nonprofit groups this year: 357,000

Dollars donated to nonprofits this year through our Employee Charity Match program: 200,000

Number of Patagonia products we’ve measured for their environmental impacts through The Footprint Chronicles™: 21

Percentage of Fall 2009 Patagonia products that can be recycled through our Common Threads Recycling Program: 65

Percentage of Fall 2009 Patagonia apparel that can be recycled through our Common Threads Recycling Program: 80

Tons of clothing recycled since the start of Common Threads in 2005: 12

Tons of clothing collected for recycling since the start of Common Threads: 26

Tons of kitchen waste from our Ventura cafeteria we’ve composted in our on-site bin: 2

Pounds of cardboard we recycled this year at our Reno distribution center: 456,000

Percentage of solid waste by total volume recycled at the Reno distribution center: 95.63

Dollars raised for The Friends of the Santa Clara River at the Patagonia-sponsored Salmon Run: 11,400

Number of our employees who have volunteered through Patagonia’s environmental internship program since its inception in 1992: 750

Number of activists who’ve received training at Patagonia’s Tools for Grassroots Activists Conference: 1,034

Number of companies that now belong to 1% For The Planet: 1,220

Miles ridden to work by Patagonia employees during 2008 Bike to Work Week: 14,280

Visitors to Patagonia’s Vote the Environment booth during Jack Johnson’s “All at Once” tour in summer 2008: 4,692

For a more complete look at the environmental support we provided throughout 2008, download a full version of our annual Environmental Initiatives booklet.

Save the Waves Film Festival this Friday in San Francisco

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

[Trailer for All Points South, one of four films you can see this Friday in San Francisco. Video: Save the Waves Coalition]

We already told you about the Adventure Film Festival going down in Boulder, Colorado this weekend. Those preferring to stay on the west coast now have another option. Save the Waves, an ocean advocacy group we've featured in the Tin Shed, is hosting the Save the Waves Film Festival this Friday, November 13 at the Victoria Theatre in San Francisco, California. It's a one-night gig featuring a quartet of inspiring environmental/surf films, live music, prizes, an art exhibit and a party to benefit the ocean. Hit the jump for the evening's lineup and ticket information.

Save the Waves Film Festival will feature:

The Cove - winner of numerous international film festivals and described as "a certain Oscar nominee" by acclaimed film critic Roger Ebert.
Lost Prophets - a new surf film with Dave Rastovich, Hans Hagen, Chris Del Moro & Reef Macintosh.
All Points South - Best Short Film Award Winner, New York Surf Film Festival; this is a film by Save The Waves.
Devils Teeth – a short film about diving with great white sharks at the Farallon Islands.
After the film screenings, participate in a Q&A with Captain Paul Watson of Sea Shepherd & Mark Palmer of Save Japan Dolphins
Live music by The Eldorados and Jethro Jeremiah
Art exhibit by Travis Weller

Tickets are on sale now (21 & OVER ONLY). $20 General Admission. $50 VIP Green Wave Admission (includes reserved seating, 2 free drinks, STW membership, a T-shirt, and limited edition signed STWFF art poster). $5 raffle tickets for a chance to win a new surfboard, a Patagonia wetsuit, custom art by Travis Weller and Chivo, Jack Johnson signed CDs, North Face & Patagonia jackets and more. RSVP at the Save the Waves Facebook event page.

Talk about a no-brainer. By simply attending a fun party you'll be supporting the important work of Save the Waves, including their "Surfonomics" studies which place an economic value on the world's best surf breaks to help build the case for permanently protecting them. A Surfonomics study on Mavericks was released last month.

"Mavericks is an iconic, world-renowned surf break that’s truly unique," said Save The Waves executive director Dean LaTourrette. “This study provides evidence of not just its environmental value, but of its economic value as well. This further reinforces the notion that it and other special coastal areas around the world need and deserve to be protected."

[Mavericks surf in all its glory. Photo: William Henry. With heartfelt thanks to all the veterans out there.]

Backyard Corridors: What wild animals live in your area?

2009-11-09T15:11:26-08:00

Freedom to Roam is Patagonia’s current environmental campaign. Its goal is to create, restore and protect corridors between habitats so animals can survive. Freedom to Roam wants to preserve and protect big wildways (or corridors) for large animals. But we also want to help all of us better understand what a corridor is, and what it means to animals that live near you.

[Wildlife corridor sign in Central Park, New York. Photo: Tom Skeele]

So, we’re kicking off Backyard Corridors: We want to hear from you about what wildlife is roaming through your backyard, neighborhood or town – and what are some of the issues they face. Each week, we’ll ask a different question about animals and corridors to help get things started – our Patagonia stores will have the questions posted too. Here's the first question:

What wild animals live in your area?

You can share your stories in the comments on our blog, The Cleanest Line, or on Patagonia’s Facebook page. Here’s one from Ron Hunter to get things started. Ron works for Patagonia’s environmental department in our Reno Distribution Center.

