Posted on 12/09/2015 8:44:49 AM PST by BenLurkin
Doug Tompkins, the co-founder of The North Face and Esprit clothing lines, died Tuesday after a kayaking incident in Patagonia, Chile. He was 72.
Tompkins appeared to have been with several other mountaineering legends from the U.S. outdoor clothing industry when he was fatally injured, names listed a statement from the Chilean Navy show.
...
Tompkins had severe hypothermia after being in water under 40 degrees Fahrenheit, the New York Times reported. He was kayaking in Lago General Carrera, in Patagonia, when he went into the water, according to a statement from Tompkins Conservation.
The Maritime Authority rescued three kayakers, and a private helicopter rescued another three, according to the statement from the Chilean Navy, which was in Spanish.
(Excerpt) Read more at ktla.com ...
Yikes!
At least he died doing what he loved.
I actually climbed the Grand Tetons in Wyoming with this guy many years ago.
He was talented and gifted in many ways but he was an angry guy who loved socialism and didn’t seem to care for people too much. His presence in Chile cause fair consternation among the locals.
I’m sorry to hear of his death and hope he had Jesus before he died.
Kayaking in almost freezing water - not me.
Yup, and a better way to go than chocking on your oatmeal in a nursing home.
Interesting story
I hiked the Tetons in the 70s and climbed some myself
I’d like to hear more if you’d not mind elaborating
Not many of the old mountaineers not lefties
Royal Robbns maybe and that drinking blue collar climber in Yosemite who lived with his mom
The legend Reinhold Messner is a green sadly
Good for him...
Wasn’t this the guy who bought a huge chunk of property in Patagonia and setup a Lefty Utopia?
Yep!
best friend of Chouinard, is a mountain climber, Deep Ecologist, and forward-thinking businessman. Tompkins was the founder of The North Face and co-owner of the ESPRIT clothing company. After reading the book Deep Ecology: Living as if Nature Mattered, Tompkins sold his share of Esprit, and began concentrating all of his energy on the defense of nature. Beginning with a purchase 1,000 acres of forest in Chile, Doug and his wife Kris have expanded this reserve to a massive 2.2 million acres in both Chile and Argentina.
Remarkable how often those things go together. I guess angry people like political philosophies that might one day allow them to exercise absolute power over the peons who annoy them.
Well, my days as a “mountaineer” were short lived, except for skiing which I’ve done all my life. But my mountain climbing days were confined to a few weeks with my brother and a few others trained by Tompkins’ outfit in the Rockies in Wyoming and Montana.
At the time, I was 16 years old, I wasn’t having much fun, but now I look back on that time with more fond memories and feel kind of proud that I actually scaled the summit of the Grand Tetons. What a view.
Doug Tompkins was kind of a tragic figure IMO. He had so much talent and was in many way, obviously, a sensible and very intelligent person. But there was definitely an angry side to him where didn’t seem to like people too much and embraced socialism - back in the 60’s. But the free market was definitely a successful vehicle for the billionaire as the article describes.
These days, I’m fascinated by the amazing talent of a seemingly much more amiable guy and free-solo climber, Alex Honnold.
When in london I went to a North Face store. Bought a jacket which was way too pricey. Figures a socialist would price things they know a poor person couldnt afford
Seems to be the pattern doesn’t it and you’ve touched on something important I think.
Someday I may write an article or book on freedom and the necessity of spiritual freedom, which is faith in God and the gospel of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, to sustain political freedom (the rule of law of the Constitution), and economic freedom (the free market economy).
Here’s the rub. Political and economic freedom do not make one happy but their absence creates great misery. That is one reason why America has gone down the “Road to Serfdom” in the midst of wealth and political freedom - because so many American’s are not happy. Why? Because they are not free spiritually, individually. Only spiritual freedom, knowing Jesus Christ and his grace and love, makes one truly happy and at peace with himself and his surroundings.
Happy people will fight to keep their political and economic freedom. But miserable, lost people don’t necessarily recognize the value of what is theirs and, as you point out, tend to envy and hate those that are happy and often want to become their dictators.
So the thing most needed in America to reinstate and sustain the rebirth of political and economic freedom is a spiritual awakening of a great magnitude.
Expensive stuff and over-hyped but I have a lot of it.
Possibly - the best for skiing along with VIST.
In heavy weather / working / wet, storm sailing conditions I swear by MUSTO or GILL as great values...
But I still wear a North Face ski jacket I was lucky to find for $20.00 at a thrift store.
Great that he went out with a bank... Pray I deserve the same.
RIP...
There’s better gear out there than NF...and competitively priced as well.
(sorry... A BANG. As well as a bank.)
Perhaps he should have shopped at Old Navy....
Ba da boom.
Alex is like a metaphorical son to me and my wife on YouTube when we watch him on TV
Such a sweet boy
My palms sweat and heart races watching him
It’s unfathomable what he does
I shut my eyes sometimes and my wife shrieks
I pray he quits while ahead soon with free solo
Long term outlook is ominous
He’s in a class by himself
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