I’ve never been particularly loyal to any brand of bag or gear.

Friends raved about their packs and talked about their features and I just really didn’t get any of it. I chalked the difference between us up to our relative degrees of outdoorsiness.

So it was odd for me, as I was rushing through Penn Station in Manhattan last week, to stop to talk to a guy just because he was wearing an Osprey pack. The pack was stitched with patches on both sides, flags and shields and emblems documenting all the places he has traveled. I had my Osprey on my back, too; somehow, the fact that we shared a brand of gear made him more approachable.

“How do you like your pack?” I asked him as he tried to figure out how to extract a ticket from the subway system’s automated machines. There was no hesitation in his response, none of the suspicion that often characterizes an exchange between strangers. “Love it,” he said. “I’ve had it for years.” “Yeah, looks like it- all those patches,” I said.

I’d been on my way to the post office, one out of a half dozen errands I’d intended to do that day. But the conversation led, as it typically does between travelers, to where we’d been, what we’d seen, how our journeys affected our world views, what amazed us.

Suddenly, I could see the reason for being brand-loyal.

Editor’s Note: Julie didn’t have time to snap a photo of her encounter, so this photo comes from Bekathwia on Flickr. Is your Osprey covered in patches? Or are you just a gearhead? Send them our way, we’d love to see them! Email blog[at]ospreypacks[dot]com.

Osprey Adventure Envoys

Back from climbing in Cuba and surfing in Costa Rica, I went straight to work in the Tetons of Wyoming and the Beartooth Mountains of Montana for Jackson Hole Mountain Guides. I spent the vast majority of my summer days guiding above 11,000 feet based out of our high camp on The Grand Teton and the Beartooth Plateau of Montana.

I feel fortunate to spend so many days out in the hills for my work, and this summer was a busy one (only 3 days off in August). I saw many a sunrise in the midst of our pre-dawn alpine starts, and many a sunset just as I was climbing into my sleeping bag for an early night’s rest.

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Osprey Adventure Envoys Beartooth, Jackson, Jackson Hole Mountain Guides, Montana

Ironman and the Turret loom behind camp

You know the rest of the saying.  Sometimes it hurts to say it, but you can say it with me right now. “Try, try (try, try) AGAIN!” This is kind of a basic tenet of alpine climbing, or maybe all climbing really; actually, life itself. So what am I trying to get at here?

If you followed my last post, it was a video from the a trip I took to the Adamant Mountains in 2008, a recap of some attempts, successes and failures from a great 10 days in the mountains. A lead in to climbing there again this season. And we did climb there again this year…

July 13th we (Craig and Jeremy) decided to drive to the Golden, BC to pack and prep to fly into our glacier camp at the base of some amazing summits. Camp would be a 10 minute walk from 2 unfree-climbed 600m alpine big walls. Drool.

But for the few days leading up to our departure, way too much time was spent looking at the weather models, trying to figure out if we had any chance of some long awaited BC summer high pressure. For details I can’t really get in to (let’s just say extenuating personal circumstances of a team member) we decided to give it a try anyway, and by the morning of the 14th we were waiting to fly in from a random logging road, and watching the black clouds prevent our passage.

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Osprey Adventure Envoys, adventure British Columbia, Canada, climb, Climbing

Hundreds of single track enthusiasts will ride into the Black Hills of South Dakota’s high country this coming Labor Day for the 10th Annual Dakota Five -O, a mountain biking race that will challenge its riders to 50 miles of single track with some amazing vertical climbs. Part of  the Osprey Adventure Envoy team will be on board to check it all out, with some great swag, and sweet giveaways.

The Race will begin with a Smokey the Bear start through Spearfish, South Dakota. Yep Smokey the Bear himself will kick off the race. Smokey will lead the riders through town before entering into the single track section of the race that includes 45+ miles of single track through some of the most beautiful parts of the Black Hills.

