MSR Celebrates 50 Years Of Unruly Dreamers
Twenty-nineteen marks the 50th Anniversary of Seattle-based Mountain Safety Research (MSR), the world leader in reliable and high-performance outdoor equipment. For five decades, MSR has been a company of engineers, inventors, and unruly dreamers who challenge the status quo to find superior solutions to the challenges of the mountains.
In the early days, MSR’s efforts focused on raising awareness about climbing equipment safety and finding innovative, safer ways to make outdoor gear. The Mountain Safety Research newsletter initially sold third-party equipment made by other manufacturers, but founder Larry Penberthy quickly realized that MSR needed to manufacture its own equipment in-house to meet the high bar for quality and safety that MSR demanded.
“MSR was founded in 1969 on a crusade against unsafe climbing equipment, and we’re still obsessed with creating the most reliable and high-performance gear possible,” says Doug Sanders, VP of MSR. “While our innovations have evolved over the past 50 years to establish MSR as an industry leader, our dedication to engineering products that deliver when customers need them most remains unchanged.”
MSR’s first offerings included an auto-belay device, snow flukes, speedy ice screws, and safer climbing ropes. The brand also ventured into some more unexpected product offerings, including cold-weather gloves, helmets, and the MSR Mountain Parka, which pioneered the use of pit zips for ventilation.
The company has engineered standbys in the outdoor industry including the WhisperLite Stove in 1984, the first dromedary bag in 1990, and the Denali Snowshoe, which transformed snowshoe design in 1996. More recently, the company launched the MSR Impact Project in 2019, a nonprofit fund dedicated to advancing safe drinking water access. MSR global health leverages the company’s expertise in water treatment to improve safe drinking water access in developing countries. To date, nearly 1 million people around the world have access to safe drinking water because of MSR’s global health technologies.
Whether it’s defying the status quo in equipment design, setting a world record, or radically shifting the social mindset, MSR believes that the greatest innovations and explorations are inspired by the world’s unruly dreamers — the innovators and visionaries whose ideas and actions radically shift the mindset of what’s possible. The company is inspired by those unruly dreamers who, like MSR, dream big and are fearless enough to make those dreams a reality, challenging themselves and others to defy mediocrity in the quest to find greater solutions to real-world issues
How to Participate in MSR’s Celebration of Unruly Dreamers
MSR invites you to join in its celebration of unruly dreamers and contest by submitting a video response to any of the four questions below. The contest will be open through August 17th, and the winner will be awarded MSR’s prize package on September 10th. Select submissions will be recognized in an MSR video on September 10th. For more information on the campaign, about the contest guidelines, or to submit your own story about what makes you an unruly dreamer, please visit: www.msrgear.com/50th-anniversary.
• Show your most memorable adventure (or misadventure).
• Finish this sentence: I’m an Unruly Dreamer because I____________.
• Show your most loved piece of MSR gear.
• What’s your next big outdoor goal?
