MOUNTAIN KHAKIS - Built For The Mountain Life Blog

MK Ambassador, Nick Duttle, Shows Us His Skills

Nick Duttle, MK Ambassador, in the Park from VTP on Vimeo.

MK Ambassadors, Katabatic Crew, Check in from the Antarctic Plateau

November 27, 2009 - Hope this post finds everyone doing well and having a great holiday season. We arrived on the Antarctic Plateau 7 days ago after spending 5 days at the Russian Airbase Novo-quite an experience. We arrived to -41F temps with winds howling at 18 Kts...pretty brutal! The aircraft we are here to recover was partially buried and will require a bit of digging out. We have removed both engines and are removing one landing gear today. We are hoping that we will make the last flight out of here on 19 December, but its going to be close-we will see? We have seen pressure altitudes around 14,500 feet and everyone is doing well…The Katabatic Crew.

 

December 6, 2009 - Greetings all!  Another update from the Antarctic Plateau. The recovery project is going well and the weather has been cooperating thus far. Our team has been digging out the plane non-stop since arrival and there is a light at the end of the snow tunnel. We have moved about 40 dump truck loads of snow from around the plane (we do not have a dump truck!) in order for the engineers to get in and fix the bent pieces. Both turbo prop engines have been replaced and they are working on wiring them up as I type. One prop has been built and the other one will be assembled tomorrow.

 

When the engines and props are complete we will airbag the plane up off the ground and out of the hole it is sitting in. This will allow for the landing gears (skis with wheels) to be installed. After which we will keep throwing snow/ice under the skis and re-air bagging the plane out of the hole in order for it to be driven to flat ground. After the plane is out of the hole, the engineers will take a better look at all the pieces-parts to ensure it is ready to fly. Then the aircraft will be flown to the Novo Airbase runway 130 nautical miles from camp to be prepared to fly back to Canada. All this should be completed by 12 December. Our flight out of here back to Cape Town S. Africa is on the 19^th.

 

Weather has been great with the average temps in the -30’s and winds around 7 knots. We have only had a total of three days of bad blows, but we still have another week to go! All is good and camp staff is resting up for the big push to get out of here around the 14^th.

 

We had no big issues with altitude, but we have lost one back home due to a fractured arm. Other than that all is good!

 

Thanks again to MK for providing our blog and the fleece lined OMK pants-they are warm and awesome for end of the day running around between basecamp tents and gathering snow to melt for water (even at -30F)…but I am really ready to throw on a pair of Alpine utility shorts upon arrival back to South Africa and look at a few of the Big 5 on a safari!!

 

Take care and be safe out there! The Katabatic crew

Nick Troutman, an MK Ambassador, Takes on the Green River Races

“Well this year I finally took the plunge and raced in my first even Green River Race. It was a ton of fun, after I wore all the safety equipment I could think of to make it less scary. No for real it was a lot of fun, I got to have out and paddle with a whole bunch of good friends, and a couple new friends too.

Clay, Dane and I went up a week early to paddle the river and get a custom to the lines before the race. We were able to stay at Shane Benedict's house and paddle with him and Adriene. Thoughout the week we were getting more and more comfortable. We were running Go Left and the Notch direct every time. As the weekend came closer, more and more people started to show up, and Shane's house got even more cozzy.

On Thursday night I had my first real encounter with Jason Hale. I had heard a lot about him, and he was pretty much exactly what I was expecting. I guess the simple way to describe him is as an Alfa Male. He and I got into an hour long discussion about who much of a girl I was because I wasn't racing a long boat.

Now I am waking up on Friday morning by my phone ringing. It is my best friend Joel who is on his way down from Canada for the race. He has just finished driving 18 hours straight, and has one day to paddle, and figure out the race lines for a class 5 river. So it is the last day of practice before the race, I am going to take Joel down nice a slow, make sure he knows all the lines, I am going to try paddling this crazy Long boat.

