The other day John, CJ and Mark, part of Gregory’s R&D crew, headed up to Tahoe for some early morning backcountry skiing. They hit the trail at about 5:30 am, skinned up to Deep Creek, gained the ridge and descended a northeast aspect with some good powder. The packs of choice for this endeavor were a Drift and a Z30. All of this, and the guys still managed to be back at work in Sacramento by 10:30. Well played.


Recently here at our office, we began a new committee for community outreach and volunteering. Everyone has their favorite charities, organizations or causes to volunteer for and sponsor, and this group, named Gregory Gives Back, will take all employee nominated groups into consideration.
The first official activity the committee will be engaging in (and asking all of us to help with), is a canned food drive. We’ll have a bin here in the lobby of our office for collection and will be donating to one, or hopefully many, of the local shelters and food banks in Sacramento. With the holidays fast approaching, food pantries will be going through more stock than usual, and will need everyone’s help to boost their supplies. So if you’re in the Sacramento area, stop by the office November 1st - December 19th to drop off your canned goods, and if you’re not our neighbor, don’t feel left out! Visit www.feedingamerica.org or www.findfoodbank.com to find a drop off location near you.
Although we sometimes forget that cold weather exists while basking in the warm and sunny California weather, there are many people across the nation that need coats for the upcoming winter. In conjunction with News 10, our local news affiliate, we will be collecting new and gently worn coats for both children and adults to donate to our local Sacramento Coats for Kids chapter. We will have a bin for this in our lobby as well and will be accepting donations November 1st-December 17th. You can find out more about this organization, and where you can donate coats locally, at their website, http://www.coats-for-kids.org.
As the group meets more often, they’ll be coming up with more ideas, both local and national – maybe even worldwide), that Gregory wants to be a part of. We’ll keep sharing our choices with you to try and spread the love, and if any of you out there have a favorite organization that you think we should know about, send the recommendation our way. We’ll put it into the pool for our next meeting.
I wish.
But, if you can’t have a pack that instantly kills those pesky winged devils once they penetrate your personal space, then you might as well have a pack that’s ergonomically comfy and stays on your back when you’re swinging for the fences trying to escape from the torture of those worthless winged things. Since it covered my entire back, my Gregory Triconi 60 probably did save me from a few more dozen bites.
I should have known better though. Taking a four-day backpacking trip into Wyoming’s Wind River mountains in the beginning of July after a huge snow year is like going to your local blood drive - except you come away with 46 swelling bumps instead of feeling warm inside that you might have helped save someones life. The Winds in July equals Mosquitoville and my girlfriend, Genevieve, and I were held hostage.
Yes, our friends, sisters, brother-in-laws, crusty old retail gear shop guys and co-workers all told us the bugs were going to be bad. But really, how bad can it be, I thought? Bad enough that after every mosquito bite you got you wanted to name it after someone who told you not to go?
It was bad. Unbearable at times. And dousing yourself in DEET didn’t seem to do the trick. 