How Durston Started an Ultralight Backpacking Cult

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Creator’s phrase: I don’t point out to attenuate the damaging outcomes that actual cults have had on many individuals. Please take the next with the levity with which it was penned.

“I don’t know what you point out by “cult,” simply because I non-public 3 Durston tents and am saving for but yet one more …”

— Rob Rice, posted on the Durston Gearheads Fb group

My inadvertent interactions with an outside gear “cult” started innocently ample.

For the primary time in additional than a decade, I used to be searching for a mannequin new backpack. Like quite a few my trail-tromping contemporaries—considerably these experiencing age-related knee and lower-back elements—I opted to search out the ever-expanding report of ultralight selections, which lastly led me down a rabbit gap populated by a stunning variety of area of curiosity and cottage producers—the gear equal of craft breweries—most of which didn’t exist as quickly as I final launched proper right into a pack hunt.

My search lastly led to a third-party Fb group referred to as Durston Gearheads, which, in accordance with the group itself, is devoted to “homeowners and followers of Durston gear merchandise.”

As an ultralight neophyte who hardly ever retailers for mannequin new gear, I had in no way heard of Durston, however as I researched the corporate, one phrase saved creating repeatedly: cult. From what I examine, it appeared like individuals who most well-liked Durston gear have been borderline fanatical.

Even though I non-public no Durston gear, final April I joined Durston Gearheads and, after sitting on the sidelines observing the group‘s dialogue for varied weeks (all by way of which interval the phrase “cult” appeared many conditions, principally in self-deprecating jest), posted this: “I want to get some concepts from members on this entire cult problem—what it’s, the best way by which it acquired began, the best way by which it differs from devotees of varied gear producers, regardless of will seemingly be considered and articulated.”

In very momentary order, I obtained 165 choices, quite a few which have been extended, heartfelt homages to Durston gear—which consists primarily of a terribly regarded line of tents, referred to as X-Mids, and varied totally different sorts of ultralight packs. Higher than that, although, commenters ceaselessly launched up company founder and proprietor Dan Durston, who recurrently joins the group to reply questions on his merchandise.

There was not fairly a bit as a contact of snark, negativity, or pushback inside these options, which, as any specific particular person of Fb is aware of full efficiently, is refreshingly uncommon. Nonetheless, the extent of fandom on current was, let’s say, jaw-dropping.

“I don’t really actually really feel like I’m a cult member, however I awoke one morning and abruptly realized I non-public not one, not two, however three Durston tents,” wrote member Rolf Gunnar Asphaug.

One totally different wrote that she’s invited strangers from the group over to her house to take a look at her Durston tent ahead of they bought their very private: “It’s like if now we have now been luring individuals into vans with puppies and sweet, furthermore everytime you’re contained in the van there’s legit puppies and sweet inside,” wrote Sara Ivy.

It made me marvel if these individuals had already emptied their as soon as extra accounts, damaged off relationships with household and buddies, and moved into their X-Mids in a fenced compound in western Canada, subsequent to Durston’s humble agency headquarters.

It’s unclear who first referred to Durston followers as a cult and when. Each Dan Durston and Jon Candy, administrator of Durston Gearheads, vaguely take into accout—although neither can put their finger on a actual date or circumstance—when a follower of a rival Fb group wrote one issue alongside the strains of “wow, I see Durston referenced so typically, it’s virtually like they’re a cult.”

Candy talked in regards to the first in-house reference was in early 2021, when the world was reeling from the pandemic.

“Given the impacts to the provision chain via the pandemic, it was normally eight, 12, or 14 months between releases of the subsequent batch of Durston tents,” Candy talked about. “That was when the camaraderie of the group actually coalesced. Members have been creating memes and posting images of their tents in wild locations all world large. Dan was ever current. That was when the ‘cult’ time interval actually began getting used additional. ”

On the middle of this devoted following stands Dan Durston, a 2017 Pacific Crest Path thru-hiker who was the primary specific particular person to yo-yo Canada’s 700-mile Good Divide Path. Durston, a lifelong resident of British Columbia, had spent quite a few pack-toting time pondering not relating to the common thru-hiker fantasies—pizza, ice cream, beer, and a scorching bathe—however, significantly, about gear design. (For a cult chief, Durston, who has zilch in the best way by which by way of which of formal engineering or design background, comes all by way of as a tad nerd-ish. Fireplace, brimstone and doomsday prophesies will not be going to be his MO.) As an alternative, as he pounded out the miles, his concepts wandered within the route of what he thought-about to be the fairly a couple of conceptual shortcomings of the gear he and his fellow long-distance hikers carried.

