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With a population of just 1,080, Keene, New York is considered small by most standards. However, it’s located right near the High Peaks Wilderness, a part of the Adirondack Park which has the famed 46 high peaks and sees up to 10 millions visitors each year.
Nestled just on the outskirts of the small village is an A-frame-style building that wouldn’t look out of place somewhere like Cape Cod. It has clapboard siding and the words “The Mountaineer” are written prominently in slab font. The exterior does little to belie its importance. The family-run sporting goods shop opened in 1975 and has been serving the greater Adirondacks ever since as the region’s premier outdoor gear shop. In fact, its influence reaches far beyond the Adirondack region. The Mountaineer is one of the best outdoor gear shops in the country.
The Shop was founded by the McClelland family, and Vinny McClelland helped hammer in the nails and put up the wood walls. However, shortly after the shop opened, he moved up to Alaska in search of another family story. He had always been fascinated by his grandmother’s stories about his grandfather’s mine in Prince William Sound, so he ventured up there and ended up staying for about 12 years. Eventually, he grew to miss the seasonality of the Adirondacks. “The mountains, the people; they really are wonderful and deeply ingrained in my ethos and spirit,” McClelland told Lynsey Dyer on Tent Talk.
The shop sells everything for the adventure-inclined. Hunt for top of the line mountaineering, hiking, fly fishing, camping, rock and ice climbing, trail running and backcountry skiing products in the shop. The team of ten has outfitted adventurists that travel everywhere. “We’ve developed relationships with people from all over the world, literally,” McClelland says in Tent Talk. “We send people out into extreme conditions and not everyone goes to the top of Everest, we send people to shop in Montreal, but we need to be comfortable if we send somebody out in equipment, or boots or clothing, that it’s going to work for whatever the condition is and they’ll be comfortable.”
If you’re lucky enough, you might just get one of the Mountaineer bandanas. The accessory has been on each of the Seven Summits. It’s been to the top of Everest and Kilimanjaro, as well as each of the Adirondack’s 46 peaks. Happy customers send thank you notes and pictures back to the shop (in fact, there’s even a thank you note from Patagonia’s Yvon Chouinard), which used to be prominently displayed… until the store ran out of room. You can spot them along the back walls, in the bathrooms, even going up the stairs. To help showcase more of the bandanas, the team posts pictures on the Instagram account, The Mountaineer Bandana.
What gear are the team members at The Mountaineer stoked on right now? We asked them to pick out their top gear picks right now.
