Outdoors/Adventure

Frustrated grizzlies can't pry open this bear-proof cooler

With bears on the verge of emerging from dens across Alaska, an old outdoor company has hit the market with what looks to be a new go-to product for Alaska campers -- a bear-proof cooler.

Coleman Inc. says its Esky Series Coolers -- which come in 85- and 55-quart sizes -- have been certified by the federal Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee as bear-safe products, and the company has a video to prove it.

The video shows a grizzly bear at the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center in West Yellowstone, Montana, basically beating the snot out of an Esky cooler, but the bear can't get it open.

"Packed with a tantalizing mix of fish, honey and other bear attractants, the Esky 55-quart and 85-quart coolers proved to be an unbeatable match against the live grizzly bears,'' the company said in a press release. "By withstanding a minimum of 60 minutes of tearing, biting, bending, pulling and clawing, the coolers passed the test. The lid did not open more than a quarter-inch.''

Coleman is famous in Alaska for the Coleman two-burner stove, a durable white-gas cooking stove still found all over rural Alaska, although it has been gradually replaced by newer technology. The Esky coolers look as if they could be the Coleman two-burners of a new age.

The only downside is the price -- $409.99 for the 85-quart, $339.99 for the 55-quart -- and the weight. They're heavy. But if you've got food or anything else you really want to protect from the bears, cost and weight may not matter.

The coolers should be available soon at local retailers -- if they're not already in stock.

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