Our Products/Customers

Our offerings are generally about the most expensive on the market – consumer electronics is the only area I can think of where quality is going up and price is going down. My Grandfather used to say “The cheap way is the expensive way.” And experience has shown me that is generally correct. I can’t tell the number of times I’ve heard from people that bought second or third tier products and basically wasted their money because they were not satisfied and bought replacements before long. The best gear is an investment in your safety, comfort and success. And, it will last.

When you are in an intense situation and your gear is failing, you will not care how much money you saved by shopping price. When you are in an intense situation and your gear is doing what you need it to do, you will not care how much it cost.

But also ….. “the best” is just one of life’s pleasure.

Woolpower Ullfrotte
Leica Sport Optics
King of the Mountain Wool (personal observations)
Icebreaker
Helly Hansen Impertech
King of the Mountain Hi-Tech Wool (per KOM corporate office)

Woolpower Ullfrotte
For Products, Pricing and Sizing click here
For complete information, please visit the Woolpower Corporate website

We handle Woolpower Ullfrotte woolen thermals largely because they make a terrific base layer for wear under KOM, but also because they are really great in their own right. A few important points:

• Woolpower is made in Sweden from very fine and soft merino wool, and is woven with terry-cloth loops on the inside. Ullfrotte is Swedish for wool terry cloth. Anyone who has ever worn a terry cloth bathrobe has probably noticed that it feels warm as soon as you put it on .... there is no initial chill. That's because the terry loops cause the fabric to mostly ride above your skin, surrounding you with a layer of trapped air .... which is what insulation is all about.

• Woolpower adds enough nylon for strength and structure, and to enable you to wash the garments in hot water and dry them in the clothes dryer, without any of the special care that most wool requires. The heat tolerance is an important factor because clothes worn against the skin need heat for thorough cleaning.

• Wool has significant natural anti-microbial, odor-resistant properties. You can wear Woolpower for an extended period of time -- day after hard-working day -- without washing, and it will do a tremendous job of resisting odor. This is a real boon to people who are heading into the backcountry for a week or a month. Wear polypro for a week of hard work and you might want to burn it. It's not an issue with wool. You can test this easily. Wear a pair of Woolpower socks every day for a week, without washing.

• Woolpower layers very, very well, and it is very lightweight, with little bulk. So, on an extended trip, you can bring two sets and wear one or the other, or, if it gets unexpectedly cold, both sets. The 2nd set will easily fit over the first layer, and you won't feel all bulked up.
• Because Woolpower is made from merino wool, virtually no one will have a problem with Woolpower against their skin.

• Woolpower resists water. A layer of Woolpower under KOM is effective rain gear.

• Wool does not melt, and it doesn’t really burn. I am definitely NOT saying it will keep you safe in a fire, but it won’t melt onto your skin like synthetics will. For this reason, smokejumpers and military personnel concerned about incendiary weapons are very keen on wool.

• Woolpower Long Johns are available in 200 g/m2 (0.7 oz/sq. ft), or in colder weather, you can wear 400 gram. In severe cold, you can wear both the 200 and 400 gram Long Johns. Similarly, Ullfrotté tops are available in 200, 400 and 600 gram weights. Ullfrotté socks are available in 200, 400, 600 and 800 gram weights. We carry Black and Khaki/Green.


Leica Sport Optics
For complete information, please visit the Leica website

Binoculars, Rangefinders, Spotting Scopes and Cameras are important tools in the outdoors, and so we're handling Leica Sport Optics. I'm a real beginner here, and have only begun to scratch the surface of the optics world. From everything i've read and the pros i've talked to, the three most-respected names in optics are Leica, Zeiss and Swarovski. At present, Leica is the frontrunner in binoculars with built-in rangefinders, and at this point, and the high-end price range, there doesn't seem to be much point in buying binoculars without a rangefinder. I was having some fun in British Columbia in 2008, visiting with a sheep guide --- a guy who relies on quality optics for his livelihood. We had an array of Leica, Zeiss and Swarovski on hand, and we were comparing the capabilities. A casual test, to be sure, but my professional friend voted for the Leica rangefinder / binocs. Similarly, just a couple of weeks ago i was talking with an outfitter/guide in New Mexico, and Leica is his #1 choice. We are happy to provide Leica at the minimum permitted retail price.

