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About Mike Parsons
Outdoor Gear Coach and Mountain Adventure Memoirist
50+ years Outdoor gear design and innovation18 summits First ascents of virgin peaks2003-4 Prize Design History Society winner for Invisible on EverestAround 250 Expeditions supplied worldwide
Mike Parsons is known for helping people understand the real story behind outdoor gear, mountain innovation and the human problems that push equipment forward. His perspective comes from more than five decades in the outdoor industry, including his work as a manufacturer behind Karrimor and later Original Mountain Marathon, where clothing, packs and equipment had to perform in conditions where failure mattered.
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.