Consumer Catalog
Spring 2009
48 pages
Editing and writing the 2009 Cloudveil catalog was bittersweet since it was the last published by the brand. In addition to essays I assigned and helped shape by Peter Kray, Jeff Galbraith, and Emily Stifler I wrote the section intros, product descriptions and sidebars in the book, But the work that still stands as my strongest is the farewell statement on the 2/3 spread.
Link to full catalog
We all have favorite hideaways and secret spots. One of mine is a meadow on the edge of nowhere in the North Cascades that frames the serrated ridges and hanging glaciers of Mt. Shuksan. From this singular location I have witnessed many spectacular scenes, such as dark clouds steaming skyward from the valleys below, alpenglow painting an amphitheatre of adjacent peaks, and the northern lights electrifying the night sky. Access to this vantage requires no epic, but the view is one worthy of photographs and postcards. And just sitting still in this spot always brings me to a place of euphoric calm.
Like most mountain souls, mine both craves and needs the meditative and restorative power of wilderness. And I am not alone. But the fi rm footing we fi nd in these places is even more welcome and necessary as the ground beneath us shifts. Whether checking out means sleeping in the dirt on a climbing trip, playing hooky on a Friday to fi sh a local stream or plotting a spring tour where north-facing slopes still hold snow, personal acts of access—like those chronicled in our spring book—keep it all in perspective. And in times charged with both optimism and uncertainty, that feeling of getting away just to take in the view is, without question, worth more than anything I’ll ever own.
–Dan Kostrzewski
As a professional writer, mountain addict and the voice of Cloudveil’s catalog since 2001, Dan Kostrzewski has found his perspective and inspiration in ranges from the Wind Rivers and Tetons to the North Cascades, San Juans and Selkirks.
MOUNTAIN LIFE
Summer is a season to relax. Barbecues and back decks. Lawn chairs and camp spots. Naps at high noon. A mountain music festival or a long weekend at the lake. Hot sunshine, cool shade and a chill pace. Fireworks on the Fourth. Bike polo, a longboard cruise or random rounds of golf. Ice in the cooler. Rambling down forest roads or road trips on blue highways. Flip-fl ops from dawn to dusk. And a style matched to the vibe of a mountain summer.
Cloudveil Athlete Chuck Fryberger has solved hard problems in many spectacular places, but the artistic formations of Rocklands, South Africa, a matchless bouldering expanse pioneered by legendary climber Fred Nicole, was the singular spot that inspired his new fi lm “Pure.” Yet rather than just focus on a narrow objective of shooting and sending, Fryberger and Cloudveil athlete Sarah Marvez resolved to make a difference on their second trip to this spectacular zone in rural South Africa.
So, before their departure in 2008, the pair hosted a fundraiser at the American Alpine Club in their hometown of Golden, Colorado. By showing “Perfecto”—a video Chuck helped fi lm—and raffl ing off donated gear from sponsors such as Cloudveil, Fryberger and Marvez raised $1,200 from their local climbing community to donate to the Elizabeth Fontaine School, which educates children from the extremely rural region surrounding the Cederberg Wilderness that is home to Rocklands.
In this economically depressed agricultural area, more than half of the students live more than 12 miles from the award-winning school, so many of the local children stay overnight in the adjoining 300-bed hostel during the school week. The donation—which equaled what the government spends to educate 30 students for one year—was used to buy blankets for the hostel to keep the kids warm at night.
Fryberger is quick to say his donation was only a small expression of philanthropy compared to the Herculean efforts of inspirational climbers such as Greg Mortenson, yet he also emphasizes that making a difference is easier than you think. “We didn’t raise a million dollars, we didn’t even raise two thousand dollars. But we made a contribution and I’m going to get into the habit of—every time I take a climbing trip to an area in the world that is economically challenged—I’m going to try to do something along these lines,” Fryberger said. “Long story short, it made me feel really good. It was worth it and it wasn’t that hard.”
There were two-story windows that faced the Tetons in the house on Sylvester Lane. All winter they rattled from the snow control. On clear nights the peaks would press against the glass, like great granite tsunamis bearing down from a sea of stars. And we gathered there on our island, around the woodstove in the living room, slowly accruing more ski bums, more sleeping bags on the fl oor, and a burgeoning pack of young shaggy dogs.
“When the snowpack shrinks to a circle, that’s when the rivers are running at their highest water,” Paul Huser said when the spring fi nally came, standing out on the other side of the windows on our deck, pointing at the shrinking white oval of winter still left on Rendezvous Bowl.
To be honest, I hadn’t really thought past that fi rst ski season. I hadn’t thought past each passing day, wondering only where to ski, how and then what to eat, and where to get the cheapest beer. And when the lifts had stopped, it was as if the whole town was wondering what to do–stuck by the deep mud in the roads, and at the construction and landscape sites, wandering around town with the stunned look of Gore-Tex gerbils suddenly let off the training wheel.
Then Huser said, “That means they should be opening Beartooth Pass soon.” And with a start, I felt the world kick back into gear.
