bears. Thayer's second book, Three Among the. Wolves, explores the year
Thayer, her husband and her dog Charlie spent living with wolves in the
Canadian ...
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Volume 02 • Issue 02 • Mar 2010
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expeditionist helen thayer on adventures in cordura To continue receiving your FREE copy of Outdoor USA, confirm subscription at www.outdoorusa.net
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[interview]
Traveling the Globe in Cordura
Helen Thayer puts fabric to the ultimate test
BY JULIE JIGOUR When I sat down to speak with Helen Thayer at OR, she had just recently returned from Tanzania, where she and her husband Bill had spent a month living with the Maasai tribe in a remote part of the country. Accompanied by a Maasai warrior for protection against lions and other wild animals, the couple hiked 500 miles as they experienced Maasai life firsthand. The photographs and stories that Thayer captured in Tanzania will soon become the content of an educational program that she will share with schools and audiences eager to learn from her discoveries.
the knowledge she gains on her expeditions to promote intercultural respect and environmental awareness while encouraging others to live a life without limits. Thayer herself does not let age, gender or others’ expectations limit her dreams, and she certainly does not let a lack of quality product hamper her freedom to explore. A good expedition, of course, requires quality gear and apparel. Thayer has found this quality in the Cordura brand, which has sponsored her for the past three years. I spoke with Thayer about her journeys and the role Cordura fabric plays in making them successful. What were the highlights of your recent trip to Tanzania? Learning the Maasai lifestyle and experiencing their friendship and hospitality. Many people wouldn’t expect a 72-year-old to set off on such an adventure. How did age affect your expedition? Bill and I don’t let age limit us, and we actually have a huge advantage on these journeys because of our age. Tribes like the Maasai respect elders, and this allows us to get into places that we probably wouldn’t be allowed to go to if we were in our 20s, 30s or even 40s.
thayer wears the osprey aura 65 that saved her in the cascades
As a brand spokesperson for Invista’s Cordura® brand, Thayer gave over 10 speeches during her time in Salt Lake City, covering all three of her existing educational programs. Each program is based on a book that chronicles one of her unique expeditions. Thayer’s first book, Polar Dreams, takes audiences through her famous 1988 solo trek to the Magnetic North Pole. During this expedition, Thayer, then 50 years old, became the first woman and first American to circumnavigate the area while facing the Arctic’s extreme conditions and the danger of marauding polar bears. Thayer’s second book, Three Among the Wolves, explores the year Thayer, her husband and her dog Charlie spent living with wolves in the Canadian Yukon, and Walking the Gobi tells the story of the 1600-mile trek Thayer and her husband took across the Mongolian Gobi Desert. Before Thayer went out to explore magnificent and treacherous parts of the globe, she developed her mountaineering and outdoor skills in New Zealand, where she was born and raised. Today she lives with her husband near the Cascade Mountains in Washington. She has been honored by the White House and has received recognition as “One of the Greatest Explorers of the 20th Century” by both National Geographic and NPR. At 72 years old, Thayer continues to embark on challenging adventures. She aims to use
What products featuring Cordura fabrics did you use on this trip? We used caps, shirts, packs and boots made with Cordura fabric. We’ve been using Cordura brand products for 32 years now, and we were one of the first people to use them on expeditions. Products made with Cordura brand fabric are ultra durable and dependable. When
helen thayer recently traveled to tanzania
there was a lightening strike overnight that that lasts. They don’t have the throw away started wildfires. culture that we have. They’d have a great time We woke up in the morning and everything picking up the stuff we throw away and makwas engulfed in smoke, so we had to get out. ing use of it. So living with the Maasai stressed Instead of continuing north on the trail, we had the importance of a product’s durability, and to go down south on the Cordura fabrics are built Mineral Creek Trail. The to last. trail is very steep, and we What has been your had to go fast because most memorable adwe had to get away from venture? the fire. If we had tried They are all special to go down the trail on in their own ways. The our bottoms, we would expedition to the Pole have been in sad shape. stands out because it was We’re lugers, so we put very difficult. I had to proour packs on the ground, tect myself against polar pushed off and used the bears and was the first packs like sleds. When one to use a flare gun to we got to the bottom, the do this. I was a pioneer packs were rather muddy thayer used granite gear in women’s expeditions and we had to pick rocks airvent in recent travels at the time because I had out of them, but other to invent and redesign than that they were fine. We dipped them in gear as well as do my own research. One man the river to get the mud off, dried them and had made the journey before solo, but he was loaded them up again. We couldn’t have slid a Japanese chicken farmer who lived in the down that trail with flimsy material. The packs mountains of Japan somewhere, and nobody are still in good shape, so we’ll use them again could find him. There was no one to answer in Africa as well as in the summer. my questions, so I had to figure everything out How have you been involved in the development of products made with Cordura fabric? I’ve done a lot of testing from day one. I also helped prove out the Cordura Baselayer t-shirt, which came out in 2008. I took the shirts on a few journeys and came back and said we need improved wicking, a softer feel, maybe some-
the haven tent by granite gear with white lightnin’ tarp
haven tent in the field during the tanzania expedition
you go out there alone, you can’t afford to have failures, so we have to choose products that are made of materials that will last. Cordura brand fabric has come out on top because of its durability. We’ve used Cordura fabric in backpacks, slipcovers, boots, jackets, shirts, gloves—in just about anything that requires fabric.
thing more light and comfortable, and then Invista’s development team used my feedback to improve the shirt. The fabric feels wonderful on the skin now, and we’re taking the shirts on our next trip to Africa. In Alaska, I discovered that big, aggressive mosquitoes can’t get through this base layer fabric. With other fabrics, an Alaskan mosquito will go right through and your arm will run with blood.
As of late, what has been the most standout product made with Cordura brand fabric that you’ve used? The Osprey Aura 65. We take some long, hard journeys in the Cascade Mountains, and we really beat up our packs because we walk 100 miles from one mountain pass to the other on the Cascade Crest Trail. It’s a national trail, and it’s very rugged in places. But to make matters worse, the last time we hiked the trail
29 • MARCH 2010 • OUTDOOR USA MAGAZINE
How has the Maasai culture influenced your perspective on product development? The Maasai culture is a culture with no waste. Everything has to last for them. In fact, we left behind some products made with Cordura fabric, including shirts, boots and other products because we know they need stuff
by myself. This was an expedition by itself and it took me two years, but it made the experience more worthwhile. I had to design my own sled, find people who could make it, test all my gear and call on my mountaineering experience to make everything work. Today you can go online, order an arctic sled and have everything delivered to your doorstep. I’m amazed at how much easier it is now. How have your expeditions influenced your worldview? They’ve opened my eyes and my husband’s eyes to other cultures and how they live. We never use the words “uncivilized,” “civilized,” “primitive,” etc. We’ve learned that the different people we encounter really know what they’re doing, and we try to take lessons from them. That’s how we bring back a lot of information. We always go with the attitude that we have nothing to teach them and they have everything to teach us. What journeys await you in the future? Soon Bill and I will leave again for Africa. We’ll walk another 500 miles with the Bushmen. I would like to walk the length of the Congo and live with the Pygmy people, but that’s on hold because of the war there. As a woman, I would never get out alive. We hope that once things settle down there, we can go. We also want to follow Livingston’s route down through Africa, but right now we can’t because the route goes through war zones. We would like to walk across Tibet and China. We have our permits in place for that, and we would have done it by now, but people got a bit nervous around Olympic time with Tibet and so forth. We also want to go back to the Amazon. There are just so many expeditions we hope to go on in the future!
