Patagonia surf ambassador Mary Osborne just sent word that she’s going to be helping surf legend Robert August and Free Wheelchair Mission distribute 10,000 wheelchairs in Costa Rica. The project will be documented in a series of short videos narrated by Mary, Robert and Robert’s son, Sam August. We’ll try and wrangle a firsthand report…

Our challenge from the Spring 2006 catalog has been answered. Becca from Alpenglow Sports in Tahoe City proved us wrong by climbing Sundance (5.10a) in her Morning Glory Dress. You rock Becca! This really made our day. When your travels take you to the Lake Tahoe area, be sure and say hi to the crew…

Hopefully you’ve all received your Spring 2007 catalog by now. I believe it’s one of our finest catalogs to date, thanks in part to Glen Denny and his stunning black and white photos from the 1960’s. Check out a slideshow of Glen’s photos from his new book Yosemite in the Sixties (or limited edition) and…

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…

Steve House just contacted us from Iceland. He wanted to share his opinion regarding the future of the Piolet d’Or and how it might better reflect the values of hard alpinism. Marko Prezelj initiated this discussion by declining to accept the award at this year’s ceremony. Those in the know can skip straight to Steve’s…

This past Monday evening surfing great Shaun Tomson gave a slideshow presentation to a packed house at our Ventura retail store, Great Pacific Iron Works. Brett from the GPIW staff sent over some pictures from the event and a short writeup (more photos after the jump). Patagonia once again outdoes itself by bringing in a…

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…

I love sport. I love to sweat. I am addicted to endorphins. And the easiest way to get my fix is to run. I heard once that it takes 30 days to form a habit. So finally after all of my bemoaning I have got myself a running habit. It works out well, all you…

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…

April 1996: We had a hundred acres to plant – Ponderosa Pine, Doug Fir, and Blue Spruce – but the nursery kept claiming that the seedlings were buried underneath persistent snow. I was cooling my heels in LaGrande, Oregon, waiting for the work to begin when the call came. It was Joe Josephson, inviting me…

by Jeff Johnson Editor's note: We're stoked to introduce a new feature on The Cleanest Line from Bend to Baja author/photographer Jeff Johnson. Jeff's work has appeared in The Surfer’s Journal, Surfer’s Path, Alpinist, Surfing, Surfer and the Patagonia catalog. When we don't have him chained to a desk at Pat. HQ in Ventura, Jeff…

You’re truly committed once you buy the plane ticket. And Friday (5/18) I bought my ticket for this summer’s expedition to K6 in north-eastern Pakistan and my mental state instantly changed. Commitment always precipitates realizations. I have a lot of things I want to do before I go; not the least of which is to…

After foraging through several hundred grant proposals, including some stunning 3D applications, we’re ready to announce the winners of this year’s Dirtbag Grant. There are two winners. Each will receive $3,000 to use towards their trip. The first Dirtbag Grant goes to a team of women from the southeast, Rachel Babkirk and Lucia Robinson, who…

Ventura, California Departure: June 8, 2007 Let me introduce myself. My name is Jeff though sometimes people call me Tofu. Yes, I am employed by Patagonia. I work as a photographer, writer, and assist in the testing and production of Patagonia products. I am hitting the road in my van for an undetermined amount of time, simply to…

A few months back we posted an update from Mary Osborne on her involvement with Robert August’s Free Wheelchair Mission down in Costa Rica. Mary put together a short video of her trip to Central America, including some sweet footage of her surfing and some pics from her time volunteering at the wheelchair event. [Music…

Visit Patagonia.com for more on Brittany Griffith and to read Jonathan Thesenga's field report about climbing in Stolby.

Jan Ullrich has earned an easy retirement. After winning the ’97 Tour de France at age 23 he became a German national-hero. For the next five years he battled Lance Armstrong earning a record five second-place finishes, too bad for him but it sure made for great racing. This year it was revealed that DNA…

The other day while wandering around Camp 4 in Yosemite I ran into Patagonia ambassador Timmy O’Neill. He was hanging around the SARS site with his brother Sean and some guy named Aron. Timmy asked me if I wanted to climb the Manure Pile with him and Aron. “Sure,” I said. Walking to the parking…

Talk all you want about so-called “advancements in fly fishing” — ozone hole-depleting fluorocarbon leaders, boron rods with price tags equivalent to your monthly mortgage, and now waders with front zippers so you can relieve yourself while never having to vacate your coveted spot on the river… Forget the fancy gear! What you really need…

Editor’s note: We’re honored to bring Patagonia ambassador Lynn Hill on-board as a contributor to The Cleanest Line. Lynn is no stranger to blogging. For a glimpse into the past 2+ years of her life jump on over to Lynn Hill Blogs. I was a bit surprised to read the following article about osteoarthritis in…

After speaking with my friends, Mike Lechlinski and Mari Gingery about their experiences in Yosemite and climbing on El Capitan this summer, I learned that many climbers are not doing their part in keeping the big walls clean. Apparently many people “accidentally” or even intentionally drop their garbage and poop off El Capitan and don’t…

The elusive Corbina are running close to shore this time of the year near Ventura and a few of us are surfcasting countless times trying, hoping, and wishing to land this ghost of the ocean. Yesterday, Mark, one of our buyers at Patagonia and good friend, was on a mission to catch a Bean near…

by Jeff Johnson Sometimes you forget about your own backyard. While passing through Ventura the other day I had heard about a building south swell. So I hooked up with Patagonia Surf ambassadors Mary Osborne and Chris Malloy and headed south. We ended up posting up all afternoon at a spot north of Malibu. The…

Despite intermittent rain, the bouldering excursion to Redcliff was fun and well worth the trip. This collection of boulders is located about twenty-minutes west of Vail in a fairy-tale like setting amongst pine and aspen trees. I went with my friend, Jay Droeger, and his Hungarian friend, Lorent. About ten years ago, Jay discovered this…

On June 15th, we announced the winners of this year’s two Dirtbag Grants. One went to Rachel Babkirk and Lucia Robinson, for their "Down for the Down and Out" trip to climb, camp and collect used gear to distribute to the homeless. The second award went to Australian Simon Clissold, "an overqualified dirtbag" and slow-living…

I received this voicemail late Thursday night from Steve House. The call came via sat phone from basecamp in Pakistan where Steve, Vince Anderson and Marko Prezelj are in the first stages of attempting to climb K6. In this first update, you can listen to Steve talk about traveling in Pakistan, the weather situation so…

Global warming may be a mainstream issue now, but it’s far from being cut and dry. Some people think it’s a myth (read the comments), some think it’s the end of the world and the rest see it as something in between. The scope and complexity of the problem naturally raises more questions than answers.…

I’ve changed the title of this series because in this week’s sat phone update Steve House clarifies that he, Vince Anderson and Marko Prezelj are actually gunning for new routes on both K6 & K7. Steve also talks about finishing up the acclimatization process, the two new routes they’ve climbed already, and surprisingly he brings…

Patagonia wordsmith and former ultrarunner, Craig Holloway recently interviewed Patagonia ambassador, Krissy Moehl about her win at this year’s Hardrock 100 in Silverton, Colorado. Krissy is considered one of the top female ultramarathon runners in the country. Craig: Congratulations on setting the women’s course record (29:24) at the 2007 Hardrock 100. You were the first…

The last few days with my Italian friends have been fun! Yesterday I drove them to the airport and they are probably about to land on their home turf as I write these words. One lives in Rome where I lived for a year and a half, and the other lives in Arco, the historic…

Steve House called again last night from the Charakusa Valley in Pakistan. As you know, he, Vince Anderson and Marko Prezelj have been acclimatizing for first ascents of the west faces of both K6 and K7. It was mostly high-fives and happy times until this report came in. Mother Nature brought some intense weather to…

In this report from the Charakusa Valley, Steve House gives us an excellent description of K7’s features and explains how the team must find a way through the granite buttresses surrounding the base in order to get up on the mountain. Steve also talks about a special lunch they shared with the Colorado and Quebec…

While the rest of us were barbequing, sitting in traffic or off on an adventure of our own, Steve House, Vince Anderson and Marko Prezelj successfully climbed the west summit of K7. Check out Steve’s short update from this morning and stay tuned for a more detailed account of the climb coming soon. Listen to…

If you followed the link we posted recently for more information on Steve House’s climbing trip, you might have noticed some changes over at Alpinist Magazine’s Web site, www.alpinist.com. The current issue of the magazine, Alpinist 21, has been redesigned and is printed on 100% recycled paper through an Earth Ink partnership with Patagonia –…

If you’ve been following the sat phone updates from Steve House here on The Cleanest Line you know that he, Vince Anderson and Marko Prezelj recently summited the previously unclimbed West Peak of K7 in Pakistan’s Charakusa Valley. Today we present a complete recap of the climb as told by Steve House. It’s tales like…

As reported on Climbing Magazine's site, Coloradans Jonathan Copp and Micah Dash recently made the first ascent of Shafat Fortress in pure alpine style. Located in Kashmir, India, Shafat Fortress stands 19,200-feet tall; the team's line has been dubbed The Colorado Route (VI, 5.11, M6, A1). Full details of the trip have been scarce since…

As promised, Steve House called in again with a quick update from the Charakusa Valley in Pakistan. It sounds like the weather has been bad enough to put the kibosh on K6 West. On the upside, the team is hoping to get out for a Sierra-style rock climb that Steve describes in this update. Listen…

Today we have a double-shot from Steve House. Apologies for not posting Update 9 sooner. In it Steve share’s Marko’s assessment of the weather, and he describes the Sierra-style climb that was mentioned in the last update, including the surprise they found at the top of it. Listen to Steve House Update 9 (mp3) Then,…

Steve House took the time to make one last call amidst the hustle and bustle of packing up base camp and organizing 30 porters. It’s a little rough around the edges but the sentiment is appreciated. Listen to Steve House Update 11 (mp3) Thanks again to Steve for taking us along for the ride. Previous…

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…

Many climbers are familiar with the convenient, high-quality granite available at California’s Donner Summit. Those who have made the trip are no doubt familiar with the sight of The Summit’s Rainbow Bridge, built in 1926.  Many come simply for the view available from the bridge’s road-side vista pull out. Those who frequent Donner Summit for…

Steve House is home from Pakistan now, but before getting on his flight in Islamabad he made one last call to close out his trip and introduce us to a special guest. In this last update we get to hear from Mr. Saad Tariq Siddiqi, the Honorable Secretary of the Alpine Club of Pakistan. You’ll…

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…

By Gerry Lopez Inspired by his good friend Don King – who is making a documentary about his son who has autism – Patagonia ambassador Gerry Lopez recently participated in the Surfers’ Environmental Alliance (SEA) Paddle NYC White Water fundraiser to raise money and awareness for autism. The event consisted of the first-ever 28-mile surf…

Editor’s note: Welcome to The Cleanest Lynn. Besides being one of the most accomplished climbers on the planet Lynn Hill is also one heck of a blogger. So we’ve handed over the keys to Lynn for a week’s worth of her insight. Enjoy. Many people ask me how I train for climbing. My first answer…

My last post addressed the mental aspect of endurance training. The following post will address the basics elements of the physical side of endurance training. Free climbing involves a combination of both power and endurance. Some people are better suited to one type of climbing or the other. I like all types of climbing but…

The other day while having coffee at Vics, the neighborhood café, a few people came up to me and said they liked the cover shot of Outside Magazine this month. This month’s gate-cover photo shows Lance Armstrong, Ben Harper, Amanda Beard, and Kelly Slater on the front page, and on the foldout page you see…

The Petzl RocTrip event in the Red River Gorge this past weekend was certainly “eventful”. This year Petzl joined forces with the RRGCC (Red River Gorge Climbers Coalition) annual fundraiser called, Roctober Fest to help raise money to buy a large section of cliffs in the Red River Gorge area. With contributions from Petzl, generous…

Over the last several years, many forms of yoga and eastern practices have been adopted into our culture. There is much more awareness about the benefits of meditation, maintaining good posture, and conscious breathing in our practice. Breathing is one of the few bodily functions that can be controlled both consciously and unconsciously. Conscious attention…

Overuse injuries in climbing are prevalent these days, especially for ambitious newcomers and people who simply have a hard time listening to their bodies. I know that most athletes are aware of the basic principles of preventative medicine but sometimes we tend to disregard them at the most crucial times. The following post is mostly…

I’ve found that the process of setting goals and the accompanying list of tasks “to do” in order to accomplish the goal, is essential in reinforcing my intents and purposes. Virtually every motivation guidebook includes at least one chapter about the proper organization of one’s tasks and goals. It is usually suggested that it is…

I was recently asked a series of questions on the topic of motivation. There are many ways to interpret the word, but by any definition, I don’t think I lack it. What I lack most of all is time. I often have obligations that get in the way of being able to get out to…

This story comes from Shawn Kelly, a friend of Patagonia who works for the California Coastal Conservancy’s Wetlands Recovery Project.  He is a husband, father of two boys and an avid fly-fisherman. The Escape The van climbs through the warm night, away from the sun-baked, Central Valley leaving behind the traffic, the strip malls, and…

The fall begins to bring grey weather, and we endorphin junkies and fresh-air addicts begin to get itchy. Trapped indoors as the rock gets desperately cold on the finger tips, the sun begins to hibernate, and there is not enough snow to strap toys to our feet. So we start pulling on plastic or hanging…

