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:
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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.
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Paul Kramer, also from Sierra Designs, an enthusiastic backpacker and
snowboarder with numerous patents that demonstrate his love for pioneering
design developments.
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Mike Wallenfels, an experienced climber and mountaineer, whose Adventure
16 sales experience gives him strong insight into what consumers really want.
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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 Exposure™ Parka
and the Sub Zero™ Jacket.
More than a decade later, Mountain Hardwear has grown quite a bit. The company has
over 90 people in our California office, more than 35 sales reps and associates
across the United States and Europe, and representatives 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.
We keep our outdoor knowledge sharp by sponsoring over 20 athletes and using their
real-world challenges and experiences to continue to advance the technology and
fabrics we build into our products.
Mountain Hardwear has always focused on bringing radical thinking to the gear we make.
That's why we have a section in our website that talks about the innovation we've built
into our products: the patented Cross Flow™ tent construction, WindStopper®
next-to-skin fabric development in partnership with Gore® and the patented Quantum
Expander™ for sleeping bags to name just a few. We continually challenge ourselves
to bring technical innovation to outdoor gear and to create detail-oriented design
features that anticipate users' needs. We combine 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.