This April, Patagonia was excited to once again award the Intervale Center with another $20,000 grant for their Riparian Restoration & Land Stewardship Project to continue their work in raising awareness within our community about the importance of riparian buffers for the health of our waterways and to continue to grow the conservation nursery itself.

When I first arrived in Burlington four years ago, the Intervale was something that I couldn’t fully wrap my brain around. The concept that there could be a large piece of land in the middle of a city that provides local food to its residents, while also caring for the land, hosting community events, and providing a shared space for small farms to seemed completely foreign to me. Over my years here, I have seen evidence of the Intervale everywhere.

A couple years ago, my roommate andRead More

In 1991, Patagonia famously conducted an audit of all of the materials in their product line, finding cotton to their surprise to be the most environmentally impactful. This discovery spurred a revolution; no industry existed at the time for organic cotton, but Patagonia was determined to eradicate harmful pesticides from its cotton production process.

With the cooperation of a big box store -- who, after some coercion, agreed to invest in making 1% of their styles with organic cotton -- Patagonia was able to grow organic cotton production enough to erase all non-organic new cotton material from its products.

Growing up in the suburbs of Chicago, the majority of my outdoor time was spent at the lakefront or in the forest preserve near my grandparent’s house. During the summer, we spent weekends camping in Wisconsin and Michigan or road tripping out west. By the time I was deciding where to head for college, I had a thirst to explore more mountainous terrain.

When I committed to the University of Vermont, I was ecstatic to take part in a Wilderness Trek trip. This program, sponsored by the University, offers incoming students a chance to spend six days in the backcountry with future classmates and two upper class leaders. Although I had only backpacked once before, I was excited to explore the Green Mountains right off the bat.

As a locally owned and operated store, Patagonia Burlington is fortunate enough to collaborate with local action-oriented organizations. Through Patagonia’s environmental grant program, we partnered with Burlington’s Intervale Center and the Intervale Conservation Nursery to create a grant proposal. Over the last 2 years, the Intervale Conservation Nursery has been awarded $25,000 to raise awareness within our community about the importance of riparian buffers for the health of our waterways and to continue to grow the conservation nursery itself.

Last April, my family and I decided to embark on our dream adventure vacation to Japan. The traditional tour of Japan, in many readers minds’, may include visiting the numerous temples with extraordinary architecture, savoring the view from the top of the Tokyo tower, and admiring the beauty of Mount Fuji.

While we certainly did enjoy the unique beauty of Japan and even some “tourist traps,” the main purpose of our trip was to experience, first hand, the highly acclaimed JaPOW. Our dear friends of Arctic Heli Skiing, a ski touring and heli skiing company based out of Iceland, have worked with a local guiding company, Alpine Guide GAO, in Japan for several years. During this trip, we too would be able to connect with with local guide for a small and intimate tour of family, as well as old friends and new friends.

Join us for Treeline, a film celebrating the forests on which our species has always depended, and around which some skiers and snowboarders have based their entire lives.

Follow a group of snow-seekers, scientists and healers as they explore the birch forests of Japan, the red cedars of British Columbia and the bristlecone pines of Nevada, delving deeper into the rich environments they call home.

On Thursday, August 23rd Patagonia Burlington’s partner store, Vermont Trailwear will be hosting an in-store screening of the Orianne Society film, The Great Northern Turtle. This short documentary is about Wood Turtle conservation in the working landscapes of Vermont.

My dream of exploring South America became a reality this summer when seven other students and I packed up and headed to Peru with a few instructors. The trip is the foundation of what I now know of mountaineering in high altitude environments, which is vastly different in all the best ways from what I had imagined.

I am what some may consider a Vermonter; I was born and grew up playing in the Green Mountains. Many of my roots are embedded in enjoying what you can find in the outdoor community, especially on a local level. The hiking trails are no exception. I hiked Mt.Mansfield at the ripe young age of five, and grew up regularly hiking Camel’s Hump and Mt. Abraham. Throughout my childhood, my parents would place M&Ms on the trail, that I would “stumble upon” to motivate me to get to the top. Today I don’t need them to leave M&Ms for me to get out and push myself. Instead I fill a bag with 3,000+ calories per day and go out on my own.

The Long Trail is a 272 mile trail along the spine of Vermont’s mountains. Two years ago, I packed up and headed out to complete it. I did 126 miles in a week. Due to subpar weather and a tight schedule I stopped. Not completing what I set out to do was difficult for me, but looking back with the perspective I have now, I know I made the right choice.

Mountain bikers love to talk about dirt. When someone asks me how the trails are, the first thing I usually respond with is the quality and the state of the soil.

“It’s pretty dusty right now.”
“The clay is gripping well.”
“Man, it’s all loam out there… it’s perfect.”

We even pay pretty close attention to the things living in the soil as they pass underneath our tires.

“The roots are really showing, and they’re pretty slick!”

Dirt is on the forefront of our minds because it is our primary connection to the earth, and the very thing which makes mountain biking different from road or track cycling, or even possible in the first place. And the majority of the time, a successful ride means you come back wearing or having consumed a bit of it.