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Stories Climbing Mountain of Storms

Mountain of Storms

In 1968, five friends set out on a 5,000-mile road trip in a white Ford van bound for South America.
Mountain of Storms

Mountain of Storms

The Fun Hogs, as they called themselves, was made up of Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard and The North FaceÕs co-founder Doug Tompkins, along with rock climber Chris Jones, U.S. ski/snowboard Hall of Famer Dick Dorworth, and Mountainfilm founder Lito Tejada-Flores.

They packed surfboards, skis, and climbing gear and documented the whole trip on a 16mm Bolex camera.

From Ventura, California to a first ascent on Cerro Fitz Roy, with a stop for sand skiing and 31 days in an ice cave in between, 'Mountain of Storms' prefigured the modern adventure movie.

It serves as the mythological origin story behind the Patagonia name and philosophy, and informed a founding principle that would come to dominate these menÕs lives for the next five decades: whatÕs important isnÕt what you accomplished, itÕs how you got there.

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Morgan is the managing editor of surf for Patagonia. He previously worked as senior editor at Stab Magazine and is an enjoyer of various activities. Listening to new-age country music is not one of them.

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