featheredfriends

Consider the Hilleberg Akto. It's not a mountaineering tent, but its weight is reasonable, it has a vestibule, and numerous guy-out points. This picture cuts off all the stake points, but you can read about it in more depth on Hilleberg's website.

Feathered Friends (Seattle) stocks the La Sportiva women's Nepal Evo GTX. A couple women here on staff use these boots for ice/mountaineering and love them. They ain't cheap, but they are like a pair of jeans- if they fit well they are worth it. These boots work with every type of crampon made, they are light, and they are insulated. Come on down and check them out. Link to Nepal Evo on Sportiva's web site

Put your traction tires on and get on down to Feathered Friends at 7:30pm on December 6 for a great slideshow and the drawing of our huge ski raffle. Forget holiday shopping for an evening as you are taken to a different chilly place through pictures and stories presented by Mark Westman, featuring 4 new routes he put up in the Alaska Range and Ruth Gorge. You all know who he is so no introduction is needed. A $10 donation to the NW Avy Center gets you in the door and supplies you with a raffle ticket. As a warmup to the show we will draw the raffle prizes! These are the big ones- - Atomic Kailas skis - BD Frantic Skis - K2 Shuksan Skis - BD O1 bindings - G3 Targa Ascent bindings - Scarpa ski boots of the winner's choice - Several lovely Arc'teryx jackets We have been selling tickets for this raffle since our Gear Expo earlier this month, and everyone who has so far purchased tickets is already in the drawing. You may buy tickets to the raffle in person at the FF retail store at any time before the drawing, they are $10 each or 3 for $20. You do not need to be present to win. Link to description of raffle and prizes!!

Thanks to those who came and supported the NWAC at our annual Gear and Rep night by purchasing raffle tickets and donating to the cause. In addition to that night, we still have our Ski Gear Raffle still ongoing. Check out the prizes you can win HERE. There is a ton of great gear still be won. Come by the shop and get your tickets today!

Okay, last big gear announcement for the raffle: G3 has donated a pair of their new Targa Ascent bindings to the raffle. Now you free-heelers can tour as fast as your AT pals. Here's a pic: And this is the beer we'll be having:

The bindings: The skis

So our friends at BD have thrown in ANOTHER pair of skis AND a pair of their new touring tele bindings, the O1 ($290 value) This brings the prize pool up to 1 pair Atomic skis 1 pair K2 skis 2 pairs BD skis 1 pair of BD O1 bindings not to mention all the ice screws, gloves, jackets, and other gear already donated by our generous vendors. Did I mention we will have BEER? All you kids in Portland had better charter a bus to get up here on Wednesday night.

News flash- Black Diamond has also donated a pair of skis to the raffle. That makes 3 pairs of skis up for grabs.

Because you can't go over this stuff too many times.

Feathered Friends 119 Yale Avenue North Seattle, WA 98109 Planet Earth - third planet from the sun

If you're gonna catch one show this year - catch this one! Slideshow/party will be at the Tractor Tavern in Ballard. Tons's of gear to be raffled away. All proceeds go to the Access Fund. The show will include: Alpine Climbing in South America Their new route in Yamnuska Iceberg Climbing

News flash- There will also be a pair of K2 skis in the raffle.

On Wednesday, November 8, starting at 6pm, we will kick off our Fall 2006 Rep Night at the retail store. If you have attended in the past, you know how much fun these are. It's a great chance to ogle the latest and greatest toys, play Stump the Chump with the manufacturer's reps, drink some beer, maybe win some cool prizes in the raffle, and watch a great slide show. We will have company representatives on hand from most of our winter sports companies (Arc’teryx, K2, Atomic, G3, Mammut, BCA, Petzl-Charlet, Scarpa, Black Diamond, and more). They will be showing off their latest wares alongside our store’s stock, and they will answer any questions you have for them about their products. This is a great opportunity to learn from the source about the gear you use or want to try out. Back by popular demand will be the Giant Suspended Ice Blocks ™, our Super Excellent Raffle, and other exciting diversions offering fun for the whole family. Last year’s event was a smash hit, and this year we plan to keep the same format but with more new gear to see, more raffle prizes, and more tasty recreational beverages. The top prize in this year's raffle will be a brand new pair of Atomic backcountry skis! In support of the backcountry ski community, Feathered Friends has pledged to donate 10% of all our sales for the day and raffle proceedings to the Northwest Avalanche Center. Your purchases help support this worthy cause. Starting at 8:30 we will host a slideshow by Mark Allen from North Cascades Mountain Guides. The show will include images from his traverse of the Tetons, climbing in China, and the first ski descent of Mt. Formidable.

