When Mike Donohue started working at Outdoor Gear Exchange in Burlington, Vermont, it was, to put it lightly, a small operation. “It was tiny — maybe 800-square-feet — a real hole-in-the-wall,” he describes it. Most of the gear it offered to passing customers was used, and nothing was guaranteed to be in stock; an Army Surplus for hikers.
Donohue wandered in toward the end of his sophomore year at the University of Vermont just up the hill with what spare cash he had and picked up some used ice climbing tools. About a month later, the store’s founder, Marc Sherman, offered him a job. In the years since, Outdoor Gear Exchange has grown in both square footage and size — it now occupies two floors totaling roughly 48,000 square feet and employs 120 staff members — and Donohue has joined Sherman in its ownership.
Outdoor Gear Exchange’s success is a testament and a counterpoint to our tendency to imagine outdoor adventure in North America through images of the west: the granite of Yosemite, the red rock pillars of Utah, the snow-covered spires of the Rocky Mountains. The forests, mountains, lakes and rivers surrounding Burlington and expanding throughout New England have always been and always will be an epicenter for recreation in all seasons. It’s only natural that the region would serve as home to one of best gear shops in the country.
In his tenure at OGE (as the locals know it), Donohue has witnessed multiple evolutions of skiing, mountain biking, climbing, hiking equipment and much more. Here are the ten items that he considers essential right now.
Salomon S/Lab Shift MNC Ski Binding
“I had a long-term demo towards the end of the season last year. It’s a brand new product, and I think it’s a total game-changer, especially for East Coast skiers who like to do everything and are traveling out west.”