Huser wore a knee brace and every morning jumped eight feet out of the loft we’d built onto the couch. He wanted to be a ski star and then an architect. I wanted to be a writer. And when Powder magazine bought my fi rst article, about that couch, they also published a series of photos of him dropping like a helicopter off a cliff in the Expert Chutes taken by Wade McCoy.
I suppose we all felt some sort of sun rising behind our heads–of spring and hope and the sky gone big blue–and that we would reap some sort of eternal if not material reward from the gravity-fed religion that we spent each day praying to. But there were still so many more winters of Saltines and Top Ramen and Pabst to shiver through.
And even if you could have told us then that all of our dreams would come true, I’m not sure if we would have wanted to know. It’s nice now that Sulli, the shop rat from Skinny Skis, started making clothes, and that the Jones boys made movies and that each and every one of us got to marry the most beautiful woman in the world. But knowing that then would have ruined how fun it felt to be so young and scared, driving north to Montana with skis on the roof and the sound of the spring blaring in our ears.
—PETER KRAY
Peter Kray has the honor and charge to serve as editorial director of the famous and infamous Mountain Gazette, and also as the U.S. editorial director of Ski Press World. During the past 14 months, he has published 28 magazines, which equals almost two per month. All the more reason he’d like to be driving north with Paul Huser and some skis on the roof.
Harnessing the effort of 600 Boy Scouts to build a sweet bike trail on government land is not the norm, but because of the foundation laid by Jackson’s Teton Freedom Riders and the open attitude of the Bridger-Teton National Forest, these groups formed a singletrack synergy that resulted in the widely praised and highly popular Arrow Trail on Teton Pass.
But this collaboration was only one small stretch in a six-year working partnership between the Bridger-Teton National Forest, Friends of Pathways and the Teton Freedom Riders to create the fi rst user-specifi c trail system in the United States on Teton Pass.
The Teton Freedom Riders were offi cially founded in 2004 by a core crew eager to sponsor and maintain downhill trails that were being built, such as Lithium, Ritalin and Jimmy’s Mom. In an effort to stop rogue trail building and mitigate user confl ict, a plan was developed with public input by the Bridger-Teton National Forest that focused on education, perspiration and voluntary separation. And the Freedom Riders, led by dig director Harlan Hottenstein, invested their hours and became stewards of this singletrack.
Local response to the accommodating 47-mile trail network—which includes the current Arrow Trail, future completion of the Phillips Ridge loop and a planned trail linking Teton Pass summit to the Parallel Trail—has been overwhelmingly positive. So positive, in fact, that the Freedom Riders are now raising money as a nonprofi t to fund a professional dirty dozen trail crew to maintain and expand the sanctioned, sustainable and sick trail network within BTNF guidelines and with BTNF approval.
“It’s mind-boggling. I knew it was going to have a huge effect and it was going to be a really neat thing, but I didn’t know it was going to create this kind of synergy in the valley,” Freedom Rider President Kevin Kavanagh says. “Separating users is a very positive thing. It lets everyone have their freedom and stops the conflict and tension, which is why we are all out there—to get away from those things.”
MEN’S BACKCOUNTRY
High season is the time to explore. Leaving the truck and reaching the pass. Running a river or climbing a peak. Sport climbs and bouldering problems. Lingering at a viewpoint as the sun sets. Long approaches transitioning into glacier travel. The contours of a topo coming to life. Ramen cooking on a hissing stove, alpenglow on a distant ridge and stars crowding the night sky. Playing Yahtzee by headlamp. Sipping something strong from a flask. Sleeping in down then waking to frost. And ticking it all before the window shuts.
WOMEN’S MOUNTAIN LIFE
Warming air is a sure sign of summer. Morning light for walking dogs and evening sunsets on display. Spring planting, wildflower blooms and outdoor festivals. Letting toes and shoulders see the sun. A lazy fl oat down the river by drift boat or inner tube. A perfect camp spot and a good swimming hole. Magazines and paperbacks. Bluegrass at the ski hill, produce at the farmer’s market and barefoot walks in the grass. Road trips to new destinations. And carefree styles that match the relaxed seasonal pace.
ONSIGHT SHORT
Worn on a scramble, at a single-pitch session or over a spandex bike short, this peak season short is always up for something active. The blended cotton/tactel fabric resists wear when scraped over sharp rocks or dragged through thick brush while also drying quickly after a dip in the stream. Eleven inches of inseam keeps the style relaxed and a locking zip pocket stows a few bills when shuffling to the campground store.
BUCK RAIL Whether clearing backyard brush, jump-starting the truck or running errands in town, the rugged Buck Rail styles are built tough enough for daily wear. Organic work-grade cotton canvas, strong bartack reinforcement and beefy brass zippers stand up to the full task list, while relaxed cuts strike the right tone for long days of getting stuff done.
COOL CARIBE The airy, vented nature of our Cool Caribe styles makes them perfect for missions that involve sun, saltwater or sand. SunPro™ and SunPro Plus™ nylons feel cottony soft on skin and prevent the interior from turning sticky or steamy in southern states, canyon country or Gulf Coast waters. The textured, wicking fabrics also shade direct sun at UPF 30+ when flats fishing, adventure traveling or simply deplaning in the lower latitudes.