Saturday arrives and it is Race Day. To my surprise Emily had driven four hours by herself (which is pretty much impossible) to come hang out for the race. I asked to race in both classes Long and Sort boat, though I would race my Super Hero (Short Boat 8'6) first. I figured that I had been training to go fast in my short boat so I should do that first, and then if I needed to I could drift in my long boat run.

I paddled both of the boats down to the start, well I really paddled one and pulled the other one. I hung out and watched some people start. Then I was called up. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, GO! I started with a couple sprint stokes, and then eased off coming in to the first rapid Frankenstein. It went better than any of my practice runs, I continued at a medium pace knowing that the race was at least 5 minutes long. I went though Pin Cushion, Whale Tale, Boof or Consequence all going great. I came into Go Left or Die, and I went left. The rapid doesn't look pretty but it is way faster, and that is pretty much how I did it, not really pretty but fast. I then came into Zwicks, not my fastest but still pretty good, and coming into the Notch above Gorilla I started to ease off a bit and take a couple deep breaths. This was a tip Clay talk me about. I then knew what I had to do, and I charged the Notch, pretty much greased the line. I was now coming over the Launch Pad off Gorilla, which is the biggest vertical drop of the River. Everything was kind of moving in slow motion as I was deciding which boof stroke to take, a right stroke, no a left stroke, no just keep it straight so I will just keep cruising though the speed trap (there is a hole which can stop you 50% of the time, which then you have to either swim or surf your way out of). I don't know if it was the fact that I just didn't take a boof stroke, or if I leaned back or what, but I saw the landing coming and BAM!!!!! I hit hard, went end over end onto my head. Now I was thinking, wow I didn't really think that was possible, then I was thinking sweet I didn't get stuck in the speed trap, and finally I thought to myself, I just crashed in front of 1000 people, just roll up and paddle hard to finish the race. Fortunately for me, somehow I stayed in the fast water the whole time, and I rolled up and paddled away as fast as I could. There are only a couple slides now before the race is finished. I went through each slide pretty quickly without spinning out at all. I got to the finish and had a quick little laugh about what just happened. I was really in awe that I had crashed that hard and didn't get hurt at all, I was so glad I had a Uni-Shock bulk head system.

After laughing a little, I slowly walked back to the top to race my long boat. Not really sure I wanted to do another race run at all, I had Jason Hale stuck in my head egging me on. I met Pat Keller on the trail and he gave me a couple words of advice. I then continued up the path and found myself back at the star. Though I was still on the wring side of the river. I then accidentally swam throw the mankiest part of the first rapid, got out and on the second try made it across to my stashed boat. Clay asked how my run went as he had 30 seconds to go, without wanted to make him nervous I told him it went great.

I got into my Long Boat and decided I would do it, and if anything went wrong I would just eddy out and call it quits. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, GO. This time I took it a bit easier. Though all the lines were going great. Knowing that a lot of time can be made up in the flats, but also being tired I decided to coast, still keep my speed but not paddling hard. I got through everything pretty well, came to the Notch and didn't think twice, as I can to the Launch Pad I was a bit too far right and fought to get back left all the way off the lip, and.............. splash, I was at the bottom as smooth as silk. From here I knew that I could start paddling a little harder, and when I came into the finish I was thinking that both runs felt pretty much the same length.

From here I went back up watched the rest of the race, hung out and talked with friends, and saw Emily, who hiked in for 2 hours with our dogs. Back to the Bet with Jason Hale, I actually forgot to put this in, but someone just reminded me. Well, Jason went through with his end of the deal as well. He had to catch the birthday eddy in his long boat, scary at best. The birthday eddy is an eddy that is pretty much parallel with the Notch, and is only possibly 4 feet long. Not Jason's boat is along 12 feet long, so you could see how this could be a bit of an issue. He actually had to paddle into it backwards which was a feat on its own. Long story short, everyone who knew about the bet came to watch it, and everyone could see the fear in Jason's eyes. To be honest I was really afraid for him, I didn't want to be the blame for him getting hurt, but in true fashion he pulled it off just about a best as anyone ever could, and like Jason then starting calling everyone on; though he did tell me that he was really scared.

