Laying Groundwork

Powderfin.com just launched almost the entire line of Ground men's and women's outerwear. We're really excited about the products, as we feel they're a bit different than many of the ski jackets, puffy coats, and fleeces found elsewhere in the market today. They're technically excellent, look great, and make you feel great...what more do you need out of a ski jacket? Read more about Ground and their gear below...

The Ground Philosophy

"Established in 2002, Ground is a multi-sport lifestyle brand that combines technology with style. Headquartered in Emeryville, California, just across the bay from San Francisco, we started Ground because we thought it was time for a change. Over the last several years it seems that many outdoor products have come to resemble one another. Somebody had to do something new.

Our philosophy is simple. Differentiate or don't bother. Build the best technical apparel and gear with a new, innovative approach bringing excitement back to the consumer. We use the most advanced fabrics and construction techniques. Our designs are functional and performance-oriented. But every piece is designed to embody a new and different sense of style. It's not just an extra step. It's part of the process. It's what's been missing."

Ground Products

Men's and Women's Waterproof/Breathable Outerwear

Ground Men's Ski Jackets - Ground Women's Ski Jackets

Featuring Moisture Tech 3-Layer, and 2.5-Layer, Ground offers a wide range of waterproof breathable shells. The Skarn Ski Pants and Adverse shell provide the ultimate in abrasion resistance and winter weather protection. With sport specific design features like removable molded pads, these garments are engineered to brave extreme weather as well as extreme pursuits. While styles like the Adverse Lt, Dash, Rapid, and Defy shells are designed to be the most versatile endurance and speed sport outerwear available. Ultra-light, ultra breathable, highly compressible and highly wind and water-resistant.

eVent Technology

eVENT Fabric is a Direct Venting waterproof barrier that marks a significant advancement in ePTFE laminate technology. Using proprietary and patented Dry System™ technology, eVENT Fabric sets a new standard for comfort by allowing perspiration to dissipate and vent without saturating the inside of the fabric.

Insulated Jackets

Men's Ground Down Jackets - Women's Ground Down Jackets

Men's Ground Synthetic Insulation Jackets - Women's Ground Synthetic Insulation Jackets

These Ground jackets are designed to be worn with or with out an outer-shell. Providing warmth and comfort they are designed to keep the body comfortable even in the harshest conditions. Ground uses only the best materials for insulation... 700 Fill Down, PrimaLoft Sport, and Polartec Fleece. One of our favorite Ground Jackets, the Ground Prime, features PrimaLoft Sport as insulation. Perhaps the warmest coats of the men's line are the Pyrite and Tarn Jackets, an awesome puffy coat with 700 Fill Down. On the women's side is the equally warm and cozy Ground Orbit.

PrimaLoft® Sport is the perfect combination of high performance insulation and value. This technology combines ultra-fine and multi-diameter fibers for specific performance characteristics. The specially treated ultra-fine fibers hellp to form a water resistant insulating structure, while the multi-diameter fibers help to build loft. If your idea of a great winter weekend takes you outside into the great outdoors, PrimaLoft Sport helps you feel at home and well insulated even if the we
ather turns wet.

Softshell Jackets

Men's Ground Softshell Jackets - Women's Ground Softshell Jackets

Ground Softshell Jackets are designed to be comfortable, breathable and highly versatile. Some have waterproof breathable laminated fabric, all are highly weather shedding, wind proof, and WARM. All softshells use state of the art soft shell materials like SS Softshield: A waterproof/breathable soft-shell technology based on 3-layer MoistureTek laminate. Ground's Parallel Soft Shell Jacket System is a 3 layer system of weather protection designed with serious technical capabilities.  It is the jacket of choice for Mountain Link, a premiere international mountaineering guide service based out of Bend, OR.

Fleece Jackets

Men's Ground Fleece Jackets - Women's Ground Fleece Jackets

Intended to be insulating layers but not limited to wearing under shells. All Ground jackets in this category have the appearance of being soft and fuzzy but all have the grit to stand alone as outerwear. Some are wind proof by construction, all are warm and comfortable. Ground Fleece jackets use state of the art materials such as Polartec Classic 200, Polartec Thermal Pro, and Polartec PowerStretch.

