Field Notes

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. (Jan. 17, 2020) – Big Agnes, the Steamboat Springs-based outdoor brand, announces a redesign of its 2020 Apparel Collection.

Our product designers and developers, our product-testing ambassadors and many of our other employees have traveled the CDT and have been inspired by star-filled nights dreaming of ways to evolve camping gear.

"Chhiring wanted his tent golden yellow to honor the skin color of the Himalayan goddess, Miyo Losangma, who inhabits Mt. Everest. She is the goddess of prosperity and good fortune. For those who don’t offend her and are grateful, she is generous and giving. On the 20th anniversary of Chhiring’s first summit of Everest, his tents will stand apart for exhausted climbers and pay tribute to Miyo Losangma."

You probably know that the Continental Divide Trail is close to our hearts, and geographically it’s located right in our backyard. We found ourselves recreating on the CDT through enough summers to wonder how we could help maintain it.

At Big Agnes, when we say we sleep in the dirt, we mean it and we do it. There’s no better way to develop and test product, no better way to walk the walk of an outdoor gear brand than to immerse ourselves as much as possible into the trails, campgrounds, and amazing public lands that surround us here in Northwest Colorado and beyond.

The Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics is a non-profit organization focused on reducing our impact on the natural environment by providing innovative education, skills and research to help people care for the outdoors for future generations to enjoy.

"At CDTC, we are blessed to work with such passionate and supportive companies and partners. Big Agnes is one of those companies that not only provides support, but they also roll up their sleeves and literally dig in the dirt."

Pizza. Pizza was the first thing on our list as we rolled into Leadville. Being the eighth leg of the Big Agnes/Honey Stinger CDT relay meant we were meeting Section 7 participants at the trailhead to hand off the baton, and their very specific pizza orders from Mountain High Pies in Leadville.

As you can imagine, relocating 14 miles of a National Scenic Trail onto public land that doesn’t currently exist is no small task. First, we have to think about where the CDT could go – how to get from point A to point B if it wasn’t on the road, based on scenic views, natural resources, property boundaries, terrain, water sources, and more.

Our first annual Bob Swanson Memorial Grant recipient, Casey Sheppard, fulfilled her dreams of riding her bike across the north and south islands of New Zealand with the money awarded to her from this grant. Watch her trip documentary in our blog, and read more about who Bob was and what he meant to us here at Big Agnes.

"We were the furthest away from home we’d ever been and completely out of our comfort zone. But we made it back in one piece (unlike the girl who chipped a tooth from the wind blowing a rock at her…). "I’m pretty psyched to forever look at a map, point to this tiny little island off the coast of Argentina, and call it 'home'."

Something pretty powerful happens, however, when the depth of your vulnerability somehow parallels the level of trust your team has developed in one another. It allows you to feel all the feels: the frustration, the defeat, and the absolute rawness of the accumulation of the days.

"To be back on the CDT in September, 2017 doing trail work with my co-workers and the founders of Big Agnes, was one of the most fulfilling moments of my life. More than anything I have done, the CDT forged me into the person I am today. It is a privilege to walk the CDT and share the responsibility of caring for it with the Big Agnes family."

Trail adoption is critical to the long-term sustainability of the CDT. Once any trail is built, that is only the beginning of a long-term commitment to the trail.