At Kluane Mountaineering we build gear that lets adventurous people explore the places that they shouldn’t be able to. We are hand-made, purpose-built, and ready for anything.

Kluane Mountaineering was started in 1970 by two law students, John Faulkner and Jim Brown, who couldn’t afford excellent quality sleeping bags for themselves. So John Faulkner and Jim Brown sewed two sleeping bags, sold them and made two more and sold them, improving the quality and style each time. Soon thereafter, John Faulkner and Jim Brown decided to start a sleeping bag manufacturing business. They hired Lucy, a former production manager at Levi’s jeans factory in Edmonton, Alberta and rented a commercial building to begin Kluane Mountaineering. As Kluane products gained popularity, Lucy, the head seamstress, bought into the business soon thereafter and became a co-owner. Now Kluane Mountaineering makes some of the best down sleeping bags in the world.

John, Jim and Lucy designed Kluane Mountaineering garments from the need for warm and practical clothing. They were designed by trial and error to what they are today with quality being of the utmost importance. Goose and duck down has always been used in Kluane gear because of superior warmth and very light weight. Kluane uses only the best Canadian down because quality comes first. Each item is individually hot cut (to seal the nylon) and hand made (never mass produced). Kluane Mountaineering garments are made with supreme high loft 100% white Canadian duck down. One ounce of this down will fill 850 cubic inches. The plumes of down are large and fluffy, making warm and lightweight garments. Kluane Mountaineering garments are made with care and quality to ensure customer satisfaction every time. Kluane jackets’ warmth to weight ratio allows superior comfort in the harshest conditions.

Kluane Mountaineering products have been used on almost every mountain top including Mt. Everest and Mt. Kilimanjaro and every continent including the North Pole and Australia. Government agencies, oil patch workers, lawyers, doctors, ranchers, dog sledders, etc. are Kluane’s top customers. They all enjoy the great outdoors but nobody likes freezing temperatures, so they buy from Kluane. Kluane Mountaineering has manufactured special tactical garment designs for the Canadian Mountain Ranger Service and several Expedition teams. Large corporations cannot make custom designs for these groups, but Kluane is able to make these custom designs because every garment is hand made and cut to order.

Our Story