The course start consists of three miles of gravel road climbing. This gravel road will give the fast guys and girls a chance to vie for position, before funneling onto the twisty, smooth, single-track through the National Forest in the Black Hills.

Along the ride, riders will find water stops, break stations, and the famous Bacon Station, where five-O riders can pick up their official on course PBR. Much needed after 35+ miles of riding.

As riders enter back into Spearfish, the Start/Finish location for the race, riders will find live music, food, pasta feed for riders, and plenty of cold brew.

Other exciting events for this year’s Five-O include Strider Sports Bike (www.stridersports.com) kids race.

Strider Bikes Kid Race

This year’s Event is limited to 500 racers, with NO race day registration. Check out more about the Dakota Five-O at http://www.dakotafiveo.com

Hope to see you there.

Profile for the Race

Bike, Events, Osprey Adventure Envoys, adventure Dakota Five-O, Labor Day, South Dakota

Photo by Mark Jobman

My wife and I recently took an adventure to Europe. This little trip had been on the calendar for about 2.5 years; a way to celebrate a career accomplishment that my wife was working towards. We planned it to be a backpacking trip through Europe hitting all the major destinations: England, France, Monaco, Italy, Greece, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Denmark. Our adventure was going to be traveling town to town, country to country sleeping in hostels, and on trains to experience Europe. But a few months before our departure we were dealt one of life’s many unremarkable rewards that would change our plans completely: yep, Jr. Jobman was on the way.

Overly happy and ecstatic about the future we decided that the last thing that we should do was put an overstuffed backpack on my pregnant wife’s back. She would be 15 weeks along when we would depart for Europe, a critical time for mom and baby. So, our plans changed from a multi-week backpacking adventure, roughing it where needed, to a southern European cruise trip, hitting up some of the most beautiful coast line cities in the Mediterranean. Not quite the adventure that either of us had envisioned but it turned out to be a great decision for Jr., Mom, and Dad.

Our trip started in Barcelona, traveling from there to Villa-France, Monaco, Pisa & Florence, Rome, Naples, Santorine and Athens, Greece, and Kusadashi, Turkey. More than enough places for us to fill our two weeks with culture, adventure, and, of course, more ruins then we ever could have imaged.

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Osprey Adventure Envoys, adventure backpacking, Beaches, Cafe, culture, Europe, france, Greece, inspiration, Italy, outdoors, travel, Turkey

Bags are a hot commodity in Cuba, and I mean all kinds of bags.

A few years ago, customers would be hard pressed to find a store that would bag their goods in plastic sacks; thus, the habit of rewashing and reusing “nylons,” as my mother-in-law calls them. Now, unfortunately, plastic bags are ubiquituous in Havana’s shops.

But personal bags and backpacks… that’s another story entirely.

When we call Francisco’s family before a trip to ask them what they’d like us to bring, the list inevitably includes bags. Purses, school satchels, and backpacks are all hot items. Into my three Osprey bags went a pink backpack for our niece and two large purses — one red, one white — for a sister-in-law and a friend of the family.

It was inevitable that I’d lose one of my Osprey bags; I always come back home lightened of my luggage. Someone in the family decides they need to relieve me of a bag or two, so I knew this time would be no different. Above is Francisco’s son with his newly acquired Osprey pack.

And if you’ve never been to Havana and are wondering what it’s like, you can see photos from my recent trip here.

Osprey Adventure Envoys Cuba, Havana, travel

So the summer plans have been in the works for a little while, and this year it is a return trip to the Adamant Mountains of the northern Selkirks in British Columbia.

In 2008 I headed there with fellow Mountain Guide Craig McGee to try our hand at a few routes. This year we are going back to try and complete some unfinished projects…b ut in the mean time here is a sampler from the last trip. It provides a good glimpse into what alpine rock climbing is all about.  Enjoy!

