Snow Stories
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…
Joern Zeller of Patagonia’s Pro Sales Dept. in Europe shows off a true French ski bum during arecent visit to the High Sierra. Joern’s part of a unique international community of skiers who call themselves Telemarkzone. They’ve made it their mission to travel the globe demonstrating skiing as one of the most natural ways to…
You don’t hear those terms used together very often, if ever. But when former Patagonia sales rep turned filmmaker, Hansi Johnson, got the call to produce a video for the band Low, he drew on two of his passions to make a very strong point about the state of the environment. Hansi decided to focus…
The first snows of the season are forecast for Tahoe! Of course it’s a bit early to think about skiing . . . eh, nevermind. No it’s not. For those of us with snow on the brain, this weekend’s forecast coincides beautifully with Karhu’s launch of their new blog, Where Will You Ski Today? Karhu’s…
Not too long ago we told you about this year's Dirtbag Grant winners, the second recipients of the award. But who were the first? Today we're happy to share the story of the first Dirtbag Grantees, Vermont residents Brian Mohr and Emily Johnson, and their trip to "Endangered Patagonia." Here's a recap from Brian and…
Yannick Clévy of our IT dept. at Patagonia Europe’s offices in Annecy, France just wrote in with this report about the early season conditions they’re seeing across the Atlantic. Regular readers might remember Yannick as the French-speaking, cliff-dropping, steeps schralping author of the earlier "dawn patrol" post Climbing Foot with Backbag. If you’re planning a…
Thanksgiving weekend was not a holiday my Canadian family would miss me for. So having grown up skiing in the hills of Northern British Columbia, and currently living in Southern California it was time to find snow! A friend of mine and I planned on Utah – I was told the snow there was like…
The news reports are right, we finally got a good ol’ fashion Sierra-style pounding this past weekend. Local resorts reported storm totals of 3 – 6 feet, depending on elevation and orientation to the storm track. Here at the Reno Distribution Center we saw some impressive winds, and snowfall rates in excess of 3 inches…
Ah, spring is in the air . . . images of butterflies, sunshine-soaked afternoons, lambs, and flip-flops dance in the head; perhaps lambs in flip-flops for some. What better time to check out the new swimsuits, boardies, and summer gear at www.patagonia.com? But wait…it’s still cold in a lot of places, including right here at…
What goes around, comes around. We had it pretty good with the snow here in the Sierra for the month of January. We were feeling our oats and, well, I guess I did a little bragging about it. I sent teasing pictures and links to blog posts to despondent friends who were bemoaning their lack…
[YouTube version – HD available] Reading the Sweetgrass Productions blog, I feel nauseous with envy. “It was beginning to dump in an absolutely ridiculous manner as we left to go to an awesome Japanese-style dinner, where much raw seafood was consumed, priming our bellies for today, which was perhaps the most disgustingly deep powder day…
I’d never found the howl of gale force wind to be a serene experience until last week when Nick Waggoner and the Sweetgrass Productions crew dropped a February teaser on their blog for their upcoming feature ski film based in Hokkaido, Japan. Nick’s ability to capture the essence of skiing in an artistic, hypnotic and…
Series intro: The “My Footprint” series shares the stories of Patagonia friends and employees who have been inspired by There's a side to skiing in the United States that many American skiers would just as soon not talk about. For all of its inspiring outdoor elements, the industry as we know it is uniquely dependent…
What looks to be the last winter storm of the season has just pulled out of the area and winter seems to be drawing to a close in the Sierra. It’s time to shift gears. No doubt we’ll eat those words with a final flurry of crop-crushing cold, but still, now’s the time to reflect…
It was a snowy February night as I sat up in my bed staring at pictures of Mary-Kate and Ashley, dreaming of sunnier days. Ben stormed into the room, one hand gripping a microwave pizza, the other running through his golden locks. "Ok man, I've got it. We call the movie Signatures. The seasons,…
Many of the crew here at Patagonia del norte (aka, Not many people go to Mexico for the skiing, but that is exactly what we did on a month long rock-climbing and skiing road trip south of the border. The main objective for the trip was to climb and ski off the top of the…
“Our thoughts often go to the deepest, fluffiest powder days when we watch the tops of breaking waves get blown back to sea by a strong offshore breeze. Maybe the wind reminds us of Old Man Winter's legendary howl and roar. Or perhaps surfing among these waves – floating in that fluid ocean as the…
It's easy to think the life of a sponsored athlete is one full of jet-set luxury and hedonistic indulgence. But we try to do things a little differently here, and our athletes are no exception. There's a reason we call them "ambassadors," after all. Yes, we look to them for insights on how to improve…
We're indeed reveling in the stoke produced by this week's news from Canada: Patagonia Skiing Ambassador Arne Backstrom did his home resort proud with a strong one-two win at the Freeskiing World Tour, in Revelstoke, British Columbia on Sunday, January 10, taking both the men's overall title for event, and the Backcountry.com Sickbird Award. News…
