Patagonia Accidentally Runs Photo of Biker on Restricted Trail

By Rocky Thompson on January 27th, 2010

Patagonia pulls down some amazing photos for their catalog, but one in their Heart of Winter 2010 issue has caused a stir. The shot of a cyclist on page 38 happened to be taken on the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail, a place where it’s illegal to ride a bike. Patagonia admitted the mistake and went out of the way to say that it was just that, a mistake. They weren’t trying to say something about the closure of bike trails or restricted access. They did a fine job getting out in front of this one to head off criticism, maybe they learned something from sitting back to see what public opinion would be before they responded to their former sponsored athlete Dean Potter climbing Delicate Arch.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 27th, 2010 at 1:27 pm and is filed under Story. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

2 Responses to “Patagonia Accidentally Runs Photo of Biker on Restricted Trail”

1. Paul January 28th, 2010 at 2:34 am

   ThaT’s what it’s all about- fuck up and then , just say “I AM SORRY “. Don’t think twice, don’t research, don’t mind other poeple, mother Nature anything or anybody. Fuck up, and if something goes wrong, just say “I AM SORRY “.

2. Forrest January 28th, 2010 at 2:51 pm

   While the bikes don’t really do any ecological damage to an already cleared trail, it’s good for hikers not to have to worry about them, and as a cyclist it’s nice not to have to dodge pedestrians.

   And I’ve got to agree with Paul - Patagonia made a small mistake, then fixed it and brought closure, instead of hiring PR firms. It’s the sort of thing that seems like it would have been common place back when Patagonia was being explored by the first European settlers, but is getting more and more rare these days.