Reconciliation…

We are reconciling our shipping, tracking and inventory systems. Some folks are getting emails about how we’re shipping something when in fact they’ve had it for months. That’s the good side.

On the bad side, I’ve found three people who appear not to have received their orders.

75L packs went out the door.  Dyneema packs are going out the door tomorrow.

We’re going to be making new 60L’s in Blue and in Red starting at the end of next week.

We’re going to be making new Grey, Red and Black 20L’s starting at the beginning of next week.

We’re going to be making new duffels, Big Walli Haul Packs (what a name…) and some other treats in the days to follow.

The New Jedi? The Future of the Sport? A Good Idea.

CiloGear is proud to announce that we’re biking to work this May in accord with Bike Month here in New York City.

But this post is really about the future of climbing and active recreation in the outdoors. Some months ago, we posted about Evan and his desire to raise money for his school by going climbing. Many folks in the so-called Outdoor Industry talk a lot of game about how we need to get youth away from their computers and into the woods. While I’m not sure that’s really the best way of looking at this, CiloGear figured out that getting young folks involved in climbing and hiking are essential for continued access to wild areas, continued preservation of those areas and as far as we’re concerned it’s okay to be into video games and the modern world as well.

Read More »

New Pack in Development

We’re about done fixing the mess of this spring. As such, we’re jumping headlong into a new mess.  We’re going to make a crag bag for serious big cragging.

It’s going to be a top loader.

You’ll be able to haul it.

It will have enough space for a real rack, not just for some draws and a 10 year old alien and your collectible HB offsets.

You’ll be able to haul it.

Story to follow.

Ravalli County Comissioners Choose Nothing

I went to the University of Montana. When I go back to Montana, I go for the recreational activities that the state provides. Many of my friends from school live and work in the communities they grew up in across western Montana.  It’s shocking when you learn how many of them are making a good living as a guide or otherwise involved in the sustainable business of recreation.  Actually, if you’ve read a book like Tom Power’s Lost Landscapes, the value of highly skilled service jobs — whether we’re talking about a business consultant, a diesel mechanic or a guide — would come as no surprise.

According to the story in the Ravalli Republic, the local paper of the Bitterroot Valley, the County Commissioners of Ravalli County can’t recognize value when it’s in front of their eyes. They recently voted to turn a mighty fine climbing area into gravel. Wow! Residents who live in the canyon don’t want it to happen as they’re worried about the traffic, local business owners don’t want it to happen as they know — just as the business owners in Penticton, British Columbia came to learn — that climbers actually contribute serious dollars to the local economy.

The Ravalli County Commissioners had a choice, and they chose nothing. They chose not to have climbers spend money in their economy, and they chose to stop the hunters, hikers and other folks interested in outdoor recreation from benefiting from what everybody thinks is a fantastic and valuable recreational resource. They chose to take the scenic beauty of the county and reduce it to nothing. Another reason to vacation in British Columbia…I’m going to take the time to write a letter to the County Commissioners, and if you like climbing on granite, you might write one too.

From the article written by Anthony Quirini:

“All we were asking for is input on what they’re thinking,”(Steve) Porcella (Access Fund Co-ordinator for Western Montana) said. “I understand that the county has constant and forever rock needs, but I think it’s dependent upon the county and Forest Service to get their resources in a place that doesn’t have a conflict with a valuable recreational area.”

As well, the canyon is popular for bikers, hikers and fisherman - all of which may be impacted with heavy truck traffic.

“Frankly, from a Forest Service perspective this goes against everything they are trying to accomplish - for this to be a premier recreation area,” Howell said.

Others questioned Ohnstad’s numbers.

“It seems like we’re hearing erroneous numbers again,” Mark Bearman said during the meeting.

In 2007 the Ravalli County commission was deadlocked 2-2 on a vote to re-open the quarry. Commissioner Driscoll abstained from voting, saying she wanted to review Ohnstad’s numbers.

After researching those numbers, Driscoll was ready to vote, but the commission indefinitely tabled the issue after dozens upon dozens of citizens protested the issue.

An Open Letter to Our Loyal Customers (and Potential Customers)

Our young company grew dramatically over the past eighteen months. As you might be aware from reading our blog, this year hit us with challenging circumstances that amount to a “perfect storm” to use the vernacular. In the end, it’s been you, our customers on whom our business relies and depends, who is left dealing with the uncertainty of when your new pack will arrive. We ask for your continued patience as we emerge from this “perfect storm” into some semblance of order, and soon a strong foundation for high quality service and products. We will survive, and we are making significant progress.

In appreciation of everybody’s patience, and in the hope of inspiring continued loyalty, we offer a discount between 10 and 20% off a future pack purchase for those of you who placed an order between the 1st of December 2007 and the 26th of April, 2008. We will be emailing all of our affected customers this week with a promo code and further information.

We also want to announce a upgrade program for our oldest customers: those of you who purchased V1 WorkSacks are eligible to purchase a new, made in Brooklyn, V3 WorkSack at a discounted rate. We will be contacting our original customers via email to inform them of the details of this program.

In the meantime, please be assured that we are working our tails off to get all outstanding orders and repairs shipped as quickly as we can! A brief overview of some of the events follows after the break… Read More »

Absurd. And Surgery Fun

I have an hour long meeting with my UPS sales rep today about how they can better serve me.  We do some preliminary negotiations about the price of my rates. He promises to get back to me in the beginning of next week with some pricing.

Imagine my surprise when I try to ship everything out this afternoon, and find that my account was canceled. I speak with three different UPS representatives, and none of them can tell me why my account was canceled. And the whole thing takes two hours, in which time my UPS driver has come and left already — with nothing going out.  I couldn’t use a credit or a debit card, I couldn’t do didily squat.

So I am off to drink a beer in total frustration. I couldn’t believe that my rep wouldn’t mention to me that the account was canceled, and I need a break from this…

And Mrs. CiloGear is getting the Medieval Torture Device removed tomorrow morning. We’ll be back on Monday.

No Repairs till May: Slammed Slammed Slammed

We need to finish a metric ton of work lying around the office. CiloGear will not accept requests for on site repairs until mid-May. If your repair can be done elsewhere, we will be glad to arrange for it.

A Mad Scramble…

There is no good way to put this. CiloGear is scrambling…

All weekend, I’ve written and rewritten variants of this post, coming at it from different angles and divergent viewpoints. I can’t come up with the words to possibly explain what we’ve been going through down here. The QA process was a joke; details on that to follow, but first a brief explanation of it all after the break. Read More »

20L WorkSacks

The new 20L WorkSacks look more or less the same as the old ones, but we’ve updated some important features.

20L WorkSacks

From Left: ‘07 20L in Red, ‘08 in Black, ‘08 in Red

The logo is inside now, and we’re using the same 30d SilNylon as in the big packs for the extension. The Dee-Clips and sliplocks are bartacked in the seams to prevent any problems when you attach a 20L onto a bigger pack.

More pictures after the break…The back, the changes, that kind of thing. Read More »

20L Pack with an Axe

Can the 20L hold an axe? Sure…Lots of pictures, a few words, after the break.

CiloGear 20L WorkSack carrying an ice tool or an ice axe.

Read More »

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