Polartec Classic 200 - This classic, warm and breathable 200-weight fleece has been an outdoor benchmark for nearly two decades. Polartec Classic 200 is featured in the popular Ground Mercury Fleece Jacket, and the Ground Rift Vest.

Polartec Power Stretch - Body-hugging four-way stretch fabric with excellent breathability. The face is durable nylon for wind and abrasion-resistance and the inside is soft velour for warmth and comfort. You'll find Polartec Power Stretch in the ultra-cozy Ground Fissure Fleece Jacket.

Polartec High-Loft Thermal Pro - Polartec Thermal Pro fabrics are the most visually dynamic and technically advanced of the Polartec insulation fabrics. New high loft versions have achieved the highest warmth to weight ratios of any fabric Polartec has ever offered. Other versions have the look of traditional wool with all the performance benefits of fleece. Polartec Thermal Pro is our most diverse family of fabrics. Thermal Pro is the funky, high-loft material also found in the Ground Fissure Fleece Jacket.

Inner Core Base Layers

Men's Ground Base Layers - Women's Ground Base Layers

Anything that comes into contact with your skin has to be carefully crafted. Ground Inner Core Base layers are so smooth to the touch, they feel like nothing at all. At the same time these layers have the integrity and durability to match performance with a body in constant motion. Made with stretch micro-fleece, the Ground Terra Jacket is a great example of a Ground Base Layer that not only looks great but perfoms like a champ during high output winter activites.

Flathead Pass

The Saturday forecast called for a high of –3 and clear skies. I was working on Powderfin related duties when I got a call from some of my long time backcountry skiing buddies. They wanted to head out to the northern Bridger Range and make some turns and… “Oh yeah, it’s too cold to get the car started, so we need you to drive.” My Jeep did manage to start in the –18 morning temperature and I packed my lunch a readied myself for an excessively cold adventure. While packing, I remembered a day last season with the same group of friends on a similarly cold day in the Bridgers that ended with a ski tip through my friend’s upper lip (see picture). He’s a Telemark skier, so I guess that’s part of the game.

The plan was to head as far north as we could make it while remaining in the sunshine. With Topo-maps onboard, we explored the drifted forest service roads until we found Flathead Pass. By the time parked things had warmed up to an almost tolerable –4 deg. It was still cold, but the sun made it feel warmer, and we were soon skinning up to the ridgeline. We made it up to the top in about 3 hours. The ridge top winds coupled with the sub-zero temps gave us incentive to make it back to the car as soon as possible. Of course cold and wind doesn’t always stop the crazy from being crazy (see picture again).

Our snow tests gave us cause for concern with clean break under medium pressure on a faceted snow layer about 15 inches below the surface. The unstable snow-pack dictated that we ski a less-steep section than we had initially hoped for, but just about any skiing is good skiing with friends.

Saturday Snowshoe

I finally got to bust out the snowshoes on Saturday, which was nice considering the insane amounts of food and drink I've consumed since mid-November...as most people can relate. I gave the Crescent Moon Gold Series 9's a shot, and I was impressed. The most important thing to me when it comes to snowshoes is how easy they are to put on and take off. These are definitely the easiest I've ever come across. It's been a few years since I've used Tubbs or Atlas, and although I like the MSR Ascents because they're light and fast, the Crescent Moon's are big enough for deep snow and light enough not to annoy you. But as I said, they're a breeze... one elastic strap up front to either tighten or loosen, and a ratchet strap on the back. Very impressive bindings to say the least. Simple. That comes in handy when it's cold and you're trying to work with mittens. And I suppose most importantly, after about 20 minutes of cruising along, I forgot I had them on, and never paid attention to the shoes until I got back to the truck. That's a good sign. Here's a picture of the binding...




Zeuser and I headed up to Bear Canyon outside of Bozeman. It was a typical windy day, but once we got into the woods it was pretty peaceful. Saw some turkeys, a bald eagle, and many other snowshoers and/or x-country skiers with smiles on their faces. Nice day to be outside, turkeys.

