"The best outdoor film I've seen in a while"

Kelly Cordes, Patagonia Alpine Climbing Ambassador and Senior Editor at the American Alpine Club, just caught Eastern Rises at the opening night of the Adventure Film Festival in Boulder.

It’s about fly fishing. Huh? I’ve never fly fished and, honestly, I never really “got it.” I know there must be something there, though, because even if it makes as much sense to me as drinking margaritas in Russia, people love it, obsess over it like I do with climbing, and friends do with skiing and surfing. Tons of people at Patagonia go nuts for it. Cool. But still, I didn’t really understand the allure. Until last night. [Photo: Felt Soul Media]

The rest of Kelly's review with bonus Marg recipe.

Some pretty serious props from a guy who does this for a living.

I forwarded the Cordes link on to Travis and Ben at Felt Soul and Travis replied saying he had gotten a similar response from one of The North Face climbing ambassadors. When a film can inspire a couple of non-angling uber outdoor athletes to publicly talk about how they never thought fishing could be cool, the industry might want to sit up and take notice. Maybe that Outdoor Retailer strategy some of us were pushing wasn't such a bad idea after all? Instead of patting ourselves on the back for stuffing Oprah and her friend Gayle into a pair of "wading jeans", what we should be doing is coming up with a media strategy to put the soul of our sport in front of outdoor enthusisats who never considered that fishing could be cool. 

To quote another another non angling friend who is well connected in the adventure biz:

Watched the film over the weekend – loved it. I always find it interesting to see how the genetic coding of the adventure seeking soul is the same from sport to sport and passion to passion. The girl riding spines outside of Valdez, the guy picking the plumb line off of a peak in the Karakorum, or the fella hooking a 20lb rainbow in the end of the world are all pretty much feeding the same beast through different means.

Special Awakening the Skeena Screenings Next Week

Residents of Ventura, California and Jackson Hole, Wyoming have the opportunity next week to hear Yvon Chouinard and Patagonia CEO Casey Sheahan introduce Awakening the Skeena.

As you may remember from prior posts, Awakening the Skeena follows Ali Howard  as she swims the entire length of the frigid Skeena River to raise awareness of the threat to salmon from proposed coal bed methane gas wells. Ali Howard and musician Rachelle van Zanten will be attending both events; the Jackson Hole screening will also feature a benefit silent auction with lots of great prizes, including a trip for three to Islas Secas Resort in Panama's Las Secas Archipelago. Don't miss it ! Details below

Monday, November 15, 2010
Great Pacific Iron Works
Ventura, California
7pm • Free

Thursday, November 18, 2010
Center Theatre
Jackson Hole, Wyoming
6pm • Tickets $7
All proceeds benefit Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition

Learn more about this issue at skeenawatershed.com.

Take Action! Ask Shell and the BC government to withdraw the tenure for coalbed methane development in the Sacred Headwaters.

(Via: The Cleanest Line)

One last thing to point out. If you take a moment to go to the sponsors page on the Spirit of the Skeena website you'll see some familiar good guy names like Patagonia, MEC and Double Haul Productions. You'll also see the name of our friend Tim Pask. According to Ali, This is the guy that elevated the Skeena Swim from a mere thought to reality, he was the inspiration to actually go through with it!

Huge props to Pask for being one of the driving forces behind the Skeena Swim, a great example of how we can all make a difference out there.

Yvon Chouinard to Introduce Oct. 28 New York Screening of 180° South

Those of you living in the New York area have two chances to see 180° South very soon –  this Saturday (10/23) and next Thursday (10/28). The event on Thursday the 28th promises to be extra special as Yvon Chouinard will be in town to introduce the screening which is a benefit for Riverkeeper, New York's clean water advocate.

YC will be just one of the special Patagonia guests attending this event,

LINK (Via: The Cleanest Line)

If you happen to get chance to talk to YC at this event ask him how the steelhead fishing was this week in BC.

Patagonia Ride 2010

Patagonia continues to raise the bar in the e-catalog genre. The latest is this ass kicking mini e-book that just dropped on their Facebook page and is embedded above.

Be sure to check out the Sweetgrass Productions video short The Desert River on page 16.

For those of you looking for a fishing connection, Patagonia has completely updated their Capilene and Regulator categories for fall 2010. If you're looking for the best baselayer and layering system on the planet this it, end of story. You'll find Capilene on page 6 and Regulator on page 8 of the Ride book.

Patagonia Environmental Initiatives 2010 E-Book

This year Patagonia has put out an enhanced electronic version of it's annual enviro initiatives booklet. There are a number of embedded videos and interactive pages well worth checking out.

View a fireside chat with Patagonia founder and environmentalist-in-chief Yvon Chouinard, accompany world-renowned photographer Florian Schulz as he sheds light on the beauty and struggles of the Arctic, and connect with other activists’ stories through powerful videos and images. The new e-booklet does all this without sacrificing a forest full of trees.

The interactive grants map allows you to see all the grassroots groups by region that received grants along with links to their respective web sites. Be sure to check out the groups in your area that received grants.

The by the numbers page has a bunch of stats you can scroll over to see the full scope of what Patagonia does on the environmental front.

In a nutshell:

Patagonia donated $3,444,263 (1% of its sales) to support environmental causes.

433 different environmental groups were the recipient of a Patagonia grant.

$155,000 worth of grants were given out through the World Trout program.

Water and Marine groups recieved $648,989 in grants, the second highest category after biodiversity groups.

You can also download a PDF version of the booklet with its many stories and photos about our environmental efforts. In "Leading the Examined Life Is a Pain in the Ass," Yvon tells how Patagonia came by its environmental ethos. We also break down our mission statement, tell about Freedom to Roam, World Trout and bluesign® technologies, and list the more than 400 grassroots groups we aided this year.

Launch Patagonia Environmental Initiatives 2010 E-Book  (Via:The Cleanest Line)

Be patient, the initial load time can be slow.

Meet an Unlikely Proponent of Dam Removal

Patagonia is joining Save Our Wild Salmon in urging the Obama Administration to change course and remove the four lower Snake River dams. This has only strengthened collective resolve to protect salmon habitat. As Washington farmer Bryan Jones explains in a recent essay, protecting salmon habitat can be synonymous with protecting family farms and reducing their bottom-line.

Bryan Jones is a 4th generation wheat farmer near Colfax, Washington. He farms 640 acres. He and his fellow farmers rely on barges on the Snake River to move their wheat to market. This is primarily why the dams on the Snake were built.

Jones remembers going down to the Snake before it was dammed.

LINK (Via:The Cleanest Line)