King of the Mountain Wool Clothing
Most people want to know two things before they buy KOM. Why not buy someone else’s wool at half the price? Why not wear a modern synthetic garment? Good questions! Here’s my take. There is a lot more information under Hi-Tech Wool, provided by the King of the Mountain Corporate office.

There is no garment that is perfect for all conditions. But I’m convinced the best wool comes closer than anything else. If you’re headed off to some remote location where you might have to deal with heat, cold, rain, snow, wind, sun, rough terrain, even hostiles, you cannot beat wool. Here are some examples of what I mean:

* When I settled into my stand overlooking the bear bait, the temp was about 80 or 85F (27 or 29C) and my wool was OK. Then the temperature started to drop, and the rain started to fall, and it was really nice wearing wool. Then the sun went behind the hills and the bears started to move and the temp fell to about 30F / -1C and the wool was great!

* In the truck at 60F / 16C then into the woods in the same wool at 0F / -18C …. comfortable the whole time

* Still hunting for whitetail all day in the rain, 35F / 2C, wool does the trick

* I once had a great call from an Alaskan Guide. He told me how he was meeting a group coming in by plane for an extended hunt – I think he said 27 days. His own clothing was supposed to be on the plane with his clients, but it wasn’t. He had no choice but to take his clients out wearing only the clothing he happened to have on at the time, which was KOM. Since then, he said, he just wears his wool all the time and he doesn’t care what the weather does.

People are often surprised to learn there are many different types and grades of wool, and many different ways of turning wool into a garment. And there are ways of turning out wool garments that cost less than KOM. Less expensive woolens can be made from shorter wool fibers (weaker and itchier); stamped-on camo patterns (won’t last); wool that’s not pre-shrunk (guess where that leads?); non-virgin wool (overall performance suffers); dry-clean only wool (dry-cleaning stinks and strips wool’s natural lanolin, allowing it to pick up odor and water) and even wool that is recycled and glued together (just what is sounds like!).

What about modern synthetics? How do they stack up against wool?

* I know there are companies saying their poly- or micro- whatever (notice they don’t say exactly what the stuff is?) garments are waterproof, windproof and breathable? I certainly haven’t tried them all, but the ones I have tried that were waterproof and windproof were nowhere near breathable. And I wound up getting wet from the inside, even in cold weather, and THAT is a disaster in the making.

* Gore-Tex? I’ve certainly worn that stuff. Here’s what I don’t like about it. Gore-Tex outer layer is designed to love moisture – that’s how it pulls moisture from inside the garment to the outside. But because the outside loves moisture, when it’s not raining, but still drippy and humid, the Gore-Tex outer layer is soaked for no good reason. And when it’s wet, it pulls heat from you, and you can wind up feeling cold even when it isn’t really cold. And if it is cold and you are exerting yourself, sweat can condense on the inside of your Gore-Tex shell. Very bad news. None of these problems exist with wool. And of course, the main reason to wear Gore-Tex is for rain protection. Good wool, with its natural lanolin provides protection from rain.

* Fire? That’s not something that comes up often. But if it ever does happen, a petroleum-based synthetic product tends to melt onto your skin. Wool is much better behaved. This is an extremely serious subject, and you can find technical information at at the KOM Corporate website.

* Scent resistance? Wool resists odors very well. Lanolin is a natural anti-bacterial.

* Noise? At this point, I think everybody knows nothing is quieter than wool.

* Camo? Wool does not catch light, and its soft, natural, fuzzy texture blends in. It accepts dye readily, so you can have any pattern you want. Both our wool and our dyes are UV neutral. One last point …. think of a deer – it’s not wearing a modern camo pattern, but tends to be invisible unless moving or silhouetted. Same with wool.

* Resale Value? You can wear a KOM jacket for 10 years then sell it (because you put on weight) for more than you paid for it. We give 50% credit for used items in good condition, and you can always take a look at ebay for pricing on used items.

What if you’re not going to be 50 miles from civilization? Most of us can get by most of the time without really NEEDING the best clothing. If you are hunting early-season whitetail 600 yards from your truck, and you’ve got a cellphone and walkie-talkies to your buddies who are 200 yards down the ridge, the best gear still enhances any activity, and it can make the difference on the hunt. Another thing is that a lot of us get a little sentimental about our gear. Favorite bow, favorite rifle, favorite camera ….. it’s nice to know that you’re going to be wearing your favorite clothes and it doesn’t matter all that much what the weather is doing.

