I Break for Moosejaw
I was posting an article on how Moosejaw Mountaineering is using digital catalogs, and I decided to quickly check out the outdoor gear and apparel merchant’s Website. While the page was loading (which took just a few seconds but still always seems like an eternity), I noticed this brief message from Moosejaw:
“Nothing worse than waiting for a page to load. Except getting cheated on, of course.” I had to keep re-entering the site to try to get another look at the fleeting message to make sure I’d read it right. Who are these clowns?
A visit to the “About Moosejaw” section reveals not a whole lot:
“At Moosejaw we want to make shopping as much fun as backpacking the Chilkoot trail, climbing in Yosemite, mountaineering in the Himalayas or playing red rover with the neighbors who you don’t like that much but they’re always ready to play any game in the cul-de-sac so you make do.”
And if you’re offended by ridiculous commentary, the site warns, “don’t click on the Moosejaw Madness section. Instead just pay attention to all the products because we carry the finest selection of the best gear and outerwear in the world.”
Not being remotely interested in backpacking and mountaineering—and never easily offended—I clicked the “Madness” link. This brought me to the Dating Girl advice column and In Case You’re Bored feature, as well as links to contests and Moosejaw’s blog. I can’t say any of this piqued my interest in adventure gear, but it kept me entertained and clicking around the site for a while.
There are too many strange and funny things about this site to list, so I’ll just highlight one more: a small thumbnail of a truck that popped up on the home page. The caption says: “If you have nothing else to do, click here for a pic of the Moosejaw truck. We only get pulled over about once a week.”
