Saturday, June 03, 2006

Patagonia Ambassador's Climb of Delicate Arch not so Clean After all?

Outside magazine has a three-page story on Dean Potter's Climb of Delicate Arch. The article mentions that the climb was filmed from above, implying that a cameraman was above him on the arch. The article discusses how ropes were used and the article includes close up pictures of rope damage at the top of the arch. While it's not clear that Potter's rope created the rope damage, it is clear that he used more than just chalk.

What's amazing about this whole thing is that neither Patagonia nor Potter have backed down. Patagonia stands behind their ambassador while saying that "not all of his actions represent the company" (in which case they should call him a part time ambassador).

The online poll at Outside online is running just under 9 to 1 against the climb, by the way.

1 comment:

Rob said...

Mike, Thanks for posting this article. Patagonia's Ambassador should consider coming clean. I have also enjoyed "Bike Month".

I still have great memories of working at Gorilla Bicycle. Your posts brought it all back.

It helped me remember when I was skinny (too long ago).