Quality. In Life.
In the wise words of Roy Wallack from the LA Times, the Gregory Z 65 is the ‘world’s coolest pack.’
He calls the pack ‘very comfortable, smartly designed, and practical for overnight treks an all-out fast-packing.’ He also mentions its unique Jetstream ventilation system featuring a concave back panel, which allows the area between your shoulder straps and the small of your back to breathe.
And the best part? He couldn’t find anything he ‘disliked’ about the pack.
Read the full review HERE.
The most badass channel on the tube!
…and yet another resource to keep you in the know about outdoor lifestyle as well as offer local advice for what to do in resort towns.
On June 1, 2010, Resort Sports Network TV will debut as Outside Televsion Network, reaching RSN’s previous 61 million viewers annually.
The rebranding is the result of a partnership between RSN TV and Outside Magazine, which will reach outdoor enthusiasts across all mediums, including print, broadcast, and digital. Outside plans to complement RSN’s traditional coverage on resort towns with content like ‘Best Towns,’ ‘Best Jobs,’ and ‘Best Gear’ (ehem Gregory Targhee pack).
So in a sense, the collaborative effort between Outside’s editorial team and RSN producers means bringing one of the most revered outdoor magazines to life, which is RAD.
Unfortunately, for those who don’t live or travel to resort communities, the program won’t be available to you come June. However, online segments are available on RSN’s website and will most likely be available after the rebranding. Hopefully, with success, Mariah Media (Outside’s parent company) will be able to expand their reach down the road.
If not, there’s always rioting and we do happen to know how to use paddles and ice axes pretty well. I’m just saying…
There are more and more ways to communicate directly with people who like what you do. 
Check out Gregory on the two most named social media channels.
Find and fan us on Facebook.
And/or check us out on Twitter.
We’ll keep you in the loop on all things closely - or peripherally - connected to Gregory. Thanks for following!
Ori Hofer at Park City TV tests Gregory’s Wasatch in its namesake range.
Gregory’s got a new line of six day packs out this Fall designed the be the packs you grab when you need somet
hing versatile. The intent is to work equally well for outdoors use, around town, for the commute, or for travel. Versatile feature set do double duty - for instance, an interior sleeve works equally well for a laptop or a hydration system, and the hip belt tucks away when not needed for trail use.
So, let’s say your headed overseas and want bag that works great for a carry-on, but will also make a great day hiking companion when you get to your outdoors destination. The Technical Day line fits the bill. Similarly, if you like a pack that works for the daily trudge to the office, but want something that works on the weekend just as well, yep, we’ve got it covered.
The Gear Junkie delivers its verdict on one of the new models, the Muir 24, in a post today.
There are three men’s and three women’s packs between 18 and 28 liters in the lineup.
Those two things - as Backpacker points out in its review of Gregory’s Palisade 80 pack in the current issue of the magazine - don’t often go together. But in the case of Gregory, we’ve always said, if you’re not comfortable, you’re not having fun.
Backpacker put the Palisade through the wringer over the past year-plus, and comfort is the verdict. Nothing’s more important when ca
rrying heavier weights.
Current trends suggest that people aren’t buying big backpacking packs as much as they used to, instead choosing to go lighter for shorter periods of time. Part of that’s time (people are busy, so they don’t carve out a week for a backpacking trip), but we think part of that is also comfort (people these days just don’t see carrying upwards of 50 pounds as fun).
That said, we think that there are always going to be the folks going on extended trips who need big load haulers, even if that’s not in vogue (can you use that word in relation to backpacking?) at the moment. There’s places to go and things to do that you simply can’t do unless you’re willing to haul what you need for five days, a week, or more. And as much as lightweight gear has reduced the amount you need to carry, there’s still no way around carrying sufficient food for a week!
And we’re committed to building the best packs for those folks (and everyone else, for that matter).
We also humbly submit that if everyone’s experience carrying heavier weights was using Gregory’s Response CFS suspension (what’s used on the Palisade, and what yields superior load transfer and, thus, comfort), there’d be more interest in extended lengthier outings.
Now if we could just do something about that North American work schedule …
OK, it’s a valid point.
