Ah, the leaves are turning and air is turning cool and crisp here in the San Juan Mountains.  So it is time for our last right of summer, the Telluride Blues & Brews Festival, a three-day weekend chance to unplug while plugging in to some seriously good music and microbrews.  As the weather tends to be just a bit fickle in the San Juans, this “last right” is more often than not punctuated by thunderstorms, hail, snow and a resultantly prolific amount of mud.

Not so at this year’s festival.  Temps in the seventies, not a cloud in the sky and an ever so light breeze made for an incredible weekend.  Our booth in vendor row had a great view of the stage and all the goings on.  Our beer coozies were wrapped around nearly every complimentary beer glass.   Our friends from Jagged Edge had a great selection of our packs for sale and there was plenty to peruse from the entire Osprey line.

Which brings me to the point, who doesn’t carry a pack to a festival?  It’s an essential survival tool helping you haul shelter, suncreen, food, and layers of clothing for whatever the elements may throw out.  Plus a whole lot more.  Now, everyone has their favorite system and their favorite festival. We want to know what yours is.  How big a pack do you carry?  What are the key survival items inside?  And we especially want to know what musicians inspired you the most – where did you get your groove on and why?

Send your story to marketing@ospreypacks.com between now and October 15, 2010.  We’ll post our favorites on this blog and we’ll send each winner my favorite festival pack, the Stratos 24.  Panel loading, durable frame survives clumsy fellow festivarians, built-in raincover protects from the elements and LOTS of hidden nooks and crannies for those extra important items.  Ahem.

Happy fall,

Gareth Martins
Director of Marketing, Osprey Packs

Events, Music Festivals, Southwest Colorado, contest

Osprey Adventure Envoys diving, Mozambique

If you have been to Silverton, Colo. you have stared up at Kendall Mountain rising 4,000 feet directly above town. I have been fortunate enough to tackle the peak successfully many times in the winter, but I had never made the climb in the summer. I much prefer to ski down something big after a climb instead of walking down, hence the reason that most of the San Juan’s summits I visit comes when they lie under a mantle of white.

With a warm day predicted for the backyard of Durango, I opted to gain some elevation and escape what would hopefully be the last batch of summer heat in town. I packed up the car and started up Highway 550 for the short drive to Silverton.

I parked at the base of Kendall mountain and boarded my trusty steed (A nearly new mountain bike with 6 inches of travel and 29″ wheels). As I hopped on the saddle I took in the spectacular fall foilage that was in absolute peak color.

The jeep road starts gaining elevation quickly as it wraps around the west side of Kendall Mountain. As the grade steepens the oxygen level heads in the opposite direction. I find myself riding in a style known as “delivering the mail” where I go from edge to edge of the road to reduce the pitch to a level my tiring legs and granny gear can handle. I push my bike up some really steep sections and ride a few of the tamer portions. At treeline the road becomes unridable. I’m sure someone could ride it from here, but that someone is not me. I ditch my bike behind the last tree at about 11,800 feet and trade my bike shoes for some hiking shoes and head up the road.

The grade is about 10 percent, which makes for brutal biking, but perfect hiking. I walk the jeep road through a huge basin, wondering how in the world they built this road by hand over a century ago. The road climbs for another 2 miles and then ends a couple hundred feet below the summit. I billy-goat up through scree and boulders to gain the summit. After 2.5 hours I am looking 4,000 feet down on Silverton.

The town looks like a model complete with multiple steam trains. A slight breeze blows at my back and provides some white noise to what is otherwise an environment completely void of sound.

After a few minutes I reverse the process. I make good time to the road and quickly descend to me bike. What took 90 minutes to ride up, take me 7 to ride down. I enjoy the plush suspension on my new bike and feel like I am on a flying sofa.

I toss the bike on the roof and head south in the fading evening light. In 30 minutes I have a date with some grilled Ahi and a nice cold beer or two.

See you on the trail.

Bike, Osprey Athletes, Southwest Colorado biking, Colorado, fall, hiking, mountains

In the United States, we have built one dam a day every day since Thomas Jefferson signed the Declaration of Independence. That’s a lot of dams. We’ve dammed the most majestic and powerful rivers running through our country for the sake of energy, irrigation for industrial agriculture and transportation to name a few. And today, we’re seeing dams come down. They’re an aging infrastructure — no longer worth the cost of keeping them. But the change is coming slow… We’re still a long way off from recovering our rivers and wild places from the missteps of our past.

In Patagonia — half a world away — instead of working to restore their rivers, they’re fighting to save them from getting dammed in the first place. Patagonia, a beloved place in the hearts of many in the outdoor industry, is fighting to stay wild.

With alternatives energy sources such as wind, solar, geothermal and more, the damming of rivers seems outdated — “it’s old technology”. Hydropower may not emit carbon emissions, but the power sure isn’t “clean”. Think of how many rivers we’ve dammed — how many species we’ve pushed to extinction, how many communities we’ve flooded or cut off from their rivers and how many people have lost their way of life because of it.

What’s at stake in Patagonia? Two pristine rivers dammed by 5 proposed dams, 2,400 km of forest clear-cut and road switchbacks blasted into the canyon to make way for the world’s largest transmission line. This project would destroy the people in Patagonia.

