Have you ever introduced two friends that you knew would hit it off?  It is like seeing a blind date quickly turn into a happy partnership.  This could describe the new way of combining wool and bamboo to make fabric, used in our SKOLTEC base layers.  Customers report that they love this product and wonder why these two textiles work well together.  Let’s dig in.    Wool is a terrific material: it is environmentally friendly, thermoregulating (warm when you need it, cool when you don’t), and has a soft feel when it is a next-of-skin product like SKOLTEC base layer.  Wool holds its shape well and lasts.  Blending bamboo with wool is a more recent development in textiles and this combination has a good array of attributes.     

What’s the difference between Merino wool and alpaca socks? No matter what you are wearing on your feet…ski boots, running shoes, boots, or just whatever you found at the front door, you want to keep your feet happy. Your sock choice can be just as important as your footwear, no matter the temperature. Since both Merino wool and alpaca are great natural fibers for socks, this begs the question, “What is the difference between Merino wool and alpaca socks? Why one or the other?” The short answer is that both are terrific. Both Alpaca and Merino wool are breathable, warm and odor resistant. Great qualities for your feetsies. But if you want to dig deeper into the differences between wool and alpaca, here's a list of attributes to consider when deciding between Merino wool and alpaca socks.

Horses + Mules are a lot of work. But the payoff is huge. There is nothing better, even in the world of internal combustion engines and battery powered Tesla’s, than a train of pack horses in the backcountry. We caught up with the Mills brothers at their home in Augusta, MT. It’s February and they are chipping away at the preparations for summer trips into the Bob Marshall Wilderness.

We headed out to the foothills of the Little Belt Mountains (Near Utica, MT) in search of a new climbing area. Trent did manage to find a route up to the anchors despite his first day climbing outdoors. Mia did her best, and even after admitting she was only doing it for the camera, ended up surprising herself and having bit of fun. At the bar, Cody and Cody were challenged at the pool table by two hunters scouting the area for the up-and-coming season. There was an abundance of beer, awkward dancing, and the occasional good shot.

Goretex is a patented material, and one of the first materials of its time to be flexible, breathable and waterproof all at the same time. Before that people were either waxing their canvas or wearing plastic ponchos. Our 3-Layer SR3 Fabric (made in Japan) is based off the same principle, creating a fabric that not only keeps the water out, but breathes enough to keep you dry on the inside as well. We'll explain how our shell is different than a poncho, what a 3-layer shell means, and how a fabric is tested for waterproofness. Full disclaimer, our shells are not made from Gore-tex material, just like the tissues you buy from the supermarket might not be Kleenex (a brand). So if you are looking for Gore-tex products specifically, you might try looking at some of our competitors like Arc'teryx or Rab. Other brands like Mountain Hardware an...

Adventure itself is defined by the unknown elements of life. It always involves some headlong plunge into unpredictability, into the unknown. And if adventure were predictable and quantifiable, then well we wouldn't call it adventure. We'd just call it algebra or something. Experts can have a hard time with adventure, wanting things figured, anticipated, and calculated. An expert is a nice thing to have around when expertise is needed, but most times the fun is in overcoming the challenge of not knowing. The need to be an expert often inherently sucks the fun out like a leech sucking blood from its host.

There are only a few wild places left. Within the Rocky Mountain Front Range lies 1.5 million acres of designated "Wilderness" spanning from Glacier National Park to Rogers Pass in Western Montana. Lying in the foothills of the Front Range is a small town called Augusta, Montana. Maybe you have heard of some of these places like the Scapegoats, Blackleaf, The Chinese Wall, Benchmark, or "The Bob". These are some of the landmarks that lie within one of the last wild places in Montana. So when we got the call from Amy Mills that they had been wearing our jackets back in The Bob during the 2020 backcountry season, and want to partner with us on development and testing it was an easy yes.

THE SEARCH FOR THE BEST COTTON IN THE WORLDWithin 15 minutes of landing in Lima Peru's international airport I was standing in the streets, with our design team members Orlando and Sonia.  This was the beginning of our quest to find the best factory partner for building our line of Rogue + Pima tee shirts, tanks, and fleece products.  Orlando and Sonia are veterans to the Lima game.  They have been travelling to Lima for over 30 years with some of the biggest brands in the USA to help them develop the right relationships with factories in Peru.  Orlando being Cuban and Sonia being Puerto Rican rendered my broken Spanish unnecessary.  I have travelled to Latin America many times in the past, and went to school for a semester in Buenos Aires, Argentina.  The air smells like Latin America.  It’s slightly ...

WE HAVE BEEN MISLEAD ABOUT COTTON.Forever now we have been told that "cotton is bad," especially in the outdoor world.  We are told that it doesn't dry out quick enough, doesn't "wick", and that it is environmentally unfriendly.  If you have a background in the outdoor industry you may have heard the phrase "cotton kills".  We believe that phrase is used severely out of context.  One major misunderstanding is that there are many types of cotton.  In our garments we use 2 types of cotton almost exclusively; Peruvian Pima and Tanguis cotton.  The advantages of cotton in the outdoors are that it is healthier and non allergenic to wear, it absorbs water better than synthetic fibers which keeps you more comfortable, and it's also more breathable than synthetics (suprise) .  Besides the technical reasons, we...