After making it to the Take Out parking lot, we all headed across the road to Woddy's place for the awards and after party.  At the awards there were plenty of new record times, though the main ones were the Faster Man and Fastest Women. Andrew Holcomb won his second ever Green Race, and beat his record by a whopping 9 seconds with a 4:18, and Adriene Levknecht  who beat the previous record by 24 seconds, with a 4:49, HUGE!

If you have never been to the Green race it is a pretty amazing thing, come and race it or just come to watch, though you should come and check it out!”

MK Ambassador, Lauren Burress, Tames the Cheoha River

“After waking up abnormally early, we were stoked for our first run on the Cheoah in 3 years! Also really excited to be paddling with another girl my age!  Jessica, Drew and Scott Harrison, along with a couple of their friends met up with us on the Cheoah this past weekend for some serious continuous hole punching/dodging fun!

 

Our fearless leader Spence, (who was hand paddling by the way) led a line of 7 people behind him.  The first boof is one of my favorites, and I didn't know how the whole eight people thing was going to work out, but it was great everyone boofed nicely and put the paddle in the air to give the go. After Land of Holes, we came to Bear Creek Falls, Some of the group eddied out and scouted the drop, and some just ran on down. Dad and I had already looked at the line so went ahead and ran down. The entrance on Bear Creek was pretty beefy at 1,300 CFS, and the second drop on the middle line had a bigger hole then usual but was still pretty friendly. Dad and I both hit our lines just as planned and eddied out below.

 

After everybody got their fill of the Falls, we decided on the left line below Bear which had a couple of nice boofs and S turn type rapids. We were waiting for our last big one, Yard Sale. I had a picture in my mind of what it would look like if all nine of us went in the hole, and had a “yard sale” and it wasn't too pretty. But of course everyone hit it perfectly!

 

Once we were to the lake, I told dad I was going to paddle up to the dam, (which was code for bet I can beat you there!). I gave up once it got hard, and Joe laughed and paddled to the top with dad. :) When I caught up to the group, I was a little suspicious of Spence when he was asking if anyone wanted to use his hand paddles, but of course I  said “yeah sure” Drew and Mike chuckled and said “haha that was a mistake” but by then I had already switched with Spence. So I did a couple of rolls and goofed off a bit, then realized what they were talking about - I had to paddle to the take out with them, which wasn't really that bad considering it was a pretty short stretch.

 

Our group did great, especially since for half of them it was their first time down! Jessica got a small battle wound, but I thought she looked pretty hardcore with it!”

What has MK Ambassador, Hayes Wauford, been up to?

"I attended the 2009 National Skeet Shooting Association's Mini World and World Championships in October in San Antonio.  I shot 399 out of 400 in the Mini World, which allowed me to finish 3rd Overall.  I also shot 548 out of 550 to finish 4th at the World Championships.  All told, I broke 1044 out of 1050 targets I shot over 8 days!  I wore my Alpine Utility Shorts every day as the temperatures stayed fairly warm.  As always they served me very well thanks to their comfort and durability. 

Prior to going to Texas, I got some great hunting and fishing in with my Dad in Montana.  We hunted sharp tailed grouse for 2 days and fished the Missouri for 5 days.  Lots of great wing shooting and some very nice brown trout!  I was also fortunate enough to make it out to South Dakota the first of November for some pheasant and duck hunting (mostly mallards but with pintail, teal, and gadwall thrown in).  We took our limit of both all 3 days we hunted with Northern Plains Outfitters. I wore the Original Mountain Pant 2 of the 3 days and they worked great for a briar-proof upland pant.  The heavy fabric is every bit as tough as ready-made upland pants. Thanks MK!”

