New Sherpa Wool Winter Hats

We just added some new Sherpa Wool Winter Hats to our selection of Sherpa Adventure Gear hand-knit hats on Powderfin.com.

All hats are fleece lined for itch free warmth, and are super comfy! I wear the Namche pretty much every day here in the Montana winter, and it's the warmest hat I've ever own. At around $20... Sherpa hats are a good investment to keep your dome warm.

Here's a few of the new ones...

Sherpa Adventure Gear Pema Wool Winter Hat

This classic-style Sherpa winter hat has polar fleece lining for keeping you warm on the ski hill, or walking the dog in town. The Sherpa Pema Wool fleece-lined wool beanie�s cable knit style is equally at home on your precious head in the Montana backcountry or on your way to the brew pub.

Sherpa Adventure Gear Nima Wool Winter Hat

This classic-style Sherpa winter hat has polar fleece lining for keeping you warm on the ski hill, or walking the dog in town. Enjoy warmth in style wearing this fleece-lined traditional wool hat in bold colors. The Sherpa Nima lambswool winter hat is hand-knit in Nepal, providing superior warmth and comfort.

Sherpa Adventure Gear Kungha Wool Winter Hat

The Sherpa Khunga combines the warmth of wool with stripes and contemporary style. The Khunga hat, like all Sherpa hats, has polar fleece liner for itch-free warmth. All sherpa hats are hand-crafted in Nepal, made of the finest lambs wool. Each Khunga Hat has been individually carded and knit in the valley of Kathmandu, Nepal.

Riviera Reds Seafood Shop - Portland, TX

If you want to try something other than stuffing your face with turkey and gravy this holiday season, how about some fresh, wild caught gulf shrimp from down south?!

My cousin Brant and his wife Carol started Riviera Reds Seafood Shop in 1987 in the Corpus Christi Airport, and they now ship seafood across the country. You can order online at shrimpfishcrab.com or you can call direct - 1-866-905-9056.

I've been cookin' up a mess of big ol' Texas Prawns for my Super Bowl party for the past few years, and it's always a hit!

Give it a try, overnight seafood delivery is available for any occasion.

Sherpa Adventure Gear

Sherpa Adventure Gear

Need the perfect men's base layer... try the Sherpa Tsepun, or the Sherpa Baans. They're killer. Inexpensive, super comfortable, and effective base layers for any outdoor activity.

I recently left my Tsepun in Houston... laying across the back of a chair at a concert. Dumme. Time for a new one. Seriously, for right around $50.00, these things are a steal.

Pie Eating Contest - No Contest

One of Powderfin's PowderKin boldly entered the Steamboat Oktober West Cow Pie Eating Contest, proudly sporting his Powderfin logo tee for the action. I don't know what the Vegas odds were on this event, but as a longtime pal of the contestant known often as "the Grizzler", I would say they were pretty strong in favor of ol' Griz powering through a pie before anyone else willing to line up at the feeding table.

Look at the focus. After a full minute of mental preparation, our boy was ready to dive in.

Grrrrrrrrrrrr.....

Don't Be Denied

There's nothing quite like seeing a master excel at their craft. On this day, there would be no denying our champion his due. Congratulations Griz, and thanks for representing Powderfin in this historic event. Haha...

Today brought in about 13 inches of the white stuff, and it's still coming down here in Bozeman! With the onset of winter, we're featuring some great outdoor adventure clothing like the Sherpa Halka Rain Jacket, and the amazingly technical Ground ski clothing. Here are a few shots of the ski jackets we have currently available on Powderfin.com.

Ground Extension Shell

Sherpa Halka Rain Jacket

If you're looking for a comfortable and innovative ski pack to get your backcountry skiing season off right, look to the Deuter Freerider 30 Ski Pack. It fits well, has plenty of room for gear, and can be used with skis or a snowboard. Strap it on and go find your stash!

If the snow continues to fall like this, we'll be seeing the opening of Bridger Bowl and Big Sky before long... Bridger is reporting a 28" settled base and 10" of fresh so far for this storm.

Get geared up for a great season on the hill with backcountry ski gear from your friends at Powderfin.com!

Winter in Montana, the Gear is Here!

We got a few early October wintry days here in Montana, and the groans could be heard all over the Gallatin Valley. It's not that we don't expect winter to come early, or even that we don't like winter....but a few days of sub 20 degree weather surely had us thinking... really???!!!! Because our winters last until June most of the time. After a reprieve in the weather and some gorgeous 50-65 degree days, we've shaken the initial shock of winter's arrival and we're ready for the real deal.