Osprey Adventure Envoys British Columbia, Climbing, mountaineering

It has been quite some time since I last wrote, and quite some time since I was last in the U.S. The winter in Montana was a good one aside from the tragic loss of Guy Lacelle. He was one of best ice climbers world wide, not only in ability but in his pure and genuine love for the sport.

As the snows began to melt I blasted off to Costa Rica to attempt riding on the swells of the massive Pacific. We spent 7 days on the remote Peninsula de la Osa among howler monkeys and flocks of Macaw parrots. Most days I would have no more than a pair of shorts and my machete for harvesting the abundant coconuts. Mornings and evenings were for surfing, mid-day was for siestas. After 10 days of work I managed to get a flight to Cuba, a nation I have always wanted to visit. I spent a night in the city: shared a bottle of rum with 6 employees at an ice cream shop, smoked my first cuban cigar with a family who practiced afro-cuban voodoo, and caught some spectacular Cuban rhythms!

The next 4 days I was in Vinales the famous tobacco producing area that also happens to be Cuba’s epicenter for sport climbing. I passed the days climbing on the overhanging-stalactite covered walls of the Karst geological formations with motivated local, Yorobys. Climbing in these expansive overhangs requires thinking three-dimensionally. The skills needed to transfer from steep mixed rock to daggers of ice could be applied to this new-to-me style of climbing.

After Cuba it was off to Mexico to work on the Yucatan.

The whole month of June I was in the midst of the saturated air of these three nations, sweating form day one until my return to Montana. The locals I met along the way made it a memorable travel.

I will have to say that I’m happy to be back home in the cool and dry high mountain air. I got to spend 4 days in Bozeman prior to blasting down here to the Tetons to start the summer guiding season with Jackson Hole Mountain Guides. Yesterday, we took 3 young kids up the classic “Guides Wall” a 5-pitch 5.8 in Cascade Canyon. Feels good to be back on the rock.

Osprey Adventure Envoys Climbing, Costa Rica, Cuba, Jackson Hole, travel, Wyoming

The Salmon River is the longest undammed river in the continental United States.  But it wasn’t always that way.

In 1910 Sunbeam dam was erected on the Salmon above its confluence with the Yankee Fork. The dam was built to supply cheap power to gold mining operations along the Yankee Fork. The dam supplied power to stamp mills and dredges for just over a year before the mining operation went bankrupt and closed.

A historical marker adjacent to the river claims that the Idaho Department of Fish & Game contracted demolition of the dam in 1934.  However, locals know a different story. Idaho Governor Cecil Andrus wrote in his memoir, “A party or parties unknown ran a dynamite-laden raft into Sunbeam Dam. The dam blocked the annual salmon run. The party or parties unknown were never caught, a fairly unusual circumstance in this thinly populated country. But history was against them.”

Crumbling remains of the dam still cross half the canyon while the river flows freely against the southern bank. Many people consider these remnants a blight on an otherwise pristine river but every time I see the corpse of Sunbeam Dam I smile. The ruins serve as a reminder that Idaho’s salmon are more precious than gold. They’re priceless.

Any Idahoan will tell you that the Salmon River and its namesake salmon runs are two of the things that make Idaho special.  I grew up playing and fishing along the banks of the Salmon and now I work for an organization called Idaho Rivers United protecting and restoring Idaho’s rivers and native fish.

I like the story of Sunbeam dam because it offers a lesson from our history and vision forward to the future.

Osprey Adventure Envoys dams, decomission, demolish, Idaho, rivers, salmon, Salmon River, Stanley, Sunbeam, Sunbeam Dam, Yankee fork

El Yunque Rain Forest

Once or twice each year, Francisco and I lead educational tours of Puerto Rico for students visting from the mainland US.

The tours are 7-day trips that start in the capital, San Juan, and move on to the island’s second largest city, Ponce, and the fishing town of La Parguera. Along the way, kids experience the El Yunque Rain Forest,

the Camuy Caves,

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Osprey Adventure Envoys photography, puerto rico, travel