Peter Metcalf, CEO of Black Diamond and Gregory Mountain Products, explains the acquisition, the motivation behind it and what it means for both brands.
Tag Archive for 'Gregory packs'Page 2 of 18
Tomorrow is National Trails Day, which means A. all the National Parks and Refuges are free this weekend, and B. today is National Donut Day!
A win-win situation, really. Today, you can eat all the donuts you want, without guilt, knowing you’ll be hitting the trails this weekend. And besides needing to hike off those deep-fried calories, here’s why you should get out and celebrate our trails regardless.
In 1987, Ronald Reagan put out a report called the President’s Commission on Americans Outdoors, which recommended that all Americans be able to go out their front doors and within fifteen minutes, be on a trail. This report evolved into a cause known as ‘Trails for All Americans,’ which became the American Hiking Society’s impetus for launching National Trails Day in 1993.
With 200,000 miles of trails across the U.S., a thousand+ events in all 50 states, and free entrance into our National Parks, you should have plenty of reasons to get out and celebrate.
According to the research presented at the recent 110th General Meeting of the American Society of Microbiology in San Diego, exposure to a specific bacteria in the environment may not only improve mood, but also intelligence.
People who spend time outdoors likely ingest a natural bacterium found in soil called, ‘Mycobaterium vacce,’ which is believed to have antidepressant qualities. Research studies on M. vacce showed that when mice were injected with this specific bacteria, it stimulated the growth of neurons that resulted in increased levels of serotonin and decreased anxiety.
Because Serotonin plays a role in learning, researchers then began wondering if M. vacce could improve learning behaviors as well. So colleges Dorothy Matthews and Susan Jenks of The Sage Colleges in New York conducted research by feeding the mice live bacteria and assessed their ability to navigate the maze compared to mice without the bacteria in their system.
The result? The M. vacce mice navigated the maze twice as fast and with less demonstrated anxiety than the ones without the bacteria. In a second experiment, the bacteria was removed from mice’s diet and while the mice ran the maze slower than when they had ingested the bacteria, they were, on average, still faster than the control mice.
So what’s the take away? This means people who spend their time outdoors (ahem, Gregory Mountain Products and friends) are naturally more intelligent and happier. Not like we didn’t know that already, but this discovery might just get us out of cleaning the camp cookware…’just rub some dirt on it!’
Gregory would like to give a Big Shout Out to one of our ambassadors, Joe Kinder, for his latest accomplishment of landing the cover of Climbing Magazine’s current issue: the 2010 Photo Annual. Joe has always gone above and beyond for Gregory Mountain Products and this is just one of the many reasons why we’re so proud to have Joe ‘kind kid’ Kinder a part of the Gregory crew.
Congrats, Joe!
Today is National Bike to Work Day, and May is Bike to Work Month. All of us at Gregory love being outside, and one great way to get some sunshine in is to ride our bikes to work. In fact, a big reason we located our office right in the heart of Sacramento is the ease of access by bike. On any given day, there are as many bikes packed into the office as there are backpack samples … OK, well, almost.
Aside from getting our heart-rates up and heads clear every morning, commuting to work gives us a great opportunity to test a lot of our lifestyle products, most recently the Remix line, which came out last fall and had to pieces added to it this spring. As a designer here at Gregory, I make it my business to exploit the morning ride for work purposes!
Many of the Remix products are in fact ’skunk’ products that we had been kicking around R&D for a long time (skunk products are typically side projects that designers work on when we have time; they are not officially sanctioned and have no intent other than being a fun side project). The Sync and the Vibe, in particular, have some early sketches and prototypes even dating back to 2005/2006. Those early sketches and prototypes are quite different than the final versions you’ll see on the shelves these days, and a lot of those changes were made gradually through testing and redesigns - a lot of which happened on those morning commutes! 
No one beats up on gear like climbers. Whether it’s schlepping stuff to base camp or hauling up rock walls, alpine climbing in particular doles out the abuse.
In that vei
n, we here at Gregory were psyched to have the Alpaca line of duffle bags awarded a ‘2010 Recommended’ gear designation, and a 5-star review, from SuperTopo.com’s test of expedition duffles, which was posted this week. SuperTopo is one of the more trafficked beta/community sites in the climbing world.
The upshot: “The Gregory Alpaca is one of the best all-around duffels on the market.”