Hey Ya'll, Our annual gear demo and rep night is happening on Wednesday, November 18th at 6 PM. We'll have our world famous ice blocks available for testing ice screws, gear reps will be showing you the latest and greatest, and will be available to answer any question you have about equipment. Mark Allen (North Cascades Mountain Guides) will also be giving a great slide show that evening.

So here's the deal. Please refrain from replying to this thread unless you have a question directly relating to the job. This is an announcement, not a discussion, and if you have anything you want to say about us please keep it in the relevant thread or forum. Thanks. Feathered Friends is hiring. This doesn’t happen very often, so when we open our doors to new staff we try to be selective. This time around we are looking for someone to mainly work the sales floor but who can also perform ski work and other specialized duties like receiving freight, handling warranties and placing special orders. If you are interested, please read the details below. To apply, please bring two resumes to the FF Retail Store: one detailing your professional work experience and education, the other detailing your outdoors experience (how long you have skied, where you have backpacked, what you have climbed, if you have guided, etc.). We would prefer to have someone with backcountry skiing experience, but this is not required. Women are encouraged to apply. 40% of our staff are women, so we have almost evened it out. Required skills- Sales: experience working in retail sales, preferably with outdoor gear. Outdoors: backpacking, rock climbing, mountaineering, backcountry skiing or ice climbing, you must have experience doing at least one of these things (ideally all of them). Every single employee at the FF retail store climbs and skis, from the owners on down. We expect and encourage our staff to pursue their outdoor interests. Computers: proficiency in Microsoft Office and ability to learn specialized retail software. Preferred skills- Ski tech: experience mounting randonnee and telemark bindings, performing base repair work, and tuning skis. Boot fitting: experience performing thermo-molds of ski and mountaineering boot liners. Web design: experience designing and maintaining web pages in a variety of languages. Availability- Feathered Friends would like someone who will be able to start in October, work around the Christmas holiday and New Year, and can work 30-40 hours per week. Benefits- Feathered Friends offers a competitive benefits package and schedule flexibility.

Oh yeah, a couple other points. 1. Don't dryclean your bag. Your bag will be FUBAR. 2. Don't use a degergent soap.

We recommend using special down soap. Woolite is also acceptable. FF sells down soap- $3.50 gets you a bottle of highly concentrated Thunder Down that will last you several washes. There are 3 ways you can wash your bag depending on how much you want to be involved. 1. Wash by hand. Takes a lot of time and effort, but requires the least money. All you need is some soap, a bathtub, and water. The difficult parts are getting the bag completely submerged and thoroughly rinsing it. Be careful drying your bag at home. Smaller volume dryers will not work as well as the big ones at laundromats, and heat can be quite concentrated. Recommended for the most miserly cheapskates or for a rainy afternoon project when you have already color coded your gear. 2. Wash with machines. This is the most popular option. Take your bag, down soap, roll of quarters, six tennis balls, and a good book to your local laundromat. Use a front loading machine. The agitator in a top loader can wreck your bag. Turn bag inside out. This is especially important if your bag has some sort of high tech shell fabric. Wash the bag through one cycle, warm water with down soap. Wash the bag for a second cycle, warm water, NO soap. Gently transfer bag to high volume dryer, set to low heat, add tennis balls, and run for a long time. A long time might mean 2 hours. Low heat is important, since you don't want to melt the nylon or delaminate your fancy shell fabric. The tennis balls bouncing around will help break up the down clumps and will loft your bag up nicely. 3. Have someone else do it for you. Feathered Friends will wash our bags, jackets, and comforters for $25. If you don't have a FF bag, we recommend you take yours to Rainy Pass or Jack's Comforters/All About Down, both of which charge about the same for a bag wash ($35). Washing your down bag is good for it. A clean bag will loft better, breathe better, and smell better than a dirty one.

The Snow Goose, Ibis, and Eiders are gone. One Volant left.

Feathered Friends expedition bags for $120-$180, see this thread: FF gear sale in "Local Gear Shops."

