Mountain Hardwear: Radical Thinking

Passion fuels passion: Industry leading technical innovation, meticulous attention to detail, relentless pursuit of the best materials. Mountain Hardwear makes gear to perform when you need it most. Mountain Hardwear. Radical Thinking.

In 1993, a small group of people who had weathered years in the outdoor industry decided to get together and form Mountain Hardwear. In addition to working in the outdoor industry, the Mountain Hardwear founders were avid outdoors people themselves and included:

Jack Gilbert, a practiced fly fisherman who is the former VP of Sales and Marketing at The North Face and former President of Sierra Designs. Now retired.

Paul Kramer, also from Sierra Designs, an enthusiastic backpacker and snowboarder with numerous patents that demonstrate his love for pioneering design developments. Now retired.

Mike Wallenfels, an experienced climber and mountaineer, whose Adventure 16 sales experience gives him strong insight into what consumers really want. Mike is now president of the company.

Paige Boucher, an avid backcountry skier with strong marketing experience from her years at Sierra Designs

Founding Mountain Hardwear was the team's first demonstration of radical thinking; the company bet on experience and passion for innovative, technologically advanced products to bring together a product line within 90 days. Many in the industry thought the task was impossible, but the Mountain Hardwear crew worked fast and smart-and introduced two products that are still in the line today: the ExposureT Parka and the Sub ZeroT Jacket.

More than a decade later, Mountain Hardwear has grown quite a bit. Mountain Hardwear products are sold in 38 countries across 5 continents. Mountain Hardwear has over 100 people in the Mountain Hardwear California office, more than 35 sales reps and associates across the United States, Europe and Korea, and distributors in Canada, Asia, South America, Australia and New Zealand. And now, with the solid financial backing of Columbia Sportswear, Mountain Hardwear is free to develop even more cutting edge designs and products.

Even with all these changes, the team at Mountain Hardwear is still small, friendly and down-to-earth. Employees and representatives continue to share a passion for the outdoors along with a passion for making innovative, technologically advanced gear. Mountain Hardwear keeps their outdoor knowledge sharp by sponsoring over 20 athletes and using their real-world challenges and experiences to continue to advance the technology and fabrics Mountain Hardwear builds into the Mountain Hardwear products.

Mountain Hardwear has always focused on bringing radical thinking to the gear that Mountain Hardwear makes. That's why Mountain Hardwear has a section in their website that talks about the innovation that Mountain Hardwear has built into the Mountain Hardwear products: the patented Cross FlowT tent construction, WindStopper® next-to-skin fabric development in partnership with Gore® and the patented Quantum ExpanderT for sleeping bags to name just a few. Mountain Hardwear continually challenges themselves to bring technical innovation to outdoor gear and to create detail-oriented design features that anticipate users' needs. Mountain Hardwear combines that innovation and attention to detail with superior product quality-backed with a lifetime warranty that speaks for itself. Mountain Hardwear-Radical Thinking-again and again.

Protecting the wild spaces of our earth and helping more individuals to recreate and play in those spaces have been priorities of the management and employees of Mountain Hardwear since the company started in 1993. For 2006 Mountain Hardwear has restructured its philanthropic giving program so that it has a more directed focus, clearer guidelines and a board of directors to oversee it. The new program, called Mountain Hardwear Gives Back, has five arms designated to reflect the company's priorities.

Mountain Hardwear sponsors over 20 athletes to provide real-world challenges to our product designers and to conduct product testing in extreme conditions. Mountain Hardwear also thinks it's important to support the folks who are committed to pushing their personal limits while pursuing adventure in the outdoors.

Mountain Hardwear Life-Link/Dynafit Ski Mountaineering Race Series: Mountain Hardwear has teamed up with Life-Link/Dynafit as co-presenters of the United States Ski Mountaineering Association race series for the second year in a row. These mountaineering races challenge each competitor's level of endurance, equipment and backcountry skiing skills while pitting them against the other competitors. Held at premier ski resorts across the country and in Canada, the courses lead the racers through the toughest terrain that the resort and surrounding mountains have to offer. With both recreation and race divisions, this series attracts a diverse field of enthusiasts. Proceeds from the race series go to benefit local avalanche forecasting centers and local search and rescue groups.

MOUNTAIN HARDWEAR

Just sippin on chai, relaxing in my Mountain Hardwear universal sleeping bag, while wearing my Mountain Hardwear long underwear, in my Mountain Hardwear down vest. Now if I could just get outside and off my couch.

My Efforts for Mountain Hardwear

Maybe I should buy a Mountain Hardwear tent to encourage me to leave the house. I tried the Mountain Hardwear down vest on everyday at my local Moosejaw Mountaineering before it went on sale and I decided to fork over the cash. I even tried to hide a Mountain Hardwear jacket in the corner of the dressing room so I could buy it after I received my next paycheck. Then the shop manager told me I could just place it on hold with the other Mountain Hardwear jackets I was waiting to buy. I think they only hire nice people at Moosejaw. They cope with my Mountain Hardwear obsession very well.

Mountain Hardwear, Why Change

Some people say, why don't you change it up, why don't you at least try out some North Face or Patagonia or Arc'teryx, or at least some Marmot for just once. I refuse to stop using Mountain Hardwear. I just don't like change. Neither does sponge-bob-square-pants; notice he never changes his outfit either.