Goat Grad Sighting

I am the one under the cap and happy to represent my class who so avidly watched SteepandCheap and WhiskeyMilitia during long boring lectures. All those tuition loans and grants taken out and actually used for new planks from Backcountry. Ditching class to hit unbelievably deep days. Using up all known relatives as funeral excuses to recharge at Moab for a week.


This quote from "Tommy Boy" best describes this goat sighting:

Tommy: Did you hear I finally graduated?
Richard: Yeah, and just a shade under a decade too, all right.
Tommy: You know a lot of people go to college for seven years.
Richard: I know, they're called doctors.

Now the graduating class will cruise all the sites in their cubicles for 40 hours a week.

Harry: I can't believe we drove around all day, and there's not a single job in this town. There is nothing, nada, zip!
Lloyd: Yeah! Unless you wanna work forty hours a week.

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Goat Sighting - Steamboat

This comes from one of our gearheads, Dave who enjoyed some turns at Steamboat. I am assuming the person that 'goated' the sign disregarded the whole DANGER warning and killed it. Were stoked you were thinking of us (whoever you are) while we were in our cubicles. If your out there and you find this post, let us know just how 'dangerous' it was.

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Goat Sighting in Kolob Canyon, Zion National Park

A co-worker at Backcountry.com sent this vid to me of him and some friends climbing in Kolob Canyon which is the lesser known side of Zion National Park. Personally I prefer Kolob to the mayhem that is the main entrance by Springdale.

The routes in the video are Half Route and Namaste. The climber that is sporting the Goat is Perin Blanchard who is an admin over at MountainProject.com The first goat sighting is around 2:41 but the climbing is fun to watch the entire time. The rock formation is really wild, especially for a "Zion" wall. Check it out.

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Goat Sighting in the Gokyo Valley of Nepal

Ran into a sherpa with a backcountry.com cap on while doing the Gokyo Lakes/Everest Base Camp trek...had an amazing time...trip report to follow soon!

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Goat Sightings in Little Cottonwood Canyon

If you're a climber and especially if you're in Utah, then these past three weeks have been amazing. With afternoon temperatures reaching the low 70's the sun warmed granite of Little Cottonwood Canyon has been at its prime.

For the most part I've been climbing at the Crescent Crack Buttress and the Gate Buttress and although there was one day with plenty of crowds (a Friday afternoon) I've seen only a couple of parties otherwise.

Yesterday afternoon my buddy Rich and I arrived at the Schoolroom to find we were the only ones there. Far cry from two weeks ago when there was a University of Utah climbing class there. We enjoyed some good conversation that day as we headed up Schoolroom West.

Plugging gear has been on the menu and yesterday I was "served" while heading up the first pitch of Bushwhack Crack. As we started up a couple of guys I knew showed up (Dan and Matt) and just after arriving at the first belay I snapped this shot of Dan setting up anchors at the top of the first pitch of Schoolroom Direct:

I commented about the goat on his helmet and he tossed back , "I've gotta keep the sponsors happy". (His wife Liz works for Backcountry.com)

After leading the second pitch which goes up and to the right we descended a bit and then rapped down to the base of the wall. I was second to rappel and after pulling the rope I walked back to the start of Bushwhack and found Rich talking to a guy named Mark who was belaying his buddy on top rope. I thought they were long time friends as they were talking about ski traverses in the Ruby Range of Nevada but after another minute or two of good conversation I realized they had just met. It's a pretty cool community of climbers when you can spark up a conversation with a fellow climber whom you just met and talk about similar passions for the outdoors like you're long time friends.

Mark's buddy Paul rapped down and as he arrived I noticed he too was sporting the goat on his helmet. He actually had a black on one the other side in addition to this white one.

Paul, if you're out there comment below with your e-mail address and I'll make sure you get a Goat shirt or a water bottle. Great running into you out there and I'm glad to see you sportin' the goat.

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Goat Sighting - Angel Falls, Venezuela

Although this looks to me like a love fest between The North Face and Backcountry.com it's most certainly adventure at its finest. Luis sent us the following message along with this photo:

Hello Dear Friends,
...take a small sample in what we are doing in Venezuela Climbing and exploring the Jurassic Land of TEPUYS. We have more than 54 hours of film and more than 13 Gb of pictures of this 2 expeditions and we have 2 more expeditions planning for this year.
For the next expeditions we need more equipment that we order from you soon by e-mail, thank you for your help we really appreciate !!!
We like to share pictures with my friends trying to help others to figure out that we have a small planet whit unending beauty and possibilities ... if you stop exploring you stop growing ...
I hope you like the pictures, thank you very much for your help i wish to you happiness and prosperity!!!
Warmest Regards
Luis E.

