Outfitter Book
Summer 2013
48 Pages, 610k CIRC
THe Epic Issue celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Eddie Bauer-outfitted first American ascent of Mt. Everest. In narrative form, I researched and summarized the history of the AMEE climb, then concentrated the achievement against Bauer's return to Everest as a brand in 2012.
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Everest. Peak XV. The highest point on Earth. Whatever the moniker, the world’s tallest and most iconic mountain has long represented adventure, challenge, and achievement in its purest form. When Jim Whittaker, in partnership with Nawang Gombu Sherpa, became the first American to reach the summit on May 1,1963, as a member of the Eddie Bauer outfitted American Mount Everest Expedition, it was a powerful moment not just for our brand, but also for our nation. Twenty-one days later on the same expedition, Tom Hornbein and Willi Unsoeld completed the first ascent of the West Ridge, a bold and visionary ascent that remains one of the greatest feats in the history of mountaineering.
In the five decades since, Everest has grown in magnitude, with hundreds drawn to the South Col route every year and a base camp that rivals some small cities. But the challenge still remains. Not only in the personal commitment it requires to summit, but also in the hard routes that offer a heightened chance of failure. The same is true in destinations around the world, from the rivers of the Amazon to our backyard ranges of the Cascades and Sierras. Adventure is still within our grasp, but it takes bold vision to attempt what has not yet been done.
Bold vision is the guiding principle that again drives our brand forward. Creating an entire line of guide-built, expedition-tested products that excelled on the highest Himalayan peaks, winning nine Best-in-Class awards in one short year, and backing modern-day visionaries on bold new adventures required more than just a PowerPoint, an advertising campaign, and
lip service. It required a total embrace of the powerful adventure ethic that resonated deeply from within our roots and inspired the explorations, expeditions, and product developments of our past.
Tapping that same spirit is what sent new Eddie Bauer athlete Mason Earle and his crew to the Cirque of the Unclimbables in 2012 to put up At Dawn We Ride, a bold new free-climbing route on the sheer 2,000-foot granite face in the Northwest Territories. It is the same universal force that convinced expedition kayakers Ben Stookesberry and Chris Korbulic that, with the assistance of some big-wall climbing gear, they could complete the first-ever run of the Impossible Gorge in the Marble Fork of the Kaweah River. And it is the enduring drive for defining adventure that convinced Eddie Bauer guides David Morton and Jake Norton that the historic ascent of the West Ridge could again be repeated, even if their
odds of success were fixed at only one in five.
The new epic issue of our Outfitter Book celebrates that compelling vision for adventure, exploration, and achievement. From Everest-sized tales of boldness to products that excel during both dramatic successes and inspirational struggles, we feel this issue will motivate you to charge forward toward your own personal objective—or your own personal Everest—as you strike out into the mountains, the unknown, and the future.
THE MOUNTAIN STILL DECIDES
Five Decades Removed From the First American Ascent, the World’s Tallest Peak Still Represents the Pinnacle of Adventure
In 1963 Jim Whittaker, in partnership with Nawang Gombu sherpa, became the first american to climb to the roof of the world and summit Mt. Everest. He did it outfitted in Eddie Bauer down developed specifically for the mission, with pioneering new technologies such as V-type laminated tubular construction, full-length Velcro® closures, and nylon freeze resistant zippers. On that same expedition, his team members Tom Hornbein and Willi unsoeld completed the first successful ascent of the daunting West ridge route and linked up on their descent with Lute Jerstad and Barry Bishop, who had summited via the south col route just hours before.
The West ridge climb was historic, but the descent was legendary. all four climbers were forced into a desperate bivy at 28,000 feet with no tents and no bottled oxygen. The foursome survived due to good weather, good fortune, and the lightweight warmth of their minus-85-degree-rated Eddie Bauer Mt. Everest Parkas. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of this bold american adventure, Eddie Bauer outfitted two teams of the world’s best high-altitude climbers in Eddie Bauer First Ascent ® gear, built and tested to withstand the harshest high-altitude climates on earth. Then we sent them back to the world’s tallest peak to retrace one of the greatest stories in Everest history.
