Never Stop Litigating

I just had to laugh when I heard the North Face was suing an upstart company in the Midwest that calls itself the South Butt and sells clothing with parody logos and slogans ("Never Stop Relaxing"). A very similar scenario unfolded about a decade ago when I was running Rock & Ice.

The old Franklin Climbing company had been running a series of full-page ads featuring portraits of interesting climbers posing against a white backdrop. The ads were simple and sharp, and we liked having them in the mag. In early 1999, the company sent us a particularly funny one: a photo of a baby boy sitting on the floor and peering into the front side of his diaper, with the tiny tagline "Never Stop Explorin.' " We thought it was harmless and cute, and if we thought about it at all (which I doubt), we expected the North Face would laugh along.

Uh-uh. Shortly after the ad appeared, I had to take a call from the company's CEO—the CEO, for cripe's sake—who said he was suing Franklin and that we'd better stop running that ad immediately or he'd sue us too. I groveled a bit (hey, we needed the North Face's advertising money more than we needed a freedom-of-speech case), and the problem went away. The Franklins' problems with TNF eased, too, although probably not as quickly.

This time, though, the legal action may have backfired for TNF. In the age of viral information, the North Face just looks like a bully, and the South Butt had more than 4,400 fans on its Facebook page this morning. They're undoubtedly selling loads more clothes than they ever expected, though I doubt they were prepared for the onslaught of orders.

I also doubt the South Butt will be in business for long. The Franklin incident seemed ridiculous to everyone but TNF, but in this instance I'd say the North Face actually has a very strong case—I mean, South Butt is trying to sell its clothes primarily by trashing the TNF brand. That's not right. But for the North Face, will winning in court mean losing with the public? 

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Lacelle Avalanche Video Analysis

Doug Chabot, director of the Gallatin National Forest Avalanche Center, prepared this excellent video analysis and reconstruction of the avalanche accident that claimed the life of the great Canadian ice climber Guy Lacelle last Thursday in Montana's Hyalite Canyon. This tragic incident and Doug's timely video are sobering reminders of the dangers that lurk in seemingly innocuous terrain. You just can never let down your guard—ever.

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Nordic Skating

The December issue of 5280 has my story about three new "adrenaline" sports to try in Colorado this winter. Of the three, by far the most intriguing to me is Nordic skating, combining the long blades of speed skaters with cross-country ski boots and bindings for long-distance cruising on ice. Although few people in Colorado have even heard of Nordic skating, it's big in New England, where Vermont-based Nordic Skater sells and rents the gear, starting as low as $89 for skates and bindings. (Most cross-country skiers already own the necessary boots.) As a kid in Maine, I skated along winding streams to connect chains of frozen ponds, and when I talked to Jamie Hess, owner of Nordic Skater, I was pleased to hear that people still skate up the Royal River near my hometown. There's nothing quite like speeding over bumpy ice along a twisting creek, each bend bringing a new revelation. I can't wait to try it again.

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National Geo Adventure Calls It Quits

The December/January issue of National Geographic Adventure will be the last one, another victim of the Great Recession and the changing tides—the tsunami—affecting print journalism. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, but I am. Since its launch in 1999 under editor John Rasmus, the magazine has balanced superb reporting—I've got The New Age of Adventure collection by my bedside—with massive amounts of trip and equipment service material, and it was backed by the mighty National Geographic Society. I didn't do much work for the magazine, but I always enjoyed my dealings with its editors, especially Cliff Ransom and former editors Jim Meigs and James Vlahos. Steve Casimiro, the magazine's peripatetic West Coast editor, has just published a good report and reflection on his magazine's demise at his Adventure Life blog. Good luck to everyone.

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Off Route in Nepal

Is it just me, or does it seem misguided that Nepal's cabinet ministers are staging a meeting at Everest base camp to call attention to global warming's threat to the Himalaya? The ministers have flown to Lukla and soon will continue by air to base camp. That's X number of helicopter flights from Kathmandu to Lukla, plus Y flights to Everest base camp, plus Z return flights, all adding up to a nasty output of carbon emissions. The threats to Nepalese mountain communities are real, but is flying around the Himalaya the best way to publicize them?

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Deep Water Reservoir-ing

Now this looks like fun...





Deep-water soloing above Lake Powell. Photos by Rachel Kemble (upper left, courtesy of Josh Thompson) and Greg D., used with permission. See Mountain Project for more pics, including some enticing walls with not-so-soft landings.

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Colorado MoJo

I've launched a new website that I invite you to explore. The Colorado Mountain Journal exclusively covers human-powered mountain sports. All Colorado. Mostly backcountry. I created it to provide news and a bit of inspiration for the sports I enjoy most—climbing, backcountry skiing, hiking, and trail running—in ways I couldn't finding anywhere else, in print or online.

Please take a look and let me know what you think. I'd be grateful for suggestions, critiques, contributions of news and other stories from the Colorado mountains, or links from your site. Have a great holiday!

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The Cougars of Climbing

Too funny. This calendar of thirty- and forty-something women of climbing is the work of Miss March: Misty Murphy. Check out all 12 Cougars of Climbing, and click below to listen to Murphy's hilarious "Cougar Climber" rap.

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Monday Morning Time Waster

Fantastic sequence of annotated "instructional" clips from the baddest bad climbing film of all: Vertical Limit.

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Block That Cliché

"Bullet hard." Can we please retire this phrase in writing about rock climbing? I don't know much about guns and ammo, but I do know that, unless you're talking about armor-piercing rounds, most bullets are made of lead coated with copper. Neither metal is any match for granite—or even solid sandstone. I've even seen "bullet-hard ice" in ad copy. Seriously?

Now, "bulletproof rock" is an acceptable phrase. But "bullet hard" or simply "bullet"—these have got to go.

Got a favorite overworn climbing cliché? Post it in the comments.

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