Believe me Luis, the love fest is mutual. If you stop exploring you stop growing....pretty much sums it up.

Check out more of Luis' images on his Rockclimbing.com profile page.

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Photo Shot by: unknown
Photo Location: Angel Falls, Venezuela
About the photo: Sunset with the Angel Falls behind, the falls are full of water after 3 days raining.

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Goat Sighting winners receive a Backcountry.com Organic Goat Tee Shirt for submitting a winning photo.

If you think you've got what it takes to stick a winner but you haven't got a sticker to stick, head on over to Backcountry.com and get yourself a FREE goat sticker by filling out the form or by placing an order as each box we ship gets a free sticker. Then get out there and stick it, take a photo and submit it online.

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Goat Sighting - East Ridge of The Grand Teton

This weeks "Show us your Goat" winner comes to us from Mike Dawson, longtime Backcountry.com customer and Park City, Utah local. His buddy Jared submitted a trip report on Summitpost.org about the east ridge of the Grand Teton and told him that it was straight forward and "easy going". Sandbagger.

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Photo Shot by: Ken Meyer of Mike Dawson (shown in the photo)
Photo Location: East Ridge of the Grand Teton, Wyoming
About the photo: We geared up and tackled the infrequently traveled East Ridge of The Grand, which provide classic scrambling, route finding and mixed technical rock and snow travel in exposed terrain. The total vert round trip for the one day push was about 13.5 Kft.

"The Goat" is proudly displayed on my Petzl Elios helmet, which I purchased from BC.com last summer. Thanks!

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As a weekly winner Mike will receive Backcountry.com Organic Goat Tee Shirt.

If you think you've got what it takes to stick a winner but you haven't got a sticker to stick, head on over to Backcountry.com and get yourself a FREE goat sticker by filling out the form or by placing an order as each box we ship gets a free sticker. Then get out there and stick it, take a photo and submit it online.

Or if you see a sticker out there take a photo and submit it as your own.

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Goat Sighting - Roller Derby?

It's been a while since we've published a Goat Sighting and this is a great one to bring me out of Goat Sighting slackness. Salt Lake City Weekly is a free weekly Salt Lake City periodical that essentially covers all things fringe and some things mainstream including the best local list of events and restaurants. It's a great alternative to the church and state of the other newspapers in town.

I rolled into the office the other day and this gem was sitting on my desk.

There is some speculation that the girl in the phone may be one of our hard working warehouse employees. A couple of my co-workers speculated that she could be another one of our local customers who climbs mountains, skis and dishes out punishment on the roller derby circuit. Either way, she's proudly representing the Goat and we're stoked to give her a virtual high five! You go girl!

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Ski Season is Officially Over

I went skiing the other day and after doing so finally put the skis in the gear closet until next season. Unlike most, I don't hang up the skis until at least the first of July. Utah didn't have a great winter season by any stretch of the imagination but for me the season that started September 23, 2006 skiing 6" of powder on Mount Timpanogos ended skiing summer snow July 6, 2007 on the same glacial snowfield of Mount Timpanogos. Nine and a half months of a ski season is just about as good as it gets.

I'm not one for ski streaks but the thought of skiing in August would make it 12 consecutive months of skiing, a first for me. Will I make it? Doubtful. By my estimation the snowfield may melt out this year. The snow quantity up there right now is similar to what I saw there last September.

The Timp Glacier - photo taken June of 2006. - photo from Summitpost.org

I left work a bit early (thanks boss) and met up with my touring partner Alex at the Aspen Grove trail head at 5pm. The late afternoon/early evening hike up Primrose Cirque was beautiful with the wild flowers in full bloom, the waterfalls funning full and mountain goats out in numbers. By my estimate we saw nearly 70 goats throughout the hike including a young one that at most was a week old. The smallest mountain goat I've ever seen.

Timp "Glacier" in 2004 - the first year ever recorded that it melted out. Actually the glacier is under the talus but the permanent snowfield melted for the first time in 2004. I expect it may melt out again this summer. - photo from Summitpost.org

The snowfield is still continuous (barely) from the saddle to Emerald Lake, yielding 950' of skiing. We arrived at the saddle at 8:45 pm to hughes of red and orange being cast across the sky, having ascended 4200' vertical from the trail head.

