Every few months, I’ll walk into Great Outdoor Provision Company, prompted by the occasional thought that I should become an outdoorsy person, that I should become someone who enjoys woolen socks and long hikes and eating freeze-dried food out of a foil pouch. I’ll slowly walk across the wooden floors, clicking the display headlamps on and off and wondering whether I’m allowed to test the firestarters in the store.
“No, I’m just looking,” I’ll tell an earnest looking employee wearing ripstop clothing. “I’m just getting some ideas for later.”
And that’s all it ever is: an idea. I’m not good at being outdoors and know little to nothing about nature other than what I learned from movies, like the one where Liam Neeson punches a wolf, the one where James Franco had to saw off his own forearm or The Blair Witch Project. I get lost regularly, even when using Google Maps, and the only survival skill I have is the ability to use a public bathroom without allowing my skin to touch a single solid surface. So obviously I was surprised when some friends asked if I wanted to go on an 11-mile hike last weekend — and obviously I was all in.
(I’m not exaggerating about my worthlessness. On a drive back from the coast several years ago, I made a comment about the especially vivid sunset that night. “That’s not the sun,” my then-boyfriend said. “That’s a Golden Corral sign.”)
ANYWAY, I decided that this hike was my chance to become the backpacker I knew I could be and that, by Sunday night, I would either be in a print ad for REI or on a stretcher, explaining to a paramedic why I thought it would be a good idea to try to face-swap with a copperhead.
I spent an hour the night before trying to pull some gear together, dragging a pair of boots and my daypack out of the very back of the closet. In my other job, I’d just written about a guy who had to be rescued from a 9,301-foot mountain in Arizona after getting caught in a sudden late-spring snowstorm. He was in shorts and a tank top, completely unprepared for the conditions and told authorities that he was only doing the hike because of a local pizza restaurant’s free pie promotion. (That part I can respect. I’d drink the water out of a koi pond if there was free food involved.) But, with that in mind, I rolled up a parka and crammed it into my backpack, too.
We were on the road early on Sunday because it was almost a two-hour drive to the Rocky Knob trailhead, just south of Floyd, Va. We pulled into a gravel parking lot near a well-maintained campground, parking across from a sign that somewhat ominously reminded us that we were in Bear Country. We double-knotted our boots, took pictures of the trail map and started into the woods.
The first three miles of the Rock Castle Gorge Trail are a steady, steep downhill, dropping almost 1,000 feet in elevation. When I wasn’t staring at the toes of my boots, trying not to trip over the sharp rocks that looked like one of Kevin McCallister’s booby traps, it was easy to get lost in the stillness of everything. We were completely enveloped by the forest and the only sounds were the occasional trickle of a waterfall, the bubbling of the Rock Castle Creek and the satisfying crunch of our boots on the trail.
After reaching the bottom of the gorge, we had to climb back up, which meant several hours of exhaustion (due to the terrain, we averaged about two miles per hour), but we were rewarded with some unbelievable views of the gorge and the countryside beyond it. The trail ran parallel to the Blue Ridge Parkway in places and, at one point, we stumbled out of the woods and onto an overlook that was accessible from the road. We mumbled our excuse me’s as we walked through everyone’s outstretched almost-Instagrams, passing a bored looking man in shower shoes who balanced a cigarette on his bottom lip while he framed the treetops on his Samsung screen.
For the last mile, we walked from wooden trail marker to trail marker as we passed through an impossibly green pasture, weaving between sad-eyed dairy cows that mostly ignored us. Between the low-hanging clouds, the vivid greens of the fields and those screensaver-worthy views, it would’ve been believable to think that we’d hiked to some remote Swiss village (except you don’t pass concrete pigs painted with Confederate flags on a drive through rural Switzerland).
After more than five hours on the trail, we finally stumbled back into the parking lot, immediately swapped our boots for flip-flops and chugged hot bottles of water that we’d left in the floorboards. It was only one day, so I’m still not that backpacker I picture in my head, but I do have some ideas, for later.
Tánaiste (Deputy Prime Minister) Joan Burton took the opportunity to visit Tricel (Killarney) whilst in Killarney for the Labour party conference.
Mike Stack Managing Director, accompanied her on a tour of the factory where she chatted with management and staff. She also took the time to watch the production process and listen to Tricel’s success story since it was established in 1973.
