About Mike Parsons
Mike’s view of innovation is practical rather than abstract. He sees breakthrough ideas beginning with the people at the leading edge: climbers, expedition teams, factory workers and problem-solvers trying to overcome something that stops them from going further, staying warmer, moving faster or making a process work. That lens shaped his manufacturing career and later informed a decade of part-time teaching on innovation at Lancaster University Management School, where he worked alongside an academic colleague and won recognition for innovative teaching.
His authority on outdoor clothing is grounded in first principles, not marketing language. Having manufactured technical garments and written Keeping Dry and Staying Warm, Mike explains why gear alone does not keep people safe or comfortable. People still need to understand heat loss, layering, moisture, cold and, increasingly, how to stay cool in hot conditions.
Mike has supplied equipment to around 250 expeditions worldwide, including Chris Bonington’s 1970 Annapurna and 1975 Southwest Face of Everest expeditions. His research has also explored mountaineering history in depth, including a three-year project reconstructing the clothing worn by George Mallory on Everest in 1924. He has travelled to 52 countries to climb, ski, cycle and explore, and is now writing a hybrid memoir that combines personal experience with the history of a defining 50-year period in mountaineering and outdoor innovation.
As a podcast guest, Mike brings first-hand stories, practical judgement and a rare long view on adventure, equipment, innovation and what people learn when they attempt difficult things.
Invisible on Everest: Innovation and the Gear Makers
Winner: Design History Society Prize (2003-4)
Runner-up: Wadsworth Prize for best book in business history (2003)
Keeping Dry and Staying Warm.
An accolade from Don Gladstone of People Work, the leading training person in the outdoor industry.
"In my forty years working in the outdoor industry, predominantly in product training and customer care, I've never read such a detailed well researched book. I can only hope individuals and companies within and indeed, beyond the industry, adopt the book as a foundation to their learning and understanding.” - Don Gladstone
Key topics
British mountaineering changed the world and Mike watched it happen from the inside
The great expeditions of the twentieth century are usually told through the climbers who reached the summit, but behind every successful expedition was an evolving world of equipment, manufacturing and problem-solving that made those achievements possible. Mike supplied equipment to around 250 expeditions worldwide, including Chris Bonington’s landmark 1970 Annapurna expedition and the 1975 Southwest Face of Everest expedition that helped establish British mountaineering at the forefront of the sport. His forthcoming memoir captures this period not simply as personal history, but as the story of how climbers, manufacturers and innovators pushed one another towards achievements that had previously seemed impossible. For audiences fascinated by exploration, Everest and adventure history, Mike can take them behind the famous photographs and into the practical decisions that shaped an extraordinary era.
The untold story of British mountaineering is bigger than the people who reached the summit
The history of mountaineering is often told through famous climbers and landmark ascents, but Mike’s forthcoming memoir tells the story from a different vantage point: the people, equipment, manufacturers and ideas that made those achievements possible. Drawing on more than 50 years inside the outdoor industry, his involvement in around 250 expeditions, and first-hand experience of a defining era in British mountaineering, Mike captures how adventure and innovation evolved together. The book is both personal memoir and historical record, tracing a period he believes has never been fully documented from the inside. With Sir Chris Bonington contributing the introduction, Mike can take listeners behind the celebrated expeditions to explore the overlooked decisions, inventions and relationships that helped shape modern mountaineering.
The greatest adventure may be refusing to become less adventurous as you age
Age is often treated as a reason to narrow our lives, yet Mike’s story challenges the assumption that curiosity, physical challenge and meaningful ambition belong mainly to the young. After more than five decades immersed in climbing, outdoor innovation and exploration, he is still teaching, writing, researching and turning a lifetime of experience into new projects, including his memoir. His perspective is not about pretending age has no consequences, but understanding how continued curiosity, physical activity and purposeful work can keep life expanding rather than gradually contracting. For audiences interested in longevity and active ageing, Mike offers a compelling example of what it means to keep finding new mountains long after most people expect the climbing to stop.
View all topics →
Key topics
British mountaineering changed the world and Mike watched it happen from the inside
The great expeditions of the twentieth century are usually told through the climbers who reached the summit, but behind every successful expedition was an evolving world of equipment, manufacturing and problem-solving that made those achievements possible. Mike supplied equipment to around 250 expeditions worldwide, including Chris Bonington’s landmark 1970 Annapurna expedition and the 1975 Southwest Face of Everest expedition that helped establish British mountaineering at the forefront of the sport. His forthcoming memoir captures this period not simply as personal history, but as the story of how climbers, manufacturers and innovators pushed one another towards achievements that had previously seemed impossible. For audiences fascinated by exploration, Everest and adventure history, Mike can take them behind the famous photographs and into the practical decisions that shaped an extraordinary era.
The untold story of British mountaineering is bigger than the people who reached the summit
The history of mountaineering is often told through famous climbers and landmark ascents, but Mike’s forthcoming memoir tells the story from a different vantage point: the people, equipment, manufacturers and ideas that made those achievements possible. Drawing on more than 50 years inside the outdoor industry, his involvement in around 250 expeditions, and first-hand experience of a defining era in British mountaineering, Mike captures how adventure and innovation evolved together. The book is both personal memoir and historical record, tracing a period he believes has never been fully documented from the inside. With Sir Chris Bonington contributing the introduction, Mike can take listeners behind the celebrated expeditions to explore the overlooked decisions, inventions and relationships that helped shape modern mountaineering.
The greatest adventure may be refusing to become less adventurous as you age
Age is often treated as a reason to narrow our lives, yet Mike’s story challenges the assumption that curiosity, physical challenge and meaningful ambition belong mainly to the young. After more than five decades immersed in climbing, outdoor innovation and exploration, he is still teaching, writing, researching and turning a lifetime of experience into new projects, including his memoir. His perspective is not about pretending age has no consequences, but understanding how continued curiosity, physical activity and purposeful work can keep life expanding rather than gradually contracting. For audiences interested in longevity and active ageing, Mike offers a compelling example of what it means to keep finding new mountains long after most people expect the climbing to stop.
View all topics →