Gregory Goes There

We think we make unique load-haulers at Gregory, and we like to see when unique folks use our bags for creative things. Take Richard James, who lives near Point Reyes National Seashore. He’s working on hauling his second ton of trash off the beach in his Gregory – a classic Cassin pack from 1988, no less.

Richard recently contacted Gregory for a repair to his Cassin, which he’s hauled up Aconcagua, Mt. Rainier and numerous trips in the Sierra. He seemed in a hurry to get it back. Asked why, he replied that he had a lot of trash to haul, or something to that effect.

Curious, one of our customer service folks pried a little more information out of him, and turns out Richard is on his second ton of trash hauled off the beaches around Point Reyes, just north of the Bay Area. Beyond just cleaning up the beach, Richard is particularly concerned about balloon debris on the beach, because birds mistake it for food, eat it and die. He’s got a Flickr page documenting some of the numerous balloon debris he’s cleaned up.

It took some time to repair Richard’s 22-year-old pack, so our customer service person Molly sent him a newer load-hauler that was floating around the office to keep him in the trash-removal business until we could get his pack back to him. But still, he did want his pack back.

“My medium Cassin fits me just right. That is why I like it so and am loathe to replace it.”

We love seeing classic Gregory bags still being put to the test.

In the process of dealing with his repair, Richard provided a little perspective on his pack, and some of the things it’s seen:

1988 - Bought it at REI in Cupertino to climb Mt. Rainier
1991 - Climbed Aconcagua with it
1991- present - Many, many 7-10 day trips in Sierra Nevada
200? - Mt. Rainier again
1996? - Left pack at Harrison Pass to climb Mt. Stanford. Left side zipper open on accident, upon return, found large marmot in pack eating bread and gorp, never left side zip open again. Way before bear-proof containers in use
2008- present - Many, many trips on Point Reyes beaches to haul litter out, working on second to
2009 – Packed 350 lbs of fishing nets off beach that were removed from dead sperm whale that washed ashore, 5 trips, each with 50-80 lbs of very smelly net off beach

Those last ones are uses we didn’t exactly foresee. But it’s great to see a Gregory fan using his pack, and his own energy, to give a little back. Even if it takes it’s toll.

As Richard told us: “My pack has gotten much older these past 2 years of intense litter removal. In fact, so have my knees, back and ankles. Any change I can get an RMA# for those and send me back for repair?”

We also wish our repair shop could do that.