I just arrived home from a brief but pleasant trip to Yosemite Valley, where I was invited to give a presentation at the AMGA (American Mountain Guides Association) annual meeting. The fall colors were splendid and the climbing temperatures ideal. It was a coming home of sorts, I met up with my old friends, Mari…

Rare to see YC holding a fish out of water for even a second but this 26 pound Zolotaya River chromer required closer inspection. This Russian beauty had been caught on the nearby Rynda two summers ago and blue-tagged to identify it as a product of Rynda waters — proof of salmo salar’s wandering capabilities,…

Continuing with our impromptu theme of employees traversing long distances on foot, today’s post comes from Chuck Journey one of Patagonia’s I.T. wizards in Ventura: Brian looks at me: "You better be ready." He isn’t joking. We are at the Shortcut Saddle Aid Station, mile 59 of the annual Angeles Crest 100 Mile Endurance Run,…

The weather in Boulder this fall has been exceptionally warm. I have been enjoying the warm weather to engage in activities such as a small video shoot on a boulder problem in Eldorado Canyon. Normally I don’t allow myself to get sucked into other people’s idea of what they want me to climb for their…

The surf’s up in Ventura today and even though surface conditions were not perfect this morning, there’s definitely a buzz around the office. If you paddle out today, consider taking part in the following survey after your session. Thanks to Patagoniac Chad Nelsen for this submission: Researchers at UCLA are studying 22 surf spots in…

Amidst the hell of war, Fitz Cahall has discovered a story that will warm your heart: There was nothing exceptional about how Ryan Utz and Micah Helser became friends. After nodding at each other in the office hallways for weeks, they happened to discover that they shared an interest in sustainable building. They got to…

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…

When Dan Malloy came back from Liberia surfers around the office were asking him how the trip was, anxiously hoping to hear about perfect waves. Dan, humble as ever, spoke well of the trip and the waves but you could hear in his voice and see in his eyes that it wasn’t a typical surf…

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…

I think that Christmas changes lots over time. From the days as a little kid, opening each door of an advent calendar, and leaving chocolate chip cookies (which my mom definitely ate!!) and carrots for Santa and his reindeer to keep him going to each good little boy’s and girl’s house delivering treats, writing Christmas…

On November 10, 2007, Devon Howard and the Patagonia Cardiff staff hosted a very special event at the shop. Here’s Devon to tell you more: Storytelling in any form has always fascinated me. Whether penning a tale, shooting photos, helping make a surf film or just leafing through a good read, I always become completely…

They say it’s bad to surf after a rain. I disagree. I have empirical evidence that shows they are wrong. I don’t get sick. Never have. And I used to live in Venice Beach. They never reported the water quality at my local break better than a D+. I saw it as a challenge. It…

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…

Be sure and check out Part 1 if you missed it and keep an eye on the men’s and women’s surf pages at Patagonia.com,or here at The Cleanest Line, for Part 3 coming soon. Also, stay tuned for details on Gerry’s newbook Surf is Where You Find It. If you like surfing and an intimate…

"The odds on very difficult alpine climbs are not in your favor. So there's no excuse to show up unprepared, to show up out of shape." Climber, writer and Patagonia product tester Kelly Cordes takes us through his training strategy for alpine climbing and reflects on disaster style alpinism. If you enjoyed this video, consider…

India was a place I always told myself I wanted to go, but year after year it got pushed around, forced to the back burner by the priorities of life. When my girlfriend came to me and said, I want to study Yoga in Mysore I knew this was our chance. Within days we walked…

The Talkin’ Pipe series continues with Gerry & Jock reminiscing about the ’70s. They discuss a few of the breaks that prepared them for Pipeline, the board designs from that era and some of the masters who rode them so well. If you’re new to the series, take a gander at Part 1 and Part…

This story was sent to us by Ari Lurie from Tahiti. He is an avid outrigger paddler and surfer. ‘Haole go home.’  This glaring message was scrawled across a building in the center of town.  I was visiting the port of Fare on the beautiful French Polynesian island of Huahine.  I smiled at its bluntness…

The weather was so beautiful the other day that I decided to visit one of my favorite local traverses up on Flagstaff (Boulder, CO) called the Monkey Traverse. On this long, overhanging band of rock, I choreographed my own variation that I call Lynnie’s Low Down since it eliminates all the good holds on the…

Jeanne Young and I just returned from a rock climbing trip near Bariloche, Argentina. Beautiful alpine rock climbing. It’s a five-hour hike into a lake basin where there is free camping and a hut. We ate dinner (and drank red wine) at the hut each night, camped out on the opposite side of the lake,…

The Talkin’ Pipe video series continues with Gerry and Jock reminiscing about the Expression Session of 1970. Definitely some classic stories in here. Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 are available for those new to the series, and there’s more to come. Thanks again to Devon Howard and the crew at Patagonia’s Cardiff Surf…

Our friend Kelly Cordes, who tests gear and writes copy for us, went climbing in the Charakusa Valley of Pakistan last summer and sent us some photos to share. Though Kelly and his climbing partner, Scott DeCapio, were unsuccessful on their attempt at a new line on K7, they returned with some spectacular images —…

Learning big-wave safety lessons the hard way.

by Gerry Lopez Surf heroes become recognized for accomplishments that set them apart. Kelly Slater and Andy Irons battled fiercely for world championship titles among a field of surfers of extraordinary ability. Laird Hamilton rode bigger and more dangerous waves than anyone had before, which paved the way for others to make their own big…

by Gerry Lopez Since it’s gone, I guess there’s no reason to keep the secret any longer. What we had was a pretty neat surf spot almost 200 miles from the ocean. For the last three years, it’s been double top secret. Even so, like everything else in the surfing world, the word got out.…

by Gerry Lopez Jock Sutherland was my first and foremost hero at the Pipeline. It somehow seemed destined that my first time out on a small empty day as a sophomore in high school, Jock would paddle out and give me a key tip on how to surf the difficult place. It would be the…

by Gerry Lopez The telephone rang on a lazy day, there wasn’t any surf so I was just relaxing on the couch doing nothing. “Gerry, this is Randall Kleiser calling, I met you once with John Milius, and he suggested I call you. I’m making a movie about surfing, and I’d like you to be…

by Gerry Lopez I have been asked many times what it’s like being inside a tube. My short answer is simple, “it’s great.” The long answer is quite a bit more involved. To get inside a tube long enough to have time to think about what it’s like requires a long list of factors. Luck…

by Gerry Lopez Except for his rather large collection of blues records, there were not, in a material sense, a lot of other things Buddy Dumphy considered important or worthy of much thought. Even his surfboards were considered transient – tools to be used and sometimes abused – only stepping-stones to the next board. We…

by Gerry Lopez Yesterday I scored big. It was one of those rare days which left me so pumped up when it was over I knew I was going to have trouble falling asleep last night. [Editor's note: This story was originally written in November 2007] I figured I better write it down before the…

Not long ago we brought you a dispatch from India by Patagonia rock climbing ambassador Sonnie Trotter. After three months on the road and a bout with Malaria, Sonnie is now home and ready to share a taste of his time in India. The Alpine Club of Canada and Five Ten have arranged a short…

Right on the heels of our time with Surf Is Where You Find It author Gerry Lopez, we have more good book news to share with you this week. Majka Burhardt, a writer, climber, mountain guide and Patagonia ambassador, just had her first book published in February. Vertical Ethiopia: Climbing Towards Possibility in the Horn…

The Talkin’ Pipe video series concludes with Gerry and Jock riffing on Kelly Slater and Backdoor. If you’re new to the series, visit the Talkin’ Pipe page at Patagonia.com to watch parts 1 – 5. And while you’re there, consider picking up a copy of Gerry’s new book Surf Is Where You Find It. Sadly,…

It’s never too soon to learn the tradition of story telling. Today we bring you the words of Santa Barbara super-grom, and FCD Surfboards team rider, 13-year-old Lakey Peterson.  Right now I’m traveling through Australia, surfing with my mom and dad. We started in Noosa, where there was a worldwide surf festival going on. It…

In March I went up to the Canadian Rockies, one of my favorite mountain ranges, and spent a few weeks doing some winter climbing. What was most exciting about this season was that there was so much climbing activity. Lots of locals doing lots of cool new routes and new variations. But what was missing…

Even if you’re not an angler, I highly recommend taking the time to read this story. It comes from Mikey Wier, a professional snowboarder and fly fishing guide who founded Burl Productions. Mikey’s words are thick with the aura of appreciation that comes from having just returned from a Wilderness area. As you read this…

Yannick and his ski cronies from Patagonia Europe are stormin’ the steeps again. While denizens of our beach hut (Patagonia Ventura) have got spring surf on the brain, and the tribe at the desert mountain outpost (Patagonia Reno) are stymied by the all-to-quick disappearance of the snowpack, our friends at Patagonia Europe are proving that…

DJ Dukesherer’s path to becoming an author was less direct than the one that led him to surfing. Paddling the deep blue waters off the coast of Playa Del Rey with his father were a defining element of his childhood. Mr. Dukesherer’s ocean roots sunk deep into the sands of Playa Del Rey. Through his…

A big CONGRATULATIONS goes out to Patagonia Ambassador Zoe Hart who just passed her Ski Mountaineering Guide’s exam to earn her IFMGA mountain guide credential! This makes Zoe the fourth American woman to earn her IFMGA, or International Federation of Mountain Guides Associations, status. This is the highest level of credential available by a professional…

We found this e-mail from one of our European climbing ambassadors, Matt Helliker, in our inbox recently. Matt writes: Sorry for the group email, but I’m not long off the mountain and just wanted to give some info, on the Alaska trip. Myself along with Jon Bracey have climbed a new route on the East…

The Patagoonies in Palo Alto are getting revved up for an extra-special event this weekend. We are proud to announce that directors, Stanford University students, and friends of Patagonia, Nicholai Lidow and Britt Caillouette, will be introducing the surf documentary Sliding Liberia at 7 pm on Saturday, June 7, in our shop on Alma Street.…

We received some stellar news from Patagonia ambassador Sonnie Trotter this morning: Well, I don’t have much time right now, but I just wanted to say thanks to all ya’ll over there in Ventura, working hard to spread the Patagonia name, product and love. Yesterday I sent the original Rhapsody, the world’s first E11 (5.14b/c…

Sometimes you don’t have to travel to Pakistan for a meaningful alpine experience. Our good friend and product tester, Kelly Cordes, who’s also the senior editor of The American Alpine Journal, has been on “The Chase” in his own backyard looking for ephemeral melt/freeze lines. Says Kelly, “It’s staggering to think about how many hours…

Writer, photographer and Patagonia ambassador, Jonny Copp — Jonny is also the founder of the Boulder Adventure Film Festival and Dirt Days — sent us this story about his recent travels through Europe with Micah Dash. Had the Tibetans not rioted, Micah Dash and I would have been caught in the epicenter of an earthquake…

Scott Parry climbing “Steppin Out” 5.10d, Yosemite Valley. Photo: Jeff Johnson Phew … I’m back! Finally. Got back a couple months ago after being out of the country for half a year. Long story, too long. I’ll get to that later. You know how it is when you come back from traveling; an estrangement occurs.…

Down with The Mad Brown! Exciting news from Patagonia Europe Rock Climbing ambassador Nicolas Favresse*. Nicolas and partner Sean Villanueva O’Driscoll spent the month of May in Wales, and while there, completed the first on sight ascent of “The Mad Brown” (E7 6b [5.12- X], 4 pitches). In Nicolas’ words: I just wanted to share…

Zack Smith is a ninja, a master of all climbing styles, a bona fide climbing badass, and if you haven’t heard about him, it’s likely because he prefers it that way. From Patagonia, to Pakistan, to every crag within a six-hour drive of his Moab residence, Zack’s been stealthily pushing rock and alpine climbing standards…

Our board shorts line has a new addition with a long history. The Patagonia Organic Cotton Canvas Boardshorts, or Palaka shorts as they were originally known, come with a special heritage in not only the surf world but old Hawaii as well. When I started surfing in the late 1950s, Palaka shorts were one of…

As the days counted down to departure, I couldn’t help but laugh. Max’s normal organized nature, the mechanical engineer in him, had been affected by the chaotic nature in me, the eccentric literature major, turned mountain guide. There are two types of travelers/packers. The ones who make lists, pack a week in advance, weigh their…

Editor’s note: Today we have the first entry in another series of posts chronicling a major climb by Steve House. Steve, along with fellow Patagonia ambassadors Vince Anderson and Marko Prezelj, will be attempting the unclimbed West Face of Makalu come September. They received grant funding from the Mugs Stump Award, American Alpine Club and…

Patagonia ambassador Mary Osborne sends word about the premiere of Live: A Music and Surfing Experience, a new surf film by David Parsa. From Mary, "It’s a killer movie about surfing and music from the ’50s to the present." Surfing Magazine says of the film, "Live: A Music and Surfing Experience dances through each decade…

Surf stoke is such a positive feeling. It enriches our lives and makes us better people. Surf art has a way of rekindling the stoke when we’re not in the water — it transports us back to the ocean in our minds and hearts. The crew at Patagonia’s Cardiff surf shop have just such a…

To Steve’s credit, this call came in Thursday morning. Due to some technical difficulties we’re bringing it to you a little late. Our thanks go out to Steve for taking the time to make these calls. Here’s the first installment: Listen to Makalu Update 1 (mp3 – 2:36 – right-click to download) For those who…

