Mountain Safety Research

When aerospace engineers turn their efforts to the design, development and manufacturing of outdoor equipment, revolutionary things happen.

In the early 1970s, technical, outdoor, mountaineering equipment had much to be desired and by a twist of fate and the downsizing of Seattle Washington's Aerospace giant, Boeing, a couple of friends set out to change this. Beginning as a challenge to create a mountaineering air mattress that was lightweight, warm and comfortable, John Burroughs, Jim Lea and Neil Anderson began to research and develop durable, lightweight, and reliable backpacking, mountaineering, and camping equipment.

A couple of years and couple of patents later, what started as an open cell foam gardening seat and a kitchen sandwich maker, resulted in the production of the Therm-a-Rest mattress, the first self-inflating camping mattress. John, Jim, and Neil continued to collaborate, bringing innovation and comfort to the outdoor world and creating a new company, Cascade Designs.

Still privately and family owned, Cascade Designs is the parent company of Mountain Safety Research, more commonly know as MSR. Since the beginning, Cascade Designs and MSR have found success by staying focused and firmly rooted in the fundamental principles upon which they were founded: Providing relevant and innovative products, exceptional quality, and service that exceeds your expectations.

Continually on the quest for the highest quality materials, production and design, MSR has resisted the trend to move manufacturing to Asia and instead, continue to built the vast majority of their products in Seattle, Washington and Cork, Ireland. Not only does this enable Mountain Safety Research to retain jobs at home, but also allows for the close oversight of quality, availability, distribution channels, and packaging protocols; essentially limiting wastefulness and inefficiencies.

With a large line of backpacking, mountaineering, and family camping equipment, MSR manufactures camping tents, camping stoves, cooksets, fuel, MSR snowshoes, and water filters. Some of the most popular MSR products are:

• MSR Hubba Tent
• MSR Hubba Hubba Tent
• MSR Dragonfly Cookstove
• MSR Whisperlite Cookstove
• MSR Denali Snowshoe
• MSR Lightning Ascent Snowshoes
• MSR Miox Water Filter

MSR and Cascade Designs continue to seek durable, environmentally friendly, innovating and insightful designs; ever pushing the envelope in order to make your backcountry adventures more comfortable and your gear more efficient, whether on the summit or back at camp with the family.