Icebreaker
For complete information, please visit Icebreaker.com

Icebreaker is brand new for us …. we just began testing it in August 2009. So far, WOW! Icebreaker has an extensive product line, but, at least for now, I’m mostly interested in the summer-weight items, and that’s what I’ve been wearing. Light as a feather and extremely comfortable. And of course, being that it is merino, it feels great on the skin.

Icebreaker is out of New Zealand, where they know wool probably better than anywhere else on Earth. Icebreaker has not targeted the hunting market at all, near as I can tell. I’ve never seen their ads in any hunting mags. But I get the impression Icebreaker is pretty well known in the hiking, backpacking, birdwatching market.

For quite a while, I’ve been wanting to find some wool that would be good for the heat. Of course, cotton can be great in the heat. But what if you are backpacking for a week on some mountain in September, and it is hot today but cold and wet tomorrow? On an expedition like this, you shouldn’t even bring any cotton. From the testing I’ve done so far, it looks like Icebreaker’s summer wool will be perfect for these conditions.

In October 2007, Alex and I hunted moose in New Hampshire’s White Mountains National Forest. Our tag was good in Unit E2, which is about 200 square miles with almost no roads. It’s a nice chunk of wilderness, particularly for the Northeast. Every year, people get lost for days in the WMNF every year, and a few are never found, or not found until too late. Mount Washington, which has some of the toughest weather on earth, is located here. My younger son Zack drew the same tag for 2009, and the opener is the 17th. The weather is likely to be pretty pleasant with lows around 30F / -1C and highs around 55F / 13C. But, it could be much colder. In 2007, we had a high of about 80F / 27C and torrential rain one night. Given the wilderness expanse, the potential for “unplanned” overnights afield, and the probability of precipitation and cold, wool is the only thing Zack and l will be wearing. I plan on base layers of Icebreaker, with Frontier Shirts and Bunlites for outerwear. And we’ll have a layer of 200 gram Woolpower Ullfrotte in our packs in case things get nasty.

We’ll be adding more material on Icebreaker!!




Helly Hansen Impertech

Helly Hansen is a huge, old company. We can provide any of Helly’s products, but we mostly handle their Impertech line as a storm shell for use over King of the Mountain. KOM wool, particularly when worn over a wool base layer, provides very effective protection against rain, but it is not waterproof or windproof. If you are thinking of going somewhere like the Alaskan Peninsula, where you might get torrential rain and high wind for days, we recommend you pack a truly waterproof and windproof storm shell. From Helly’s own website: “Our unique waterproof-stretchable fabric introduced to the market in 1993 offers a lightweight stretch solution. The soft polyester knit backing and elastic polyurethane coating gives IMPERTECH a built in stretch factor of 200%. The waterproof outer coating is impervious to rain, resists abrasion and is virtually noiseless. This lightweight yet tough material disperses perspiration moisture and eliminates the need for a separate lining fabric.” We like the Impertech because it is light and packable, and your pack is where it will probably stay. But if you need it, it is effective and reasonably priced. We recommend you get Helly one or even two sizes bigger than you need because it does not breathe at all (the downside of windproof) and the extra space of an oversized garment compensates somewhat for that.

Hi-Tech Wool (information provided by King of the Mountain Corporate office)

Here is what King of the Mountain themselves have to say about their wool:

KarbonXtreme™ Technology (KX) is King of the Mountain’s® patent pending, carbon/Kevlar® enhanced-wool fabric that's only available in our woven Omnitherm® and Omnilite® fabrics. It totally shreds the envelope of what everyone thought was possible when it comes to safety and comfort in extreme conditions. KarbonXtreme™ Technology is nail tough, stealth quiet, fire retardant and scent suppressant. Omnitherm® and Omnilite® with KX Technology™ draws vapor away from your body, turns it into heat and radiates it back at you – hot when the weather's cold and cool when it's hot.

In today's marketplace, there is no shortage of techno-jargon, promises and claims about the "ultimate". But after twenty years of study, refinement, and unsurpassed field performance, we deliver King of the Mountain Omnitherm® wool with an assurance that does not require a degree in textile engineering to decipher.