Avalanche Note

For the last few years several of us at Powderfin have been venturing into the Montana backcountry for our winter recreation. In the Bozeman/Big Sky Montana area, we’re lucky enough to have an avalanche center that has, no doubt, prevented countless avalanche related injuries and fatalities through their advisories and snow pack discussions. If you live here, or you plan to visit, please check out http://www.mtavalanche.com/ (Gallatin National Forest Avalanche Center (GNFAC)) for the latest information. This includes anyone going into the backcountry with any mode of transportation.If you’re at all interested in learning more about the mechanics of an avalanche or how to read the snow pack, their site is a great resource, and they also offer classes in the area.
Cheers

21,000 "Freaks" Can't Be Wrong

After a busy holiday season, I was lucky enough to get out of town for a few days and meet up with an amazing group of friends in Atlanta over New Year's weekend. Our crew, consisting of folks from Bozeman, Los Angeles, Chicago, Green Bay, and San Diego assembled in ATL to ring in the New Year together with 21,000 other good people and Widespread Panic at Philips Arena.
It was an amazing weekend, to say the least, as any excuse to get together with this bunch is always a good one. However, Dec. 31, 2006 was certainly a special evening, as the band opened up with a first set complete with gorgeous covers of Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" and Vic Chesnutt's "Expiration Day". It was enough to let us know it was going to be a beautiful night. Colonel Bruce Hampton joined the effort in a tight black tux, complete with coattails, adding his rambunctious vocals on "I Can't Stop Loving You" and "Fixin' to Die". Many of the band's old stand-by's were in the mix, such as "Wondering", "Driving Song", "Pigeons", "Barstools and Dreamers", "Chilly Water", and "Ain't Life Grand" to name a few. Anyway... it was 3 sets of a lot of fun and a great encore, which can be checked out here.
The people at Philips Arena honored the band with a banner that will hang permanently in the arena, in recognition of their 15 consecutive sold out performances. It was nice to be a part of one of many accolades the boys have deservedly received over the last 20 years.


I've been a fan of this band for many, many years, and I've come to realize as I get older what makes me so attracted to what they do. Sure, it definitely starts with the show they put on, and the music they release, which certainly speaks to me very clearly. What keeps me going back are the people I've met over the years in and around shows, but beyond that what makes Widespread Panic so impressive to me is the way they run their business.

The first thing I admire is their longevity. These guys have been together, for the most part, for 20 years. You can't find many businesses, in any form, where people last that long together. Then when you think about travelling together on a bus continuously for much of that time, it makes it even more amazing.

Secondly, they knew what they wanted to do because they loved it...they went for it, and they never gave up. The road from playing Frat Parties in Athens Georgia in the 80's to selling out 15 consecutive 21,000 seat shows at Philips Arena did not come without their share of stumbles along the way. It makes me wonder how many times one or all of the band members wanted to quit but didn't. And, of course, when thinking about the death of their guitar player and namesake Mikey "Panic" Houser in 2002, it sure seems like it would have been an opportune time to choose an alternate path, but they're still here today, 2 guitar players later. And not just here, they're HERE, filling up the joint...every joint.

Third...they've managed to mix art and commerce and do it in a graceful way that is both fair to the fans and profitable to the band. Ticket prices are still very reasonable considering the quality of the product, at least in my humble opinion. They continue to understand the importance of thier fans, and they're truly humble and grateful in that regard. Panic was featured in a Fortune Small Business Article in 2003, where drummer Todd Nance was quoted as saying, "Here, the band and the audience are responsible for each others existence." They treat their customers well, make money, and have fun doing it. It's simple, but is there a better overall business model available?

Finally... and this is where this group of guys and their organization (and many of thier fans) really impress me. They are successful and they give back. Whether it's the Hannah's Buddies Charity Golf Classic for Spinal Muscular Atrophy, Panic Fans For Food, various benefit concerts, or the Michael Houser Music Foundation, the band and those associated with it find a way to contribute positively to thier communities and support good causes. Many businesses give money, but few are as actively involved.

I'd be doing a damn good job if I could run my business 1/10th as well as these guys have been able to.

Hmm...I certainly didn't mean to go that far down the road when talking about my weekend in Atlanta, but I reckon it's been on my mind. Although there are many who don't understand it, this band and their fans have been a positive and integral part of my life for about half of it now, and I'll never apologize for it.

Between my amazing friends, Panic, some whale sharks, and a raucous "Deepo's 4D Undersea Wondershow" at the Georgia Aquarium... I couldn't have waived goodbye to 2006 in any greater fashion. I hope everyone had a NYE that suited them well...