Marmot Collections

Luggage	Packs
Sleeping Bags	Tent

About Marmot

In April 1971, University of California Santa Cruz students Eric Reynolds and Dave Huntley were in Alaska on the Juneau Icefields on a school project in Glaciology. It was here on the glacier, amongst these students, that the idea of a Marmot club began. That summer and through the semesters until 1973, Eric and Dave made prototypes of down products in their dorm room in Santa Cruz. Their first products were a down vest, a sweater and a parka and, later, three down sleeping bags. The warmest bag, the PIKA (now known as the Cwm) was rated at -45 degrees F and retailed for $168. In 1976, Eric was one of the firsts in the US to see a new concept in outdoor performance fabrication: Gore-Tex. He was intrigued and, within a couple weeks, had sewn prototype sleeping bags in the new Gore-Tex fabric for field testing - in a commercial frozen meat locker. Everything in the line was changed to Gore-Tex fabrications, including the down garments and all the sleeping bags. Marmot designed the first Gore-Tex bivy sack, and designed a Gore-Tex, single fabric layer, mountaineering tent: the Taku. Marmot is the oldest customer of Gore in the world outdoor market, but the company has not changed that much in twenty-nine years. It is still all about the highest quality performance product.