The Big One
Standing as the tallest point on earth, 29,035-foot Mount Everest has long represented the ultimate adventure in the worlds of mountaineering and exploration. The peak itself is located deep in the solu Khumbu region of the Himalaya and is perched on the border between Tibet and Nepal. The mountain was first identified by Westerners in 1852 during Britain’s Great Trigononometric survey, when what was identified as Peak XV was recognized as the world’s tallest mountain and named by the royal Geographical society in 1856 for the former surveyor-General of India, George Everest.
The history of epic climbs on Everest starts in the 1920s, including a 1924 attempt when British climbers George Mallory and Andrew Irvine disappeared on their summit bid. Nearly three decades later, on may 29, 1953, Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary became the first climbers to reach the summit of the world’s tallest peak. Austrians Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler became the first to summit without using supplemental oxygen in 1978, and the Everest East Face was first climbed in 1983 on an Eddie Bauer-outfitted expedition via a route that has never been repeated. But it was the story of the 1963 ascent—with the strength of Jim Whittaker, the effort of Hornbein and Unsoeld, and the epic story of overnight open-air survival at 28,000 feet to succeed—that became a story of American mountaineering legend.
BEST IN CLASS
Guide-built and guide-tested® on First Ascent expeditions to the world’s highest peaks. Two-plus person, four-season expedition tent with ample room for mountaineering gear and essentials. Double-D door design for easy entry/exit/access to vestibule storage areas. Exclusive Y-fly design sheds more snow and adds load strength. Smaller overall footprint means less work prepping the pitch site. Two-vestibule design provides extra space and storage. Double-wall construction for condensation control. Steep walls maximize livable space.
HOW DID THE ALCHEMIST PERFORM FOR YOU ON EVEREST?
I used it every day on Everest, whether I was carrying a big load or a standard smaller load. And so the expandability aspect to it, I’ve always thought, is perfect for that type of climb in the Himalaya, where when we moved up to Camp II on Everest, we brought everything just how we would on any other mountain.
WHAT WAS THE HEAVIEST LOAD YOU CARRIED?
I think that we probably carried not massive loads, but probably 60—65 pounds, 60—70 pounds and maxed out in terms of volume, for sure. On Makalu, Melissa and I carried at least 75-pound loads, and so we’ve used it in expanded mode, and then once we had camps established and we were going up and down between those with smaller loads, we’d use it in the smaller version.
TYING BACK TO ’63, DOES IT EMPHASIZE THE IMPORTANCE OF TESTING GEAR IN HIGH ALTITUDE ENVIRONMENTS?
Yeah, I remember all of those guys telling us about the gear after ’63, and it made me realize how much input is generated from trips where you’re wearing the gear for that long, day after day. I’m sure that Eddie Bauer used that back then with those guys coming back, and I know that we use it now. There’s no question that you can learn a ton by putting those jackets on 30 people and seeing what works and what doesn’t on Everest.
There are moments that change your life. They happen and you never see them coming, but after, nothing is the same. In late October 2010, I experienced one of those moments.
While climbing a 7,000-meter peak in the Himalaya, my good friend and climbing partner, Chhewang Nima Sherpa, was killed by collapsing ice. He was a father, a husband, and a pillar of the Sherpa community. a sponsored climber, he had the second-most Everest summits in the mountain’s history. He was giving and kind. and he was gone.
In the minutes, hours, and days that followed, I was filled with questions about how to handle a tragedy like this in a country with rules I didn’t understand. I was uneducated on what sort of government insurance he had, something that I should have known. I reached out to my climbing partner and Himalaya guiding veteran David Morton. Some of my questions were answered. Many were not.
