“An Adverse Effect on Nature”: Outdoor Recreation and the Lament of the Gearmaker

Few individuals contributed more to the growth of the outdoor industry than the athletes turned gearmakers who promoted their sports by selling equipment and clothing developed “in the field.” Outdoorsmen and a few outdoorswomen put their name and reputation behind new gear, from tents to jackets to pitons. As experts in sports such as backpacking and climbing, gearmakers were well positioned to respond to holes in the industry. Even as these newly founded companies like Patagonia and The North Face funded gearmakers’ continued participation in often-expensive sports, these men lamented quieter, purer days.  Guidebook authors warned that modern gear had “opened the wilderness to the masses.” The inventors of new outdoor clothing and gear, who were often consummate insiders, expressed concern that their technologically advanced designs had ruined the solitude of nature by increasing access; they worried about democratizing the great outdoors. One counterculture tent maker felt that his new tent designs “had an adverse effect on nature: too many people trampling around. ” Yvon Chouinard, the founder of the outfitting company Patagonia, agreed. He recalled with longing days “when [he] and one other guy were the only climbers in the valley.” Of course, it was the products these men created that made the wilderness more comfortable and more attractive to average consumers. Thus, gearmakers occupied a difficult ideological position. They were both businessmen and athletes. They had to sell their sport and simultaneously wanted to protect it. Gearmakers, then, were both arbiters of the outdoor experience and conflicted workers nostalgic for simpler times.