Steve House called last night to give us another update from Nepal. The team has been trekking at altitude for a few days now to help with the acclimatization process. Listen to Makalu Update 2 (mp3 – 6:43 – right-click to download) As Steve mentioned in his first call, two friends from Oregon, Ian and…

As the warm, lasting light of summer slips into the folds of fond memory, the evening’s activities shift from late-day rides, runs, and climbs to cozier choices. If you’ve got little ones, this is the time of year you start thinking about snowy days, warm fires, and lots of hot chocolate. And what better way…

Regular readers of The Cleanest Line have learned to rely on regular product posts from our committed Customer Service representatives. They’re “Field Reports” of a sort . . . notes from the field about their adventures in our back-yard and beyond. This story’s a little different. It comes to us from Michelle L., one of…

What do you do when the helicopter you booked is suddenly grounded with engine failure? You repack everything, get as close to the mountain as possible and haul ass on foot. In today’s sat phone update from Nepal, Steve House describes how the Makalu trip almost ended in disaster, and he shares some tips on…

I said in my initial entry that I would occasionally talk about or mention product. This is only because I am very passionate about technical product. I love it when a piece of gear works exactly how it was intended when used in the conditions it was designed for. For instance: when I’m making an…

“24 hours of what?” I cried into my cell phone. “24 hours of HELL,” Kristo repeated. “Well, okay then, sign me up.” He had answered my question and we left it at that. Two months later, I still didn’t fully comprehend the meaning or significance of the event’s name. I thought it might have something…

No call from Hi, We are all settled in base camp now. All of our equipment finally arrived. We are at 18,500 ft. Steve is still ill with a cough though seems to be getting better. Marko and I hiked up a small peak behind camp that is about 20,500 ft. We will continue to…

Two Makalu trip updates for you today, one from Steve and one from Vince. First up is Steve House calling in from the sat phone. He might not sound so hot but his illness is getting better: Listen to Makalu Update 4 (mp3 – 5:35 – right-click to download) And here’s the email Vince Anderson…

Some good news to start the week. On Saturday morning at 4:45 a.m. I received the following email and picture from Vince Anderson via sat phone (hence the low resolution of the photo): 10-18-08 On Thurs., Oct. 16, Steve, Marko and I hiked up to C2 (ca. 6,700 m.) on the std. route of Makalu…

Great news from Patagonia Europe climbing ambassadors Nicolas Favresse and Sean Villanueva, the pair established a new free route up El Capitan in Yosemite Valley. In their ground-up effort, the team blended elements of current routes Eagles Way and Bad to the Bone on their way to the base of a hitherto-featureless wall. It was…

Steve House called again today from Nepal and he’s sounding a lot better. You’ll hear more about Vince and Marko’s new route on Makalu 2 and what the team’s chances are for completing their main objective: the west face of Makalu. Listen to Makalu Update 5 (mp3 – 4:39 – right-click to download) If you’re…

On September 22, thousands of citizens attended yet another hearing on the proposed "Trestles" toll road. The hearing was held by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce, who promised to make his decision between October 24, 2008 and January 7, 2009. As we begin the official waiting period for the verdict, let’s get a recap of…

With a little over a week left at base camp, everyone on the team is feeling healthy and optimistic about attempting their main objective. Weather is still an issue but the team’s meteorologist, Jim Woodmencey at mountainweather.com, says a window is coming soon. In today’s sat-phone report, an excited Steve House talks about the weather…

As promised, Steve House called again just before leaving base camp for the West Face. This is an interesting call because the revised weather forecast isn’t as good as the team expected. Download or click the link to hear Steve explain. Listen to Makalu Update 7 (mp3 – 2:18 – right-click to download) Good luck…

Steve, Vince and Marko spent last night at the base of the wall but returned to base camp this morning due to extremely strong winds. Attempting Makalu’s West Face in less than ideal conditions is one thing, attempting it in a storm of flying rocks and ice chunks is just not smart. Steve House shares…

The last time Steve House called from Makalu base camp in Nepal, we heard that strong winds had kept he, Vince Anderson and Marko Prezelj from even starting up the West Face. It was a major disappointment after all the team went through to get to the mountain. But that’s not the end of the…

Fitz Cahall and Sarah Garlick are back with part two of their coverage from the 2008 Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival. Today, Sarah interviews mountain guide, author and Patagonia ambassador, Majka Burhardt, about her book Vertical Ethiopia: Climbing Toward Possibility in the Horn of Africa. Listen to Banff 2008 Interview – Majka Burhardt (mp3…

We have a double-shot from Fitz Cahall and the Dirtbag Diaries to start your week. First up is the Banff Mountain Film & Book Festival interview I promised you last Friday (sorry, the Tea Fire had me preoccupied) between Fitz and Jennifer Lowe-Anker. Then, we have a new listener-recorded “The Shorts” episode of the Dirtbag…

[Update: Added a bunch of photos after the jump.] Patagonia Fly Fishing Marketer, Bill Klyn, shares his experience with a new kind of fly fishing trip. Core Angling offers world-class bonefishing in the Bahamas combined with the opportunity to help scientists study the fish and hopefully preserve their numbers for good. If you’re an angler,…

Devon Howard, manager of Patagonia’s Cardiff Surf Shop, has put together another stellar event for his customers – and recorded it for all of us who couldn’t be there in person. Tune in each day, from now until Monday, as we bring you Tom Wegener’s talk at Patagonia Cardiff. The first video of the four-part…

YouTube version: Wood is Good Pt. 2 See Part One of the series for an introduction to Tom by Devon Howard and to watch the first chapter of the video. Visit Patagonia Cardiff or Tom Wegener Surfboards to see the boards.

YouTube version: Wood is Good Pt. 3 Previously: Part 1 and Part 2. We’ll conclude the series tomorrow. Visit Patagonia Cardiff or Tom Wegener Surfboards to see the boards. With thanks to Devon Howard. 

YouTube version: Wood is Good Pt. 4 Here it is, the final installment of Tom Wegener’s "Wood is Good" talk at Patagonia Cardiff and what a treat this series has been (see parts 1, 2 & 3). The footage of Dave Rastovich in today’s chapter is mind blowing. Though far from mainstream, Alaias are here…

Climbing video site Momentum Video Magazine (MVM) recently posted a video of Patagonia ambassador Lynn Hill, sending the V11/12 boulder problem Chablanke in Hueco Tanks, Texas. There isn't an easy way to point you to the exact video, but it's worth the effort to locate if you want to see Lynn climb this very difficult…

Editor's note: Our Backyard Adventures series kicks off today and first up is Dave Anderson from Wyoming who proves that a vivid imagination can be your best partner on an outing close to home. Gone are the mornings spent lounging on the tailgate of my rusted-out truck, eating last night's leftover pasta with my only…

Last week Colin Haley (24) soloed Supercanaleta on Patagonia's Fit Roy massif. This burly effort comes less than a year after he and fellow Patagonia ambassador Rolando Garibotti completed the incredible Torre Traverse. Here's Colin's take on the solo climb: One of the reasons why my trips to Patagonia have always been among my most…

Gather 'round the virtual campfire friends. It's time for another Backyard Adventure from The Cleanest Line masses. This time, reader Doug Shepherd has a story to share about ice climbing near his home in Colorado: I have been climbing in Rocky Mountain National Park since I moved to Colorado five years ago, slowly gaining the…

From the frosty summits of Rocky Mountain National Park, to the sultry sea of the eastern shore, our Backyard Adventurers are taking us on a grand tour of some of some true surprises. Grab a brew, pull up a chair, and enjoy as Mark Carter takes us along on his hunt for secret mid-Atlantic surf:…

The boxes had started to stack up around my desk, but they weren’t addressed to me. “c/o Kate Rutherford” was acquiring quite a stash of stuff, and when she and Mikey Schaefer finally rolled up in their basecamp-on-wheels to Patagonia HQ one sunny Southern California morning, all the pieces started to fall into place. Mikey’s…

[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…

Editor's note: Exactly two years ago The Cleanest Line was born, and today we have a post that embodies two of the reasons why we started blogging: to share inspiring stories and pertinent news. The recipients of the 2009 Mugs Stump Award were announced at the Ouray Ice Festival in mid-January. Hit the jump to…

"Patagonia." It’s a very commonplace word in my life these days, but I get particular satisfaction hearing and speaking of it in the context of our company’s namesake, and with so many great stories drifting our way from that wind-battered microcosm of the alpine climbing world this winter, I can’t help but feel how inspirational…

Fresh off her and Mikey Schaefer's new route on Guillaumet, Kate Rutherford writes again from Patagonia about her attempt on the Chouinard classic, the California Route. [Kate Rutherford starts up the California Route, Fitz Roy, Patagonia, Argentina. Photo: © Mikey Schaefer]  A few years ago, my infamous and extraordinary friend, Cedar Wright, told the world…

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…

Those of you who receive the Patagonia catalog will have noticed by now that the recent Spring 2009 edition was themed "Classic Climbs." Through field reports, photos and captions, we highlighted a handful of routes that consistently capture the minds and hearts of climbers from around the world. If you didn't get the spring catalog,…

We're pleased to offer today's Backyard Adventure from Patagonia Climbing Ambassador, mountain writer, and senior editor for the If I could only have one piece per body part category to do the coolest things I want to do all year, it would be the following – I call it my Kit For Life. Here it…

As The Present prepares to head east, we'd like to share news about a different kind of surf film. Ben Keller of Dubious Honor Productions, and friend of Patagonia's El Pescador, is about to take his award-winning film BlueGreen on a 14-show west-coast tour starting this Friday, April 10, in Seattle, Washington. A new surfboard…

Not long ago, we offered up a Backyard Adventure tale from Patagonia Climbing Ambassador, mountain writer, and senior editor for the American Alpine Journal, Kelly Cordes. Kelly told us all about the great climbing to be had within 15 minutes of his door. Kelly’s an honest man, so he didn’t shy away from offering up…

During spring break last week, my son, Owen, and I joined up with five different families and friends in Hueco Tanks, Texas to enjoy a week of bouldering, camping and a refreshing dose of community-style living. I am a big believer in the saying, “It takes a village to raise a child.” I grew up…

Hopefully you've all seen the surf movie Sliding Liberia by now. We covered it a while back with the help of featured surfers Dan Malloy and Crystal Thornburg. The film's director, Britton Caillouette, wrote us with an update on the situation in Liberia since the film was released. Nicholai returned to Liberia last year to…

Editor's note: After an unsuccessful attempt last year due to foul weather, Steve House is heading back to Makalu for some more reconnaissance and possibly another alpine-style attempt at the west face. Steve sent the following email yesterday from the halfway point on the nine-day trek to Makalu base camp. Rock climbers and boulderers attempt…

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…

[Ed note: The following submission is from Patagonia Velocity and Performance Baselayer Designer, Jenny Uehisa. Together with Krissy Moehl, the duo are responsible for the design and development of many of the products found in Patagonia's line of running apparel.] I first met Krissy about 7 years ago when we shared a tiny workspace together…

We're not poaching on the classic MacGillivray/Freeman surf flick but we do have news about one of its stars. Gerry Lopez's field report, "Surfing with Aloha," is one of four new stories that have just been added to the Tin Shed. Sailboat captain Liz Clark, whale activist Crystal Thornburg and the beautiful-but-burdened buffalo of Yellowstone…

Patagonia fly fishing ambassador Dylan Tomine recently returned from a trip to British Columbia. The conditions weren't ideal for fishing but they were ideal for some cold-weather gear testing. Dylan shares his thoughts here along with some great shots from photographer Tim Pask. Just back from our North Coast, British Columbia spring steelhead expedition and…

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…

Another installment of the Backyard Adventures for TCL readers today. This time, we're heading back East a bit, and a little back in time, to eastern Virginia in early January. Folks who live along the mid-Atlantic seaboard know this is one of the few places on earth that didn't get the memo – the one…

With his sat. phone all repaired, Steve House called from Makalu base camp last Thursday. Then it was our turn for technical difficulties here in Ventura. Now that everything's up and running again we're happy to share Steve's first phone update from the base of Makalu's West Face, the fifth highest peak in the world.…

[The proud west face, October 2008. "My goal for this trip is to assessthe feasibility of a route out of the upper most (right hand) ice fieldin the center-right of this face. The top of the top ice field is about7,400 meters. I hope to get there and touch the headwall." Photo: ©Steve House] Steve…

After last week's scary call it was great to hear a spry sounding Steve House on the voicemail this morning. He recovered well from his bout with HAPE and will be heading up to camp 2 on Makalu's normal route tomorrow. Have a listen and you'll hear about the healing atmosphere of a yak pasture,…

Today Steve House makes good on his promise to call from camp 2 on the normal route of Makalu. From the first few heavy breaths to his attempt at simply walking 10 feet, this call will give you a pretty good sense of what it's like to be at 24,300 feet, in top physical shape,…

[Makalu base camp after the storm, May 2009. Photo: Cory Richards] In today's call from Makalu, Steve House describes a tropical storm that dropped 36 inches of wet snow in 36 hours on base camp. The weight of the snow was enough to collapse their cook tent. Undeterred and with time running out, Steve is…

Just as he predicted, Steve House and Cory Richards were not able to summit Makalu via the normal route. The same snow storm that collapsed the kitchen in base camp has halted their progress at approximately 20,000 feet. Listen to Steve House – Makalu, May 29, 2009(mp3 – 2:30 – right-click to download) This is…

