Alex Lowe – The Greatest Mountain Athlete Of All Time

Alex and Jennifer Lowe skiing toward the north face of Notch Top in Rocky Mountain National Park in 1982.
By Ben Nobel | Published April 23, 2013

Words by: Jennifer and Max Lowe

Alex Lowe was a Montanan who arrived on the national climbing scene in the early eighties with a voracious appetite for climbing in all disciplines. He became known as the “Jack of all Trades” and “The Fiend”, climbing big walls and difficult free routes as well as forging steep ice and notable alpine ascents around the globe. Alex was known to be fast, bold and somewhat of a visionary in developing the direction of mixed climbing and technical ice routes. In the spring of 1999 he was called, “the world’s best climber” by Outside Magazine. He died in October 1999 at the age of forty, buried by an avalanche in Tibet.

Jennifer – The North Face of Notchtop was one of hundreds of adventures that Alex and I shared in the mountains during our first years together. Our Kletterwerks packs accompanied us as we explored the US and traveled to Europe, Alaska and South America to climb. In later years Alex went on to climb on every continent and we settled in Bozeman where he worked as a professional athlete and guide and I settled into parenting and a career in art.

Jennifer Lowe-Anker, … READ MORE >

Posted in Mountains & Trails, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

NICE Metcalf

IMG_8571
By Steven Drake | Published February 1, 2013
Featuring: NICE FrameNICE Metcalf

INTRO

Based in Bozeman, Montana, Mystery Ranch has had a decade’s long heritage in hunting. Our Internal Frames from the old Dana Design Terraplanes in the 80’s and 90’s to the NICE Frame systems we have today, share a robust framing that controls the outlandish loads required to pack in a camp or pack out a trophy. Carrying unreasonable loads in unreasonable terrain and circumstances is second nature to us, around the world and in the backcountry of Montana. The progression of MR hunting packs, based off our military influences, moderated and edited by Mark Seacat and our in-house crew of hunters, has ultimately landed us here with the lightest weight NICE Frame pack we’ve ever made. Introducing the NICE Metcalf.

DESIGN

Kyle Christenson on designing the Metcalf:

At Mystery Ranch design is a communal ongoing process. We strive to wow our customers by integrating their ingenuity and feedback directly into our products.  Our direct sales approach gives us immediate access to those who use the product creating a tight feedback loop for development.  The NICE Metcalf in no exception, as it has been developed by hunters that not only use our gear, but use it hard!  The NICE Frame was selected as platform

… READ MORE >

Posted in Backpack Hunting, Mystery Ranch Employees | Tagged , | Leave a comment

The Monarch

12
By Alex Tenenbaum | Published October 15, 2012

BY: MONTANA WILD

Man vs. Elk.  It’s a battle that consumes the minds of thousands of hunters each year.  To me, elk hunting has become a passion and a lifestyle.  I love the challenge and the places that it takes me.  I don’t have a long history with elk, it’s only my third year chasing the wild beast, but it’s something that has become a part of me.  This year I once again drew a Missouri Breaks tag.  After failing to arrow a bull there last year, I made it a goal to return and get redemption.  After 5 grueling days I was without an elk once again.  At that point, the decision was made to swap the open country for the dark timber of Northwest Montana.  I already had a location picked out as I had done some scouting there this summer.  Trail cameras had shown that some mature bulls were inhabiting the area.

We arrived at the trailhead at 5:30AM.  This would be the first time we’d be camping out of our Long Bows, and we were excited to see how they’d handle the challenge.  The packs loaded nicely, and I can say I could comfortably hunt for … READ MORE >

Posted in Backpack Hunting | 2 Comments

New Mexico Backpack

Mystery Ranch.
By Jakob Schiller | Published September 10, 2012
Featuring: GlacierTrance XXX

After three summer months of New Mexico’s 95-plus degree heat I’d had enough and needed some relief.

Luckily, even though New Mexico is in large part a desert, the north central part of the state is dominated by the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, parts of which feature a series of 13,000 foot peaks and some unmatched high-elevation backpacking spots.

I grew up in this area in a tiny village of 50 people; my mom still lives there, tending to 10 acres of alfalfa fields, a large garden and a couple of horses. My friend Adam Buechley also still lives there, and if anyone was going to be game for a weekend outing it was him.

He’s a couple of years older than I am, but we grew up together and have had many adventures, including the time we drew skateboards under all the cows on roadside signs near our houses, and the time we trudged through thigh-deep snow drifts on a backpacking trip we took with friends in lieu of going to our high school prom.

