olyclimber Posted May 21 Share Posted May 21 Jason and his AAI crew continue to support this site, providing the financial backing that pays our monthly hosting bill that keeps the lights on. We have continued gratitude for that! I also added a second advertisement to the site for NW Alpine. It's not in its final landing spot, as I've got to figure out a better way to host the advertisement. We are hosting this ad for free for a while, with Jason's blessing (AAI continues to be our sole sponsor, aside from donations from you which help pay the other costs like software licensing, etc). If you know NW Alpine, they are a local, Northwest company making great outdoor apparel.... manufacturing in the United States. In the past NW Alpine has supported Cascadeclimbers.com, so we are returning the favor as Bill Amos and company continue the battle to maintain domestic manufacturing. The ethos we see for Cascadeclimbers.com is as a local, non-corporate alternative, a community of people who share the same passion. Oh yes, we have our differences! But we are here because we love to climb, hike, ski, accumulate closets full of gear, photograph, and spray about all of it. And I think the story telling format of our TRs are the crown jewel. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillA Posted May 22 Share Posted May 22 Thanks so much for the support Porter, I really appreciate it! It's hard to believe fourteen years has gone by since I started NWA. Cascadeclimbers.com was where our first customers came from, and it's been a completely wild ride since then. Though I always lurked way more than I posted, this site was a big inspiration to me when I was climbing a lot. I think it's a shame that social media has largely stolen attention from forums/communities like cc.com. It's hard to build a real community when it is mediated by a mega-corporation thats sole focus is the bottom line. Unfortunately over the last decade+, just as giant social media companies have drowned out smaller independent sites like this one, the same thing has happened in the outdoor industry generally. A handful of large corporations dominate the market and essentially form an oligopoly. Most of these brands are now publicly traded, owned by large conglomerates, or both. Even the one owned by the planet sells a billion and a half dollars worth of apparel and makes hundreds of millions in profits annually. As a small independent and self-funded brand focused on technical apparel, it's REALLY difficult to have companies with unlimited resources as your competition. And then to try to make everything in the US where the apparel manufacturing supply chain has all but disappeared...crazy. But we're doing it anyway because we think it's the right thing to do for the people and the earth. I know a lot of you care about the same things we do and if you're not familiar with NWA, please check us out. To conclude this novel, I'm super grateful for the support from Cascadeclimbers.com. It is an invaluable, independent, resource for Northwest climbers that deserves our attention now more than ever! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JBo6 Posted May 22 Share Posted May 22 Hey Bill, seeing this made me take a look back through my emails to see when I bought my set of Fast/Light pants from you. It looks like I got them in January of 2011 and for whatever reason you had mailed the pants to me to try out before I paid you for them. Thanks for the great customer service back then. If there is anything that I can fault about those pants it is that they are too damn durable and they are still my go to pants for nordic skiing. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillA Posted May 22 Share Posted May 22 Hell yeah, that's great to hear you're still using them, that fabric was so good I wish we could have gotten more of it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bedellympian Posted Wednesday at 05:07 PM Share Posted Wednesday at 05:07 PM Hey Bill, I think we met on Illumination saddle... you were camped up there going over to do Cathedral Ridge, this was years ago. I have two Black Spider Hoodies, they are my favorite mid layer for alpine/winter climbing. I also have the old softshell jacket and pants which I won at the Craggin' Classic at Smith... in maybe 2013?! They are still going strong, especially the jacket which I love. Glad to see NWA continuing to do it the right way! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillA Posted Thursday at 04:19 PM Share Posted Thursday at 04:19 PM I definitely remember meeting at illumination saddle, I think that was spring 2016 when we did Cathedral, time flies! That's great that you're still getting use out of your NWA stuff over a decade later, I absolutely love to hear that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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