Climbers are notoriously meticulous, and this review is nothing if not that. Tabs on the review include Editor’s Picks, Rating Overview, Buying Advice, and How We Test, along with the individual writeups on seven duffles, which was a list already culled from a bigger list as climbers’ favorites.
You do what you can, but at the end of the day, a successful Himalayan expedition means making smart decisions so you can come back for another crack. 
Reaching a high point on Makalu earlier this month, Chris Warner (at right, above 7,000 meters on the mountain) developed serious respiratory problems. It could have been a pulmonary embolism or an upper respiratory infection, either of which are extremely serious at high elevations.Either way, Warner and partner Marty Schmitt, with the gracious help of a British team also on the mountain, descended as quickly as possible. After getting to lower ground, Warner was helicoptered to a Kathmandu hospital, where he was treated for bronchial pneumonia and later released. There’s a full account on Explorer’s Web.We’re psyched that given the unplanned events, all turned out well for the team, and in Himalayan mountaineering, you’ve got to be ready to roll with sudden changes. Congrats to Chris and Marty for making it above 7,000 meters on a formidable mountain, and we’re looking forward to their design feedback on the newest version of the Gregory Makalu pack, which they were testing on their expedition.
Get out your walking shoes and join the Gregory crew tomorrow, May 15th, for the National Walk-a-Thon to raise money and awareness for the Angelman Syndrome Foundation.
For the second year in a row, Gregory Mountain Products will be sponsoring the walk as well as the following lunch in Sacramento. This event will represent the first fund raising initiative of 2010 and the foundation will be officially added to our page of Organizations We Support.
The Angelman Syndrome Foundation raises awareness for a neuro-genetic disorder that occurs in 1 and 15,000 live births and is often misdiagnosed as cerebral palsy or autism. Through research, education, information, the foundation raises awareness and offers support for individuals with Angelman Syndrome and their families.
If you can’t walk or volunteer tomorrow, Gregory set up a page on the Angelman Foundation website where you can donate to the cause. Our original goal was to reach $1,000 (which we reached last year) and we’ve nearly doubled that number this year at $1,950- just shy of $2,000 with a little less than 24 hours until the event!
The walk in Sacramento will take place at William Land Park from 10am to 2pm tomorrow, the 15th. For more information about tomorrow’s Walk-A-Thon events around the country, visit the Angelman site.
It’s that time of year again when a few folks from Gregory pull out their best tie-dye and head south of the Mason-Dixon to Damascus, Virginia for Appalachian Trail Days.
Thru-hikers past and present as well as anyone keen on all things hiking and backpacking will gather next week, May 14-16, for the annual hoedown. Celebratory events started this past weekend in Damascus, the rough mid-point along the Appalachian Trail, and will continue through the 16th. For a list of events, check here.
Gregory has made the trip every year for several years to take part in the festival and help backpackers repair and fit packs. It’s a great way for us to celebrate all that inspires us as a company- good people, mountains, backpacking, and, of course, the occasional Canadian tuxedo.
See you there!
Yesterday, Backcountry.com’s blog, the Goat, posted sobering news for beer-friendly backpackers and campers everywhere: Mosquitoes are, in fact, attracted to beer. And while I personally can’t blame the little blood suckers for having acquired a taste for the carbonated beverage, I’m troubled to hear that science (I say as if it’s some magical catch all for anything over my head) has proven that beer drinkers are more likely to be bitten by the wretched insects than non-drinkers.
As unfortunate as this discovery might be, Rocky at the Goat put it well:
Fortunately, drinking a lot of beer makes you care less about getting bitten by mosquitoes and encourages building really big campfires that help keep the pests away.
So while this pesky development maybe a little discouraging, I’ll go ahead and make the case as to why beer should remain on your camping/backpacking checklist. Besides building bigger fires and numbing the pain, studies have shown that beer re-hydrates your body better than water.
Backpacker Magazine blogged awhile back about how researchers at Granada University in Spain came to this conclusion after testing 25 students who were asked to run on a treadmill in 104 degrees F temperatures until they were close to exhaustion. Half of the participants were given water and half beer to recuperate. The researchers were able to determine that beer drinkers preformed ’slightly better’ in hydration levels, motor skills, and concentration ability tests.
So if scientists believe you should be drinking beer as opposed to water, slather on mosquito repellent, pack your Gregory pack full of beer, build bigger fires, and howl at the moon. Plus, as they say, camping without beer is just sleeping outside…
