MSR

MSR (Mountain Safety Research) began in 1969 as a newsletter committed to improving mountaineering safety. MSR's founder, Larry Penberthy, was an engineer, professional inventor and lifelong mountaineer who dedicated himself to making the backcountry safer. He spent more than eighteen months testing stove fuels, the elongation of ropes, the holding power of pitons, the strength of ice axes and a whole list of other important but generally neglected issues. Climbers who subscribed to the Mountain Safety Research® newsletter were asked to donate $3 to cover printing and mailing costs. The first edition offered an ice axe reinforcement kit, snow flukes, an auto belay device, climbing rope, cold weather gloves, karabiners, webbing and a snow saw. It also included detailed instructions for building igloos. A number of iconic designs stemmed from this time period, such as the Model 9 Stove, Thunderbird Ice Axe, Coyote Snow Picket and MSR Climbing Helmet. Other gear garnered less attention, including tubular ice screws with coffee-grinder handles, cycling helmets, Lithium headlamp batteries, and the MSR Mountain Tent. Although not all of these pieces of gear gained wide distribution, they were significant leaps in innovation at the time. MSR also distributed mountaineering equipment from other manufacturers, including crampons, carabiners, clothing and climbing rope. Penberthy's goal was to make the best information and gear available to climbers, and if no one was making it he'd come up with it himself. As time went on, the newsletter relied more and more on the sale of new mountaineering equipment. Many of the products were developed by Penberthy himself, usually as a response to real-world challenges he experienced as a climber. Recognising that one of the factors leading to acute mountain sickness was dehydration, MSR set about engineering a stove that would allow climbers to melt snow faster for drinking water. In 1973, the now-legendary Model 9 stove debuted, featuring the critical remote-fuel tank design. In addition, this stove was lightweight, compact, and could burn petrol, white gas or paraffin. The distant ancestor of today’s XGK™ EX stove, the Model 9 mountaineering stove effectively changed the way climbers traveled through the alpine, and created a long legacy of stoves that MSR is renown worldwide for.