We love to be outdoors, talk about being outdoors and hearing about people being outdoors. We love the mountains, we love the lakes, the forested trails. We truly believe getting outdoors is good; I can’t remember when we first coined the phrase Go Nice Places do Good Things but it stuck.
It is a great privilege to have been tasked with writing this page. Col or Nick could equally have made a great job… sorry, if you are new to Alpkit I have got ahead of myself.
Col?, Nick? and who am I? Here is a very brief recap… Alpkit was formed in 2004 by Col, Nick, Jim and Kenny (that’s me). Our early history is out there for you to see, Col did a great review back in 2010. If you have time to spare you can even work back through the Waybackwhen machine.
The why behind Alpkit really started so much earlier. Nope, it didn’t drop out of a spreadsheet, on a set date, with a packet full of funding to propel it into the world. Actually it was launched on a shoestring backed by years of finding adventure in the mountains, and that’s the truth.
I dare say we were also seduced by the innovations that made everything just so damn cool. Mysterious fabrics that could actually breathe, sleeping mats that inflated all by themselves and ripstop nylons which when stretched over bendy poles could provide shelter on top of an inhospitable mountain top.
You can’t get enough of that kind of stuff.
Mix that in with a spoonful of romanticism from earlier times, stories of absolute heroes who made journeys to remote and unexplored lands, committing self-supported, self-suffering adventures, discovering all of the nice places, doing all the great things and publishing awesome coffee table books.
Yes, Alpkit existed way back when, it was just that it took until 2004 before it finally got captured in a squash court sized unit at the foot of Mount Ilkeston.
So where is Alpkit today? The company has grown, it has outgrown the squash court and shards of ice no longer fall on our heads in winter. Our resilience may have surprised some, but hiking up mountains in all weathers teaches you a lot about pig headed perseverance.
I really believe Alpkit has survived these years thanks to the support of our customers and their stories. We simply have the best customers. The relationships forged with our customers has always been direct.