Ep. 529: How Argon Inflated Jackets Led to the Best Sleeping Pad in the Outdoors - Cory Tholl
Adventure Sports Podcast
Curt Linville
4.6 • 579 Ratings
🗓️ 7 June 2019
⏱️ 49 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
A true adventure usually includes a few changes in the original plan. Some good and some bad. The same goes for the adventure of starting a business or introducing a product in the outdoor industry.
When a crazy idea of having argon inflated jackets to keep warm was born, Cory Tholl was totally intrigued by the idea. So much so, he joined the small team and they got to work bringing the outdoor world one of the strangest twists on the tried and true jacket.
The name of the whole venture became Klymit, and as they pursued this adventure of an idea it became clear that something needed to change. Using the technology they'd already built, they decided to turn their attention to other inflatable products to make life outdoors a lot easier.
Today, Klymit makes a number of outdoor products but are especially known for their affordable, lightweight, and comfortable sleeping pads.
If you have an idea you want to start pursuing, I hope Cory's story helps you learn a thing or two about being flexible in the world of adventure.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | how much energy and passion and how much are you willing to how much do you care really about it um and |
| 0:04.9 | caring about things and the energy and the passion can trump a lot of inexperience and a lot of not |
| 0:10.5 | knowledge right um if that didn't if that wasn't sure i wouldn't be here because i didn't have any |
| 0:15.1 | experience this is the adventure sports podcast where we talk to athletes, adventurers, and business owners from around the world of adventure sports. |
| 0:27.8 | Whether you're climbing Mount Everest, starting a bike shop, or getting up off your couch to take your kids hiking for the first time, |
| 0:34.5 | we want you to have the motivation and inspiration you need to chase that |
| 0:38.5 | next adventure. |
| 0:40.0 | The Adventure Sports podcast is brought to you by Camp Crate, the leaders in fully planned |
| 0:45.2 | self-guided backpacking adventures, as well as backpacking gear rental. |
| 0:49.9 | You can check them out at campcrate.net. |
| 0:53.3 | Thank you. You can check them out at campcrate.net. |
| 1:06.6 | I know we don't talk about gear a lot on this show. |
| 1:16.4 | Part of that is, I think, gear is kind of this rabbit hole that keeps people from actually getting out there rather than just saying, you know, pick something and go. |
| 1:27.8 | We heard on Monday, Jessica Mills was talking about, you know, gear is not the most important thing on your trips, you know, unless it's like life or death, you know, and you need something to keep you alive. That's one thing. But for most of us and most of our adventures, just about what we have |
| 1:33.5 | will do or some relatively affordable gear. And I really like this company, climate. They make |
| 1:42.0 | sleeping pads. They make other things, but I have one of their sleeping |
| 1:44.4 | pads that I bought six years ago now, and I've slept on it probably 300 plus nights, and it has |
| 1:51.5 | still held up perfectly. And that's all outside. I've put it straight on parking lot asphalt. |
| 1:58.2 | I've slept in the back of my truck for two weeks in a row one time. |
| 2:03.7 | And I've just had it in so many places. Gosh, so many situations. And it's performed great. |
| 2:10.2 | It's never leaked. And it was super affordable. And so when I saw the climate booth at outdoor |
| 2:16.4 | retailer, I'm like, I would love to talk to the CEO to hear about their story. How did they get to this point? I really don't care much about here, but this is one product I do like, one company I really do like. And so little did I know. Their story is not what I expected. You know, I just think, you know, |
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