Congrats to MK Ambassador, Trip Jennings

Explorer Trip Jennings Wins National Geographic Channel Grant to Stop Record Levels of Elephant Poaching

 

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, the National Geographic Channel named Explorer Trip Jennings the winner of their Expedition Granted contest and awarded him a $10,000 grant to help save elephants from illegal poaching in Africa.

 

With elephant poaching at unprecedented levels, ivory selling at record prices and elephant populations plummeting, Jennings hopes to use the expedition — The Elephant Ivory Project — to pinpoint ivory-poaching hotspots. He, and a team of explorers, has proposed to help complete a map of African elephant DNA for pioneering conservation biologist Samuel Wasser by traveling to the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is considered too dangerous and remote for many researchers to travel.

 

The team plans to complete the DNA map in the Congo by collecting elephant scat. Wasser uses existing DNA maps to identify poaching hotspots by analyzing ivory seizures from around the world. He is able to locate where each poached elephant lived and help direct resources to regions where they are most needed. However, he has not been able to complete his map because of lack of data, which is why he approached Jennings and his team.

 

According to Wasser, “elephants are being killed by poachers at a rate of 10 percent per year. With only 470,000 elephants left in the world, it means that in just a few years the only elephants left will live in isolated populations behind fences with armed guards.”

 

In 2009, the price of ivory reached record highs — in some cases exceeding the price of drugs, which has lead to organized wealthy crime syndicates pushing ivory poachers to hammer specific elephant herds. The highest demand for ivory comes from China for use in artisan stamps and seals and the next highest from the United States for handles of knives and guns.

 

Jennings and Wasser both agree that two major problems face elephants today: first, lack of data to identify all poaching hotspots and second, few people know how serious the elephant poaching problem is, and how resource intensive it will be to stop.

 

“I hope to address the two largest issues affecting elephants by going into the jungle with a backpack full of camera gear to document the herds and leaving the jungle with a backpack full of elephant poop to complete the DNA map,” Jennings said. “It's shocking to realize that an average of 105 elephants are being killed by poachers everyday, but it's not hopeless. In 1989, with a global upwelling of support, the ivory trade was stopped, nearly overnight. We can do that again.”

 

To learn more about the Elephant Ivory Project visit: www.elephantivoryproject.com

 

Emily Nuchols

 

e: emily@undersolenmedia.com

c: 360.510.8696

w: www.undersolenmedia.com

t: www.twitter.com/undersolen

MK Ambassador, Eddie Gianelloni, Share his HP Triple Crown Week

"This past weekend was the Horse Pens Triple Crown. My buddy Bobby and I drove up to HP on Friday morning. It was wonderful weather. The temps were nice and the sky was blue. I was in the mood to climb. We played around and set up our tents in an area that another buddy Jay saved for our group.

We had an excellent group this year. It was lacking two core member, Alex and Gracie. But it is hard to feel bad for Alex since he is in Italy crushing it in a new trad crag that he is developing 15 mins from his house. We wound up having nine of us for the event. Saturday was great as usual. We played around on some great warm ups and had a slow go at sends. The party that night was super fun. I wound up talking to Dave at So'ill and buying several of his holds. Their holds are sick. Bobby has been using them for years and he loves them.

 

On Sunday we climbed for a couple of hours the Bobby and I headed to Stone Fort. I had never been there before. It is a very cool place. We warmed up on some v1s in our approach shoes then headed towards Super Mario. Bobby gave me the top notch tour. There are some nice lines out there. I will be headed back soon.

 

On Monday we checked out Dayton. It is a newish area in the chatty area. The Dayton roof if probably the most popular area there but there are several satellite boulders all over. With many boulders yet to be established. We walked down and played on a few slabby boulders and did the v2 moves of a v9 by the water. After we walked up to the roof and were blown away by the great problems that it has to offer. We climbed a v2 to the far left of the cave and found a sick v4/5 to play on the rest of the day. We climbed the entire problem but we were unable to top it out. I really wanted it, but now I have a reason to go back.