Friends and followers of the climbing community were surprised to hear the recent news that Boulder-area climbers Micah Dash and Jonny Copp – along with photographer Wade Johnson – had failed to return to their base camp in a mountainous region of China. Copp is a Patagonia climbing ambassador, so we've been keeping track of…

It's with great heartache that I deliver to you the tragic news that the Chinese search team has discovered the body of our friend, ambassador and hero, Jonny Copp. A second body has been found on Mount Edgar and is believed to be Wade Johnson. The search continues for Micah Dash, but the setting and…

  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,…

Mention Nevada to mostfolks and what comes to mind is LasVegas glam and desert heat. Truth be told, manyNevadans are more than willing to let you think that but for the record, with313 named mountain ranges, Nevada has moremountains than any state except Alaska.Since moving here five years ago, I have been trying to wean…

I have just returned to Seattle from a three-week trip to the Central Alaska Range with Norwegian climber Bjørn-Eivind Årtun. The weather this May was significantly better than average — apart from a few days of snow showers and a wind storm that lasted for a few days, the weather was consistently mild. The weather…

I’ve been home from Makalu almost two weeks now and it’s been almost three weeks since I last posted — time flies. I was able to leave base camp very quickly because Cory Richards injured his knee in the deep snow just a few hours from base camp, the day after my last call. He…

Welcome! We're pleased to bring you part two in this series. If you missed Part 1, no worries, you can find it right here.__________________ Nevada is smack-dab in the middle of the Basin and Range topography of the Great Basin so every mountain range is an islandpoking up out of a sagebrush sea. These ranges…

There are a couple surf-related events taking place this weekend we'd like to share with you. First up is the 5th Annual International Surfing Day (ISD) on Saturday, June 20. ISD has events scheduled across the country, many of which include beach clean-ups, paddle-outs and fund-raising efforts for local Surfrider Foundation chapters. Here in Ventura,…

Today, we’ve got the final installment in Old School’s Toiyabe Trails series (previous posts: The morning after our unplanned layover day dawned clear andsunny, and while there was still a stiff breeze, it was nothing like the howlingwinds of the day before so we packed up and headed north. The TCT is splitneatly in half…

Two big contests took place over the weekend and Patagonia athletes shone brightly on both the trail and the ocean. Also taking place this weekend, the National Scholastic Surfing Association (NSSA) hosted their annual National Championships which is considered the highest profile youth surfing event in America. Taking first place in the Open Women's division…

Coming off two premiere screenings in Florida and Texas, a new all-female surf film, Dear & Yonder, will make its Southern California debut tonight at the La Paloma Theater in Encinitas — site of The Present premiere not long ago. Directed by Tiffany Campbell and Andria Lessler, the film features a dynamic cast of ladies…

It’s the first day back after a long weekend and I’m on about pitch four of the email mountain. With that in mind, I’ll keep today’s post short and let our friends at The Surfer’s Journal take the lead. I like this vid because it highlights two professional surfers from two generations, both of whom…

If you live in the Ventura or Santa Barbara areas, join us at GPIW tomorrow for an evening of women’s surfing. Patagonia surf ambassador Liz Clark leads things off with a slide show about the makingof Tiffany Campbell and Andria Lessler’s film Dear & Yonder. You’llget a behind-the-scenes look at some of the challenges theyencountered,…

A few weeks ago some of the folks from the California office cruised up to our part of the coast. Glen Morden, one of Patagonia’s product designers, is a transplanted Canadian, so he was piloting the minivan as they rolled across the Island and into town. They showed up on a typical Tofino day—thick cloud,…

Central Idaho’s Sawtooth Mountain Range offer a stellar backyard for Steve Graepel’s adventures. A Boise resident, he wedges his endurance training around family and a full-time job. His Backyard Adventure gives us a glimpse at a beautiful section of country to be included in one of his bigger projects: connecting 1,200 miles across Idaho’s backcountry…

The Cleanest Line is pleased to share this announcement from our friend Andy Chasteen, organizer of a now-famous (and soon-to-be infamous) crusher of a climbing comp held down in a little corner of Arkansas: September 25-27, 2009 marks the 4th-annual 24 Hours of Horseshoe Hell endurance climbing event held on the steep sandstone of northwest…

Great things are happening over at our sibling surf site Fletcher Chouinard Designs (FCD). Besides hand-shaping some of the lightest and strongest surfboards in the water, they're blogging on their homepage, sharing photos at Flickr and publicly answering customer questions about all the boards in the FCD quiver. While not quite as intimate as working…

We received this update from Dr. Jennifer Galvin, a filmmaker and environmental health expert whose work recently received a Patagonia-sponsored award for its focus on Ocean Sports. Congratulations to Dr. Galvin, reelblue and Swim to Empower.___________________________________ The world’s leaders in environmental conservation, ocean filmmaking and wildlife photography came together for the Blue Ocean Film Festival…

Last week we mentioned an alaia shaping class at Patagonia Cardiff. Store manager Devon Howard sent some photos from the event and a brief recap for those of us who couldn’t make the trek down south. Thanks to Cyrus Sutton of Korduroy.tv for getting us stoked on providing free alaia shaping classes with Jon Wegener…

It’s been a little over two months since we lost our dear friend Jonny Copp and needless to say the healing continues. Pete Takeda, a close friend and climbing partner of Jonny’s — and the author of An Eye at the Top of the World which recounts their attempt on Nanda Devi — sent in…

"22,000 feet on the Rupal Face, Nanga Parbat, Pakistan: August 15, 2004. I take a deep breath and push the honed edge of the knife against the rope. It doesn't cut. I whetted the edge for just this reason. Frustrated, I look at the small knife in the palm of my mitten. I have carried…

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…

As the speeding and swaying double-decker bus hurtled head-on toward us in our lane, forcing us onto the shoulder of the Pan American Norte highway, I began to rethink our decision to rent a car in Lima and make the two-day drive up the coast to Chicama and Pacasmayo, two of Peru’s most famous and…

Amy Waeschle is the author of the field report "WAP #96" and a former Patagonia catalog copy writer. She's one of the friendliest, most surf-stoked women I've ever met, especially for someone who lives in a place where conditions are finicky and 5mil wetsuits are the norm. It was a pleasure working with Amy and…

If you've ever called Patagonia's Customer Service line and asked a question about ultra-light hiking, then chances are good you've been referred to Adam Bradley. He's been working for Patagonia for years, during that time developing a reputation as one of the most fired-up, friendly, and knowledgeable customer service reps out there. He keeps his…

[Editor's note: The following report comes to us from Patagonia Athlete Liaison, Kristo Torgerson, with photos courtesy of Justin Bastien (www.justinbastien.com).] On August 30th, Patagonia Ambassador Krissy Moehl left an indelible mark on the ultra-running world when she crossed the finish line in Chamonix, France to take first place in the Women’s division at the…

Patagonia Rock Climbing Ambassadors Nicolas Favresse and Sean Villanueva O’Driscoll recently returned from a month of superlative success on Baffin Island’s numerous remote and wild granite walls. We were thrilled to receive Nico’s letter (below) and have been spending no small amount of time ogling all of the outstanding photos they brought home. We can’t…

A couple weeks back we shared an excerpt from Amy Waeschle's new book Chasing Waves: A Surfer's Tale of Obsessive Wandering. Amy kindly donated a copy of her book for one lucky Cleanest Line commenter. And that person is … Long Story Longer! The random time generator selected 22:09 and Long Story Longer said, "Very…

“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…

Our good friend and product tester, Kelly Cordes, who's also a senior editor at the American Alpine Club, has been on “The Chase” for years. He's written before about some of the ephemeral melt/freeze lines he's found in his own back yard [1, 2]. Kelly continues The Chase today – following it to some surprisingly…

We've had a great run of high-pressure and warm water this past month in Ventura. Patagonia ambassador and FCD team rider Mary Osborne captured one such day at the point while testing out a GoPro waterproof video camera. [Video: Patagonia Ambassador Mary Osborne Surfing with Water Cam by Mary Osborne] The music in today's video…

Today's post comes from Patagonia's Athlete Liaison and Grassroots Event Coordinator, Kristo Torgerson. Kristo's the brains and sweat behind Patagonia's involvement in what has become one of the rock climbing community's coolest events, the 24 Hours of Horseshoe Hell. We announced this year's event back in July. For a complete recount of last year's event…

Indonesia is a favorite destination of surfers from all over the world, including Patagonia employees, who have visited the islands many times over the years to surf and explore. A group from our company was on Sumatra just last month. They flew into Padang, the island’s largest city (pop. 900,000), where they hopped a charter…

Today we’re following-up on Friday’s post “Great Waves, Bad Earthquakes, an Island in Need” with a firsthand account of the recent earthquake in Sumatra. Patagonia surf ambassador Belinda Peterson-Baggs was on a boat trip with our friends at Sumatran Surfariis when the 7.6 quake hit. All photos by Adam Kobayashi. Here’s Belinda: In the last…

Up the road from Patagonia HQ, the fight to ban septic tanks at Rincon is making good progress. A similar shift is now being proposed for Rincon's southerly sister, Surfrider Beach in Malibu. The Malibu Surfing Association is one of many groups working on this issue and they're asking for your help. Take action: Help…

Patagonia friend, product tester, writer, disaster-style alpine climber, sleeping-bag spooner (and, ahem, senior editor of The American Alpine Journal) recently realized he's not keeping himself busy enough. Nowadays, that's as good a reason as any to fire up a blog. What makes Kelly's different and special? Of course you'll have to find out for yourself,…

When you build your own sailboat in Southern California and attempt to sail it the length of the Baja peninsula you don't come back with just one story, you come back with many. Today, we're stoked to have Christian Beamish join us again with another high-seas tale to complement his Dirtbag Diaries episode "Three Eighths…

Christian Beamish is back with his hand-built sailboat, Cormorant, and the conclusion to his story from Baja. Please read part 1 first if you missed it yesterday. This was bad, but in the realm of wilderness breakdowns, not so bad really. I was not injured, I would not go hypothermic – worst case scenario I…

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.…

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…

The Hardrock Hundred Mile Endurance Run through Colorado’s San Juan Mountains starts and finishes in the mountain town of Silverton, and has a total elevation gain of 33,000 feet. I’d met my friend Roch Horton at Grouse Gulch, the 42-mile mark, intending to pace him as far as Ouray. He’d already run the hardest stretch…

Editor's note: With the Pacific Ocean starting to wake up, now's a nice time to hear from our friends at Fletcher Chouinard Designs (FCD) surfboards. From the FCD inbox – I bought a 6'10" Octo model from you guys a year or so ago, and thought you'd like an update…I spent a few months this…

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…

At the age of 14, Patagonia ambassador Ron Kauk left for a 20-day backpacking trip through the Sierra with a high school group and the hook that would tie him to large, expansive spaces was set. After that trip, he didn’t want to ride bikes with the other teenagers. He wanted to rappel. He traveled…

I’ve dreamt of Indian Creek for years but had never made the voyage. Now I had an excuse. The Patagonia Design Offsite was to be in Utah this month and I wanted to attend. This would be my first trip to Moab and Indian Creek. I picked up my friend Bill Beckwith in San Francisco.…

The Ouray Ice Festival, one of the highlights of the ice climbing season, is in full swing this weekend. It blasted off Thursday night with slide shows from Caroline George and Andres Marin. By all reports Caroline’s show was great and Andres' was hysterically funny. Tonight myself and Majka Burhardt go on at 8:30pm with…

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…

All of us at Patagonia are thrilled to welcome our newest climbing ambassador, Tommy Caldwell, to the family. And we at The Cleanest Line can't wait to share some of Tommy's stories with you in the coming days. Until then, check out the formal press release below and an extremely informal video after the jump.…

  Climbing and yoga are often compared for their ability to transport us into the moment. In today’s dispatch, Ron touches on both disciplines and another activity that connects them. Listen to “Learning to Walk Again”(mp3 – right-click to download – music: “Chuya” by Sus Corez) Return to Balance: A Climber’s Journey is available through…

Josh Berry, environmental director for Save the Waves Coalition and the man behind All Points South, just released a new video with Captain Paul Watson (Sea Shepherd) and Dave Rastovich (Surfers for Cetaceans) sounding off on the continued need for ocean activism. The video also features surfing from Timmy Turner, Ramón Navarro, Brett Schwartz and…

[Approaching can be so miserable. Photo: Mikey Schaefer] By all accounts, the weather down in Patagonia this season has been terrible so climbers are taking what they can get. This has been the case for Patagonia ambassadors Mikey Schaefer and Kate Rutherford. After getting skunked on the larger features they had hoped to climb, Mikey…

On Wednesday, February 10, Chris Malloy’s long-anticipated film 180° South will premiere at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. Details can be found on the Woodshed Films Facebook page or the SBIFF site. For those who can’t make the premiere, we’ll soon have more info on future screenings and the release of the film on DVD and Netflix. Patagonia Books has also published…

One very fine day in 1973, Gary Ward and I were surfing Rincon and it was just perfect. We both had to leave around 1 p.m. to get back to work, but the look and feel of the Rincon on that day was more alluring than silver or gold. She was alive and dancing before…

