If you follow news from the high-altitude climbing world, you know it’s been a serious couple of weeks on Pakistan’s Nanga Parbet.
The Shared Summits Team that Gregory co-sponsored on their trip to Nanga Parbat found serious conditions and unforgiving weather on the mountain and took a more moderate course than some of the teams that were there. Expedition Leader Chris Warner says when it comes to climbing 8,000-meter peaks, success is coming home.
Now that the team has left the mountain, Warner has a few thoughts on what he saw over recent weeks, and what really matters when it comes to climbing big peaks.
This past weekend, George and I traveled out to Buena Vista, CO for the 2008 Continental Divide Trail Alliance’s Trailfest event. We ditched the car at the hotel and decided to stroll down the road to see what the town had to offer. After a quick drop by The Trailhead - one of our retailers in town - we headed over to the Lariat Bar & Grill on E. Main Street for some lunch. This place is awesome, and if you are ever in Buena Vista, or just traveling through, it’s worth a stop (and be sure to say what’s up to the bartender Ryan for us). This bar is one of the oldest establishments in town and is still in the family. And with all of the good people and fun stuff to do in there-pool, foosball, darts, running the dj booth for an hour-we guarentee you’ll have no trouble closing the place either. Continue reading >>
Thanks to skydivexxl, who submitted some photos of his recent climb of Mt. Shasta to Gregory Pack’s Flickr photo group.
What’s that all about?
Check out the link on the right side of the page here. We’re asking people to shoot and submit photos of themselves or f
riends using their Gregory packs for adventures of all sorts. Upload them to Flickr, and then scroll to the bottom and geo-tag the image on the map, which will show where a particular image was shot.
The idea is to have the wider Gregory community help us build a worldwide map of the places that people who use Gregory gear have traveled with their pack. We know what our sponsored athletes are doing with our gear, but we want to know what the larger Gregory community is out there doing. Help us out!
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. Continue reading >>
Little known to many fans of Gregory Mountain Products in North America, the brand has enjoyed a huge following in Asia for the past 25 years. In particular, Japanese consumers love the quality of the Gregory brand and the lifestyle that it represents. So much so that company founder Wayne Gregory is a minor celebrity in Japan. People recognize him and stop him on the street for autographs. 
Just ask him.
So it was a natural that Gregory’s first brand/flagship store opened in downtown Tokyo last week, on July 4. Located in the Shibuya area of Tokyo, a popular shopping district for younger city residents, the Gregory store is on a pedestrian-only street, which is also home to Patagonia’s top store in Japan, as well as flagship stores for Burton, Oakley, The North Face, Columbia, Millet and Cannondale, to name a few. The area, as you might imagine, is pretty popular among the outdoors set. Continue reading >>
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 >>
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 …
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 >>
mentary on NBC