Category Archives: Uncategorized

Camp Patriot’s Summit Challenge 2010

patriot
By Kyle Christenson and Ben Nobel | Published August 6, 2010
Featuring: G5000G6000GlacierTrance XXX

Mystery Ranch is proud to have sponsored Camp Patriot’s 4th annual Summit Challenge,  an attempt by 4 disabled veterans climb 14,411 ft. Mt Rainier in Washington’s portion of the Cascade Range.  As part of the marketing team at Mystery Ranch, we went along to outfit the veterans and organizers with U.S built backpacks, and to assist the team with photography and cinematography during the 4 day climb.

This year’s team included a heroic squad; Navy Seals Mike Day, Jason Redman, and Brian S, and Corpsman Kevin Ivory, all of whom received Purple Hearts for their services in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Their inspiration to climb Rainier was facilitated by heroic stories from past attempts, especially the iconic summit by Camp Patriot Vet Ryan Job.

The kickoff to the event was hosted by the Seattle Seahawks at Qwest Field in downtown Seattle.  The event featured speeches from previous summits, other Camp Patriot adventures, and a spectacular presentation by climber and astronaut Scott Parazynski, who joined the team on the mountain.  His inspirational presentation about his 5 shuttle missions, an Everest summit, and life as a medic was a motivating speech that stirred adrenaline in all of us as we prepared … READ MORE >

Posted in Mountains & Trails, Mystery Ranch Employees, Trip Reports, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Bears Bows and Backpacks

Another evening spent locating spring black bear.
By Phillip Larson | Published July 15, 2010
Featuring: Contour Pocketed WaistbeltNICE CrewcabNICE Daypack LidNICE Frame

I started the spring season with two goals, one: see more bears than I had ever seen in a spring season, and two: kill a spring bear with my bow. Goal one would be easy. I had been working hard to get ready for the spring season. Talking with good friends about how they bear hunt and how to find more bears along the way. I had also been working hard making sure my new Hoyt bow was up to the task at hand.

The season got off to a bang when good friend Brain Barney and I spotted a huge boar five minutes into our first glassing session. The hunt was on! I bailed off 1500 vertical feet of steep hill crossed the river and made my way up the other side. After a very steep climb my stock was cut short by some very fickle wind, my first hard learned lesson of bear hunting. Bears have a nose that makes an elk look like he has no sense of smell at all! If you don’t have the wind right you might as well not even try it. You will be done before you even get started.

The next … READ MORE >

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

Trade Show Circuit

By Kyle Christenson | Published February 26, 2010
Featuring: FuzeRecreation

We work the winter trade shows in Salt Lake City and Denver, setting up early, talking shop late, and cram in as many days of skiing as humanly possible, because that’s what we do. With OR finished, we rushed directly towards the Wasatch Mountains. It’d been dumping while we’d slung packs in the SLC convention center, and plowed to a near-standstill, like a boat dragging anchor, in two hours of 8am Sunday stop and go traffic threading its slow way toward LCC. Clearly we weren’t locals, and neither was anybody else in line. As we reached the closed  mouth of the avy-controlled canyon, we turned around, like everyone else, and drove to BCC with hundreds, hopefully not thousands, of rippers several steps ahead of us, already parked on the road near Solitude and hiking to the ticket window. A solid three hour approach for out of towners to get some skiing showed us how far 20 or so miles can sometimes be, when one’s trying to flee the city for the mountains. 11 am came early: but our ratpack of 5 worked its way to the summit lift, was in line just after opening, and found  that light, blower, luscious Utah powder that clings in your brain.  … READ MORE >

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Curing Cabin Fever

patrick
By Patrick Odenbeck | Published February 4, 2010
Featuring: FuzeSweetpea

After Outdoor Retailer Dave Downing and I, plus 4 others, one dog and a ridiculous amount of gear strategically stuffed ourselves into a minivan and set off toward Carbondale, CO. Carbondale is where I grew up and I was excited to revisit after about a 10 year hiatus. Dave and I had planned to ski some of the backcountry outside of Marble, which is about an hour drive outside of Carbondale. Unfortunately avalanche conditions turned from bad to worse when a strong Southern storm dropped about 3 feet of fluff in 2-3 days. Our suspicions of instability were vindicated once we had heard reports of large slides being remotely triggered in Marble. We immediately opted for a whole new approach for our days in Colorado.

Low angle slopes and snowmobiling on safe open meadows was the obvious and reliable option- and the best remedy for my cabin fever. One area in particular, a local standby when conditions are questionable near Sunlight Ski Resort called Willie’s proved to have great skiing.