TECHNICAL WOOL

Omnitherm® is woven in a special 5-ply configuration that sheds water much like the fur on a wolf or shingles on a roof.

Omnitherm® is a shrink-stabilized, weather-tight multi-ply woven wool fabric -- a long way of saying our process makes the wool more water and wind repellent, more durable, higher in loft, better at insulating and far more breathable.

Stabilizing a wool fabric for repeated trips through a washing machine is a difficult job. It requires additional time and expense, along with close attention to materials.

We spin our own 100% virgin wool yarn with an exclusive process using only fine grade top cut (not scratchy) wool with a high percentage of long fiber.

The 100% virgin wool is spun in an exclusive process that interlocks the short and long fibers into an exceptionally strong, durable, and stable woolen yarn.

Each color of Omnitherm® is a yarn dyed separately with our own organic dyes which are absolutely UV neutral. That means they will reflect light exactly like the rest of the natural world so that you won't stand out in any wavelength of light. And of course our dyes are colorfast so the pattern won't fade away.

Omnitherm's® Camouflage pattern isn't printed onto the fabric -- it's woven in, on specialized fine index looms. They isolate one color yarn on top and hide the four additional strands underneath. We use the best looms of their kind in the world.

The fabric that comes off these looms is tight enough to earn a dry clean or hand wash label, but it's not ready for the Omnitherm® label. We finish the fabric with an exclusive process that includes repeated shrinking.

The end result is a fabric that is unmatched in field performance and ease of care.

MACHINE WASHABLE

Omnitherm® is Machine Washable, but getting dirt out is only part of the story. Most people think "hassle" when they think about cleaning wool clothing. That's why we thought it worth the additional expense and time to manufacture a wool fabric tough enough for repeated trips through a washing machine. The standard Hand Wash or Dry Clean Label would have gotten us off the hook. We could have made it cheaper and left the shrinkage problem for you to solve.

But we thought our customers would appreciated the ability to take their mud-caked, blood-soaked clothes to their laundry room instead of the dry cleaner.

And we knew they'd just as likely dry their gear in a hot cook tent, and need to fit into it the next day.

So we chose a fine grade of wool, a more expensive process to spin our own, organic dyes, special looms, and an extended finishing process -- all cost more time and money, but ensure a superior product.

And then we made an important discovery. After Omnitherm® took a few trips through a washing machine, the already tight weave got even tighter.

It blocked more wind and shed more water while it remained just as breathable. Each washing left the fabric revitalized, feeling softer and thicker.

When you own Omnitherm®, getting dirty when you hunt is not a problem, it's an advantage. No hand washing big wads of wool or signing big checks at the dry cleaners. Just throw your gear in the washing machine, use cold water and the gentle cycle. After the final spin, give it a firm stretch while the fabric is still wet and then hang it up to dry.

THERMAL AND VAPOR DYNAMICS

Mother nature did a remarkable job designing a wool fiber. Rather than ignore moisture like a synthetic fiber, wool uses moisture to keep you comfortable. Each wool fiber consists of an absorbent (hydrophilic) core surrounded by a nonabsorbent (hydrophobic) shell.

The moisture that comes off your skin is full of latent heat, and if you ventilate all the moisture away, the heat goes wit it; hence the constant layering shuffle with synthetic fabrics.

But with wool, the heat stays with you because the shell of the fiber separates the moisture and the air to avoid evaporation chill.

That's why wool keeps you warm even if you get wet. Wool works in open air like a wet suit works under water with one added feature: wool also uses stored moisture to cool you down when you heat up. The result is an amazing flywheel effect that adjusts naturally to keep you comfortable over a wide range of conditions.

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Latent Heat
Body Moisture transformed into vapor contains significant latent heat which wool can absorb. The vapor moves through the hydrophobic sheath of each wool fiber into the fiber's core. This keeps heat in the clothing envelope around the wearer without evaporation heat loss.

Insulating systems that wick away all bio-vapor also remove the latent heat it contains. To compensate, they need additional insulating loft and more on-and-off layering adjustments to match ventilation to activity level.

Sensible Heat
Unlike synthetic fibers, wool fibers have the ability to conduct and hold heat. This "sensible heat" is stored in the wearer's insulating envelope. This provides a flywheel effect -- self-adjusting to reduce the amount of fiddling with the layers as weather and activity levels change.