“Tánaiste Burton’s visit to Tricel (Killarney) offered her the opportunity to see our production processes first hand. It was very encouraging for our staff that she had taken the time to discuss their roles within the company” Mike Stack Managing Director
Killarney Plastics is created by Anne & Con Stack on 1 st February 1973. Their project is the production of fiberglass products (GRP) and other high-end composite products. At that time, the PRV is a new and innovative material on the Irish market. The company begins producing a range that includes boats and building materials to the people of the region. The Company is then located in a small alley in the city of Killarney in Ireland.
After his first success, larger premises become necessary to respond to the strong demand for the products in GRP. The company expands and moves to a new place where she built a small factory in the early 80. Additional jobs are created to meet the demand.
Although business is booming, the company focuses on developing its own range of products: tanks for water storage cabinets and counters. The experience enables the development of unique manufacturing methods that are the foundation for innovation and that later will prove to be a key factor in the growth of the company. Consistent manufacturing processes lead to high quality products, also encouraging this growth.
In the early 90s the company expanded its range of water storage tanks and metering enclosures that are very successful. Market development strategies generate the first export sales in the UK and Europe. The Killarney Plastics capabilities and reputation of engineering and technical development thrive in Ireland and the UK. Killarney Plastics is assigned contracts with utilities.
A dual strategy is implemented involving the proprietary products and acquisitions. The company is implementing an action plan to expand the business and become an international leader in the market for composite materials.
The initial phase of the development plan is the expansion in the UK market in 1994 and Gloucester Composites is set up for the manufacture of the product range for companies in the UK market.
In 1997, further expansion with the establishment of a distribution company of raw materials, Fibreglass Sales, Northern Ireland.
In 1998, Killarney Manufacturing Group (KMG) is created to bring together the experience, manufacturing capability and staff of each company.
In 1999 KMG made its first acquisition, Technotrak, brings a platform enabling the group to diversify into the design and manufacture of equipment for road safety.
At the end of 1999, KMG acquired the two main companies specializing in tanks for water storage in the United Kingdom: Dewey Waters and Nicholson Plastics. Dewey Waters, based in Bristol, was established in 1956 and Nicholson Plastics, with subsidiaries in Scotland and London, was established in 1968. KMG doubled in size thanks to these acquisitions.
The beginning of the millennium sees KMG consolidate its recent acquisitions. To meet the needs of a constantly growing, a new head office with a research and development center and advanced manufacturing plant is built in Killarney.
KMG concerning diversification strategy, the group is developing in the environmental sector. A new subsidiary, Tricel, founded in 2002. Tricel is created to focus on the treatment of wastewater market, initially in Ireland and the UK and later in Europe and the United States.
In 2005, KMG acquires AC Plastic Industries, a British manufacturer of water tanks and fire extinguishers. AC Plastics, established in 1958, has a long history of water reservoirs in the Middle East and North Africa.
This decade sees KMG become the first water tanks GRP manufacturer in Europe with distribution in Europe, Africa and Asia.
In 2011, KMG opens its first plant in France, in Poitiers, in the manufacture of its range of treatment VSAT Tricel for the French market.
In 2012, KMG continues to diversify its products with the launch of a range of sealants; KMG ProWorx. The KMG ProWorx products for the automotive industry.
Tricel also gets the same year, certification for its range of wastewater treatment systems in Germany which is another important step for the Tricel brand. Tricel is one of the few Irish and English brands to have obtained certifications of both French and German governments.
On March 28, 2014, due to the growing success of Tricel, the group led by KMG Killarney Plastics Company, changes its name to Tricel. The group companies are also renowned Tricel.
The Tricel name is already well established in a number of countries and this change is a significant step forward for our future success. Tricel the original brand was created in 2002 when the group extended to new markets. 2014 is the perfect time to apply this change so that all aspects of the group are united under a single identity growing.
The new Tricel mark means a new beginning, a great moment for the group that plans to enlarge further.
mai 2015 – 100 new posts are foreseen by the Tricel group, 40 vacancies in the same group headquarters in Killarney.These new jobs will allow the group to move from a staff of 250 employees to 350 employees across Ireland, the UK and France in the next 18 months.
This project is supported by the Ministry of Employment, Enterprise and Innovation through Enterprise Ireland (Irish development agency that assists Irish companies in their establishment and development in France).