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Portland Boulder Rally 2012 Recap

Posted by Bill Amos · October 08, 2012

Alright, so once again we were at the Portland Boulder Rally, and once again they put on a fantastic event. As we all know, bouldering and alpine climbing may be as far apart on the climbing spectrum as possible and still be considered the same sport. That being said, while your alpine climbing probably won't improve your bouldering skills, bouldering can definitely improve your alpine climbing skills, and I've found bouldering to be a nice addition to my (admittedly recently almost non-existent) training regimen. I even managed to compete in the competition and not place last. As usual the finals were a good show and it was awesome to see the strong men and women crush it. Anyway thanks for stopping by the table and chatting with us if you were at the event, we talked to a lot of great folks! See you at the Portland Ice Festival next Saturday! -Bill

All Business

This dog is smarter than all the humans in this blog post combined

Beardo

One of our illustrious NW Reps hard at work

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Portland Boulder Rally Recap

Posted by Bill Amos · December 05, 2011

First off we'd like to thank the team at The Circuit Bouldering Gym for putting on an incredible event on Saturday. (If you're in Portland and get the opportunity to check out The Circuit, do it, it's a world class facility.) The Portland Boulder Rally was a day long competition and gathering of the climbing community. The culmination was an extremely high energy final and then raucous after party. The gym was packed with slightly-liquored-up spectators for the finals and the energy was awesome. Having never been to a bouldering competition before, it was extremely engaging and I found myself hoarse the next day from all the yelling. While bouldering in the gym is about as far as one can get from the alpine climbing environment and still be climbing, the mostly young crowd (though there were a number of old Portland hardpeople milling about) was full of psyche and I couldn't help but see a room full of future alpinists.

We talked to a ton of people about NW Alpine, about our mission, making stuff in the USA, plans for future products and the like. It was great to meet everyone and introduce our company to a new crowd.

We'll be back next year when the PBR rolls around again, thanks again to The Circuit for a great day!

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Illumination Rock on Mt. Hood

Posted by Bill Amos · August 10, 2011

At 9,543 ft, Illumination Rock juts out of the Southwest side of Mt. Hood and creates an obvious landmark visible whenever the mountain is. Recently a friend sent me this entry from the book "Oregon Geographic Names":

ILLUMINATION ROCK, Clackamas County. On this rock occurred the first successful illumination of Mt. Hood. This illumination was part of the Independence Day celebration in Portland on July 4, 1887. Will G. Steel organized a party that carried one hundred pounds of red fire to this rock and the light was seen as far as the mountain was visible. I had no idea that this was how Illumination Rock was named and think it would have been really awesome to have seen this. For some reason I think the Forest Service would probably frown on a re-enactment, especially since I-Rock sits in the Mt. Hood Wilderness area.

This blog post goes into significantly more detail about the first and subsequent illuminations (the first even made the New York Times!) Interestingly the Steel Cliffs are named after the man in charge of the original efforts, William Gladstone Steel.

Illumination Rock is also home to some fantastic mixed climbing and makes a worthy day trip destination from Portland during the winter and spring.

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A Quick Note on Sizing

Posted by Bill Amos · August 28, 2010

A note about sizes... All of our sizes are standard unless otherwise noticed. If you fit in small in other brands clothing, chances are you will in ours as well.

Pant waist sizes are as follows: Small 29-30, Medium 31-33, Large 34-36, XL 38+

Inseam: Small 31-32, Medium 32-33, Large 33-34, XL 34-35

If you have a concern about sizes we will work with you on finding the right fit. Don't hesitate to drop us a line if you have any questions!

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