With the exception of special-run packs over the years that our founder has built for the military (and we really can’t tell you any more about that than that), none of G
regory’s packs are available in camouflage.
However, despite camo being a key feature in a lot of packs that sell in the hunting and fishing market, that didn’t stop the venerable Field and Stream (winner of this year’s National Magazine Award for general excellence in its circulation category, by the way) from giving props to the way Gregory packs carry, and to one of its newer and more versatile day packs, the Z35, on its blog. It also didn’t stop them from giving us a hard time for not building packs in camo patterns.
And yeah, we hear ya.
Cool thing, though, is that Deputy Editor Jay Cassell points out that versatile features on the Z35 would allow it to work great for hunting (save for the lack of camo). And we like to hear that feedback; the R+D team works hard to envision all the different uses our customers might use their Gregory pack for - hiking to hunting, snowboarding to climbing.
So it’s nice to hear that feedback one of the authorities on hunting, the same month that the Z35 was called out by Backpacker Magazine (and, incidentally, another National Magazine Award winner, in this case for their forward-thinking web site and feature writing) as one of the best-carrying days packs that’s big enough to also work for a light overnight trip.
We do know that Wayne knows where to find camo fabrics …
For a lot us, spring is on the horizon and on the mind.
But for folks in more mountainous parts of the northern hemispheres - Rockies, Alps, Sierras, etc. - it’s still the tail end of ski season, and this time of year can often bring some stellar days on the planks. There’s nothing quite like sk
iing corn snow in the morning and putting on shorts and flip-flips in the afternoon. Really.
The Utah-based FeedTheHabit crew are among those still thinking skiing. Though they’re also already thinking trail running and biking too, as you’ll see if you hit their blog, which is sort of a collection of all things adventure-sports oriented, from gear reviews to musings on their Wasatch surroundings.
After a season of use, Kendall Card of FTH (seen here about to get the goods) posted a review of the Targhee ski pack recently, giving it some nice props for how well it carries and a few of its unique features, like its ski-carry system. These boys seem to work in a lot of skiing despite professional careers, putting up FTH posts, and family life, so they definitely know their gear.
Now we’ll just have to get their brains to move on from winter, which, well … if you live in the Wasatch, skiing in May is probably A-OK.
Gregory’s had a couple of backpacks in its line over the years that have earned cult status among those in the know.
One is the Denali Pro, basically an expedition backpack made for hauling 50 pound-plus loads in comfort. Or as comfortable as you can be hauling those kinds of weights. Why’s it called the Denali Pro? Because it’s t
he pack of choice for a lot of pros up in AK’s Alaska Range.
Another classic Gregory bag built more for everyday kind of loads is the Z Pack, which has morphed through design upgrades over the years into today’s Z55 and, more broadly, led to Gregory’s Z and Jade packs series.
Last week, Gregory’s original Z Pack made a list of the top 50 most innovative outdoor products over the last 25 years compiled by SNEWS, one of the main news publications that covers the outdoor industry. SNEWS, which these days is owned by the same folks that own Backpacker Magazine, is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. So this list, which was assembled by the SNEWS editorial team, will be whittled by SNEWS readers’ votes to the 25 most innovative pieces of outdoor gear in the last 25 years. Then, those 25 pieces of gear will be profiled in the summer issue of SNEWS magazine, in association with its 25th anniversary.
The Z Pack (that’s an early one shown in the photo) essentially pioneered the category of lightweight backpacks with suspension substantial enough to carry bigger loads more comfortably. In its day it was, and, in its current form as the Z55, continues to be one of the top sellers in the Gregory line. So while sales tell us it’s a popular pack, it’s also nice to get a little recognition from longtime editors who cover the outdoor industry that indeed the Z Pack was a thoughtful design that set standards in the business.
The voting that will narrow the top 50 list to 25 goes on until April 15. In this instance, only subscribers to SNEWS, which is a daily online news service and publishes its magazine twice a year, can vote.
In a test of 17 backpacks suited to one-day pursuits, France’s Trek Magazine recently named the Gregory Z35 o
ne of two of its test winners, beating out of some of the most well-known and well-established European brands.
