The Kokatat factory is going solar! We are in the process of installing solar panels at the factory. Ben and Mark, the installation team from the local Scurfield Solar renewable energy and green plumbing specialist, arrived on Wednesday morning to start the process. The solar panels arrived Thursday for the 26 kw system; with 176 solar panels ours will be one of the largest of its kind in Humboldt County. The system will feed electricity into the grid, not a battery system, and is expected to produce 35,000 kwh of electricity annually. We will be posting updates on the project in the coming weeks. Stay tuned for updates! Everyone here at Kokatat is very excited about taking another green step.

Scott brings 17 years of retail and industry experience to his new position at Kokatat. He was most recently a buyer and Internet sales manager for a retail and rental shop, Northern Mountain Supply, in Eureka, California.

Matt has been with Kokatat for five years. He was hired in 2005 as a customer and dealer service representative, after working for Watermark/Yakima for two years in their Marketing department. Over the years Matt has been involved with many of Kokatat’s marketing efforts, allowing for a very smooth transition into his new position.

Kokatat’s business model has always believed in hiring quality employees and promoting from within for a sustainable workforce with a high retention rate. Presently, forty-seven percent of Kokatat’s current employees have been with Kokatat for over 5 years.

“We are pleased to welcome Scott to the Kokatat team with all his experience in the Outdoor Industry, and are equally excited for Matt to grow in his new position as he has shown so much dedication and hard work over the years.” said Kokatat Founder, Steve O’Meara.

Submit your designs till the end of the month by emailing it to Tshirt_design@kokatat.com or uploading it to our Facebook T-shirt photo album.

First place winner receives a MsFIT Tour life jacket, second place can enjoy our TROPOS Light Breeze jacket, and the third some InnerCore Long Sleeve shirt.

I had lined up a five-day “trek” for us in the mountains west of Bariloche with a local outfitter named AndesCross. After a few emails back and forth with the head-guy (Jorge) I discovered this was not the luxury, pack-animal supported trek I had come to expect. We would (shudder-gasp) be doing a “backpack trip” and would be sharing loads. After more emails with Jorge, he lined up a porter (for just a little more money) to carry some of our loads. Jerry and Angie both do cross-country ski racing all winter, and were in top shape –  even Dorita and I had trained for the trek, as opposed to our usual winter non-conditioned condition. However, only Jerry wanted to carry a 40-50 lb. pack for 5 days.

After a couple days of getting a “big-city fix” in Buenos Aires, we flew to Bariloche, got picked up by Jorge, who is a climber and local boy, acquired our supply of “nerve tonic” for the trip, and slept restlessly, waiting for our backpack adventure. The first two days of the trek were pretty much trail hiking with a long, ugly downhill: “the bobsled run” on the morning of day 2. Although we were staying in tents, the first night was near a hut, and we had cool beer for cocktail hour and flush toilets at the hut. Jorje had brought his friend Herman as a porter, and his American girlfriend Sarah as cook, so we had a variety of folks to talk with on our trek.

Night two, the wind picked up and the next morning brought low clouds and shrieking wind in the trees – welcome to Patagonia! Day 3 was going to be “the long day” with two passes, and a trail that existed mostly in Jorje’s memories.

Once we reached the pass, we had the full force of wind hitting us. You had to stay low, and keep a “wide stance” to avoid being blown down. (please, no Senator Larry Craig jokes). We estimated the highest gusts to be around 50 mph. Luckily, it didn’t rain much. We traversed around the side of a mountain into another valley, then had our first experience of the trip with “light mountaineering” in high winds. Heidi and I both have a climbing background. Jerry and Angie have natural abilities that have been honed in desert canyoneering and mountain backpack trips. We just did not expect to have rock-climbing in high winds as part of our trekking experience. It was “very invigorating.” We now knew why Jorge had been concerned about the possibility of rain. With rain, the rest of our day would have been very, very ugly: as opposed to merely “extremely stimulating.”