It's the cocoon of night that brings total escape. Escape from all that my eyes can be distracted by. Because after all, I do this for its simplicity: to surround myself with only the sea, a craft and my heartbeat. It's not that paddleboarding by day is so bad it just seems to reach a…

A little over a year ago, we invited readers to submit stories of their own Backyard Adventures and announced a deadline of January 9th, 2009. Here we are in 2010, and still (happily) receiving submissions. Today’s post is from previous Backyard Adventure contributor Steve Graepel, author of an earlier piece about traversing central Idaho’s Sawtooth…

On his final day in Hawaiʻi, after competing in the Pipeline Bodysurfing Classic earlier in the week, Patagonia surf ambassador Keith Malloy scored some glorious conditions at the famous reef break. “Spring Pipeline is my favorite time of year,” says Keith. “My 7’4” FCD was the perfect board for this day. I surfed for two…

As Rios Libres sets off to help keep Chile's rivers wild and free from dams, Save The Waves Coalition is working hard to bring much needed relief to the residents of Chile who were hardest hit by the recent earthquake. Here's the latest word from Save The Waves on their relief efforts. Donations are still…

Jonathan Thesenga has been everywhere. A great climber, traveler and storyteller, his hit list is adorned with some of the best out-there adventures and destination discoveries of the last decade. Morocco, Mali, the Czech Republic and the storied Stolby trips come to mind immediately. So when he expressed interest in exploring some new routing options…

Editor’s note: Our thanks go out to Patagonia ambassador Kitty Calhoun for sharing today’s story and photos. This is the first time we’ve featured one of Kitty’s stories on The Cleanest Line, hopefully it won’t be the last. Cars, phones, money are the necessary bane of my existence. On this trip I would need none…

In today’s audio dispatch, our friend and ambassador Ron Kauk introduces a new non-profit project he’s been working on with Kenji Hakuta, professor of education at Stanford University. Listen to “Sacred Rok” (MP3 – right-click to download) Sacred Rok provides the chance for small groups of young people between the ages of 14 and 21…

[Video: "STANDING – Chile Tsunami Relief Film" by SaveTheWaves via YouTube] "This tsunami was the biggest wave we've ever surfed but we surfed it together." –Sergio “Pocha” Salas: surfer, earthquake & tsunami survivor and relief activist, Constitución, Chile. In a sense, all of us did surf this earthquake and tsunami together. While Pocha and others…

Inside the recently updated Tin Shed is a beautiful and poignant, animated video by climber and artist Jeremy Collins. It’s called Border Country. Today we’re stoked to share a behind-the-scenes look at the making of Border Country and the passion that was poured into it by Jeremy and his companions at ThreeHouse. Video: The Making…

We just launched our new Spring 2010 Surf Online Catalog with the theme "Protect Your Break." Inside you'll find articles highlighting threatened surf breaks around the world and links to the good work our friends at Save The Waves Coalition are doing to protect those spots, including their exciting new initiative, World Surfing Reserves. The…

The Copp-Dash Inspire Award, sponsored by Black Diamond Equipment, La Sportiva, Mountain Hardwear and Patagonia, announced the first winners of the new climbing grant established in memory of American climbers Jonny Copp and Micah Dash, who were killed in an avalanche in China in May 2009 along with filmmaker Wade Johnson. In addition to providing…

Stanley's was a surf break in Ventura County that was destroyed in the 1970s to make way for a highway. Listen to Yvon Chouinard describe what Stanley's used to be like and check out some great archival footage of this spot, courtesy of The Living Curl. This video and other stories like it can be…

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…

Today's post comes from Patagonia surf ambassador Keith Malloy. Hopefully it'll inspire you to seek out some waves and wildlife over the long weekend. [Photo: www.burkardphoto.com] "We had a great trip up to the northwest this spring," said Keith. "Good weather and consistent swell gave us fun waves everyday. We were blown away at how…

Patagonia Climbing ambassador Nico Favresse headed to Baffin last year with fellow ambassador Sean Villanueva O’Driscoll to see what they could see – maybe climb a few things. They returned with killer images and a sack full of first ascents and notable repeats of huge granite lines in a landscape seldom visited and even more…

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…

The trees are in bud, green leaves are unfurling, robins are here, but winter is hanging on in the high country. People are skiing big lines, the last of the winter ice climbs are weeping from the rock walls and collapsing in jumbles or broken blue blocks. I've been scheming with my Salt Lake City…

 Editor's Note: When Americans tell stories about climbing in France, their tales usually include a mention of the food, the wine, or an encounter with a crazy Frenchman. Patagonia Climbing Ambassador Jasmin Caton recently returned from a climbing trip to France's Verdon Gorge, where, it seems, she enjoyed close encounters with all three.  Prior to coming…

Comeback – n Informal or vb come back (intr. adverb)   1. a return to a former position, status,etc.   2. a return or response, esp. recriminatory   3. To become fashionable again I am just leaving the belay on Pitch 5 of Aurora (5.8, A4), a steep, difficult aid line on El Cap. It has been five…

Patagonia Rock Climbing Ambassadors Nico Favresse and Sean Villanueva O’Driscoll, together with Nico’s brother Olivier, photographer Ben Ditto, and Bob Shepton (their esteemed sailboat captain) set off on their big summer expedition just over a week ago. You can find regular updates on their partner site Xpedition.be. For those not yet familiar with their unique…

Editor’s Note: Today’s post comes from Dan Moore, down in southern Utah. Dan sent us this story in response to our request to “Tell Us About Your Rad Dad.” Last week’s featured submission was from a young lady whose discovery of herself and the outdoors is still unfolding. This week’s feature offers a look back…

I have approximately 30 bruises, I tried to count them but some blend together, and five gobbles (cuts or abrasions from the rock): one on the ankle, one on each shoulder, a small one on my hand, and a tiny one on my wrist. I feel like I fared pretty well on that huge physical…

Bjørn-Eivind Årtun and I have just come out from a 37-day trip to Denali and Mt. Foraker, which was partially funded by a Mugs Stump Award and the Norwegian Alpine Club (NTK). Here is a report of what we did. [Bjørn-Eivind high in the Messner Couloir on our first visit of the expedition to Denali’s summit. Photo…

Video: Patagonia Cardiff Event- Castles in the Sky by www.KORDUROY.tv. Take a walk around Cardiff with Dan Malloy and watch some excerpts from Taylor Steele’s new surf film, Castles in the Sky. Dan hopped the train down to Patagonia Cardiff where he introduced the film on a summer evening to about 550 folks. A trip…

Earlier we told you about Patagonia ambassadors Nicolas Favresse and Sean Villanueva, and their current climbing trip: Greenland Vertical Sailing 2010. Nico and Sean, along with Olivier Favresse and Ben Ditto have stowed aboard Captain Bob Shepton's boat to sail the west coast of Greenland looking for virgin big walls to explore. We thought their…

Every minute passing means more beaches are covered in brown oily tar balls. Weather and winds fluctuate in all directions, pushing crude oil into new areas of fresh white sand beaches, covering sea animals, rivers and marshes. Fish are dying; crabs are now toxic, and mammals slowly are being poisoned. Three days ago today, the…

“Impossible mais possible après tout.” (Impossible but possible after all.) “I’ve been looking at that wall for twelve years, but I’ve never found any team good enough” –Bob Shepton winner of the 2009 Tilman Medal. Editor's note: When last we left the crew of Dodo's Delight, they teased the start of a new multi-day climb,…

[Update 4/18/11 via Save the Waves & Surfer's Path: The fight continues to save Doolin Point and Crab Island. Despite the recent approval by the Clare County Council to build a pier that threatens the world-class waves of Crab Island and Doolin Point, the project now must acquire a foreshore license by the Department of…

“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.…

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.…

We love the escape. Sometimes climbing is just climbing, and everything doesn’t need to symbolize anything more. I read that Hemingway said there was no symbolism in The Old Man and the Sea (my all-time favorite book), and that “The old man is an old man. The sea is the sea.” We can draw our…

The Fall Alpine catalog just came out – or will be out soon – and has a theme of near-misses. Those climbs where we gave all we had but came up short. Anybody who’s thrown themselves to the alpine knows the story, and in the catalog we share some of those specific tales. I wrote…

[Tracing the Edge playlist, kick back and watch episodes 1-5. Video: Fitz Cahall & Bryan Smith] Our friend Fitz Cahall, who you know from The Dirtbag Diaries, and his partner Bryan Smith have created a new 10-part video series, Tracing the Edge, that peers into the lives of three Patagonia ambassadors. You saw the first…

There’s a great saying that goes, “If you don’t travel, you stagnate.” I think the idea also applies to engaging ourselves with people beyond our usual crowd. We can so easily get stuck in our own little circles, which also breeds stagnation and ignorance. And so two weekends ago I went with my ultraunner friends…

Editor's note: Between the floods in Pakistan, the Gulf oil spill and the anniversary of Katrina it's easy to forget about the 8.8 earthquake and tsunami that brutalized Chile in February. Our Friends at Save the Waves Coalition haven't forgotten and continue their relief efforts in the hard to reach coastal areas of the country.…

Colin Haley used the Cascades as a springboard onto the world's hardest-to-reach summits. The range's fickle weather, arduous approaches and complex glaciers were perfect tests. Summit by summit Haley connected the dots until multi-day outings like Mount Shuksan and Mount Slesse became day trips. The next episode, with Krissy Moehl, airs September 8. To catch…

[Ed Note: Kelly lets us write the title, so of course we're going to take a chance to tease him. And it goes without saying, but we'll say it anyways for all those bone-heads out there who are too-cool for school: there's nothing yella-bellied about protecting your skull. Wearing a helmet is more than a…

Is it possible to live an entire life in a single day? Ultrarunner Krissy Moehl has while racing. Massive 100-mile courses contain a lifetime of joy, tedium and wonder concentrated into 24 hours. For Krissy, her biggest races are touchstones in her life, a moment to process life's ups and downs. The next episode of…

The other day we got a voice message from the man himself, Tommy Caldwell, calling from China with an update on their rock scramblin’ explorations. It’s a great crew: Tommy and his wife, Becca; young phenom Hayden “Wu Tang!” Kennedy; master artist, climber and person Jer Collins; top writer, all-around go-for-it adventurer and climber Mark…

Details emerge in our second update on Granite China. Did the crew get to climb? Our inside informant (me) uncovered a few details. The reason for the previously spotty details is that, while there, our team had poor phone reception and couldn’t access the World Wide Web. Even if they had web access, China blocks…

Whether he's on glassy Indonesian waves or fresh Bachelor powder, 61-year-old Gerry Lopez understands the ins and outs of carving. How did the Pipeline master end up landlocked in Oregons high dessert? It's a family thing. The next episode of Tracing the Edge revists Colin Haley and will air on September 22. To catch up…

We’ve been reporting on Tommy Caldwell and crew’s trip to northern China’s Keketuohai National Geological Park, rumored to be a granite wonderland – but with challenging access (see parts one and two). Well, it turns out, both rumors proved true. But hopefully the latter will fade away with time and good behavior (like getting early…

Colin Haley used the Cascades as a springboard onto the world’s hardest-to-reach summits. The range’s fickle weather, arduous approaches and complex glaciers were perfect tests. Summit by summit Haley connected the dots until multi-day outings like Mount Shuksan and Mount Slesse became day trips. Stay tuned for the series finale next week. You can catch…

Happy first day of fall everyone. We'll say farewell to summer with some south-swell shots of Keith Malloy dropping into a bomb at the Wedge in Newport Beach. Keith went down to body surf, but was able to get a few on his surfboard before the black ball. There's even some video. For more from…

[Kelly trail running in Glacier National Park, MT. Photo: Cordes collection] You won’t run again. I don’t really set concrete goals. In fact, I find it best to have no goals whatsoever; that way I won’t be disappointed if I don’t reach them. Hopefully some hiking by mid-summer, and some easy climbs by fall. Seriously,…

This is it. Tracing the Edge concludes today with our final episode featuring ultrarunner Krissy Moehl. Kick back and enjoy. You can catch all 10 episodes of Tracing the Edge at patagonia.com/tracingtheedge or on YouTube via the Tracing the Edge playlist. A lot of hard work happens behind the scenes of a series like this.…

In the dank and smoky Fairview bar in Talkeetna, Alaska, 2003, I learned the simple secret to hard climbing. Jonny Copp and I had just come out of the Range, and we swilled beers with a couple of rowdy Brits. As usual, Jonny had been the driving force in our climbing. Everyone, it seemed, wavered…

Summer left for fall the week before, and my super long shot goal slipped away. So it goes, I told myself, I had an awesome summer and am still months-to-a-year ahead of rehab schedule. Besides, climbing means nothing. OK, OK, let me get this straight: so there’s this hunk of rock – what, is there…

Patagonia Running Ambassador Krissy Moehl took top honors at the recently held Shinetsu Five Mountains Trail 110K in Japan’s Shinetsu Highlands. This year marks the second running of the race, a labor of love born from the vision of another Patagonia Running Ambassador, Hiroki Ishikawa. Takayuki Kakihara, of Patagonia Japan, offers this introduction to the…

“You’re such a redneck navigator,” Lizzy tells me. I’m in charge of getting us to a place in the South Platte where neither of us had been, and it’s dark, and I’m sitting in the passenger seat with a crooked map in one hand and a yuppie-Nalgene in the other – one of those steel…