We clicked in as the sun went down and pushed off. The skiing was, well, it was good....for July. The snow was quite firm underneath with a couple of inches of soft snow yielding to our turns. It wasn't worth writing home to mom but it was worth the trip. We donned headlamps and headed down the trail.

If you're in Utah and planning on catching the wildflowers or the last bit of "good" snow to ski, head up Timpanogos sooner than later. The views, the goats, a great hiking/skiing companion, wild flowers....it will make a fantastic outing.

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Goat Sightings - The Horde in Crawdad Canyon, Utah

This weeks Goat Sighting winner comes to us from Southern Utah. Dow, a longtime customer of Backcountry.com, was out climbing and spotting this old guy below the crag where he was climbing who needed a bit of protection from falling rock, or perhaps falling climbers. He doesn't look too excited about it.

(no goats were harmed in the making or taking of this photo)

Photo Shot by: Dow Williams
Photo Location: Crawdad Canyon, St. George, Utah
About the photo:
The old boy that keeps up Crawdad Canyon, a private climbing crag (local climbers coalition) north of Saint George, uses about a dozen goats to keep the brush under control below the routes. So you are climbing away and hear these bells below, it is a bit surreal.
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As a weekly winner Dow will receive Backcountry.com Organic Goat Tee Shirt.

If you think you've got what it takes to stick a winner but you haven't got a sticker to stick, head on over to Backcountry.com and get yourself a FREE goat sticker by filling out the form or by placing an order as each box we ship gets a free sticker. Then get out there and stick it, take a photo and submit it online.

Or if you see a sticker out there take a photo and submit it as your own.

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Goat Sighting - NBC's The Black Donnelly's

This weeks "Show us your Goat" winner comes to us from one of our own, longtime Backcountry.com employee Gardner Seawright. His title is "Bouncer/Fix-It Guy/VP of SKU Production" and although titles are over rated around here if there is trouble trying to enter HQ, Gardner is our man.

While relaxing at home from a tough day of bouncing, fixing and SKU making, Gardner was watching The Donnelly's and in his own words this is how it went down...

When I was watching it I said, “WHAT?!? Noooooo way… Is that?... nah couldn't be…. IT IS… ITS THE GOAT!!” haha Next thing you know it the goat won't just be hiding in the background It’ll be swingin' bats and bustin' heads with the Donnelly brothers!"

Either way, this is a pretty cool Goat sighting.

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Photo Shot by: NBC (screen shot by Gardner Seawright)
Photo Location: On a pole on the set of NBC's The Black Donnelly's
About the photo: Sean Donnelly (1 of the 4 donnelly brothers) is hitting on the girl that sold him a juke-box for The Firecracker (the Donnelly brothers bar) and as the camera pans a Goat is spotted in the background on a pole behind the girl.

The goat sticker is seen on the pole in the background (click the photo). To watch the episode check out part three of the episode title "Isn't That Enough?" at NBC's online episodes of The Black Donnelly's. It's right around the 4:00 mark.

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As a weekly winner Gardner will receive Backcountry.com Organic Goat Tee Shirt.

If you think you've got what it takes to stick a winner but you haven't got a sticker to stick, head on over to Backcountry.com and get yourself a FREE goat sticker by filling out the form or by placing an order as each box we ship gets a free sticker. Then get out there and stick it, take a photo and submit it online.

Or if you see a sticker out there take a photo and submit it as your own.

1 comments

Goat Sighting - Our Man hirScH in Africa

This weeks Goat Sighting comes to us from hIrSch who is a blogger and cycling adventurer. After pedaling from Canada to the tip of South America he recently headed off to Africa (Morocco to be exact) and beyond.

Backcountry.com is stoked to help hIrSch along the way with essential gear he needs.


Typically with the weekly winner of the "Show Us your Goat" Goat Sighting contest the photographer will receive a Backcountry.com Organic Goat Tee Shirt but given that hIrSch is, well, in Africa and unable to receive packages I'll give his shirt away to the first person to comment on this post with their e-mail address. I'm sure hIrSch won't mind and you can thank him later.

Post your e-mail address in this format: name AT location DOT com.

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And as always, if you think you've got what it takes to stick a winner but you haven't got a sticker to stick, well head on over to Backcountry.com and get yourself a FREE goat sticker by filling out the form or placing an order as each box we ship gets a free sticker. Then get out there and stick it, take a photo and submit it online.

Of course if you see a goat sticker out there and take a photo of it you're welcome to submit it for consideration.

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