27 miles outside of Haines, Alaska. I am sitting in a lawn chair perched outside our rental house. I am wearing surf trunks and sunning my pasty white chest after a long winter season. There are smooth river rocks beneath my bare feet. The white strips of snow on the South facing mountains littering my…
All of us at Patagonia are deeply saddened to share news of the death of Arne Backstrom, our friend and skiing ambassador. Our love and support goes out to the Backstrom family and all of Arne's friends. Arne (29) was at the height of his professional freeskiing career, having just won the McConkey Cup, the…
How do you get to work in morning? Are you stuffed into a sweltering New York subway car? Crammed fender-to-fender along LA’s mind-numbing 405? Either way, our morning commute to work was way more stressful than yours. I promise. We chased the sun across the Inca Lake in Portillo… Editor's note: Freelance writer Greg Fitzsimmons…
Editor's note: Fitz Cahall joins us today to share another behind-the-scenes story from the making of Tracing the Edge. Winter was fickle last year. Bryan and I were set to work with surfing legend Gerry Lopez. I’d already spent a day filming with him in Bend. He’d shown me every powder stash available on Mount…
[Arne Backstrom Revelstoke Tribute. Video: Subaru Freeskiing World Tour.] The Subaru World Freeskiing Tour put together a nice tribute video for our late friend and ambassador Arne Backstrom. The video was released in conjunction with this week’s Revelstoke leg of the World Freeskiing Tour which Arne won last year. Head over to the official website…
Like flocks of swirling swallows or shimmering schools of tropical fish, our customers swoop in with mysteriously synchronized concerns and questions on a regular basis, prompting the need for ready answers. Times like these, nothing would be more handy than magically beaming knowledge out into the ether. Kelly Cordes is our guest Trencher today, fielding…
[Today, we're pleased to bring you the first in a series of posts from Nick Waggoner and the crew at Sweetgrass Productions. They're currently hard at work on their third movie, Solitaire, and have graciously invited Cleanest Line readers to join them on their journey to produce their most ambitious film to date. The story…
The second in a series of posts from Nick Waggoner and the crew at Sweetgrass Productions. They're currently hard at work on their third movie, Solitaire. Cleanest Line readers are invited to join them on their journey to produce their most ambitious film to date.The second trailer from the upcoming film, this latest installment focuses…
The third in a series of posts from Nick Waggoner and the crew at Sweetgrass Productions. They're currently hard at work on their third movie, Solitaire. Cleanest Line readers are invited to join them on their journey to produce their most ambitious film to date.This third installment from their behind-the-scenes series focuses on the crew's…
When she's not busy making us jealous about climbing in places like Greenland and The day had gone so well, maybe that was the problem. My Mum was up at Valhalla Mountain Touring to visit and ski while I worked as the lodge custodian for a self-guided group. I had had my eye on an…
“When you land in a freeride mecca and things are neither free, nor rideable, what’s a guy to do? It was time to make lemons into lemonade.” The fourth in a series of posts from Nick Waggoner and the crew at Sweetgrass Productions. They’re currently hard at work on their third movie, Solitaire. Cleanest Line…
We're pleased to welcome Ryland Bell to the Patagonia Ambassador lineup. Ryland is a snowboarder who has spent all the summers of his life on boats in the Alaskan village of Elfin Cove (population 20), where his parents fish commercially. He can't think of a winter growing up when he wasn't riding on sleds, skis,…
When I graduated from college in 1990 (SUNY Oneonta), I always thought I'd end up moving out west to ski. I'd already had plenty of years of experience in both pizza making and delivery so I was primed for a life of scraping by and dawn patrols in a town like Alta or Jackson Hole.…
The Patagonia crew extends a hearty welcome to Josh Dirksen. Josh joins fellow snowboarders Ryland Bell, Forrest Shearer and Taro Tamai in our ambassador lineup. Josh is widely known as one of the great understated riders in the sport. With over 20 years snowboarding and a pro career spanning over a decade, Josh is one…
The Patagonia ambassador team is pleased to share today's interview with one of their newest members, snowboarder Forrest Shearer. Forrest joins fellow riders Ryland Bell, Josh Dirksen and Taro Tamai in the lineup. Raised as a surfer at the famed Dana Point, Forrest made the transition to snowboarding with his move to the foot of…
Right about the time contest organizer and Patagonia snowboard ambassador Josh Dirksen yelled go, professional snowboarder Scotty Whitlake fell over laughing, legend Terje Haakosen cracked a smile and 28 shreds of all ages and genders grabbed splitboards and took off running uphill in shitty snow and poor visibility for no prize money and nothing but…
Following up on Monday’s recap of the Dirksen Derby, here’s the latest edition to the Patagonia Video Gallery featuring snowboard ambassador Josh Dirksen and snowsports designer Glen Morden. The guys were testing designs for next fall on this particular trip.