And it's here! It snowed about 6 inches last night in Bozeman, and it's time to settle into the snow darkness and start thinking of powder days and empty lift lines.

And with that, we have some great new gear from our friends at Sherpa Adventure Gear and Ground that will help make winter activities more fun. Staying warm and dry is the key whether on the slopes at Big Sky, walking fields for pheasant, or snowshoeing up Bee Hive Basin.

The innovative designers at Ground have come up with some great new technical apparel, so if you're looking for a new shell or insulation layer, check out the new Ground outerwear and give us a call if you have questions.

Looking for a new base layer piece? Sherpa Adventure Gear base layers are great for everyday winter wear, but also technically efficient for backcountry adventure.

We're looking forward to a great season here at Powderfin, and we hope you'll get out there and enjoy it... we will!

Powderfin Outdoors
800-986-0656

Mountain Boy Sledworks now available on Powderfin.com

Powderfin is proud to add Silverton, Colorado's Mountain Boy Sledworks Wooden Sleds to the site. Mountain Boy makes a full range of hand-made wooden snow sleds. Among their offering are:

Mountain Boy Sledworks Wooden Flyer Sleds

Mountain Boy Sledworks Wooden Toboggans

Mountain Boy Sledworks Wooden Pull Sleds

Mountain Boy Sledworks Wooden Kicksleds

Many of their finest wooden sleds could easily become family heirlooms for generations!

And for an additional $9.99, you can have Mountain Boy engrave your sled with the name of your choice (limit 10 characters). Custom engraving delays your order only 1 business day, and makes these sleds a perfect gift!

Pilgrims

Cuttopotamus

If you live in Montana long enough, every once in a blue moon the planets align and you have one of those days that make all of the late spring depression and cabin fever worth the pain. A few weeks ago my buddy Erik and I were blessed with one of those days. After a decent hike though an equally beautiful and aromatic meadow, we found ourselves amidst a scene of giant cutthroats and a gin clear stream.

On the way to the fish, each step would send a grasshopper in one direction, and the mixed smell of sage, grass, and mint in another. After awhile we joked that we could easily find a unicorn in this area if we were quiet enough.

The cutties were patient and peaceful, and on this day they were also ready to eat. There's really nothing like late summer in Montana.

Levon

Henry's Fork Salmonfly Hatch

Phamily Reunion - Music and Camping

A friend of mine is putting on a musical festival of sorts July 30th - August 2nd at Van Eden Ranch outside of Idaho Springs, CO to celebrate the return of Phish to Red Rocks. If you're going to the shows, this would be a pretty good bet for a beautiful and safe place to stay, camp, and see some great live music. The deal includes rides to and from Red Rocks all day every day....

Check out details at the... Phamily Reunion Website

Armstrong Spring Creek

We got a little weather reprieve last week... a 65 degree day!!!! Jessica was kind enough to accompany me to Armstrong Spring Creek where the fish were feeling pretty good about the warm weather as well. Rainbows were eating gray scuds in pretty much every bucket, and the browns were chasing streamers. It was fun while it lasted...we're back to the 30's now. C'mon MAY!!!

I recently stumbled across a local fisherman/photograhper's blog and website...

http://joshuabergan.blogspot.com/

www.joshuabergan.com



Check them out,he has some great shots in there!

"Two-Taco Mahi" with hot sauce, por favor.

Jessica and I made a trip to Mexico a few weeks ago, a much needed dose of warm sun and sand during the Montana winter. I had been 'gearing up' for weeks, which mostly consisted of tying saltwater flies that I knew I'd never use. Regardless, tying flies that you know are going to be tossed into the ocean has a way of delivering you from the winter duldrums, if just for an hour or two.

Our trip was mainly to visit my parents in Puerto Vallarta, but of course since I have a pesky obsession with all things swimming, I was preparing for a fishing trip. I had never fly-fished in saltwater before, so I was pretty excited to give it a try with a couple of new Redington Fly Rods, a 9 wt. RS4 with their new Rise Reel, and a 10 wt. CPX with the big ol CDL Titanium Series Reel.

I brought the 9 wt. down to the beach on our first day, making a few sloppy loops near some rocks before realizing I hadn't strung my line through all of my eyelets. I don't know what it is about fishing, but I swear I turn into an excited 9 year old when I get to do something new like cast into the surf. In my spazzy rigging routine, I had failed to breathe and concentrate, which generally results in about a 50% success rate, as was the case here.