 

The next two days it was horrible weather and we only climbed at Urban Rocks. Which is a great gym. I am very excited to head back up to chatty. But I think my next trip out will be to hit up T-Wall."

MK Ambassador, Lauren Burress, at Big Creek

“After camping at for almost a week, we finally got the opportunity to run Upper Big Creek. And even though the three mile hike seems to take forever, and your creek boat doesn't help, it's definitely worth it! After about a half mile of class IV boogie water, the run gets a little more technical with a couple of drops, and a few things you would need to scout due to trees being across the river. But it’s pretty mellow until you get to Midnight Hole, then it starts loosing gradient, and slowly drops in to Action Alley, which is the steepest section on the run. It’s filled with slots, boofs, and a couple of sketchy undercuts. But is still probably the most fun section on the run! After Action Alley, it drops down again and goes back to class IV, and eventually ends up at the take out.

 

Once we got to the bridge (take out), Dad decided to go swimming and bring me with him. After Dad dunking me under a few times and me attempting to body slam him, we realized Dad's yellow mega rocker wasn't on shore anymore! We of course instinctively (having experience with a missing boat before) looked down stream, and there it was maneuvering its way through the rapids along with Dad's new AT paddle stuck in the cockpit! So we start swimming towards it, and luckily it decided to eddy out at just the right time. Being really happy that we weren't going to have to chase this boat (and paddle) half way down the lower section of Big Creek, we threw it up on shore. Then Dad decided to have another dunking contest, which he won, again.

 

The run was a great reminder of how much I missed Tennessee while I was in Colorado. And I have to say the change in climate was very nice! Much, much warmer! All in all Big Creek was a nice introduction back into Southeast creeking. I can’t wait for more!”

Check Out Nick Troutman's, a MK Ambassador, Recent Videos

World Championships Wrap Up

The World Championships is a huge event, years and months of preparation by both the athletes and organizers, lasting one week on competition. There is so much going on it can be hard to imagine the whole thing. Here is a quick little video summary of the 2009 Freestyle World Championships in Thun Switzerland. 

 

Charney Night Comp

After the World Championships Emily and I stayed in Europe for a couple extra weeks. While there, we were able to do a competition in Charney France. It was an awesome location and great feature, though the water only turned on after mid-night. So the show went on, from late at night until early in the morning. Here is a video from the whole competition, to the amazing starting ram, to the late night paddling.

 

 

MK Ambassador, Randy Schiltz, Snake River Review

I brought a pair of Snake River Convertible Pants with me to the South Carolina Low Country to see first-hand how they would feel and hold up in a variety of conditions.  When I received the pants, I was pleased with the overall look and feel of the pants, even prior to putting them on.  I notice the pants didn't come with hanging threads, weak zippers, or feel as if you can hold them up to the light and see through them as I find in other nylon pants.  The weave is very tight, giving me comfort that they will not shred to pieces if they come into contact with something.  Nylon pants don't usually fall into a category as being durable, but these pants exceed expectations.  They are well constructed with triple stitching and quality materials. 

 

I wore the pants for a series of days and events.  My agenda included hiking, surf fishing, off shore fishing, crabbing, bar hopping, and hitting many restaurants.  I used the convertible option many times as the mornings began cool and the afternoons heated up.  The legs easily zipped on and off with no issues or delays.  Also, the zippers on the legs are well hidden and out of sight.  I like that.  Like all Mountain Khakis pants, they fit well in any environment.   The pants are functional, with UVA / UVB 50+  protection, are very light weight, and dried quickly when I got them wet, which was often.  My favorite feature is the action gusset crotch which allow easy movement and great range of motion.  They are simply very comfortable and fit very well. 

After all the technical dissection, the fact is that they look good!  These are the finest nylon pants I own.