Walking the Dog
It all started for us last December when my wife and I decided to get a dog. We headed down the hill from our home in Truckee to the Reno Animal Shelter and found a stray with a bum right rear leg and one of those white plastic cones strapped to her head.
Ruby is some sort of a lab mix, about 50 lbs., a little needy, full of young dog energy and afraid of thunder and lighting (what dog isn’t?). Anyway, we rehabbed Ruby’s leg over the winter and got into the routine of walking after work in our neighborhood’s greenbelt/open space. As it turns out, it isn’t protected open space after all, but I’ll get to that in a minute.
Our walks take us through the forest (jeffrey pine and mixed fir) into an open meadow with a small seasonal creek running through it. The more we walked, the more we saw. In the spring, squirrels and chipmunks, white headed woodpeckers and mountain bluebirds; in the summer, squirrels and chipmunks, great horned owls and mule deer, in the fall, squirrels, chipmunks and more deer. All in all, a pretty nice backyard.
Then we found out this 289 acres of open space is destined to be developed in the near future. The proposed development could cause problems for many of the animals we’ve seen. For instance, the development could nearly eliminate the wildlife corridor used by the Loyalton Truckee deer herd for their winter and summer migration. This is the only major deer corridor left within the Town of Truckee.
A group of local residents organized themselves as SOS Glenshire (Save Open Space), made up of neighbors dedicated to protecting wildlife and wild lands. Not only are they talking to the developers, land trusts, and the town of Truckee, they created a Community Wildlife Sightings Project in 2008 to document wildlife sightings (which will be compiled with other sightings and research data in efforts to protect open spaces and wildlife). They have created a cool online site that lets us record our wildlife sightings.
What will happen to the trees and meadows where we walk? It’s anyone’s guess. I do know that we will continue to walk Ruby and watch the animals that live in the backyard that belongs, not to us, but to them.

[All photos by Ron Hunter]
For more info about the Community Wildlife Sightings Program visit www.sosglenshire.org.

Now it's your turn. What wild animals live in your area? Please share your own story below, we'd love to hear from you. If you're posting on Facebook, feel free to include pictures.

Tune in next Monday for the second question in the series as we continue our journey though Backyard Corridors.

Fear and Laughter on Lost Arrow

2009-11-05T17:52:06-08:00

Today's post is from Patagonia Customer Service Representative, Dave Campbell. A climbing guide and instructor, Dave recently put his skills to use to lead a couple of Patagonia colleagues (one of them, his boss) up a Yosemite Valley icon, one that holds a special place in the founding of our company, the Lost Arrow Spire. Here's Dave . . .
___________

As a child I always regarded Halloween as my chance to run totally wild. It was the best shot we had as kids at letting our imaginations wander free; sometimes into a dark unknown where we got scared, other times into a colorful Peter-Pan mindset where anything was possible. As an adult I always feel as though an important part of me is fading away when I let another Halloween pass without a bit of sheer and unfiltered wildness and a good scare. Simply getting drunk at a rowdy Halloween costume party doesn’t cut it.

This year I set out with fellow Patagonia Customer Service lads Rob Flesher and Andrew Marshall on a mission—to Yosemite Valley to climb Lost Arrow Spire and set up a Tyrolean traverse 2,700 feet above the Valley floor. In order to pull off this semi-outlandish stunt we had to first hike 3000 vertical feet up to the Valley rim, rappel off the edge to a notch where the spire meets the main wall, and then climb a few exposed sections up the outside of the spire…and then do all of the rigging for the Tyrolean traverse.

[Rob Flesher on his way back to the Yosemite Valley rim from Lost Arrow Spire. Photo, Dave Campbell]

It’s important to bear in mind that we’re not Patagonia “Ambassadors”; we’re the guys at Patagonia you chat with when you can’t decide which soft shell to bring on your next trip—we sit at desks all day drinking coffee talking about clothing and climbing. So, naturally we were armed with a stove, French press, gourmet grounds and packets of cream & sugar. As the saying goes, “if you bring a sleeping bag, you’ll end up bivying”; thus, shortly after we began climbing, our progress completely halted at a perfect ledge for brewing and it took us a solid while to get going again. I guess this is what happens when the office crew hits the walls of Yose’. Ironically we froze our hides off in the early hours of the morning because we didn’t bring enough clothes!

And so the day went on and higher we went. Caffeinated. Until we were all a bit tipsy with exposure, and slightly off our rockers. Years ago when I worked in Hong Kong, I had a coworker named Martin Voon who would say that all people, especially western men, have rats inside them; rats that are hungry and almost constantly squirming around within us. According to Martin, it is these hungry rats which make us go out and do wild, and at times, horrible thing, and the only way we can find genuine peace of mind is if we find a positive outlet - such as climbing - that will scare us senseless and thus keep the rats “fed” for a temporary amount of time. I’m not sure if I completely agree with this ideology, but nonetheless, I guess he'd say the three of us were feeding our rats up there on Lost Arrow Spire.

Eventually we topped out. Having Fat Tire beer & a jug of wine stashed behind a tree at the other end of the Tyrolean was probably the best tactical decision we made, as there would have been very little incentive to jump on a rope suspended thousands of feet above the ground without being able to look forward to those treats on the other side. When it was all said and done, the rats were well-fed and after watching the sun set over the Valley, we made our way back down the Yosemite Falls Trail toward Camp 4. Strolling through fallen leaves and past creaking branches I thought I caught a glimpse in the shadows of Halloweens of my past.

When we got back down to Camp 4 we bumped into Valley fixture Dave Turner and learned that while we were having our “big” adventure on the Lost Arrow Spire, he and Patagonia ambassador Colin Haley had climbed the Northwest Regular Route of Half Dome and the Nose of El Cap in a mind boggling 20 hours. I guess in reality our coffee guzzling office crew wasn’t on the verge of breaking any intrepid records, but then again, to a kid that’s not what Halloween is all about.

[Above, right - Rob Flesher and Andrew Marshall brewing up a few cups o' joe and sharing laughs thousands of feet above the Yosemite Valley floor on Lost Arrow Spire. Above left - Rob Flesher enjoying a well earned Fat Tire at dusk, Yosemite Point. Photos, Dave Campbell]