MOUNTAIN KHAKIS - Built For The Mountain Life Blog

Cool fishing video @ The Drake

http://drakemag.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=177&Itemid=202

a small reference to MK if you listen closely ;)

MK Announces Partnership with Wildfowl Adventures

Christian and Keith of Wildfowl Adventures in the extreme southeast of Missouri are great guys and great guides.  Mountain Khakis is happy to announce that beginning this fall we will be outfitting them and their guides in MKs.  If it isn't Christian cutting it up with you in the field, it's Keith pulling out his acoustic guitar and layin' some great country tunes at the campfire.  Over the past 3 years, Mountain Khakis have become accepted as the "go-to" pant for hunters, both in the field and in the lodge.  These guys will put them to the test this fall (and for the first time, look good while doing it)!

For more information on Wildfowl Adventures, check out their website HERE.  Quack, Quack!

Relics: In Search of the Southernmost Native Brook Trout in the World

MK Ambassador Zach Mathews developed and manages the fly fishing forum The Itinerant Angler, is a freelance writer and photographer, and finds some time to practice law in Georgia as well.  Here he reports on a recent adventure:

August 16, 2008

With Gerogia's lengthy drought showing no sign of giving over and the dog days of August well upon us, I decided to seek a little solace and solitude high in the Appalachians.  My target was native Georgia brook trout, part of an ongoing project I am pursuing, born of my fascination with the southernmost native brookies in the world.

Science tells us that in the deep freeze of the last Ice Age, brook trout (technically and arctic char known as salvelinus fontinalis) were able to extend their range as far south at the 34th degree latitude, give or take a few clicks, which means they petered out a few miles south of today's Blairsville, Georgia.  Common sense says the brook trout must have swum upstream from larger rivers in the bottomlands.  Further, those larger rivers must necessarily have flowed north, toward the rivers draining the Arctic, rather than south to the Atlantic.  Thus, the logical place to search for the southernmost remnant of this Ice Age holdout is on the north-facing streams of the Blue Ridge.  Or in other words, for AT through-hikers seeking brookies, look left.

Today the trout are cut off - marooned by hotter waters in the lowlands - from their ancient bloodlines.  Until an Ice Age comes again, these brookies must evolve in isolation, slowly becoming more unique with each passing year.  They are precious, they are rare, and they live on the knife edge of global warming.  A few too-hot years, and their lines will retract even further.

On the Road with the Coordinator of Karma

MK Ambassador and Team Jackson Kayak paddler Jez Blanchard is currently traveling the world, with his boat, teaching and competing.  Get some!

Over the past few weeks I have been teaching at Camps in NC, spending a fair bit of time instructing at Falling Creek Camp. Now here's the thing, I guess I am a bit selfish, but the rewards of teaching are some of the best times I have had in a kayak. Seeing a kid nail his roll, with a look of sheer excitement. Awesome!

Over one day, I was fortunate to be a part of 5 kids dialing in their roll. After seeing EJ's effort of teaching someone how to roll in less than 15 mins, I am happy to say that I have blown that out of the water by getting a kid who has never been in a kayak before to roll by himself in less than 10 minutes. Yea, I know that seems ridiculous, especially since it took me over 2 weeks of consistent trial and effort, almost close to 10 years ago to do the same. The entire class came together to cheer for him, which drove the rest to do better and complete their rolls.

What an amazing day! Thanks to Brian Mangum for the pics.

International Climbers Festival - Recap

MK Dealer Services Rep and recent road warrior Jessica Hoffmann steps in with a recap:

After visiting some great MK dealers in the area, I got to attend the 15th Annual International Climbers Festival in Lander, Wyoming.  This was my first time climbing at Wild Iris, which at about 9000 feet elevation, is some of the most beautiful and remote-feeling sport climbing I have done.  We chased the shade as much as possible on pumpy, pocketed classics amidst buff climbers sporting MKs, and attended the festivities in Lander put together by the IFC crew, and many folks from NOLS and Wild Iris Mountain Sports. 

10 Days, 2 Continents, 2 Pairs of Pants

MK Dealer Services rep Joey Norman reports on his recent international study trip to Chile:

First of all, Chile is an amazing country, with wonderful people and beautiful sights.  I got to spend 10 days in Santiago, Chile doing humanitarian work for Un Techo Para Chile, studying the Chilean economy, and rock climbing in the Andes.  Luckily the good folks here at MK let me go as long as I blogged about my experience.  So here goes...

In total 15 of us from the McColl Graduate School of Business participated in this trip.  We spent two days in Penaflor, a small village outside of Santiago, where we built houses with Un Techo Para Chile.  Un Techo is a great organization that works with people living in campamientos to find them temporary shelter first and then permanent shelter.  Along the way these families are required to seek eduacation and better themselves.  My Original Mountain Pants performed especially well here, from climbing the roof to digging the foundation.

Skiing Teewinot, East Face - Photo Essay

Sunday May 4, 2008 - Teewinot Mountain - Grand Teton National Park

Starting Elevation - 6800'  End Elevation - 12,200'

Photos by J. Malman

5am start sunrise over the valley and Jenny Lake booting up from The Apex

Teton Canyon Ski Pics

The occasional ski-related blog post never hurt anyone, right?  These goodies come from the backyard, Teton Canyon, WY, just outside of Alta, Wyoming on the west side of the Tetons.  Rarely see tracks up there, and certainly no bootpacks, speed bootpacks, or fist fights.

Skier: J Malman  Photo: W. LandonDescending Boyscout CouloirSkier: J Malman  Photo: W. Landon

MK in the Blue Ridge

The Buddy and I recently took a brief excursion up to Fancy Gap, VA to escape the confines of the section of urban jungle known as Charlotte, NC.
    For anyone that's never been on the Blue Ridge Parkway it's one of the most amazing drives in the country and stretches 469 miles through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Shenandoah National Park.  All along the road there are overlooks, picnic and recreation areas, as well as historical museums, monuments, vineyards and wineries, etc... The rich culture stems from a history of music, beautiful scenery, and booze! 
    There are some great trails alongside the parkway at just about any point, all very accessible and well marked. We did an 8-mile loop and were lucky that the clouds and weather held out long enough for us to complete the trip and appreciate the scenery (the OMPs are a GREAT cool-weather trail pant).
    Having grown up in Colorado surrounded by the Rocky Mountains, it's difficult to draw any comparison to the Blue Ridge Mountains.  They're both completely unique of one another (except they have 'Mountains' in their names).  There's no way, however, you could convince me that the Rockies are inherently better.  Unless you've had the privilege of spending time in each, it's impossible to appreciate just how amazing, and how amazingly different, both ranges are.

Written by Jordan Hauser - MK Sales Representative with contributing input from The Buddy, road-warrior-extraordinare.

Trip Report: MK in Kathmandu

This trip report is from David, a happy MK customer who just returned from Nepal.

My wife and I and 9 other family members traveled to Nepal to enjoy a couple of weeks of getting to know the Nepalese culture.  One of the major purposes of the trip was to work in a small village outside of the town of Damauli.  We arrived in this village after a 4 hour drive from Kathmandu.  The village consisted of around 1500 people.  We were there to help with a service project of enhancing the village's existing water system.  We spent our time digging, trenching and repairing the system from the source (a waterfall) approximately 7 miles to the village below where we built a reservoir to help eliminate the ineffeciency and dependence on the one existing watering hole.