We test our gear on a variety of levels. Our Field Report: Climbing El Cap, Yosemite Valley, early October 2010Conditions: Kinda like rock climbing, kinda like paddling whitewater.Products Tested: Nano Storm, M10 Jacket, R1 Hoody, Rain Shadow JacketTested By: Dave Campbell, Patagonia Pro Sales There’s a saying in China: If you’re ‘one in a million’,…

After the fifth lower I called “off,” grimaced, untied with one hand and walked cautiously to a flat rock. Dammit, I’m getting sick of this. Across the valley El Capitan rose straight skyward and I sat down, surrounded by dirt, pine and granite. Clouds moved, darkening, signing an incoming storm. I held my left arm…

It’s been a nice summer.  Sacred Rok had four camping trips, two in Yosemite Valley in May and June and two at Tuolumne Meadows in July and August. Editor's note: Last December we started a new series, Yosemite Dispatches,with longtime Patagonia ambassador Ron Kauk. In his April dispatch, Ron described a new summer project called…

One of the coolest things about climbing is how everyone can get their fix – whether you climb 5.5 or 5.14, we can all find that same feeling, that same immersion, focus and engagement at our own levels. This summer, Patagonia rock climbing ambassador Sonnie Trotter devoted himself to two, long new routes with very…

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…

Congratulations go out to Patagonia ambassador and FCD team rider, Kohl Christensen, on his first place finish in the Nelscott Reef Big Wave event. According to event organizers this year's contest took place in the biggest conditions ever surfed at Nelscott Reef. Stoked for you, brother! Photo: Tyler Roemer. Hit the jump for more photos…

Sometimes a compelling image says everything, no words needed. Sometimes the most basic photo hides a deeper meaning, an experience, a story; maybe a few details deepen what we see in that captured moment, or maybe it’s something we never imagined. Other times it’s just a pretty picture. That’s all. A lot of my posts…

Out there and awesome. That’s what comes to mind when I think of Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson on the Dawn Wall. If you aren’t a climbing geek who’s been following, they’re trying to free climb the steepest, blankest part of El Capitan. It’ll be a fight, for sure – it already is. They left…

It had been over five years since I was in Baja, experiencing its vast coastlines, colorful culture and fine tequila as part of the “Bend To Baja” crew; and what a great way to reunite with Baja than a perfect, sunny swell-filled weekend with the Save The Waves Coalition, a global nonprofit organization whose mission…

Last night I saw the best outdoor film I’ve seen in awhile. It’s about fly fishing. Huh? I’ve never fly fished and, honestly, I never really “got it.” I know there must be something there, though, because even if it makes as much sense to me as drinking margaritas in Russia, people love it, obsess…

A couple weeks ago we told you about Kohl Christensen's win at the Nelscott Reef contest up in Oregon. Here's a video from our current digital surf catalog featuring Kohl and Fletcher Chouinard talking about the shapes they've been working on together, and some time-lapse footage of one of Kohl's boards being built by the…

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…

Zack Smith shares a story about losing track of time while climbing with friends—and how precious memories become down the road.

Patagonia Climbing Ambassador "Annapurna III's 2300 metre southeast ridge featured in an Alpinist 4 article titled Unclimbed – a 'to do list' of nine objectives in keeping with the spirit of exploratory alpinism. Conrad Anker, writing about his attempt to climb the south-east ridge, said: 'Every mountain has a line that defines it; this line…

FCD Board Report – The first thing I noticed about the 5’7″ Fish was how lightweight it was, making it a lot easier to throw around in the surf. I usually ride smaller Fish, somewhere around 5’4″, so i didn’t really know what to expect. The extra few inches made it way easier to paddle…

It's tough to say who's been getting more exercise lately, Kelly Cordes or his insurance policy. TCL regulars might remember his recent injury, a dislocation he wrote about back in October. As the surgery date approaches, Kelly's found himself in a pensive mood. Today we offer the first in a multi-part series where our hero…

It started out as an idea and later became a vision while on a trip across Argentina seven years ago. Former members of AEG Media, creators of The Trout Bum Diaries and Fish Bum Diaries DVDs, have collaborated once again to document a new expedition throughout Mexico. The crew is operating under MOTIV Fishing these…

Today we've got Part 2 in Kelly Cordes' series about the bout of injuries he's experienced this past year (part 1 is here). His most recent setback, a severely torn shoulder, happened shortly before his scheduled departure for Patagonia. Kelly was helping Tommy and Becca Caldwell pack for departure last week – instead of joining…

We posted some pictures on Flickr a few weeks back of a surfboard that Stru built during some of his off hours. We got such a reaction to the pics that we decided a Q&A with Dr. Strukenstein was in order. This interview was conducted over a three-week period, during which there were some highs…

We test our gear on a variety of levels. Our Athletes & Ambassadors are responsible for putting the latest designs and fabrics through the paces before we'll add a new product to our lineup. But just because something reaches our shelves doesn't mean testing is over. Once a new item shows up in our catalogs,…

In 2005, Marko Prezelj and I planned an expedition to the (still) unclimbed north wall of Kalanka, a formidable 21,000 foot peak in the Indian Himalaya. With three weeks to go, the bureaucrats who hold the key to that fine mountain threw up one final hurdle, a second permit fee to be paid to the…

Another in our informal series of posts for the more visually oriented. Today's is from Kelly C, who's still on the mend after last week's shoulder surgery. Earlier picture stories can be found here (1, 2). – Ed Jim Earl crests the north ridge en route to the summit of Nevado Ulta, on the first…

Today we've got Part 3 in Kelly Cordes' series about the bout of injuries he's experienced this past year (here's the links to check out part 1 and 2). His most recent setback, a severely torn shoulder, happened shortly before his scheduled departure for a climbing trip to Patagonia. Part 3 brings us the details…

Our friend Rolo Garibotti just sent word about his latest labor of love for the region he loves so much. Previously, we updated you on his work with the Patagonia Sustainable Trails Project. Today, we're happy to share news on the launch of Pataclimb.com, an online climbing resource assembled by Rolo and his friend Doerte…

[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…

Part 4 in Kelly Cordes' series about perils and pleasures of aging gracefully while slaying stereotypes (the first three installments are here:1, 2, and 3). After a series of significant injuries – the most recent a severely torn shoulder – Kelly was forced to bow out of an upcoming trip to Patagonia with fellow climbing…

Maybe we're all getting old, or maybe just obsessed with trying not to, but Kelly Cordes' ongoing series about Fighting Forty makes today's post – from runner and guest-contributor, Liz Mosco – particularly appropriate. As a friend of patagonia, Liz has come to know some of the folks around here. She's a fan of those…

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…

Climbing virgin big walls from the deck of a sailboat anchored in frigid ocean waters. You've read the blog posts and seen the pictures, but the best is yet to come. Get ready for a five-part video series featuring Nico Favresse, Olivier Favresse, Seán Villanueva, Ben Ditto and the Reverend Captain Bob Shepton, coming this…

Nobody likes to wear booties when they surf, but there are some places where the water is so cold it can’t be avoided. What happens then when you forget your booties after hiking in to surf beautiful head-high waves in 30-degree water? You get creative. So, I’ve long been a fan of Patagonia products. However,…

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. Building on his " Another winter climbing tip,…

Like a father handing his teenage daughter the keys to the family car for the first time, JT worrisomely handed me Gypsy’s keys. Gypsy was the newest addition to our family, a big white 2010 Mercedes Benz Sprinter Van. I gently grabbed the keys while simultaneously executing the extremely athletic lunge required to get myself…

As we barreled down I-70 headed for Moab, I suggested we try Ziji on King of Pain tower, which is part of the Bridger Jack formation at Indian Creek. I handed her the Mountain Project topo and her eyes lit up. “Four pitches long and only two pitches of 5.12!” She seemed relieved—it wasn’t nearly…

The 5th and final installment in Kelly Cordes' series about perils and pleasures of aging gracefully while slaying stereotypes (the first installments are here:1, 2, 3, and 4). A series of significant injuries – the most recent a severely torn shoulder – forced Kelly to bow out of an exciting trip to Patagonia. In this…

Last week, 14 Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) terrorists in southern Algeria kidnapped an Italian woman. The terrorists escaped with her across the Sahara and disappeared into the no-mans land of northern Niger. 2007 was an especially bad year in Algeria with a reported 375 people kidnapped; the AQIM claiming responsibility for 115.…

End of Day Three here in Algeria and it’s safe to say we’ve already had an amazing adventure. Brittany and I have traveled and climbed in Mali, Morroco and Oman, so we are no strangers to the desert terrain of northern Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, but southern Algeria is a whole other level of…

Editor’s note: Fletcher Chouinard originally shared this story about the trip he made from California to Chile to ride some of the biggest surf ever at El Buey in 2011. Saturday Kohl: “Bru, it’s going to be puuummmmpiing! Meet me in Chile!” Sunday Kohl: “Looking SICK! I’m in Houston. I’ll be there tomorrow. Coooome down!” Monday…

I sat in a cloud of dust; pants dirty, my hand planted in the sewing needles of some patagonian flora. I'd just landed there after my tired muscles failed to correct a small foot slip on the steep gravel. We were headed down from Fitz Roy on this 5th day. I stood and wiped the…

It’s the end of Day Six of our trip to Algeria and we are freezing. Seriously. All of our clothes on—including long underwear and down jackets! How is that possible? Aren’t we in the Sahara? Well, delete those pictures of sand dunes and palm-tree-fringed oasis from your mind—we are bivied up in the Atakor region…

Day Nine here in Algeria and the adventure sweetness keeps rolling along. Today is a rest day and we spent it hiking off into some distant wadis to investigate some attractive-looking summits we saw from afar (which turned out to be choss). We followed old goat trails through the unending black rock, stumbling upon a…

Introduction Little compares to Yosemite's El Capitan in majesty and sustained steepness. But contrary to popular lore, it’s not the Lower 48’s biggest rock face. It’s not even the biggest in the Valley – the south face of Mt. Watkins is bigger. Well, maybe. How do you measure? (OK, I feel the urge to crack…

Day 14 and our last here in southern Algeria. As is our tradition on international climbing trips we got a hotel room for our last night in-country as a way to smooth the transition back to the “real world” and finally take a shower. It was Brittany’s birthday yesterday and Zaoui, Aziz and Mustapha surprised…

I’m excited and worried about my Pakistan trip later this summer. Most people are good people, I think, but still, the world is a dangerous place. Then again, so is sitting on the couch with your seatbelt buckled. What to do? My Pakistan fears have nothing to do with jihadis, and everything to do with…

I’d been dreaming about Haida Gwaii for as long as I could remember. Or, if not quite as long as I could remember, at least since my time as a skinny, bespectacled kid in public school, staring wide-eyed at the Haida totems in front of the Royal British Columbia Museum. In more recent years, with…

[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…

“March is a killer month in the Sahara. Temperatures rise and fall with such rapidity that the body has difficulty adjusting.” This sentence from the book I was reading (The Conquest Of The Sahara, by Douglas Porch) made me more anxious than the current kidnapping news. How was I to pack two weeks of clothes…

First off, I’m talking about my ankle. My cankle, still swollen from my broken leg and part of my next round of surgeries on Monday. My final surgeries, inshallah, making six in a little over a year. I’ve had enough. Should be minor, removing most of the hardware store in my lower leg, trimming my…

A test of the elements atop the Bishop’s Cap, Glacier National Park, MT, with Justin Woods back in 2009. In early 2010 I destroyed my lower leg, and multiple surgeries later, culminating with several procedures this past Monday by my heroes at the Steadman Clinic, I’m on my way again. Though I might not look…

When he's not in the office developing Patagonia wetsuits and surf gear, you'll find Billy Smith and his crew carving the hills around Ventura and Santa Barbara on their skateboards. In fact, they're pretty hard to miss. Billy and his brother Nick are the creators of the Sporting-Sail, a parachute-style speed break that was originally…

While gazing into my navel and pulling out lint the other day, I wondered about adventure. It seems to me that, based on my admittedly unscientific observations of news reports and the ascents I encounter in my American Alpine Journal editorial job, refinement ascents are all the rage. By refinement, I mean something other than…

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 comments got me thinking. I’m talking about the comments on my last post, about adventure and youth. So many shifts, twists, turns, contradictions and evolutions that keep life interesting, and keep adventure and individuality alive. How do these shifts interplay with our desire to share our stories? Several commenters – here and on the…

Our friend and fellow Patagonia climbing ambassador Bean Bowers just finished his second round of chemotherapy. It all seems so weird, so different. One of the best things about climbing is the feeling of control in unknown, even chaotic environments. I love that. We all do. The most adventuresome among us—people like Bean—inspire with their…

[Update 4/18/11: Congratulations to Patagonia ambassadors Katsutaka Yokoyama, Nicolas Favresse, Sean Villanueva O'Driscoll and their teams for bringing home Golden Ice Axes from the 2011 Piolet d'Or. Read about their respective climbs below and check out some photos from the awards ceremony at the end of this post.] The award ceremony for the 2011 Piolet…

Another in our occasional series of posts for the more visually oriented. This one goes out to all those lucky enough to charge off the couch and into the unknown without looking back or thinking twice . . . or doing much thinking at all, for that matter. – Ed This photo is from one…

A photographic exposition, in which the photographer herein pontificates on the significance of sufficient competency in the face of ample conditions . . . -Ed The joys of competency and individuality – The Chief and I seemed to have the latter down pat, anyway. I suppose we delude ourselves, which is part of the beauty…

