I look at it the other way - Ueli is helping MH to manufacture lighter, alpine assault gear. I got the impression that MH was thrilled to have him provide input for the new line of gear.


i viewed it the same as fam guy.

The nature of hauling climbing gear and ultralight has been my paradox for years, and as a mostly solo entity it is even more so. I obsess for days over including a few more biners or a solo belay device. One of the funniest looking packs I every took off with was an ultralight model strapped to the hilt with a rope, daisy chains, and a pile of hardware, I shared a ferry up Lake Chelan with a group of newly converted ultra-lighters and their tsk-tsking and looks of disdain haunts me to this day. I looked like what I imgined an old traveling pot mender/cobler must of appeared in old Europe but all I was trying to do was transport it all to a base in one trip.
The point is there are more than a few of us always looking for new products to bridge the gap between all out climbing equipment and the ultralight world.
Thanks for the information.

"newly converted ultra-lighters and their tsk-tsking and looks of disdain haunts me to this day"

Some of us do the ultralight thing in order to facilitate other activities. I get people making comments about all the gear that I carry... until they see the photographs. Then they become envious ;)

Re: “I'm pretty sure he could afford a $5000 eider down suit.” If he can afford Eiderdown, why doesn’t he use Eiderdown garments, instead of the cheap, mass-produced stuff that Mountain Hardware churns out? (I’ll tell you why he uses the cheap, mass-produced stuff that Mountain Hardware churns out, instead of custom-made titanium ice tools. He uses the cheap, mass-produced stuff that Mountain Hardware churns out because he is too poor to be independent of sponsors, and he can’t afford to special-order Eiderdown sleeping bags. Sponsors lined up for Reinhold Messner’s endorsement, but poverty never forced him to suck their toes and use their cheap, mass-produced stuff on actual expeditions. I’m not being negative, am I?)

Yea Steve house, Tomaz Humar are/were also poor and apparently bad climbers because they didn't use custom gear. Will Gadd is to,I mean Red Bull what company is that? Patagonia is mass produced and so is Lowe alpine and arcteryx gear. you know why they use that gear, because they can get anything in life they want paid for so they can keep climbing and training, not being a dirt bag struggling.

I checked out the workbook for next year, and the apparel has pockets and features. only Ueli's gear is the super stripped version of the "custom mass produced cheap crap" that is mass marketed....

the packs and tent seem to be the same though with no features.

Edited by rcowman on 07/19/2011 20:54:06 MDT.

This is nothing new, nothing that screams to the heavens, oh my, Eureka! Climbers from way back have been faced with this same dilemna and the same questions since the first climber headed up into unknown territory.
I climbed for 35 years, and it went from YC, you know, that guy who owns Patagonia, and his famous catalogue that showed how to place clean pro, to Marc Twights Extreme Alpinism, to Blanchard, and then Steve House, and now to Ueli. The bottom line in all these evolutions is that they kept asking the same questions; how to get more done, with either what they had, what they could re-invent, or what they could do with out! Hmmmmmm, sounds like the same questions we ask ourselves each time we try to "lighten" or "change" our gear list for some upcoming trip!
I think the only thing that is actually changing is the ability to access some of the more mainstream designers, and mfg'ers, because in the end, its still business, and they want to make money. So more power to the climbers, because they get to do what they love, without living the life of a "poor" dirtbag climber, sleeping in the the back of Camp 4, or hiding out in Chammy, or poaching bed space in the Cain Hut. Sure those memories are cool, but it does take away energy that could be spent completing a killer climb.
Here's hoping that some of their ideas will actually make it downstream far enough that we might see it on the shelf, only to laugh and say, dam, I made one of those years ago!

"newly converted ultra-lighters and their tsk-tsking and looks of disdain haunts me to this day"

i find its often the newbies who are most wiling to tell you the million of things you are doing wrong ... the "oldies" just let you do your own thing

all my UL gear and biners ... and i still get outclimbed by some bum with "heavy" gear ... cause he brings so little of it cause hes a much stronger climber ... no need for a rain jacket, water, puffy, etc... if you can solo up the squamish chief in less than 2 hours =P

"i find its often the newbies who are most wiling to tell you the million of things you are doing wrong ... the "oldies" just let you do your own thing"

It's funny, that newbies always think they know everything, and the old hands are always still learning.

My Iaido instructor once said, "We're all beginners. I've just been a beginner for a lot longer than you." :)