For those looking to gift a cult-favorite Yeti cooler this Christmas, you might want to think about heading to Alaska.
A massive shipment of Yeti coolers has begun washing up on the Alaskan coast after it fell off of a cargo ship heading to British Columbia from South Korea, per reports by the Canadian Coast Guard.
After inclement weather struck the ship amid its voyage, an estimated 109 containers flew off of the boat, including containers that were holding the Yeti materials.
Yeti’s are not cheap — most sized containers sit within the $200-$500 range with stainless steel variations listed for $900.
In October, the #ZimKingston spilled 109 shipping containers near the WA/BC border. Debris has floated north ever since, onto beaches on Vancouver Island, then Haida Gwaii, then SE Alaska, and most recently the Kenai Peninsula (top of the Gulf of AK).
A debris thread… 1/n pic.twitter.com/f5aMWLY3D6— KUOW Public Radio (@KUOW) September 7, 2022
Those finding the coolers say although the box’s exteriors are (naturally) a bit weathered, the insides are being found in “mint condition.”
“We started to hear reports of some of these coolers ending up on the shores of Alaska, Seattle and beyond late last year when fans posted their finds on social media,” said President and CEO of Yeti, Matt Reintjes, per Wall Street Journal. “The company said they lost 1,600 coolers. “We hope people will put these near-new Yetis to good use.”
Locals report that they’ve been scavenging the coast over the last year for more coolers, rarely going home empty-handed as Yeti has reported that they lost an estimated 1,600 coolers in the incident.
Steven Peavey finds a Yeti cooler on Alaska’s Suemez Island in April, kicking off a “fun frenzy” of cooler hunting in SE AK.
Melissa Nagamine Peavey pic. 8/n pic.twitter.com/sHCpJFfJ3M— KUOW Public Radio (@KUOW) September 7, 2022
“The coolers are being found exactly where they should be,” Oceanographer Curtis Ebbesmeyer explained. “The Yetis are still out there. The coolers will keep circling the world. You’ll be getting reports of people finding Yetis for the next 30 years.”
Yeti was down just over 47% in a one-year period as of Monday afternoon.