So I re-rigged and realized the 9 wt. wasn't so difficult to cast afterall. About 15 minutes into casting my white clouser , with curious Mexican camarones vendors and pasty European couples paying close attention to the gringo on the rock with the long stick, I hooked into my first saltwater fish. I don't know exactly what it was, but it was about 3 feet long and 1 1/2 inch tall. It fought like a copperhead would've, had it decided to eat a nightcrawler on grandpa's farmpond. With that image in my mind, there was no way in hell I was going to touch this fish...and as luck would have it, it performed a "no hands release" right in front of my feet. After a little online research, I'm pretty sure it was a Giant Mexican Needlefish like the one this gentleman in the hot shorts caught.

I was pretty happy to have caught a fish that early into trip, and looked eagerly ahead to our planned outing on Wednesday. My parents friends had a visitor in town who is an avid flyfisherman, so they made arrangements for us to fish with Captain Hector out of the marina in Puerto Vallarta. Jessica and I bailed out of bed early on Wednesday and made it down to the marina with our new fishing buddy, Dave. We were ready to go, with high hopes of seeing some Roosterfish, Tuna, or Dorado. The reports I had been reading lately said those fish may be around, and had been caught within the past week.

Dave, Jessica, and I were all at the marina, but our Captain was nowhere to be found. The company who took the reservation online (puertovallartafish . com)'s office was closed "be back at 1:00 pm". Go figure. So we talked to a guy, who talked to a guy, who talked to some other guys. They tried to get Captain Hector on his cellphone, only to find that he was already out on a fishing trip on a "big boat". I quickly figured out that puertovallartafish . com is a broker, who really has no fishing fleet of their own, and either forgot to book us with a captain at all...or Hector got a gig with the much more expensive "big boat", and ditched our little $400 fly-fishing trip on the panga.

We did end up getting to go fishing, but I'm pretty sure our captain was a maintenance man for the marina. He drove us around Banderas bay, and would plow straight through schools of Albacore over and over until we told him to head back. It's not too easy to cast straight ahead into a spooky school of slashing tuna with all of a boat's momentum is at your back. We learned our lesson about Mexican Sportfishing Charters that day, but at least we were on the water in a beautiful place. We did get to see a huge school of porpoise and some sea turtles, both of which I rarely find in nature here in Montana.

I had one more chance to fish during our stay in Mexico while staying in the super-mellow little surfing and fishing town of Sayulita. We showed up on Thursday morning with my parents and spent the morning walking around the town, had lunch on the beach at Don Pedro's, then tried to surf. Jessica and I took a lesson, which was a humbling experience for me. There aren't many things that I haven't been able to "get" pretty quickly after putting my mind to it, but surfing didn't seem to care about that. I tried for about 2 hours and never really caught a wave. I stood up a few times, but came crashing down onto my face within a few seconds. Jessica did quite well. Damnit.

After my wicked surf sesh (brah), we relaxed for a few hours with some beers, then had dinner at our hotel restaurant, "O" at Vila de Amor. Our dinner was fabulous, but unfortunately interrupted by the news that Jessica's job had exploded. Literally. Bozeman landmark bar/restaurant Boodles blew up while we were in Mexico. Insane.

After we processed the news, we figured since we weren't certain how to react, we might-as-well go celebrate not being blown up, so we went and listened to some average Mexican reggae at the Red Dragon. It was a great and unusual night.

The next morning I got up at 6:30 and went down to the beach looking for someone to take me fishing. I found a dude who took me and 2 other american guys for $200. Some local fisherman had planted some floating palapas (bunches of palm branches) a mile or so from the beach, which attract Mahi Mahi in droves. I reckon that's sorta cheating, but after I was on the other end of some cheating at Puerto Vallarta marina, I didn't care. I still don't, actually.

After checking out some monster whales breaching and a few more sea turtles, I caught a Mahi Mahi on my flyrod by essentially trolling a clouser minnon, which felt really good after months of unecessary preparation. I did have the opportunity to cast at some Mahi Mahi, and had a few chases, but no takes. I think they like their dinner served faster than I could strip it. I had read that these fish grow very fast, and weigh about 6 lbs. at one year old. If that's the case, then my fish was a newborn. My young Mexican surfer guide called it a "two-taco mahi". I sure as hell didn't need a 10 wt. for that job, but it was a blast nonetheless. It actually bent my 10 wt. over the gunnels once it saw the boat during the fight, beleive it or not. Most importantly, it made me hungry for more...I can't wait to hook into a 25 - 30 pounder someday.

The guide filleted it up for me, I handed it to the cook at Pablo's Restaurant on the beach, and they cooked Jessica and I some fish tacos for lunch. It was awesome...a perfectly satisfying realization of a vacation dream.

It was an amazing trip, much more relaxing then most of my vacations. Thanks again to my generous parents for making it possible! Hasta luego...