“I think it’s the overall loss of wilderness that we’re talking about here,” Osprey athlete Timmy O’Neill said.

So why should we care? Because it’s not just about the rivers in Patagonia. It’s about the rivers in our backyard. We, as people, have the power to make a change. And it starts now. There is power in the pristine, and we’ve got to stand up for it.

Learn more about protecting Patagonia’s rivers: http://rioslibres.com/.

Conservation, Osprey Athletes, adventure activism, Conservation, international, patagonia, rivers, Timmy O'Neill, wilderness

If you find yourself anywhere near Loon Mountain, New Hampshire this weekend (9/24-9/26) I implore you to carve out some time to check out the Osprey sponsored Nor’Easter event for guaranteed good times. (http://www.noreasterems.com/)

A three day festival of sport, music and conservation, the Nor’Easter is packed to the brim with fun for all including The Unified Bouldering Championships Pro Tour, A UCI sanctioned Cyclocross race, trail running events, climbing clinics, stellar live music and much more than can be mentioned here.

Osprey Packs will be on hand in space 54 with a full exhibit including free pack demos, sizings and fittings, great gear giveaways and all that is new for fall 2010 and beyond. (www.ospreypacks.com)We will also be running a fantastically cool 20% off promotion to celebrate Nor’Easter through Eastern Mountain Sports’ Concord and North Conway store locations (www.ems.com) so make sure you stop by for the details on this if you are in the market for a new Osprey pack.

If you don’t go to another festival all year you will want to make Nor’Easter this weekend to close out summer with a roar and greet autumn with some great outdoor fun-complete with soundtrack! See you there!
nor’easter

Uncategorized EMS, Nor'Easter, Osprey Packs

We know we’ve got a lot of bike enthusiasts out there, so we figured it was high time to launch a bike blog! Hop on over to the recently launched Osprey Bike Blog to find everything that’s bike related: videos, photos, features on non-profits, guest bloggers from every end of the bik spectrum, and of course, contests.

We hope you enjoy it!

Bike Bike, bike blog, Blog, Hydraulics

If  I  remember correctly, I started mountain biking in 1985. I worked all summer in West Vancouver landscaping to save enough money to get my first bike — a blue and white Gary Fisher Montare.

From the get go I was hooked, I mostly used my bike to get my skinny 15 year old legs stronger for ice hockey try outs in the fall, and ski season in the winter. By the summer of 1986, I started racing my mountain bike and had instant dreams of becoming the next John Tomac. Only a handful of people had mountain bikes at my high school in North Vancouver, which eventually became the place they call the North Shore — the birth place of free-ride mountain biking. One thing I remember most about riding back then was that you could get lost for hours and never run into a soul. Now, there is a constant flow of mountain bikers from all parts of the world.

Read more…

Bike, Osprey Athletes, Osprey Culture adventure, Bike, Canada, inspiration, mountain biking, outdoors

All I can say is “WOW” what a fun way to end the race season!

Because of shift work and home renovations, my final big race of the season was going to be another 24-hour solo event. Chico Racing puts on two 24-hour events a year, Summer Solstice and Hot August Night, as well as other Mountain Bike events.

Hot August Night is held in Bolton, Ontario and runs from noon on Saturday to noon on Sunday. We couldn’t have asked for better weather, although it may have been a tad hot, but no complaints since the three previous 24-hour events had been spoiled with rain. They set up a course that was fun for all riding abilities. There were some awesome fast single tracks, as well as some technical down hills, and yes — a lot of climbing.

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Bike, Events, Osprey Athletes, Product adventure, Canada, Hydration Pack, mountain biking, outdoors, racing

Sockeye red salmon spawning in the gravels of Koktuli River. The Bristol Bay region has all five species of anadromous salmon: sockeye (red), chinook (king), coho (silver), chum (dog) and pink (humpy)

Does drilling the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge worry you?  Then you’ll be terrified by Pebble.

Take the second largest gold/copper/molybdenum deposit in the world. Stick it above the largest salmon runs in the world. That’s the Pebble deposit. Pebble in the wrong spot.

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Conservation, Osprey Athletes, Outdoor Activities Conservation, Joe Stock, Pebble Mine, salmon

Last Tuesday I woke up to another cold gray morning alongside the Belly River in northern Glacier National Park, only 6 miles from the northern terminus of the Continental Divide Trail. I pried myself from the warmth and comfort of my sleeping bag, slipped on my shoes, and undid my bear hang. After chucking everything into my pack I started off down the mushy, muddy trail along the Belly River.

Soon I came across some fresh Griz tracks, which got me singing some made up songs, loud enough to scare any bears with any remote musical taste far, far away. As I hiked, the mountains turned burnt pink with an early alpine glow. Thimble berries lined the trail all the way to the border.

Before I knew it I was standing on the Chief Mountain Highway hugging the border monument. (Road walks aren’t really my favorite).

A mere half hour later I found myself in a friend’s van on the way to Park Cafe, a local favorite whose slogan is “pie for strength.” We ate an entire peach pie and they were kind enough to give me tokens for a 12 minute shower. That left me heading up the Going to the Sun Road (by car) satisfied; full, clean, and in good company.

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Osprey Adventure Envoys Canada, Continental Divide Trail, Glacier National Park