One of the nicest parts about being involved with Patagonia Music is getting the chance to meet some of the artists who’ve generously donated their music to benefit the environment. Ben Sollee stopped by the office on his bike-powered tour through Southern California, moe. played a show for Patagonia employees right before we launched, and,…

When I set out on this trip, I thought there would still be places where I could see what the Earth looked like prior to human impact. Sadly, I think I was wrong. Every place I have sailed has borne painful evidence of humanity’s maltreatment of the Earth. The coral is dying, fish populations are…

Its been over a year since the initial premiere of our film 180°South at the Santa Barbara Film Festival. After that we had a west-coast tour. Then, for the next four months, it played at selected theaters around the country. There were some international shows as well – Spain, Australia, Japan, Canada, to name a few. It was an…

As a book editor at Patagonia I work in obscurity, helping writers make the best of their story. I like it that way, but don’t often hear about how the projects I work on impact their readers. So an email from a great friend in Santa Barbara about the impact that 180° South – a…

When last we left the fly-fishing filmmakers of MOTIV Fishing, they had converted a mid-'90s F250 to run on used vegetable oil and successfully crossed the Mexican border. Today, we pick up their scent in Baja as they continue traveling south in their pursuit of tight lines. Over 2500 miles behind us and we were…

Early spring means it’s desert season. Well, it does now. Fifteen years ago it meant belaying my boyfriend on his three-year sport-climbing project in the Virgin River Gorge. Now, I spend March and April weekends climbing sandstone splitters in the beautiful desert of southeast Utah. Back in the 1990s, I would burn away those same…

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…

Salmon are anadromous. They live mostly in the ocean, but return to distant, fresh mountain headwaters to spawn. This term that describes their biological ties to seemingly disparate environments (ocean and mountain) might just as easily describe the ways in which salmon bring together competing cultures and histories. Their power, their story, have earned salmon…

The Copp-Dash Inspire Award, sponsored by Black Diamond Equipment, La Sportiva, Mountain Hardwear and Patagonia, announced the latest winners of the new climbing grant established in memory of American climbers Jonny Copp and Micah Dash, who were killed in an avalanche in China in May 2009 along with filmmaker Wade Johnson. In addition to providing…

My springtime objective (okay, to be perfectly honest, it has been a dream of mine for a long time) of free climbing Zion’s Moonlight Buttress was quickly unraveling. My partner, Nellie, had spent the previous night projectile vomiting in a rental van. Puke everywhere—in her shoes, on her pack and on the rope. As Nellie…

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…

Editor’s note: Patagonia ambassadors Steve House and Marko Prezelj are back at Makalu. Longtime Cleanest Line readers will recall their previous attempt to climb Makalu’s West Face in 2008 with Vince Anderson, and Steve’s subsequent trip in 2009 when he made an emergency solo decent from 21,300 ft. with High Altitude Pulmonary Edema. Similar to…

Over the years and all of these injuries, I’ve learned some things about success and failure. I’ve learned that there is one way, indisputable and proven through the ages, to ensure success. You lower your expectations. And so on my first day back climbing two weeks ago, I scanned the Boulder Rock Club for the…

Steve House called today and shared the latest news from Makalu. He and fellow Patagonia ambassador Marko Prezelj finished their acclimatization and spent some time on the west face where the weather didn't cooperate all that well. But the forecast is improving slightly so the duo are going to head back to ABC and give…

“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…

Sitting on a warm piece of granite in front of a crystal-clear stream, Steve House called this morning on his way out from Makalu towards Kathmandu. The news you'll hear is both positive and somber. Everyone Steve traveled and climbed with are all safe and healthy. Unfortunately, he and Marko were asked to assist another…

Travel photos shot on film.

What makes a good cover? Well, as with most things, that depends. What do you want? Sex appeal? Eye candy? Or are you hoping to convey something more? The story behind the image means something. To me it does, anyway. Since 2000 I’ve been one of the editors of the American Alpine Journal, and we…

Unrelenting spindrift avalanches and gusty winds constantly blasted and buffeted our portaledge. Our small cocoon of safety on this harsh and hostile mountain was slowly being engulfed, as we nervously watched the snow level rise up the fly walls. Five of the toughest days climbing of our lives it had taken to get to this…

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,…

Today’s post comes to us from Hayden Kennedy about a climb he recently attempted with Jason Kruk. Anyone who’s paying attention these days is blown away by the progression. The talented youth just keep getting after it, and it’s not just in cragging and bouldering. The serious alpine has always attracted only a few inspired stragglers,…

I had only just returned from Algeria, dumped the contents of my well-used Freewheeler Max into the washing machine and put everything right back in there before heading to Croatia. I only had 10 days for the trip, but it was so perfectly set up I couldn’t resist – Kate and Mikey would already be…

Contemplating the civilized nature of climbing in France.

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.…

Good news to all you trout-chasers sidelined by swollen creeks this season: SoulFish2, Fish Mode from the Burl Productions is now available on DVD. Fire up the video while you're waiting for the waters to mellow out and enjoy footage from choice locations around the world. Here's a note from Burl Productions' founder and Patagonia…

Easy access to real mountains is a highlight of Chamonix—just don’t get too relaxed.

It is with profound sadness and respect that we share news of the passing of our friend and ambassador, Bean Bowers, after his six-month battle with cancer. Our thoughts and prayers are with Bean’s wife, Helen, and his friends and family. We’ll share more in the coming days. For now, you can read about Bean’s…

A grateful reminder of the beauty of life—and singing, lots of singing.

As the sun heated up our little apartment, I drifted out of my dream and awoke to a bizarre scene: people sprawled all over the floor, futon and tiny twin beds…I could hear chatter in half a dozen languages, clinking plates and glasses… the faint smell of tobacco, espresso and butter… a marching band playing…

Peace of mind through ice climbing.

Zeb Walsh will be representing Australia in the 15th annual Molokai 2 Oahu Paddleboarding Word Championships. Zeb is the assistant manager of Patagonia Torquay, dad, great surfer and all-around talented waterman. I was lucky enough to have a chat with Zeb right before he left for Hawaii. Editor's note: Today's post comes from our sister…

OMG I was so stressed out. I had a million errands to do before meeting Nancy at the climbing gym: post office… liquor store… vacuum bag store (yes, I have this special vacuum that I can only find bags for at one store in SLC)… Whole Foods… bank… the electronics recycling center… UPS… hardware store……

In contrast to the mountains of Chamonix, but in a similar vein of easy access, I recently headed north to a beautiful spot in Wyoming called Ten Sleep. I took a few notes: • The official name is Ten Sleep. I thought my illiterate friends who pronounce it plural (“Ten Sleeps”) were mere simpletons. I…

A breeze floats mountain air across my face and triggers of flood of chemicals to my brain. I feel something. Something familiar. I’ve been here before, at different times and in different places. Deep blue water ripples along the lake shore; stout green shrubs stand firm and stubborn against the alpine elements; orange-streaked granite encapsulates…

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…

Thanks to Patagonia Climbing Ambassador Zoe Hart for today’s post. A recent trip from her new home (Chamonix) to her old one (New Jersey) triggered some thoughts on the directions life’s paths take us. Her story originally appeared on the Dutch mountain travel site Bergwijzer. -Ed I woke this morning to my husband, Max, lamenting…

“You guys are idiots,” Cousin Bob told us over the pay phone. “I’m coming to get you.” I don’t know which I do better, come up with stupid ideas or talk others into doing them. In my defense, I will say that my ideas seem a lot less stupid since being hobbled and wiser with…

When JT and I were in the desert of Algeria, our Touareg guides, after preparing an elaborate four-course meal for the two of us, would prepare their own and then eat it from a single big bowl. They’d sit on the ground, in a tight little circle, each with their own spoon, sometimes no spoon…

I try to embrace all forms of climbing, and I can learn something from everything. Furthermore, the more things I’m willing to climb, the more fun I can have. Jack of all trades, master of none, baby. Wintertime? Don’t whine, ice climb. Only got a few hours? Clip some bolts near the road or go…

Our friends on the Patagonia Books team are proud to announce a new title by Mickey Muñoz called No Bad Waves. The book was a collaboration between Mickey, who recorded the stories in a series of interviews, Jeff Divine, who culled through Mickey's extensive photo archives, John Dutton, who massaged the transcripts into shape, and…

I think back a few weeks to when I found my friend Craig 52 miles into a grueling mountain run, wobbling on the trail like a baby deer. He held himself up with his trekking poles, grinned and told me he was fine. Uhhh, you don’t look fine, dude. I’d joined him for morale toward…

The transition to darkness scares me. Fleeting rays of final light linger on the horizon. I stare down thousands of feet, where immense shadows from ice-capped towers overhead cast dark shapes into the valley below. I barely make out the specks of our tents at base camp. A fire starts. Our cook is warm, comfortable,…

We traverse a rare and beautiful band of bullet rock, smooth with long reaches and thirty-foot runouts, the universe dropping away to the valley floor. We’re getting close. Justin continues along the line of weakness, toward the northwest ridge 500 feet below the summit of Mt. Siyeh, Glacier National Park, Montana. For 15 years I…

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…

Welcome to the first day of Fall, and a fresh installment in our occasional series of posts for the more visually oriented. For a lot of folks, autumn is the time of the last great hurrah. No bugs, perfect weather, decent daylight. Whether it’s a alpine route or long days on the water, this time…

JT and I are headed to Baja tomorrow to celebrate his 40th birthday. I totally suck at surfing and I’ve had a few close calls so I’m always anxious when we go on a “surf trip.” It seems we never go someplace mellow – Peru, El Salvador, Nexpa. Isn’t that like taking a 5.4 climber…

Patagonia climbing ambassador Pete Whittaker, climbing partner Tom Randall, and photographer friend Alex Ekins recently arrived in the U.S. with a singular – if not enviable – objective: tick off America's nastiest off-widths. If you follow the global climbing scene, you might recognize the duo for their impressive gritstone resumés. In addition to floating many…

It's been about 4 1/2 years since my last trip to Patagonia, but my memories of the vast landscapes, milky blue rivers, and wild animals had never left my mind. What really left an impact on me was the thought of this place, being DESTROYED by dams, deforestation, mining, and invasive species. Returning to The…

Most of our photo-centric "Picture Story" posts have been about climbing. Today, the fishing guys get in on the action with an encouraging report from one of eastern Canada's iconic salmon streams, and a family fishing operation that depends on the health of the river's fish populations: – Ed Live Release of Atlantic salmon is…

When she’s not busy making us jealous about climbing in places like Greenland and France, Patagonia Climbing Ambassador Jasmin Caton guides folks to some of British Columbia’s choicest rock climbs and snow-covered lines with Valhalla Mountain Touring, a business she owns and runs together with her husband. Jasmin teamed up with fellow ambassador Brittany Griffith for this year’s 24 Hours…

Early winter in Estes Park, tourist season finally over and the town asleep, I stood in an empty backroom at a local bar. “Tango,” said Jay, “is the dance of passion. It’s a dramatic cat-and-mouse game – teasing back-and-forth, graceful, seductive.” It’s so fun being a beginner. My girlfriend and I soaked up our fifth…

Ty Draney, a member of the Patagonia Ultrarunning Team, and friend Luke Nelson recently completed the Great Salmon Run in partnership with Save our Wild Salmon. The pair were inspired to trace over 120 miles of the Snake River sockeye's migration route, motivated by facts like these: • Thirteen populations of salmon and steelhead are…

"I think we say a lot about who we are through our work." —Chris Burkard One of the joys of working at Patagonia is dropping by the photo department and peeking at the recent submissions. We share the best of the best in our catalogs and on our website, and they never fail to inspire…

I just returned from seven weeks in Pakistan, where I took a few notes: • Getting from the States to Islamabad went smooth as silk. Best airline ever? Emirates. “Baller,” as Hayden put it. Side note: “Baller” is not, as I’d ignorantly guessed, a crude reference. Rather, it originally referred to great basketball players, usually…

I wiggle the tip of my pinky finger into a small opening in the crack, and step high onto a small edge. Ouch! Maybe if I focus harder on the moves I will forget the pain. I pull onto the rock again, climb a few feet, then surrender. Such a long way to go, I…

I hung limp on the end of the rope with my forehead resting on the taut line. I felt my throat tighten. I hadn’t been this frustrated in a very long time. I realized a long time ago that grades were relative, but it seemed everyone here, 30-40 people, including a seven year old homeschooled…

by Crystal Thornburg-Homcy As I packed my bags for my trip to Patagonia, reminiscing about my last visit over four years ago, I remembered the sudden shift of weather patterns from cold to hot, to snow and even rain. My activities would range from surfing, kayaking, hiking, snowboarding, to relaxing in the natural hot springs,…

When I see a photo of someone climbing a severely overhanging 5.14 limestone sport route, I marvel at the physical prowess. Amazing. And though I can’t imagine being that good myself, I can see how some people can do it; I can sort of imagine it. At least I can see the holds. But 5.14+…

Tuesday night, November 1, 9:58 p.m., posted on Tommy Caldwell’s Facebook page: “No send tonight. But the craziness of the situation struck me. Trying to climb 5.14 by headlamp during a super intense wind storm. Strangely invigorating. I love the experience but am still overwhelmed by the magnitude of this project.” I’ve often been a…

Damn, I thought as I glanced around, I’m like Barney Rubble at a superhero convention. Sonnie Trotter to my left, Alex Honnold to my right. I know what you’re thinking: Did you owe those guys money? Or maybe: Oh, one of those high school intelligence tests, “Which does not fit in this group?” Sonnie is…

We leave for Sicily tomorrow and I have to admit that despite new-route potential on 300-meter-tall Mediterranean seaside cliffs, I’m almost as excited to eat and drink wine. I read in the Lonely Planet guide that, “Most Sicilian dishes fall into the category of cucina povera (cooking of the poor), featuring cheap and plentiful ingredients.”…

With a brief window of calm winds, Crystal and I readied Swell to move east among the atolls. With the news of Barry’s passing, I wanted to check out what was rumored to be a new boatyard on an obscure strip of coral a few atolls east, plus with a swell on the way, we…

I arrived in Knoxville early afternoon on Wednesday to spend some time with my mother before the Rock Creek Stump Jump 50K in Chattanooga on Saturday (Oct. 1st). I picked up the rental car and drove to Manorhouse, her assisted living home. Mom has severe dementia and is physically frail, no longer capable of performing…

Autumn in the North Atlantic turns the west coast of Éire into a veritable slab lab.

