We just added a new item to our blogroll, one that’s got a lot of useful resources for the transplants in the Gregory crew.
Trailspotting has some great info on northern California hiking trails. And though apparently based in Gregory’s new neighborhood (yep, we consider northern California a neighborhood), the folks who produce it aren’t limiting their coverage to that area; there’s also some great info on hiking in Hawaii.
Check it out. Cool thing is, they’ve cataloged hikes by location, so it’s easy to find a hike in the area you’re headed. Or an area to head for a hike.
When most people think backpacking, they think mountains. But heading for remote sections of coast line - particularly on rugged coasts like those in northern California - offers an equally inspiring setting, and frequently a more solitary experience than one can find in popular mountain destinations.
At least, that’s what some of the crew from Gregory found on a recent weekend.
Designers Mark Thibadeau and CJ Whittaker, along with Whittaker’s better half, Ann, headed up Route 101 for a little more exploring in Gregory’s new backyard after the recent move to Sacramento. Not knowing quite what they’d find, both surfboards and guitars were in tow. If the waves weren’t in, there’d be entertainment anyway. Continue reading >>
How does wearing a pack affect your body? At Gregory, that’s always been a key question, because the driving principle has always been ‘if you’re not comfortable, you’re not going to have fun.’
In that vein, longtime outdoor industry writer and observer Clyde Soles blogged about a recent study by the American Physiological Society that concluded
backpack straps can cut off blood flow to your arms, resulting in decreased motor control and more fatigue.
We thought it would be interesting to get some perspective from Gregory’s guru of suspension, company founder Wayne Gregory. Wayne’s been living and breathing backpack suspension for about 40 years. If you want to know how passionate he is about the subject, just get him started … and budget some time. Wayne’s first question on this recent study: “Well, how were they carrying the weight? And were they in the right frame size?”
A pack for carrying bigger loads, according to Wayne, is like a finely-built automobile. You start with the appropriate chassis, and then the various components from there have to make sense with the rest of the car. Only then do you achieve appropriate load transfer so that they load is evenly - and comfortably - distributed to the various points on the body where it should go. But you also have to be able to change the way you carry that weight on the fly. Continue reading >>
The crew over at Gregory is still figuring out their new back yard.
Not quite sure what would be in shape on a recent weekend - the skiing or the climbing - Director of Product Development John Sears and Designer CJ Whittaker loaded both rock and ski gear into the car and headed into the Sierras to see what they could find. They didn’t know if the snow wou
ld be quite set up for spring skiing, but if it wasn’t, they figured the rock at nearby Lover’s Leap would be worth an afternoon.
They saw a peak.
Conditions looked good.
They went for it. 
Some hours and little bushwacking later, they knocked off a ski descent of a Sierra classic - 9,735-foot Mt. Tallac.
Photos of John getting the goods - and making sure the Gregory Targhee, the ski pack he designed, works as it should (it does) - are courtesy of CJ.
Said Sears: “It’s not that we weren’t quite sure where we were going, it’s that we don’t know the area at all yet. This is where we ended up.” 
As for getting to know a place, there’s only one way to learn …
While not as well known in North America as his native Japan, Hiroki Ishikawa kills it on the ultra scene. He just returned from the Everest Marathon in Nepal, where he topped the field in overseas competitors. Hiroki placed 17th out of 120 runners. Particularly mpressive when you think about all those native folk having lived at something like 12,000 or 14,000 feet all their lives. The above photo is Hiroki in front of the local scenery during the marathon.
Hiroki’s also had a big influence on one of Gregory’s soon-to-be-unveiled packs, an endurance oriented number that’s the flagship in its new Active Trail line (stay tuned for more on that). He had a lot of input into how to structure pockets and other features on the pack to assist in staying hydrated and fueled up for long hauls on the go.
He’s soon headed to the U.S. where he’ll be competing in the Western States 100 in Squaw Valley on June 28 and 29. If you want a sneak peek of what’s coming down the pipe from Gregory, check out what’s on his back during that race. It’ll be a quick view, though.
Gregory’s designers always love to get user feedback on experiences that people have had using their packs. Over the years, Gregory’s gotten some great feedback from customers on ways to improve things and what’s working great. Comments from the road count for a lot - it’s the real world, after all. What’s most rewarding, though, are those notes that tell you what you’re doing right. Here’s a recent one that came in via the web.
It was weird, your product came up somewhere over the net and I realized I still have the same pack that I bought in 1983 and it is still travelling the world. From Mammoth & Ski Mountaineering there to Australia, New Zealand, Nepal, Greece, to name just a few and it’s done a bit of peak bagging in its day. Just thought I’d let you know. I’ve been through 2 wives, 4-5 sleeping bags, a couple of tents, a dozen or 2 countries but only 1 backpack.
What with Gregory Pack’s new-found access to the Sierras from its new headquarters in Sacramento, some folks took the opportunity during the first annual 
sales meeting at its new HQ last week to make sure the outdoor access was indeed up to par. It got the nod.
After an extended day at Gregory HQ of getting up to speed on the company’s new Active Trail pack line, customer service guru George McCloskey, marketing coordinator Steph Romanella and NE sales rep Al Diamond headed into the mountains to log a little cragging time. And, of course, test a few packs for one of the many uses that the company designs gear for - one of the main reasons for the move to Sac town in the first place.
Continue reading >>
situations. Right now, Gregory’s packs are undergoing an extended test up at 
mber of years, thanks to Gregory northwest sales rep 
There’s no shortage of people trying to be green these days. Sometimes one wonders when some relatively new and small effort is touted as making a company “green.” And sometimes, it pays to take a cue from what others are doing.
into its new headquarters in Sacramento recently, Gregory tried to incorporate some sustainable elements in the design, things like using recycling office furniture and furnishings, and LEED standards for natural light. So it made the folks at Gregory think when - around the same time - Rob Holmes, founder of the