OUR LAB
Rainier in the Pacific Northwest is the heart of our lab. It’s where the authentic development and
testing of our designs occur. We prove the value of every fabric, every feature, and every
function that is built into our gear.
WEAR TEST PROGRAM
All of our testing is human-powered. That’s where we got our start, and that’s still how we
validate every piece we make. The RMI guide team is the
foundation of this process. They wear prototype gear all around the world, and give us honest
(sometimes brutal) feedback. That’s okay, though, because we’re here to get it right and
improvement is a continuous cycle. Our Wear Test Program exists for that reason. Because
“good enough” rarely is.
WEAR TESTING BY THE NUMBERS
• 2016 – Over 1.2 Million vertical feet of wear testing by our guide
team of primary fabrics used in 76 sample prototypes to build 19 different styles.
• 2017 – Reached over 48 million vertical feet of wear testing and use of 143
prototypes by our team of 60+ guides, and thousands of RMI climbers on Mt. Rainier.
• 2018 – Project
Vertical was born and we logged a mind-boggling 100 million vertical feet (and counting) of
human-powered testing to date on mountains and outdoor playgrounds around the world.
• 2019 – New fabrics and prototypes continue to be added to our roster for our
team of guides to beat up and try to “break.” It’s how our new styles are born and it takes time
(and lots of climbing uphill!), but the mountains don’t compromise so we’re not about to either.
Through Whittaker Mountaineering’s rental program, we tracked the elevation statistics of every
RMI guide and client who wore Bight Gear. Daily elevation totals were collected, cross
referenced, and totaled, allowing us to track exactly how far each piece of gear went. This was
how we achieved the staggering 100,000 Million vertical feet of Bight Gear validation.