About The Brand: Mountain Hardwear

As soon as you visit our website the first thing you will notice is that we have a new brand here at Simply Hike. Yes you are correct that new brand is Mountain Hardwear!   In 1993 when a small group of employees left the company 'Sierra Designs' they decided to create their own outdoor company, Mountain Hardwear was born. The founders of Mountain Hardwear are themselves avid outdoors people, they include Jack Gilbert, Paul Kramer, Mike Wallenfels and Paige Boucher to name a few. It was their passion that drove Mountain Hardwear to design and develop advanced outdoor products. Their first sponsored athlete was Ed Viesturs who is the first American to climb all fourteen 8,000 metre peaks. Ed helped develop some of the company’s products, namely the Exposure Parka and the Sub Zero Jacket which you can still buy to this day. Their passion for the outdoors is what drove them way back in 1993, and this is still at their core today. With athletes like: Andrew Lock, Erik Weihenmayer, Matt Monizm, Jake Meyer, Kenton Cool, Ueli Steck and many more under their roster you can see their passion for the outdoors and how they are pushing the boundaries with technology. Mountain Hardwear have close ties with the company Gore. Mountain Hardwear pioneered the waterproof membrane Gore-Tex XCR in 2000 and in 2001 helped Gore develop Gore Windstopper technology. Outside of Gore, Mountain Hardwear have been busy on the technology front, in 2003 they were the first company to create the first waterproof sleeping bag. In 2006 they created the Exodus backpack system and in 2009 pioneered OutDry 3D lamination technology for their gloves. It’s not surprising then that a brand that’s on the forefront of outdoor technology has offices in California, Canada, Asia, South America, Australia, New Zealand and in mainland Europe.   Anyway that’s enough about the brand let's talk about our favourite picks (so far) in the new Mountain Hardwear range. Firstly we would like to talk about the amazing Torsun Jacket. This is a great lightweight jacket, it only weighs 516g! The Dry.Q technology will keep you dry no matter the weather! The breathability is also great with the Torsun jacket, so even if you are wearing this jacket first thing on your hike it will keep you cool. The Torsun features asymmetrical Velcro adjust cuffs which protect the top of your hands and the zippered pockets also double up as core vents for cooling, which of course works perfectly with the Dry.Q technology.     Next up we have the Women’s Microchill fleece. This is a perfect lightweight midlayer. This fleece is perfect for those cold mornings, even if you are just out walking your dog, it really does tick all the boxes. The Microchill’s pockets are zipped meaning you can keep your valuables safe like your keys, wallet or phone. This fleece uses Mountain Hardwear Wick.Q Evap technology which is an industry leading wicking technology. So you can rest assured that you won’t sweat when wearing this fleece, also this means that the fleece has a quicker drying rate which is pretty cool!     Next we have a classic, the Monkey Man Grid Fleece. This is no ordinary fleece though as the strategically placed hardface fleece offers increased mobility to the arms and the back, while the burnout grid pattern reduces bulk and increases breathability. The Monkey Man uses High loft Monkey “phur” in the body, upper arms and shoulders in the fleece which gives unbeatable warmth! This fleece is also lightweight, weighing in at only 357g! It has an active fit which works in harmony with the grid design. And to top it off two zipped handwarmer pockets, lovely!   The last Mountain Hardwear item we would like to talk about is the Women’s Laminina 20 sleeping bag. This sleeping bag has featured in our latest Gear Review: Top 5 Winter Sleeping bags blog and is the ONLY ladies sleeping bag in the top 5! This sleeping bag has a comfort rating of -7°C and an extreme temperature rating of -31°C. The Laminina uses synthetic insulation to keep you warm, this works perfectly with the DWR coast to keep you nice and dry. This sleeping bag uses Thermal.Q technology which gives outstanding compressibility but still maintains brilliant loft which is also why the Laminina weighs less but keeps you warmer than other sleeping bags!   We hope you have enjoyed a little “intro” to Mountain Hardwear. To see our fully range click >here<. We would love to hear you stories about the harshest place you have worn your Mountain Hardwear gear so comment below!