Today, Tommy Caldwell writes about the conclusion of another season of trying to free-climb the Dawn Wall. And coming up empty – though that’s really not the right word. We’ve covered his efforts in multiple posts (click here, here, or here), and it’s made frequent news in the climbing world for its nearly incomprehensible difficulty. Here’s how it…

In the spring of 1991 I was guiding in the Everest Region of Nepal – the Khumbu. Knowing that I would be looking to climb a route on Kusum Kanguru on my own after the departure of my last climbing guest, my Sirdar, Tensing and I took advantage of a couple of down days to…

I’ve long thought that the most wasted resource on earth is talent. Talent abounds, yet optimizing its potential requires devoted effort. Of course we also have to consider opportunity, and the whole talent-and-effort issue makes regular news. There’s the “10,000-Hour Rule” of practice, popularized by Malcolm Gladwell in his celebrated and best-selling book Outliers –…

I spent a lot of time surfing a spot in Indonesia called G-Land. Remotely located on the edge of the Alas Purwo National Park, on the southeastern tip of Java, it was, relatively speaking, far from civilization. Actually, as the Indonesian sea eagle flies, it was only about 15 kilometers from the nearest village but…

Take a peek at the latest issue of Climbing magazine and you’ll find Patagonia climbing ambassador Pete Whittaker sporting the kind of face that only climbing offwidths can produce. The story that goes with this photo: “The World’s First 5.14 Offwidth.” Together with his partner Tom Randall and photographer friend Alex Ekins the crew from the UK travelled throughout the American…

Some places seem special, and I can’t always articulate why. I think it’s the smell of the air, the look of the place, the memories it holds. In a sense, Hyalite Canyon, near Bozeman, Montana, one of countless canyons in the American West of similar scale, isn’t extraordinary. Until you begin to unlock its secrets,…

I made my way through the Pumalín Park area in Patagonia. Fjord Quintupeu was my next destination along with fellow surfer Jamie Sterling, Sol Raiz Organics, and filmmaker Jack McCoy. We paddled our kayaks into the wind with the sun warming our faces while refreshing splashes of freezing water hit our faces. We had a…

On El Capitan in 2010, British rock climbers Leo Houlding and Jason Pickles completed their nine-year project, The Prophet (600m, E9 7a, 5.13d R). The difficult and dangerous new route climbs the far right side of El Cap, and Houlding, renowned worldwide for his boldness and skill, successfully freed every pitch, on lead, on their…

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.

“Why would you come to Sicily to climb when you live in Utah?” the svelte Swiss woman asked in a barely detectible, yet posh accent. I looked at her blankly for a few seconds, wondering if she was attempting “second-language humor” or if she was indeed serious. “Uh, we don’t have overhanging tufas along the…

Mid-morning it hit me for the millionth time: this is ridiculous. Only, at this point in my life I rarely think of it as ridiculous-stupid. More like, ridiculous-ok-fine-so-what, with a chuckle-twist on the side. It was my inaugural day of taking the tools for a walk, 2011, and my friend Artley and I carried packs…

“What’s your New Year’s Resolution?” folks ask. They don’t really ask me, though, because I’m wary of holiday parties (depends on how much booze is there) and go, Huh? Is that like a “five-year plan” or whatever? I heard a person recently talking about how ten is the new five, or something – like now…

Full disclosure: the following sardines and pasta recipe is not my own. And I know what you are thinking: “Sardines? Gross!” But have you read the fine print about sardines? Printed on the box of the Wild Planet ones I bought: “Ounce for ounce, sardines provide three times more calcium and phosphorous than milk, more…

After more than a week camping in Patagonia with Jamie Sterling, Jack McCoy, and Mel and Kenny, founders of 1% for the Planet member Sol Raiz Organics, along with their crew, we regrouped and repacked for the coast. While we were in Santiago packing our surfing gear, we heard that the nearby ski resort, Valle…

Note: On this blog in 2011 I wrote over 30,000 words in 40 original blog posts (to TCL readers, I apologize for the resultant drop in your IQ). I also edited and introduced another seven posts from other authors, and wrote a little on my personal blog (where I put my inappropriate rants). So I…

In honor of the release of Fred Beckey’s 100 Favorite North American Climbs from Patagonia Books, we recorded a short audio story in which Yvon Chouinard talks about his alpine apprenticeship with sensei Fred Beckey in 1961. Fred Beckey’s 100 Favorite North American Climbs is available now from patagonia.com and select book sellers. In the book,…

In the mid-1990’s a Vermont ski area executive told me this joke. “How do you make a small fortune in the ski industry in New England?” he asked. “Start with a large one.” He was talking about the challenges he faced then, which seemed normal at the time:  limited water for snowmaking, labor shortages, skyrocketing…

by Patch Wilson A friend of mine, Nick Pumphrey, who I grew up with surfing, skating and generally causing mayhem, now lives in South West France. He has called Hossegor home for about six or seven years now. Now turned semi-professional photographer he still works the summers in bars and restaurants and sleeps in his…

My dream job would be being an underwear model. A friend helped me figure this out one day after I’d just purchased some new undies, and we were looking at the models on the packaging. “What a job that would be, wearing underwear for a living,” I said. “You could do it,” Amber answered. “And…

I ran my last ultra on a warm, spring day in Wisconsin five years ago.  The course was surprisingly tough – small roller coaster hills come at you like black flies. Crossing the finish line I didn’t feel the exhilaration that I normally do after a race. I chalked it up to burnout and decided…

Scott scrambles up to Cache Col and drops his pack besides mine. We’ve been moving just over two hours since the trailhead and have stopped to get our first glimpse at the route before us. Our goal is the Ptarmigan Traverse – a 35-mile off-piste, haute route traversing the southern upheaval of the North Cascades.…

Explaining the controversy on Cerro Torre.

by Chris Darimont How could we possibly give voice to marine mammals and other life threatened by one of the largest industrial projects ever conceived? After all, whales, dolphins and the like – as intelligent as they are – cannot mount their own defense against the oil industry. [Video: Groudswell (Trailer) from the Patagoniavideo on…

On March 25, 2010, nearly two years ago now, I was climbing the north face of Mount Temple when a hold broke and I fell some eighty-feet. Far enough to break my ribs in 20 places and my pelvis twice. As I lay on the ledge near my partner, Bruce, I quickly got very very…

A response to the recent controversy surrounding Cerro Torre.

By Tony Butt One would think that the early nineties would be a relatively late stage to discover new surf in Europe. When I set off from Cornwall to Galicia in November 1992 in a van with two mates, all we were expecting to do was satisfy our own curiosity. Nobody we had spoken to…

Crazy world we live in. Somebody ought to sell tickets. Hell, I’d buy one. Some thoughts on current events, large and small: • Wednesday was National Margarita Day. It’s about time, what with all this recent climbing world drama. Surely a little drinky can soothe some nerves, maybe temper the frenzy. Me, I’ve been fine…

My college friend Chris Kalous and I had an epic weekend climbing Texas Tower, which is down between Blanding and Hanksville in southern Utah. Two-hours of aggro, axle-smashing 4×4, then two hours of heinous post-holing up to our knees through breakable-crust snow just to get to the base at 11:30am. Shoes soaked. Pants soaked. 600…

I first met Fred Beckey about 6 years ago at the Crossroads Cafe in Joshua Tree. He was sitting at a corner booth surrounded by young women (in their 40’s), empty pint glasses, and wearing an ear-to-ear grin. I was told he had more first ascents than anyone in the world. He was in his…

Seems most of us have moved on from the latest climbing world drama. Thank god. So I’ll sneak-in a quick suggestion that nobody can disagree with: Put the compressor in a museum. Uh-oh. I just remembered that this is climbing. And this is the Internet. I should revise my assertion: nobody reasonable could possibly argue…

From “The Five Pillars of Lakshadweep,” Chapter 17 This room is moving. Trevor Gordon’s eyes are open and glazed, his pupils wide. It’s 5:04 a.m. He rubs his belly clockwise, breathes oddly, speaks flatly. “Don’t let me pass out, man. We’ve got to stick together.” Outside, pale moonlight glints off the warm Laccadive Sea. The…

After the Australian release of Come Hell or High Water we received this heartfelt message from Coffs Harbour based parents Greg and Donna Edwards. Kyan, their 8 year old son has autism. After watching the film their lives were changed forever. I would like to share our little breakthrough and in some small way, say…

Bang. The gun went off. I was wearing a suit. First time in a couple decades or more (for the suit, not the gun). All black, like Johnny Cash. But I wasn’t robbing a train or singing the Folsom Prison Blues; I was doing a randonee ski race. Don’t think I’ve done a formal race in…

We understand mere fragments – of most things really, but especially of a fish called steelhead. Its nominal definition goes that it’s a rainbow trout that migrates from river to ocean and back again to spawn, like a salmon. But like most living things, after you dedicate time to deep observation, their essential superpowers transcend…

Iceland is frozen in time. Arriving there in February 2012, it was exactly as I remembered from 1998 when I was there to climb with Jay Smith and the late Guy Lacelle – grey, windy, and remote. It is the largest land mass along a mountain ridge that begins under the ocean, where the North…

Regular readers of The Cleanest Line are no doubt familiar with our musical Belgian climbing ambassadors Nico Favresse and Sean Villanueva (see Secret Passage, Asgard Jamming, Greenland Vertical Sailing). The boys just completed a big wall expedition in Venezuela and today we're happy to share the reports from their trip, with meaty details on two…

by Ryland Bell Today, Patagonia snowboarding ambassador Ryland Bell checks in from the largest non-polar icefield in North America. Ryland made his big-mountain debut in the highly acclaimed human-powered snowboarding film, Deeper, and rejoins Jeremy Jones and the Teton Gravity Research team this spring on the Bagley Icefield in Alaska to film Further. The crew…

In early 2009, Kelly took a trip to Northern Chilean Patagonia with climbing legend Jim Donini. Here, Kelly revisits his notes from an adventure with Jim. This is the first in a series of short posts from their trip. Entry Fee I’ll be damned, the old man was right. Chilean friends universally flashed doubtful looks…

I don’t have many heroes – Julia Child, Nakano Takedo, Florence Nightingale… and Arnaud Petit and Stéph Bodet. If you haven’t heard of Arnaud and Stéph, just Google, “World’s Most Adventurous Climbing Couple.” From Morocco to Algeria to Venezuela to the climbs of Ceüse above their self-built house, they’ve done first ascents in more countries…

Following up on his sat-phone call from last week, Patagonia snowboarding ambassador Ryland Bell called last night with another update from the Bagley Icefield in Alaska.

In early 2009, Kelly took a trip to Northern Chilean Patagonia with climbing legend Jim Donini. Here, Kelly revisits his notes from an adventure with Jim. This is the second in a series of short posts from their trip. Read the first here. Porch Angles Just before dark, utterly worked at the decidedly unimpressive altitude of…

  From “Coral Refuge, Ocean Deep,” Chapter 8 WOULD THEY DO IT IN PARIS? It’s the second T-shirt I’ve seen today that poses this question, a lingering sting of animosity toward France’s three decades of nuclear testing in L’Archipel. France ignored a 1973 World Court request to stop the practice, sparking protest worldwide, including New…

[Catch up with Heroes – Part One] We were in Manzanares el Real for less than an hour when a keen local showed up, in the middle of a Wednesday afternoon, driving 45 minutes to meet us and show us around. Which was great and very helpful since La Pedriza is an extensive labyrinth of granite…

Dave Graham wasn’t holding back at the Outlook. For those who don’t know, Graham is one of the best rock climbers to come along in the last decade. We were guests on a live on-stage radio show, by ClimbTalk, at the Outlook Hotel and Bar in Boulder last Monday. The various guests talked usual climber-talk,…

Chances are if you’ve perused the Patagonia website or catalog, you’ve caught sight of a few of Ben Moon’s images. From surfing and climbing to capturing the music scene, the self-taught Moon took the photography scene by storm more than a decade ago. Moon’s work will be featured this weekend at the 5Point Film Festival…

Puzzles When we stood there, scoping the face with binoculars and discussing possibilities, somehow I thought of Jim’s story about why he got into the military some 45 years prior. He was a teenager driving on the turnpike in PA – near Philly, where he grew up – and had two buddies with him in…