Wool can also absorb radiant heat from the sun or from a fire without danger from flammability.

Dew Point Control
Low body heat output in extreme cold will often locate the dew point (point of 100% relative humidity) to the exterior region of the insulation layer and inside the exterior shell garment. Since Omnitherm® absorbs body vapor and uses its latent heat, it doe not lose insulation ability when the dew point moves inside exterior shell layers with breathable membranes in extreme cold conditions. This is especially important in stationary or very low activity operations.

Insulating fabrics that ventilate all vapor are less effective when condensation of vapor occurs inside exterior shells. Moisture left in the insulation greatly increases the amount of insulating loft or bulk required to provide the equivalent insulation.

Insulating Coefficient (clo)
Insulating effectiveness in all clothing systems is provided by dry, trapped air. The removal of body moisture into the wool fiber core keeps the trapped air in Omnitherm® drier, greatly increasing the insulating coefficient of the fabric. Even when soaked, Omnitherm® maintains sufficient insulating ability to help avoid hypothermia.

King of the MountainOmnitherm® is 24 - 26 oz.
King of the Mountain Omnilite® is 13 oz.

EYE-D-VERSION

It's a fair question. Why do your eyes skip right over a motionless deer in plain view? The reason is simple, and rests on the elemental process of vision perception. Countless light rays reach the eye every instant. The brain compares the light information and then decides what are the objects and what is the background.

Game animals rely mostly on contrast or sudden changes in brightness to separate the objects from the background. A sharp contrast like a silhouette against the sky is instantly recognized. Individual trees in a forest take a little more attention. The deer or mountain lion in a stand of trees is not seen because the trees offer more contrast than fur. The eye picks out the trees and ignores the fur.

To conceal yourself from this process you have two basic choices. You can wear a disguise that makes you appear to be a harmless thing like a tree. Or you can conceal yourself by avoiding the eye altogether. Mother nature designs fur to avoid the eye and Omnitherm's EYE-D-VERSION pattern works the same way. Slight movement is less likely to be detected.

Omnitherm's EYE-D-VERSION PATTERN gives the eye nothing to find, so the movement is not associated with any object.

Omnitherm also offers other exclusive camouflage advantages. We dye each strand of woolen yarn with organic colorfast dyes that are absolutely ultraviolet (UV) neutral. We began using UV neutral dyes for Omnitherm used by U.S. Military special teams -- UV neutral dyes reduce detection by guard dogs. Game animals see UV too, especially at dawn and dusk.

Because Omnitherm colors are woven in, you don't get the sharp contrast lines of printed fabrics where one color changes to another. Yet because we use fine index looms, you still get a distinct pattern that dissolves your outline into the background.

Omnitherm EYE-D-VERSION comes in two patterns. Use Autumn Brown in the forest or the bush where dark colors will absorb more light. In open country, above timberline, or up in a snowy environment, or up in a tree when all the leaves are gone, use Blowdown.

ALL sewn textile products have a "lifetime", depending upon end use and the habits of the wearer. The "lifetime" of King of the Mountain apparel and accessories WILL NOT NECESSARILY CORRESPOND TO THE "LIFETIME" OF THE WEARER.

The "lifetime" of your garment will be decided upon by King of the Mountain staff. If the condition of your garment is determined to be beyond repair, your garment will be issued a Death Certificate, which entitles the owner to purchase an exact duplicate of the "deceased" garment at a 30% discount.

We will continue to cover repairs or replacements found to be defective in materials or workmanship BY KING OF THE MOUNTAIN STAFF, when "returned to us in new condition within one year of purchase". However, please note that our warranty DOES NOT INCLUDE repair or replacement of garments or equipment that have been through wear and tear, improper care and/or storage, accidents, or negligence. If you have any questions concerning care labels or proper storage of your King of the Mountain product, please contact us.

ALL RETURNS MUST BE CLEANED BY THE CUSTOMER. ANY GARMENTS THAT ARE NOT CLEAN WILL BE RETURNED OR CLEANED AT THE OWNER'S EXPENSE. We will be happy to repair your products that have been damaged through wear and tear in accordance to our pricing schedule. Please include all personal contact information.