Yo, Yo, What up Cascade Climber Dudes and Dudettes. This is my first ever post on a message board (that doesn't deal with obtaining potent seeds from Amsterdam; swapping conspiracy theories on Brad and Angelina; or the persistent Craig's List stalking of the co-ed I bumped into at the olive bar at Whole Paycheck). It feels great to be here. And I will be there, Seattle actually, next Thursday night at the Neptune Theater, September 21st, @ 7:00pm with an hour each of "First Ascent" and "Dosage IV". Last Thursday we had 950 folks hooting and freaking at the premiere in Boulder. I strangely appeared on stage in my Super Pantsu Man costume (see: http://www.timmyoneill.com/images/lg-timmyjapan.jpg) I would like to extend a personal invitation to get your freak on and come and see some of the best climbing footie around. Tell your friends, if you do not have any, make some at the UW outdoor bouldering wall, the methadone clinic, or at any of the 3,500 Starbucks/Tully’s/Seattle’s Best coffee shops in town. Bring some Top Pot donuts and we can have a donut eating contest - yea - bring some Puget Sound water too and we can have saltwater drinking contest to wash the dough down - hmmm - bring buckets, lots of 'em. I will be hosting the event and plan on having fun a.k.a. making fun of me and everyone else there. There will be plenty of schwag on hand - my advice bum rush the stage, shanghai the emcee, appropriate the goods, sell it all on eBay and abscond to the Methadone clinic/Coffee Messiah. The films kick ass, they tell a story beyond music and muscle, and before you know it the night's over and you are back immersed in your world of Internet dating, canned beer and broken dreams - wait that's me! Vanessa if you are reading this, please understand that the way you selected the almond stuffed olives brought me closer to ecstasy than ever before. I am the guy standing across the street - go ahead, look out your window. Hope to see as many dirt bag and non-dirt bag climbers, adventurers, kayakers, lovers of the out of doors and 'Joe Public' as possible next Thursday night. Also enclosed is a link to an article in the Out There Monthly: if you are bored, at work, on acid, in a vegetative state and someone reads to you, or if you are Vanessa: http://www.outtheremonthly.com/index.php?art=climbing_freak Later Cascade Climbers, Anyone inclined who is coming to the show: bring BC nugs too; it will be great after some Top Pot donuts... Timmy O 303-859-4111

2 sets left.

Tix on sale now at the shop. Just $10 bones. This is also one of the very few venues Timmy O'Neill will emcee. Lotsa stuff to be thrown out to the audience! These movies had people stoked in Salt Lake City Thursday, September 21st 7:00 PM Neptune Theater, Seattle Details here

We just received four sets of Hybrid aliens today Friday 9/8 including the two new sizes! Last time they were gone in a day so give us a call. - 206-292-2210

We hear the question all the time- "Do you guys ever sell off your rental gear?" The answer is "Yes. Sometimes." Well that sometimes is now. We are currently selling off several sleeping bags and down parkas that have served a long and trusty service in our rental fleet. We realize that not everyone will be excited about buying sleeping bags or parkas that have seen so much use, so the prices reflect this. Some of the items are in good shape and we are selling them because we don't need so many bags in a certain temperature range, some of them have been put through the wringer, but hey- they are all Feathered Friends gear and they all have some useful life left in them for folks who want a good deal. All sales are final, as is, with no warranty. If you are hesitant to buy used gear sight unseen, then come on down to the shop and check it out first. Here's what we have: Lark +15-degree "Purple Haze" shell- PTFE poly $100 Ibis +5-degree "Hawkeye" shell- PTFE $100 Peregrine -20-degree "Chad" and "Dave" shell- PTFE $120 Eider -25-degree "Spark Plug" shell- PTFE poly $180 Eider -30-degree "Purple People Eater" shell- PTFE poly $180 Snow Goose -30 "Beef Steak" shell- PTFE $200 Jackets- all models are Volants with hoods (a $335 setup new) M, L, XL left, $89 each. Visit the shop or call 206 292 2210 M-F 10-8, Sat 10-6, Sun 11-5 to order.

We hear the question all the time- "Do you guys ever sell off your rental gear?" The answer is "Yes. Sometimes." Well that sometimes is now. We are currently selling off several sleeping bags and down parkas that have served a long and trusty service in our rental fleet. We realize that not everyone will be excited about buying sleeping bags or parkas that have seen so much use, so the prices reflect this. Some of the items are in good shape and we are selling them because we don't need so many bags in a certain temperature range, some of them have been put through the wringer, but hey- they are all Feathered Friends gear and they all have some useful life left in them for folks who want a good deal. All sales are final, as is, with no warranty. If you are hesitant to buy used gear sight unseen, then come on down to the shop and check it out first. Here's what we have: Lark +15-degree "Purple Haze" shell- PTFE poly $100 Ibis +5-degree "Hawkeye" shell- PTFE $100 Peregrine -20-degree "Chad" and "Dave" shell- PTFE $120 Eider -25-degree "Spark Plug" shell- PTFE poly $180 Eider -30-degree "Purple People Eater" shell- PTFE poly $180 Snow Goose -30 "Beef Steak" shell- PTFE $200 Jackets- all models are Volants with hoods (a $335 setup new) M, L, XL left, $89 each. Visit the shop or call 206 292 2210 M-F 10-8, Sat 10-6, Sun 11-5 to order.