 | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Mountaineering clothing, Climbing clothing, Retail |
| Founded | 1981 |
| Founder | Rab Carrington, Rhys Kelly |
| Headquarters | Somercotes, Derbyshire , UK |
| Products | insulated jackets, waterproof jackets, baselayers, sleeping bags, tents |
| Parent | Equip Outdoor Technologies |
| Website | rab |
Rab is a British manufacturer of clothing and equipment for climbing and mountaineering. The firm was founded in 1981 by Scottish climber Rab Carrington.
Rab Carrington (born 1947 in Glasgow) devoted himself to rock climbing and mountaineering in the late 1960s and 1970s, taking on expeditions in the Alps and Himalayas. [1] [2] In 1973, he took part in an expedition to Patagonia, Argentina, but when his group arrived in Buenos Aires, they found that their climbing equipment had not been shipped from Liverpool due to a dock strike. [1] Unable to start the expedition without his equipment, Carrington instead stayed in Argentina for six months, and learned how to make sleeping bags himself. [1] On his return, Carrington moved to Sheffield due to its proximity to the Peak District, and in 1980, Carrington began hand-stitching and selling his own sleeping bags from the attic of his house. [3]
Demand for his sleeping bags grew, and the following year Carrington founded Rab and moved production to a factory in Sheffield. [3] Drawing on his climbing experience, Carrington's clothes focused on lightweight, durable and high-quality products. [4]
Rab Carrington retired in 2007. The firm, along with competitor Lowe Alpine, were later both purchased by Equip Outdoor Technologies. [5]
Rab's down jackets, sleeping bags and expedition wear are designed with cold weather in mind, and employ European goose and duck down that is certified to the Responsible Down Standard. [6] [7] A fluorocarbon-free water repellence treatment is also applied to the down used in clothing and sleeping bags in order to reduce water saturation. [8] [9] Like nearly all outerwear manufacturers, Rab also uses synthetic insulation, both alone and in conjunction with down. [1]
Mountaineering, mountain climbing, or alpinism is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas that have become sports in their own right. Indoor climbing, sport climbing, and bouldering are also considered variants of mountaineering by some, but are part of a wide group of mountain sports.
A climbing wall is an artificially constructed wall with manufactured grips for the hands and feet. Most walls are located indoors, and climbing on such walls is termed indoor climbing. Some walls are brick or wooden constructions, but on most modern walls, the material most often used is a thick multiplex board with holes drilled into it. Recently, manufactured steel and aluminum have also been used. The wall may have places to attach belay ropes, but may also be used to practice lead climbing or bouldering.
The International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation, commonly known by its French name Union internationale des associations d'alpinisme, was founded in August 1932 in Chamonix, France when 20 mountaineering associations met for an alpine congress. Count Charles Egmond d'Arcis, from Switzerland, was chosen as the first president and it was decided by the founding members that the UIAA would be an international federation which would be in charge of the "study and solution of all problems regarding mountaineering". The UIAA Safety Label was created in 1960 and was internationally approved in 1965 and currently (2015) has a global presence on five continents with 86 member associations in 62 countries representing over 3 million people.
An ice axe is a multi-purpose hiking and climbing tool used by mountaineers in both the ascent and descent of routes that involve snow, ice, or frozen conditions. Its use depends on the terrain: in its simplest role it is used like a walking stick, with the mountaineer holding the head in the center of their uphill hand.
Mountaineering: The Freedom of the Hills is often considered the standard textbook for mountaineering and climbing in North America. The book was first published in 1960 by The Mountaineers of Seattle, Washington. The book was written by a team of over 40 experts in the field.
Rock-climbing equipment varies with the type of climbing undertaken. Bouldering needs the least equipment outside of shoes and chalk and optional crash pads. Sport climbing adds ropes, harnesses, belay devices, and quickdraws to clip into pre-drilled bolts. Traditional climbing adds the need for carrying a "rack" of temporary passive and active protection devices. Multi-pitch climbing adds devices to assist in ascending and descending fixed ropes. And finally aid climbing uses unique equipment.
An ascender is a device used for directly ascending, or for facilitating protection, with a fixed rope when climbing on steep mountain terrain. A form introduced in the 1950s became so popular it begat the term "Jumar" for the device, and the verb "to jumar" to describe its use in ascending.