Today Adam is an accomplished skier, rock climber and all-around outdoorsman. He’s worked as a Forest Service Hot Shot and snowboard instructor and is … READ MORE >

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , | Leave a comment

FEATURED POST

Camp Patriot Celebrates Its 6th Annual Rainier Summit Bid

By Ben Nobel | Published August 16, 2012
Featuring: G5000GlacierTrance XXX

Camp Patriot 2012 Summit Challenge

 

Tim and I summited Mt Rainier in July of this year with 2 men wounded in war.  One had a prosthetic leg above the knee, the other, 2 carbon fiber braces supporting his legs that had been violently destroyed.  They summited a 14,000 foot peak, whose average summit success rate is somewhere below 40.  Not an easy challenge, let alone doing it with 1 leg.

I had the opportunity … READ MORE >

Posted in Military & Tactical, Mountains & Trails, Mystery Ranch Employees, Rants Exclusives, Trip Reports, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Kyle Taylor Profile : Implement Productions

Kyle Taylor
By Ben Nobel | Published June 19, 2012
Featuring: BlackjackFuzeSaddle Peak

Our friend Phil Baribeau just launched his new site, Implement Productions.  Check out his profile on Mystery Ranch Athlete, Kyle Taylor.… READ MORE >

Posted in Skiing, Trip Reports, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Athlete Steve Popovich 2011-2012 Ski Edit

Big Poppy
By Ben Nobel | Published June 5, 2012
Featuring: BlackjackFuzeSaddle Peak

Athlete Steve Popovich shreds. Hard. Watch his full 2012 season edit here!… READ MORE >

Posted in Mountains & Trails, Skiing, Trip Reports, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

FEATURED POST

American River Hot Shots

By Ben Nobel | Published May 16, 2012
Featuring: Hot3

The American River Hot Shots operate out of Forest Hill, California, and have been carrying the Hot 3 since 2010. Designed and built specifically for the long days, heavy loads, and intensive labor that are givens in the job, our packs can now be found on the majority of the Nation’s 110 Hotshot Crews, logging countless hours on the Fireline.

A Hotshot can call only a few things their own: boots, nomex, sleeping bag, pack, … READ MORE >

Posted in Fire, Rants Exclusives, Uncategorized | Tagged | Leave a comment

Mystery Ranch Front Loader Pack Outfitted for Smokejumping

Lane Lamoreaux Blog Header
By Lane Lamoreaux | Published April 19, 2012

Editors note: Just last week, in the local market, I ran into our buddy Sam Cox. He’d just finished PT, and was within weeks of returning to McCall for another season of jumping out of perfectly good airplanes to swing a tool at the dirt ringing fires of all sizes.  Fire season has its rhythms, and this year’s rhythms have begun. The jumpers in AK are likely at it already, rookie training at least, and jumpers in the lower 48 are making their way back to jump bases. The Hotshot crews have done their hiring, and some, in the Southwest, have come on the boards already. In California, there’s virtually a year-round fire season, but the big ramp-up will commence in early May. It’s reliable, Fire is, though severity does fluctuate. Just like every year, there will be a snowstorm, every year, there will be a fire. This season could be on the high side of severity, but we won’t know the end of that story until the snow flies next winter. 

The following footage is from Lane Lamoreaux, who jumps out of McCall with Sam. Before the 2010 fire season our repair guy retrofitted a stock Hot 3 for … READ MORE >

Posted in Playing with Fire, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Monumental Elegance

Bridger Jacks Moon3
By Patrick Odenbeck | Published April 13, 2012
Featuring: Trance XXX

The desert has always inspired me with its clean crisp air and the stark contrast between the iron red dirt and cerulean sky.  A time in my life existed where I would go to places like these for weeks at a time, climbing and soaking in the surroundings, while living virtually on pennies.  Though it was a simple existence, it burned into my memory as a time of focus and reflection- – a period when I could breathe unobstructed by the constrictive ways of modern life.  When each morning you would wake to the sunrise screams of Peregrine Falcons echoing  from high sandstone walls, and observe the almost defiant way the desert sirens its guests in with an unnameable beauty, and stillness.  Recently I had the chance to visit some of these places again with my friend Justin Griffin, a strong and talented climber from Bozeman with a lust for life.  We had a week to soak up the sun, climb, and maybe get a chance to breathe.

Stop 1: City of Rocks

Eager, with the car ride taking a toll, we decided to stop for a quick pump in Idaho’s City of Rocks.  Granite sport climbing seemed a great precursor … READ MORE >

Posted in Mountains & Trails, Mystery Ranch Employees, Trip Reports, Uncategorized | Tagged | Leave a comment