With only around 1200′ of vertical multiple laps are possible and with little traffic and plenty of pow to go around. Even on these slopes we still saw evidence in … READ MORE >

Posted in Skiing, Trip Reports, Uncategorized | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Classic El Nino in December

jeff
By Kyle Christenson | Published January 4, 2010
Featuring: Naya NukiSaddle Peak

It’s the end of December in the Northwest and it’s been 6 weeks since we have released a skiing blog. It’s not because we aren’t getting out and it’s not because we’re slacking. There just isn’t any snow to write about. The east cost and mid west have teamed up to steal December’s allotment of precipitation. I’ve been in Seattle for two weeks and we have accumulated 2 inches of snow at the pass. For an area that boasts 6” of precipitation through the month of December we have fallen well short. As it stands, I have skied two days in a resort this season, with none of them in Washington. It just isn’t worth skidding down an ice slope on rock skis. The boards I have reserved for the thin snow pack haven’t touched a file or a grind stone in over 5 years. With several separated edges and chunks of core littered on rocks in the northwest it’s not the first season these skis have been classified in the rock category. With ample coverage thanks to a large November storm we headed to the backcountry two take advantage of the wind distributed facets. A quick hike into the … READ MORE >

Posted in Skiing, Uncategorized | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Reflections on this Year’s Deer Hunting

rifle look thru
By Steven Drake | Published November 25, 2009
Featuring: Contour Pocketed WaistbeltFlip Top BoxNICE CrewcabNICE Daypack LidNICE Frame

 

As luck would have it, I tagged out on a beautiful bull elk on the fourth week of this year’s archery season.  With eight more weeks of hunting, I had the opportunity to broaden my horizons and focus hard on finding myself and two others some wall hanging bucks.

October 25th, opening morning of the Montana rifle season, friend and co-worker, Kyle Christenson and I trudged through knee deep snow and headed into high country.  At first shooting light we were surrounded by mule deer.  We saw eight bucks that morning but never took a shot.  Two weeks later, we went back to the same vicinity and Kyle took a gorgeous whitetail.  It was his first big game animal, one he’ll have a hard time topping.

The next week, friend and roommate, Sean Schroff and I went in search of mule deer. Frigid temps and inclement weather pushed some of the larger bucks down into the lower elevations offering us some great opportunities.  Sean was able to reach out and touch his first mule deer.

With seven days left in the season it was my turn to give it a go.  I went to an area that … READ MORE >

Posted in Backpack Hunting, Mountains & Trails, Mystery Ranch Employees, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 8 Comments

First Ski Tracks

By Kyle Christenson | Published October 1, 2009
Featuring: Saddle Peak

The first cold front of the season parked itself directly over Bozeman for 12 hours on the last day of September. Less than an inch of snow accumulated on the cars and roofs of Bozeman, but 14 miles north at 7,000 feet the snow filled in some of the grassy slopes at Bridger. There really wasn’t enough snow to skin, which is good because I couldn’t find my lightweight boots shovel or probe! It barely took an hour for us to reach the top of the grass and the bottom of the rocky slopes, where we clicked into our skis and wiggled down the grassy slopes catching everything the mower missed this summer.

Here comes ski season!… READ MORE >

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Request for photography

By Andrew Crow | Published August 21, 2009

Our new website is in need of more pictures of our military products. If you have high res, high quality pictures of Mystery Ranch military products being used in the field, contact andrew@mysteryranch.com.

Thanks for your support, and have fun out there!… READ MORE >

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New Website Goes Live

By Andrew Crow | Published August 21, 2009

Check out our new website at www.mysteryranch.com!… READ MORE >

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments

The Golf Mahal

By Levi Buckingham | Published August 5, 2009
Featuring: Golf Mahal

The first thing that one sees when the bag is closed is what I call the Darth Vader Mask. This is a source of much rejoicing, specifically for coastal and mountain golfers that aren’t afraid to play in the elements, but really for all tournament golfers that have had to play in the rain at one point or another with a bag that didn’t cut the mustard. The lid entirely covers the mouth of the pack and has rain gutters that extend down the sides so as to keep out rain, sleet, or snow (and whatever else Mother Nature might have up here sleeve depending on where you play).

This will keep dry those of your precious children you have chosen to live in the main compartment of the bag, but don’t worry about your babies – they are safe and sound in the rain fly that extends to keep those putters of yours nice and dry, and as an added precaution you can buckle them in at the base of the bag, locking in the rain fly.

Though the Golf Mahal has water bottle pockets on either side that hold even the largest of water bottles/drinking vessels and are … READ MORE >

Posted in Dana DNA, Disc Golf, Mystery Ranch Employees, Uncategorized | Tagged | 19 Comments