Wintergreen Northernwear

Well, more snow in the forecast.  First off, the precip is going to mess up my plans for opening day of Minnesota's trout season.  Guess I'll find a backup plan.  Also, I'm sensing most folks are getting darn tired of having to pull back out their winter gear.  At least that's the tone I'm hearing from all my near-foul friends.  Actually,  I kinda get excited (still) digging into the closet to pull out my winter gear. Heck, just a week ago, we got bombed with that last spring snow and B-man and I happily threw on our coats and headed out for an after-dark trek in the pulk sled.

That bright, red coat of mine comes from a place called Wintergreen Northerwear.  If you've never heard of them, you're missing out.   They're the folks with the  telltale trim on all their parkas.  We're lucky enough to have Wintergreen as a sponsor of Due North Outdoors and a few weeks back, we were able  to tour Wintergreen's shop on a quick stop through Ely, Minnesota. 
Rows of Wintergreen Northernwear Trim!
I've been a fan of their gear since I was a kid.   Maybe it's because the world's most extreme explorers use their gear.   I'm not talking casual weekend warriors.  I'm talking about the polar and arctic explorers.  Folks like Paul Schurke, Will Steger and Ann Bancroft wear.  Yea, they're the kind of Minnesotans I've always looked up to.  The really put Wintergreen Northernwear on the map.  Now the small Ely company is churning out some of the coolest winter gear around.  In fact, a few weeks back we had a chance to tour their world headquarters up in Ely.

Curt and Becky Stacey Showing "Photojournalist Aaron" Around...

 Those new parkas on the rack there aren't going out for sale.  If you look closely, you can see they've got patches on them.  Check it out!

 

Yep, Wintergreen still makes a good chunk of the gear used for expeditions.  Stuff like that blows me away.  Maybe it's because I've spent 30 years taking in the joys and pains of winter camping, and still I just can't imagine what an expedition to the pole might be like.  I'm not sure I want to know, frankly. 
A Due North Outdoors BWCA Expedition
Hey, I've got a lot of nights well below zero under my belt, even a -40 below that made newspaper headlines years ago, but trekking to the North Pole.  Tough stuff.   Maybe that's why Brady and I have so much fun on our nights out in the snow. 
Gearing Up For Another Adventure...Brady likes us to wear headlamps and look around in the darkness.  I strap on the Otter Sled and pull him through the fields and woods near the house.  I'm guessing he feels a lot like a North Pole explorer when we head out.  I know I do.....