So why, you may well ask, are we climbing this mountain? It was much better than the alternative of descending into this valley. After a late, but wonderful lunch (Sarah provided great eats for our epic) we ascended a “wet meadow” that was just dry enough with some route-finding, that no-one got their feet wet. Then once again we were on rock with high winds, climbing towards the “Col Crystal”. I kept looking for quartz crystals but never found “a keeper.” Sarah was more avid and soon had a pocketful. Day 4, after a hard overnight frost, we climbed over another pass. This one was pretty pleasant. The wind was present, but not ugly. We had a late lunch below the pass and discovered we were back in “cow country.” Although livestock is banned in the park, it is good cattle country. With or without the help of local ranchers, the cows range high.

When we first set up the trip with Jorje, I brought up the subject of filtering water. Like every other local source: he said the water “was great.” Night one of our trek, Sarah said she had gotten stomach problems drinking out of the lake we were at: Laguna Negra. The rest of the trip: Sarah and the tourists filtered our water with a Katadyn Hiker Pro microfilter. Bad guts away from home, are such a downer! We were safe rather than sorry. Jorge finally got interested and eagerly accepted our gift of the water filter when we left.

We again had a lakeside camp, with a beach, and a great view of Monte Tronador for our last night. The next morning, with a late start, we hiked the steep trail down to the valley. Only a river crossing of a cold glacial stream from Monte Tronador kept us from once again becoming “tourists.” (We had only seen two hikers in the last 4 days). Then Jorje mentioned there was cold beer and lunch at Pampa Linda on the other side of the river. The weather broke after our trek and was “unsettled” for the next week. For a rest-day: we wandered Bariloche and bought some of the chocolate the town is noted for. We rented a car and next day drove north to San Martin de las Andes, which many consider the “cool town” in this area. It was a windy and cold day in San Martin.

We ate our “bag lunch” on the windy beach (had to save money for gourmet dinners you know) and then walked downtown. After that we did a big drive through an area that seemed a lot like South Idaho or Montana. The weather stayed “uncertain” the rest of our trip, but we did a day hike up to the “Frey Hut” climbing area above Bariloche, where no-one was climbing, due to wind and rain. Our whitewater rafting was cancelled, but Jerry and I managed a windy day of drift-boat fishing on the huge river that drains Lago Nahuel Huapi, with a guide recommended by a friend. Ivo the guide, had been fishing in Southern-Patagonia and was a little tough to get in touch with. He finally showed up at our hotel room for cocktail hour, and informed us that he had been fishing all week with the legendary Ted Turner. Someone stammered: “you’re Ted Turner’s fishing guide?”
Ivo replied: “I wish I was his fishing guide, I’m his ski guide.”
Ivo was a good, and entertaining fishing guide for us.

Then it was back to Buenos Aires and one more night in the big city. Of course, the women wanted to go to a Tango venue. It was a dinner show, and shortly after we sit down, the manager came for us.
He said “you are from the U.S.”
We replied: “Si”
He said; “You are from Idaho.”
We replied “Si”
He said; “Do you know western swing dancing?”
With some hesitation, we agreed that we were acquainted with it. We were then carried off and introduced to two Tango Performers and forced to work with them on “swing dance” moves. Our reward was the photo above.” – Ray Brooks

Due to a rock slide on the Forks of Salmon road, access of Nordheimer has been cut off. There are ways of paddling the run but logistics and shuttle time are now a major factor. As a result the race/party is up in the air for either Nordheimer or Butler as a backup location.

If on May 1st the road is open we will be camping at Nordheimer and racing Nordy. If not we will be camping at Oak Bottom Campground, racing Butler.

When: April 30 – May 2nd, 2010 – Race on May 1st, Race starts 1:23pm at Put-in. (Either Butler Ledge or Nordheimer Creek Beach)

Where: Nordheimer or Bulter section of the Cal-Salmon.

Cost: As always everything is free. Due to permit and insurance issues there is a $5 insurance fee for anyone who is not ACA.

