YETI GATHERING
DURANGO

9TH ANNUAL GATHERING

August is our favorite time of year. The air is a bit colder at night, the trails a bit tackier from the afternoon rainstorms, and the best riding of the season is upon us. It is no coincidence that we scheduled the Yeti Gathering each year in August and this year we all converged on the town of Durango to sample the local trails, drink the local beer, and catch up with the nearly three hundred Yeti freaks who traveled from around the world to celebrate our 25th anniversary. The format for the Yeti Gathering has settled into a comfortable routine over the years. Yeti freaks start arriving on Friday afternoon, set-up camp, get a ride in, have a little dinner and then sample the kegs we have iced down awaiting their arrival. In this case, the beers were Pinstripe Ale and Modus Hoperandi from our friends at Ska Brewery. The setting was ideal. Our our makeshift campground was situated on a beautiful chunk of private land adjacent to the Horse Gulch trail system just north of town. Local rancher and long-time Durango resident, Jake Dallah, was nice enough to give us free reign on his land for the weekend. Kids and dogs ran free as everyone mingled and caught up. With the promise of a long ride in the morning, most people rolled to bed early. Well, nearly everyone… the Aussies made sure the kegs got drained that night.

9TH ANNUAL GATHERING

At first light, people started rolling out of their tents, pop-ups, and rv’s. Those who were up late the night before moaned and rolled over and waited for the second shuttle. The first shuttle went off at 7:30 am and the buses and vans from Hermosa tours rolled in on cue. We loaded 100+ on the first wave — bikes on top of vans and in the backs of trailers. Those who didn’t fit in the vans loaded into the school bus for the hour shuttle.. The shuttle up Junction Creek provided great views and scared the crap out of some people. Those sitting on the left side of the bus were dead quiet once we got higher on the mountain — they had a front-row seat as the bus teetered on the edge of cliffs that plunged down hundreds of feet. I swear some of the seats had chew marks in them from all the tight sphincters on that side of the bus. The crew on the right side of the bus was having a grand time, totally oblivious to the fact that a sneeze or twitch from the driver could mean our last ride in the mountains. When the bus arrived and the air brakes kicked on, we filed out of the bus, eager to hit the trail.

The ride started just below Kennebeck Pass on the Colorado Trail and ended just outside of town, 23 miles later. The first couple of miles were downhill on a fire road, but soon we turned left into some of the best singletrack on God’s green earth. The trail was unbelievable — perfectly loamy after a week of rain. Nearly a hundred Yetis bombed the trail (this was just the first wave) and you could hear people laughing and hootin’ and hollerin’ all the way down the trail. Smiles everywhere.

9TH ANNUAL GATHERING

We were in singletrack bliss as we descended down to the river, but when we crossed the bridge and started climbing, those who started the ride by pounding PBR’s were soon regretting the quarts of cheap suds slopping around in their belly. The weak among them stopped drinking and focused on the climb. The heartier, re-fueled for the climb with a couple more cans of the red, white, and blue, making the argument if they didn’t drink it, they would have to carry it up the climb. How could you argue with that kind of logic? It was physics, plain and simple. In reality, we wanted to see them vomit on the climb so we all nodded in agreement. The climb was steady and at times too steep to ride.

When we got to the top, it wasn’t really the top. The singletrack gods taunted us with a false summit, a slight descent and then a long, sustained climb. Some drank at this point. Some cried. Others did the reasonable thing and pounded down Clif Bars or some other tasty treat. At the end of the climb, a long descent to the parking lot dissipated any of the pain endured on the climb. The Colorado Trail at this point was a combination of wide open fast sections, pedally sections with baby-heads trying to knock you into the weeds, and twisty turns through the verdant forest.

9TH ANNUAL GATHERING

Some finished the ride by jumping in the waiting shuttle vans in the parking lot, others pushed on for a “warm-down” ride back to camp some ten miles away. That evening, as the first wave got an early start in the grub line, the second crew filtered back in. Stories abounded. Wrecks, near-wrecks, and tales of the harrowing ride up grew into full-on tall tales, but this is what mountain bikers do. Under the influence of severe dehydration and ample cold beer, I will believe just about anything, so I just nodded and made up my own stories.

As dinner wound down, with live acoustical music playing the background, we started to set up for the night’s festivities. Vintage bikes were rolled center-stage, our new 25th Anniversary 575 stood proudly in a bike stand facing the crowd and I started babbling. You would think I would prepare for speaking to hundreds of people on our 25th Anniversary, but my hastily scribbled notes were useless as the sun started to set.

9TH ANNUAL GATHERING

When I called up the Yeti employees from past and present and stood surrounded by the bikes and people that have defined us for the past two and a half decades, I was incredibly proud. Miraculously, I didn’t get choked up (as I am want to do sometimes) and was able to give some perspective into the people who made Yeti such a unique company. Guys like Brett Hahn, Chris Herting, Chuck Texiera, Jammin’ Jimmy Deaton, EB and all the original Yeti crew who made the company the epicenter of the mountain bike craze in the nineties. The current crop of Yeti staff, who in my mind are the best in the business, stood with the original crew. It was epic. And, our distributors and industry friends, who made the long trip to hang out with us on this special event cheers to you guys – Rowney, Albert, Fred and crew, and Stu for making the trip over the pond to see us. A special thanks to Joe Wang, our friends at Shimano, and anyone else I forgot. Though not in attendance, a call out to Zapata Espinoza, our favorite mexican and Yeti propaganda minister back in the day.

Sadly, the big man, John Parker, was unable to make the event due to a motorcycle accident earlier in the week. He sent his best via text message and when I announced this to the crowd, they roared in appreciation. As the darkness filled in, we wrapped up the speaking part of the night and people filled into the huge circus tent to view past memorabilia and talk to the Yeti legends in attendance. Soon the planned stupidity took shape and tables were pushed to the perimeter so we could do dumb things on bikes. It’s always a blur at this point, so here’s a quick run-down…

9TH ANNUAL GATHERING

Naked guy made an appearance and nearly won the foot down contest under the large circus tent. There was a bike jousting thing that was somewhat related to the foot down thing. Kids, women, and men all competed. Our pro racers announced the action and also participated in the pro only class. People heckled. Big Joe pulled out the muffler. Aussies said stuff that seemed really funny, but in reality, none of us knew what they were saying. I guess without getting into too much fuzzy detail, we had fun. The adults, the kids, and especially the dogs, who roamed unleashed and left very well fed. The raffle for the 25th anniversary 575 was the highlight of the night. We raised over $1800 for the Craig Lange Scholarship fund and awarded the bike at about ten. This was followed by tons of swag being tossed — t’s, hoodys, stickers… all sorts of goodness. The next day was slower. Rides happened later and people slowly packed up and got out of town. There was already talk about next year’s event. Anyway, a huge thanks to all who attended and all who made this event a success.