When big-wall free climber Mason Earle headed north to the cirque of the Unclimbables in Canada’s Northwest Territories, it was with his sights set on the sheer 2,000-foot southeast face of Mt. Proboscis. the imposing tower of steep, hard granite has drawn climbers from Royal Robbins and Layton Kor to Todd Skinner and Galen Rowell to its remote location for decades due to the massive vertical challenge. Over a 17-day stretch, Earle completed a bold new free ascent of the 15-pitch at Dawn We ride (vi 5.12c r) with the climbing support of Eddie Bauer teammate Katie Lambert, photographer Ben Ditto, and Bronson Hovnanian.
The foursome made steady free climbing progress up a variation of the Grendel route established in 1996 with a siege-style technique that utilized long rappels to their camp at the end of each day. They also experienced an uncharacteristically good weather window in this near-arctic location that made for fast face-climbing progress up the wall, with Earle spending two full days redpointing three crux pitches of 11 total that had been previously only climbed on aid. The burly highlights of the expedition included 20- to 30-foot run-outs right off belay, closed off seams protected only with beaks, and one day when Earle spent seven hours on lead while hand-drilling protection and hanging on hooks. While Earle and Hovnanian were still working the final pitches of the first ascent route, Lambert and Ditto completed the first one-day, all-free ascent on the neighboring Women at Work (vi 5.12 r) route.
Slaying the Impossible Gorge
Stookesberry and Korbulic fuse big-wall climbing and waterfall kayaking for the first descent of an “unrunnable” stretch of river.
Eddie Bauer adventure kayakers Ben stookesberry and Chris Korbulic have run some isolated and burly rivers in their day. But the first successful run of the Marble Fork of the Kaweah River in Sequoia National Park was another level of commitment entirely. The mission involved an eight-day portage and vertical epic ofestablishing a sporty big-wall traverse with the assistance of Yosemite-based climbers Forrest Noble and Jared Johnson, then a five-hour descent into a never-before-run, 2,000-foot-deep canyon with no potential for escape.
Located in Stookesberry’s backyard of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, the Kaweah River flows from greater than 12,000 feet of elevation to near sea level in less than 30 miles. The steep gradient, combined with snowpacks that average 30 feet deep and melt quickly in the hot California sun, has carved canyons into 100-million-year-old bedrock that creates an ideal scenario for whitewater kayaking. But the most challenging aspect of slaying the Marble Fork portion of this river was exhibiting the patience to hit it at exactly the right flow—a once a-decade occurrence—that allowed them to tick off the impossible Gorge section that was long considered unrunnable by the kayak world.
When long snow seasons end and mud season takes over mountain towns, our guides and athletes escape for the desert to seek out an active recharge in dry air and bright sun. For biking they road trip to Moab, for standup sessions they migrate to Baja, and to kick off climbing season, they often pack the van and head south to the world-famous mecca of Joshua Tree. The area is famous with climbers for its thousands of monzogranite routes, countless boulder problems, and an arid, surreal environment that offers warm, dry climbing when other areas are still frosted with cold or wet with moisture.
J Tree offers trad-style routes that range from 5.5 classics such as Right On to test pieces such as 5.12c Equinox that bookend a diverse 7,000-route spectrum of one- to three-pitch climbs known for their crack, slab, and steepface climbing. The high-desert zone also boasts lifetimes of bouldering problems that spawn the full V range from easy to nearly impossible, which have collectively attracted an additional crush of problemseekers with crash pads and chalk buckets during the last decade.
Within Joshua Tree National Park, good campsites are limited, drinking water is scarce, and services are minimal, but the cultural hotspot still draws hundreds of climbers on busy weekends from October through April to places such as the Hidden Valley Campground. An international climbing crossroads, J Tree is marked by campfire socializing, colorful characters, and bulletin-board interactions, and is serviced by local businesses such as the Crossroads Cafe, Coyote Corner, and Nomad Ventures, which cater almost exclusively to the massive climbing migrations that turn what was once a remote desert outpost into such an epicenter during the height of the season.