Alan Paul Rouse was the first British climber to reach the summit of the second highest mountain in the world, K2, but died on the descent.
Stewart Alexander Lowe was an American mountaineer. He has been described as inspiring "...a whole generation of climbers and explorers with his uncontainable enthusiasm, legendary training routines, and significant ascents of rock climbs, ice climbs, and mountains all over the world...". He died in an avalanche on Shishapangma, in Tibet. The Alex Lowe Charitable Foundation honors his legacy.
Macpac is a brand specialising in outdoor recreational equipment. It is best known for camping and travel equipment including backpacks, sleeping bags and technical clothing. Macpac was originally a New Zealand company but is now owned by the Australian company Super Retail Group. Macpac was founded by Bruce McIntyre in 1973.
Karrimor is a British brand of backpacks, outdoor and sports equipment, and clothing.
Holubar Mountaineering, established in 1946 by Roy and Alice Holubar, designed and sold mountaineering equipment. The company pioneered the use of lightweight down sleeping bags made with nylon fabric, which became popular in the 1960s. Holubar manufactured many of its own products and offered high quality climbing and camping equipment and supplies for retail sale. Local design and manufacturing also lent itself to introducing a line of "sew-it-yourself" kits which became a popular, if short-lived, offering during the 1970s. Starting in Boulder, Colorado, the company grew to ten stores in Denver, Fort Collins, Colorado Springs and other Colorado Front Range cities and a few out-of-state locations in addition to a sizeable mail order business.
Big wall climbing is a form of rock climbing that takes place on long multi-pitch routes that normally require a full day, if not several days, to ascend. In addition, big wall routes are typically sustained and exposed, where the climbers remain suspended from the rock face, even sleeping hanging from the face, with limited options to sit down or escape unless they abseil back down the whole route. It is therefore a physically and mentally demanding form of climbing.
Lowe Alpine is a US outdoor equipment manufacturer founded in Utah in 1972 by brothers Mike, Greg and Jeff Lowe. Today it is owned by Rab.
Outdoor Research is a Seattle-based manufacturer of technical apparel and gear for outdoor sports, including alpinism, rock and ice climbing, backpacking, paddling, and backcountry skiing and snowboarding.
Alpine climbing is a type of mountaineering that involves using any of a broad range of advanced climbing skills, including rock climbing, ice climbing, and/or mixed climbing, to summit typically large routes in an alpine environment. While alpine climbing began in the European Alps, it is used to refer to climbing in any remote mountainous area, including in the Himalayas and in Patagonia. The derived term alpine style refers to the fashion of alpine climbing to be in small lightly-equipped teams who carry all of their own equipment, and do all of the climbing.
Donald Kenneth Morrison was a British climber and mountaineer. Morrison first became known as a pioneer rock climber in Canada, then in England's Peak District and he led three expeditions to the Himalayas. He died in 1977 leading an attempt on Latok II peak in the Karakoram.
Andrew Nisbet was a Scottish mountaineer, mountain guide, climbing instructor, and editor of climbing guidebooks. Regarded as a pioneer of mixed rock and ice climbing techniques, he built a 45-year reputation as an innovator by developing over 1,000 new winter climbing routes in Scotland, of which 150 were at Grade V, or above.
The 1952 British expedition to Cho Oyu the Turquoise Goddess was organized by the Joint Himalayan Committee. It had been hoped to follow up the 1951 Everest expedition with another British attempt on Everest in 1952, but Nepal had accepted a Swiss application for 1952, to be followed in 1953 with a British attempt. So in 1952, Eric Shipton was to lead an attempt to ascend Cho Oyu, and Griffith Pugh was to trial oxygen equipment and train members for 1953. But the expedition failed both aims; that plus Shipton’s poor leadership and planning resulted in his replacement as a leader for the 1953 expedition.
The 1979 Yugoslav Mount Everest expedition was the first successful summit of Mount Everest (8,848m) using the entire West Ridge route in the North Face of Everest. It was the seventh expedition in the Himalayas by the Yugoslav alpinist team, and their first ascent to the highest peak of Mount Everest. The route became known as the "Yugoslavian route" after the first successful ascent. The Yugoslav state leadership declared this ascent the greatest achievement of Yugoslav sports up to that time.
