Sierra Maclure (Karen Najarian) no longer associated with RE

[SierraMaclure]

Some of you may know me from here and some of you might have run into me in the Yos. backpackers camps or on the trail. I've been teaching backpacking for the last 15 years, a lot of that through REI Adventures. My company, Sierra Spirit, ran all 8 REI Yosemite trips. Last summer we had 260 clients and 28 trips, our best year ever. We were the most successful vendor in the whole weekend category. New management arrived at REI last April. They fired me last Wed. and are hiring a huge multi-million dollar company (based in the SW that knows nothing about Yosemite) to replace me. It was out of the blue. I built this from scratch out of my dining room and garage. They will run what I created but it won't be the same. Sierra Spirit will go on and make a go of it independently. We're not done spreading the magic of the Sierra. Spread the word. sierraspirit.biz

[RichardCullip]

That sucks.

Good luck with your new/continued venture.

[Shawn]

What a shame, and shame on them.

No doubt there are thousands of people that have benefitted and enjoyed their back country experiences thanks to you.

Best of luck to you.

[rlown]

Laid off 3 times. Came back twice. HP lays off on Mondays. They have it down to a science. Every Monday was scary.

Glad you're doing it on your own! Your staffers look competent based on your website. Hope they stayed with you.. A weird year or two.

[The Other Tom]

Yep, seems to be common place these days. I was laid off and was able to come back. You have great skills, a great team, and great knowledge on how to run a business. You'll be like the Phoenix....go get 'em!