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Specialty Outdoors
...a little bit about me... |
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| Well, let's see...I was born
and raised on the south side of Chicago, and moved to California
in '72. My first real backpacking trip was into the Yosemite
backcountry; a week long spring XC-skiing trip in the Tenaya
Lake area, with my soon- to be hubby, complete with full
moon and snow cave.
I have lived in a few different places: Bay
Area, Sierra foothills, Denver area, rural Wyoming, and
now Washington state. I enjoy all sorts of outdoors activities:
hiking, camping, backpacking, rafting, and I am crazed about
skiing and mountain biking. My
mountain bike page has lots of area biking photos of
me and my pals, the trails we ride and other fun bike stuff.

Family Portrait: Mt. Spokane 2005
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| I juggle my business, Specialty
Outdoors with being a wife to a wonderful guy, Craig,
and mom to two active teens. We spend lots of time
as a family camping , rafting, and skiing in the Pacific
Northwest and Canada. Here is one album of whitewater
adventures- He's an expert Class V catarafter, and boats
all over the region. In the summer of 2000, we were very
fortunate and were invited to join some friends on a permit
on the Tatshenshini
River. This is an amazing 160 mile wilderness float
trip through the heart of the St. Elias Range in Alaska...
visit the album if you like.
Middle
Fork Salmon, June '06
We have lived in Spokane since 1991,
and we love it here. We have great access to the outdoors,
good schools and a great community. Craig is a hydrogeologist
(CSM '84)and a licensed Professional Geological Engineer
in 4 states. He owns his own company, Schwyn
Environmental Services, LLC. He specializes in remediation,
groundwater issues and permitting.
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| Mount
Spokane is our home ski base where Craig patrols exclusively
on tele gear. I do a lot of behind the scenes volunteer
work for the patrol, and I made a ski
patrol quilt for the patrol building. Both of my
sons have joined the patrol, too! It's a true family affair
now.
Craig joined the Mount Spokane Ski Patrol
in 1993, as a National Ski Patrol volunteer (#9498), and
ski patrolling has been a family affair ever since.
We ski every weekend if we can, and I may sneak in a few
mid week days. Both of our sons are ski patrollers, too.
Our oldest attained the honor of runner up for National
Outstanding Student Patroller in 2005.
I've got two great sons. They are wonderful
boys: bright, active, involved.
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When the weather is nice, you might find Craig
on a river, the boys may be hiking or climbing; I'll on
my mountain bike somewhere. Biking is my real passion. I
love to ride singletrack, get new riders out on the trails,
and build trails with the mountain bike club I've helped
found, Fat Tire Trail Riders
We are involved in a community liasion program
with Fairchild AFB. We get to do cool stuff like this:
KC
135 fueling flight with volcanos and f 15's
The 50 Book Challenge
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Sparks-Lava Trail, central Oregon
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Riding stairs is fun!!
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family member enjoying 20" of powder
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Our idea of a RV
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Like father, like son.. Craig and Forrest on the Lochsa

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| I get asked a lot about how
I got started in my repair business. I have been sewing
since I was a child, and have sewn professionally since
1983, when I worked as a sewing and quality control supervisor
for Mountainsmith packs. I have completed most of an apparel
design degree, and I have also worked as a design assistant
doing "fairy tale" bridal for several years, in addition
to having a custom dressmaking business. When we relocated
to Spokane in 1991, I left the bridal behind. As any one
who loves to sew for themselves knows, there is a lot of
satisfaction in making one's own gear. Many years ago I
was approached by a ski patrol buddy of my husband's, who
commented to me that I should start a repair business. The
last guy in town who had been doing repairs had left to
be a DeadHead. A week later, I ran across a great deal on
an industrial machine, and well, the rest is history! It
was very natural for me to take everything I have learned
over the years and apply it to outdoor clothing and equipment.
Things have changed a bit. This site gets about 100 or
more visitors a day. I have a client base that is nationwide,
and I've done work for (last count) 30 out of 50 states,
plus Canada, UK and Asia. It feels pretty good when someone
tells you they heard about your service while talking to
some other big mountain climbers in a pie shoppe in Kathmandu!
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Specialty Outdoors
All text and photos © 2006, unless otherwise
indicated.
Materials may not be used reproduced without explicit permission
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