The Job Interview

 

 

Say what you will about Chris………and if it is outrageous it’s probably true.  When she was hired from outside the company to fill the position of Action Sports Manager folks were wondering WTAF?  What has she got and what is she going to be like to work for?  That was some fairly scary shit right there. 

 

Maybe it was because she was so carefully watched that we picked up some behaviors that were way outside of REI norms.  Even back then there was a modicum of REI-nice that she didn’t get the memo on, but it was clear that she knew her hardgoods and was a promotor, the likes of which, REI had never seen before.  Her mind and mouth moved faster than any internal filters that she may have possessed so they had no shot at moderating her message.  Mind to mouth at the speed of light was how things went and she always spoke at least 25 decibels louder than everyone else so things that she said often raised some eyebrows.  She bent and broke rules, too, but they were always the rules that had stifling, unintended and negative consequences on our Co-op and Member’s wellbeing so everyone learned to go along whenever possible.  She always acted in her team’s best interests which must have pissed off a few people above her pay grade.  Life around Chris was always an adventure.

 

REI - When Hang Gliding Was Mainstream

An abridged version of this narrative first appeared in the January 2003 edition of the Oz Report. You probably didn't know that REI was once a Northwest powerhouse in hang gliding sales and instruction.

REI got into the hang gliding business by purchasing Chandelle Northwest from a gentleman named Ken Greenwald ~1974-1975. Ken had returned from a very profitable season of fishing in Alaska and had some money burning a hole in his pocket so he decided that selling hang gliders would be a fun way to get rich. I’ve never been completely clear on whether he came up with the idea himself or if he had help but in the early ‘70’s hang gliding was exploding. It was being touted as the inexpensive sport that any man or woman could safely engage in to experience the freedom of flight.

It sounded foolproof so Ken started the company and opened up an amazing shop in downtown Seattle. He leased a great showroom in the old Commission District near the ferry terminal. The business was located in the northeast corner of the Maritime Building and had plenty of large plate glass windows to display gliders.

Montlake - The Real Birthplace of REI

Most of us know something about REI.  Some of us may know a bit of the history, or think that we do.  Some of us have heard about how it all started with an ice axe, etc. 

Some of us have been members for years, can recite our membership number (203xxx), bought our first backpack and hiking boots from Jim Whittaker above the Green Apple Pie and delight in regaling the cashiers who ring us up about our long association with the Co-op.  Some of us have been employees (#14xx).  Some of us may complain about the changes over the years or high prices, or Yuppie-gear, blah, blah, blah.  This post isn’t about any of that so no need to go there. 

It is about a critical bit of REI history that I bet you don’t know.  It’s about how the Co-op almost never came to be.  It’s about how 85 years ago a Montlake business deal-gone-bad set everything in motion so that today, in spite of Covid-19, REI is serving 5.5 million active members and how those members and guests open the doors to the stores by grasping handles made of ice axes.    

That’s right.  It all started with an ice axe in Montlake.

Symbolic Door Handles

What is well-known and undisputed is that Lloyd Anderson and his wife, Mary, were members of “The Climbers Group”, an offshoot of the “Mountaineers”.  In 1938 they founded Recreational Equipment Cooperative using the Rochdale Principles.  The purpose of the co-op was to provide a source of quality outdoor gear for their friends and fellow climbers.   

Mary and Lloyd Anderson 

LOST and FOUND

 

Prologue

Otto Lang was a pioneer of modern skiing.  In the mid-30’s he traveled from Europe to New Hampshire and then to the Pacific Northwest where he brought technique and style to west coast skiers by founding ski schools on Mount Rainier, Mount Baker and Mount Hood.  Soon he became the Director of the Sun Valley Ski School where he hob-knobbed with the stars of the silver screen and went on to write and produce movies.  He was often referred to as “The Grand Old Man of Skiing”. 

Before he passed away at age 97 he said “I know it is a broad statement, but it is true; skiing is responsible for everything in my life.  It connected everything.”

Otto Lang

That quote resonated with me and it got me to wondering if all of us were directed by some "one-thing" like skiing that connects all the dots and shapes the course of our lives.  Some event or experience that sends us along a path that we don't recognize as a path at all.  Something that nudges us along unaware as to why we choose A instead of B.  A gentle touch here and there that keeps us on course but sometimes a 2 x 4 across the head to get our attention and keep us focused on something we didn't know we were even supposed to be paying attention to.

I got to wondering what my “one-thing” was. 

LOOK! But Don't Look Up.........

 

I can’t recall the exact year that this occurred but here are a few clues that may jog your memory.  Big Jim Whittaker was the guy in charge at REI, bright green was the latest and greatest color in ski fashion and “Anti-Friction” was the new phrase being bantered around the ski industry.  Lawsuits involving ski related injuries were on the rise and findings were overwhelmingly in favor of the plaintiffs.  With a mixture of acknowledged guilt and a “not-my-fault” strategy the binding companies began designing in favor of release over retention.  Since favoring release over retention by reducing friction was a relatively new concept in binding technology few of the manufacturers had gotten it right. 

I was employed as a ski mechanic at the Seattle REI store on Capitol Hill and my employee discount had allowed me to afford that set of Look Nevada bindings that I had coveted for so long.  I soon learned, however, that Look, through the use of copious quantities of Teflon, had reduced friction to the point that retention in the real world was impossible.  “Anti-friction” had taken on a whole new meaning.  They tested fine in the shop but they simply didn’t work on the hill.  They made this troublesome “click-click” sound that resulted in an immediate separation from your skis and a severe physical pummeling, the memory of which haunts me to this day.

My Lucky Shirt

I have been re-reading “REI: 50 Years of Climbing Together” which was written by Harvey Manning to celebrate REI’s 50^th anniversary and was distributed to employees in 1988.  Lots of cool stuff to revisit and anyone who thinks they know about REI really doesn’t unless they have read this book. 

Anyway, it features many pages from catalogs that exhibit the evolution of the co-op and one of those pages stood out.  It is circa 1977 and displays many products that I owned modeled by people I worked with.

From left to right and top to bottom we have Lynn Campbell, Jerry Desmone, Jim Rosa, John McNulty (the Marlboro Man), Lynn once again, a woman whose name escapes me but went to high school with my niece, Sue Anderson.  John Mueller, a guy who I don’t recall, Jenny who was Todd Frankawitz’s partner, Arleen Hiuga and Bill Egan. 

Article “F” modeled by John Mueller really caught my eye.  It’s a rugby shirt that was available in the store before it debuted in the catalog.  I bought a red and black striped version before ’77 and it was my favorite shirt.  I really liked the way it fit and how sporty I looked in it.  Most of all I liked the fact that good things happened to me when I wore it.  So many good things happened when I was wearing that shirt that I took to wearing it whenever I really wanted things to go my way.  Ultimately, I started depending on it when a desired outcome was a stretch and having things go wrong had serious consequences.