Huge Thanks to our Sponsors:

Kokatat, Colorado Kayak Supply, Sotar, Somes Bar Store, CaliProduct, Adventure’s Edge, AWetState, & Paddle Humboldt.
More information and directions to the race: http://caliproduct.blogspot.com/2010/04/cal-salmon-race-2010.html

Here is a discription of the runs from Jefferson State Creekin by Kokatat Ambassador Darin McQuoid.

“The Columbia River Gorge on the border of Washington and Oregon boasts some of the best whitewater that is to be found in the Pacific Northwest. Within 30 minutes of the town of Hood River there are numerous class IV- V creeks and rivers, with two of the best being the Green Truss section of the White Salmon, and the Little White Salmon. This spring, our crew of four that included Martin Belden, Melissa DeMarie, Orion Meredith, and Ben York, rallied up north to hit the goods during the second week of March. Due to the low snow pack and lack of rain, the only runs that had decent flows were the Truss and the L Dub, which combined with a lap on Sweet Creek, some carnage at the Money Drop, and one sick line at Celestial, rounded out a weeks worth of paddling that left everyone sore and happy.”  – Martin Belden. All photos courtesy of Ben York.

Check out more misadventures of the local Arcata crew at Paddle Humboldt.

“Kokatat promotes and follows the practice of what our community calls the 3R’s – reduce, reuse and recycle,” said Arcata Chamber director Brenda Bishop. “Their environmental promotion and stewardship supports several organizations and provides an educational approach for turning recreational paddlers into conservation advocates,” Bishop added.

We were recognized and honored with a plaque at the Chamber’s Annual Leadership Dinner and Awards event held at the historical Arcata Theatre and Lounge. The sold-out event entertained some of the top city, county and state business leadership and community members. Arcata is home to one of only fifteen “California Welcome Center’s,” – official state visitor centers – and Kokatat’s recognition will be featured in the CWC’s marketing collateral.

“This recognition is as much an acknowledgment for Kokatat as it is for the culture of the Arcata community,” said O’Meara. “Our town’s beautiful natural environment and social equality is something Kokatat strives to preserve. We’re honored to receive the Green Business of the Year award,” O’Meara added.

Kokatat Ambassador Freya Hoffmeister brought her “Race Around Australia” tour to Arcata, CA on Tuesday 2/23.  Everyone here at Kokatat was very excited to have Freya visit the factory before the event. Kokatat and Explore North Coast hosted the presentation in Eureka. We had a good turnout on a rainy weekday evening, enjoyed some food, drinks, and a great story!  Take a look at Frey’s blog for more photos of the night and a factory tour.

“When the opportunity created itself for myself and 4 friends to experience the lower Deschutes River (Warm Springs to Sandy Beach, aka 52 river miles) in winter, and with the added benefit of experiencing another New Years on the water (along with a new/blue moon), we headed to Oregon! Temperatures never climbed above freezing until the last day, with winds ranging between 10-20 mph the first two days, and there was a nice mixture of snow, rain (last day), blue skies, and snow. The first morning we were greeted with 10” of new snow on the raft. First piece of gear for all on the trip was a GORE-TEX® Kokatat dry suit of course. Everyone also had the Polartec® Power Dry® liner, SurfSkin Balaclavas, Skull Caps, and Strap Caps. Proper gear on a trip like this turns what looks like (and could be) a suffer fest into something very enjoyable. Suffering can be a good thing at times, and sure it builds character, but it was an awesome experience to change between camp clothes to dry suits each day, and NEVER be cold or wet. Obviously this is not news to folks who’ve enjoyed the benefits of a dry suit, but it can seem like a fairytale to those that have done multiday trips with wearing wet cloths the whole time. Two of us had done the same trip twice before, but it was over July 4^th, and we enjoyed the beauty and solitude of this winter trip much more. The clouds barely parted on New Years’ Eve, but they did thin enough for us to see the moon’s glow.”

-Adrien Pritchard