Chicago Illinois, a beautiful land, hidden and tucked away from the hustle and bustle of the, decently tall, mountain peaks of the West and nestled close to the Great Lake of Michigan. An Alpha Global city, Chicago is filled with history. History like; big manmade buildings, prohibition, several treaties (I could name them), the Cubs, a large fire and some other stuff too.

Laser Portal to the year 2000. The Play Station 2 is released in Japan. Natalie Rasmussen and Ryan Crump started dating. The Backstreet Boys have a record titled Millineum. Gas costs an average of $1.26 per gallon. Moosejaw Mountaineering comes to the Big City. Boom.

Since 2000 Moosejaw has been straight up kickin' it in the Windy City--also known as Chi-town, Chi, the Dubstep Arena, Frank's kinda town, and CHICAGO. Moosejaw Chicago is known for its amazing selection of High-end Outdoor Gear and Apparel. No matter what your wants or needs, we can get 'err done.. Like to Climb? We've got climbing do-dads. Like Camping. Bam! We've got camping gear. Need a hug? Come here.... lets do this.

The goods are coming. Stay tuned.

NOTHING IS HAPPENING

Check back soon for more upcoming shop events.
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The Chicago employees are very proud of their jacket assortment. They often watch the weatherman just to get some laughs. "Ha, real cute, weatherguy, is that the best you've got?" (they are kinda snooty). From rain to sun to snow to... locusts, they've got a jacket for any condition. Marmot is on the forefront of both rain and locust protection. Arc'teryx makes a nice rainshell as well; we're not sure how it holds up to locusts though.

The North Face and Mountain Hardwear both make outstanding jackets for windy conditions, or for running... away from swarms of locusts. (sorry, I just watched a special on locusts).

You've got a couple feet, we've got a bunch of shoes... let's make something happen. Heck, we can even get you two of the same style and size*. If you're one of those people that has two different sized feet we'll even make special accommodations for you... we'll very politely ask you to leave**.

But in all seriousness, we have footwear for the trail, for the crag, for the beach or for about town and we'll make sure that you get what you need. In fact, I think La Sportiva fits all of those categories.
*probably.
**is the threat, "don't ever set one of those unsymmetrical feet in this shop again" polite?

For the longest time I thought that people were calling a belay device a "blade of ice". It took a surprisingly long amount of time to figure out my error. I think I even called it a "blade" for short for a while... and people were into it. It was like some new slang spreading around the climbing gym. But fear not, the Chicago employees know much more about climbing than I do and they can properly inform you about what gear you need. My guess is that they'll tell you about Petzl, Black Diamond, Camp USA, Metolius, and a bunch of other cool sounding brands.

The first ever recognized form of backpacking was simply a guy getting attacked from behind by a monkey. Bystanders were very impressed by how evenly the beast's weight was distributed over the unfortunate man's shoulders and waist. It wasn't long before a monkeybag, or "backpack", was designed and created. Nowadays, companies like Osprey, Gregory and Granite Gear have perfected this form of pack.

I'm sure there are stories like this to explain the origins of all kinds of camping gear. Maybe Leki's trekking poles were modeled after that wacky walking stick bug. Maybe Marmot's down sleeping bags were inspired by a snake eating a smaller snake. I don't know; I don't have all the answers... but please feel free to ask our Chicago employees.

I have a picture of one of our Chicago employees wearing like 20 shirts at once. The most notable thing about the picture is the big smile on their faces. Here's what I learned from that picture: shirts = happiness. The good news is that we've got all kinds of shirts for all kinds of conditions at our Chicago shop. Mountain Hardwear makes great wicking shirts for hiking, The North Face makes breezy running shirts and Patagonia makes excellent sun protection shirts for boaters and fishermen. So come on down and buy as many as you can fit on yourself. Plus they sell pants, too (even though I'm pretty sure the less pants you wear the happier you usually are).