A protracted-time ultralight devotee, Durston had personally made varied objects of medicine—a tent, a backpack and rain pants—utilizing what he calls “first tips design”—which in a nutshell means a willingness to re-envision gear from the underside up significantly than making enhancements by tweaking present designs.

In 2018, Massdrop, a San Francisco-based e-commerce company supplied Durston with a complimentary set of trekking poles. On the time, Durston says, he was a “minor blogger contained in the mountaineering world who was furthermore vigorous on gear boards like backpackinglite.com.”

His posts caught the eye of varied staff at Massdrop who had been   tasked with creating distinctive gear for the corporate’s on-line ultralight backpacking group. They requested Durston if had any gear ideas percolating. He pitched what to these days stays Durston’s signature product: the groundbreaking X-Mid tent design.

“It had in no way occurred to me to make merchandise for varied individuals,” Durston instructed me in June. “I had an thought for what has develop to be our X-Mid tent. It was one issue I had been fascinated by for years—methods to make a trekking-pole tent easier, lighter, and additional specific particular person good.”

Durston had already determined to make his non-public model of the tent, however when MassDrop outfitted to fabricate, market and distribute his design, Durston talked about “hell yeah,” figuring that, at worst, he would get a free tent that was professionally produced.

The X-Mid, which selections an offset trekking pole pitch that requires fewer stakes than most trekking pole shelters, acquired good responses, in accordance with Durston, making a buzz in on-line ultralight boards like r/Ultralight.

When MassDrop (now merely named Drop) exited gear-manufacturing to focus solely on electronics, Durston determined to selection his non-public company. He had no thought in anyway that, inside varied years, his eponymous operation would benefit from cultlike standing, or that he might be its de facto guru.

Although Durston was heartened by the sudden success of the X-Mid, there have been early-era elements that weren’t instantly associated to the pandemic. First, he had a full time “exact” gig, working as a wildlife biologist, who specialised in statistical evaluation for fish and water top of the range.

The choice disadvantage—which in a circuitous approach helped organize the Durston mythos—was product availability, or, additional precisely, an absence thereof. Durston was having hassle preserving his tents—then his solely providing—in inventory. Every up to date batch of X-Mids supplied out primarily ahead of hitting the Internet cabinets. A part of that stemmed from the truth that he was repeatedly tweaking his designs practically in exact time, and a part of it was that he was contained in the strategy of discovering out methods to rearrange and run a enterprise—deciding on supplies, establishing dependable sources, and remembering to place a Durston sticker in each topic.

Of us started to speak on-line via Reddit and Fb relating to the pants-wetting anticipation related to ready—normally for months on finish—for the latest incarnation of the X-Mid to drop. What’s most placing is that these individuals did really wait, significantly than looking for merchandise from one among Durston’s many rival firms.

“Due to I knew I’d be tweaking my designs, I didn’t ever need to order, say, a two-year current of tents simply so I’d not run out,” Durston instructed me. “So, I’d order varied months’ current, take heed to enter from purchasers, and take that into consideration ahead of I ordered the subsequent batch.”

That willingness to not solely hear however to react accordingly did pretty fairly a bit to solidify the loyalty of his fan base. Dan Durston’s repute as a human being started to match and even exceed the repute of his merchandise, which have been promoting efficiently.

Then, in 2020, a case of brand-building fortuity dropped instantly into Dan Durston’s lap: Jon Candy, who, to these days, has no formal affiliation with Durston, the corporate, or Durston, the actual particular person. Candy is nothing greater than a diehard fan of Dan Durston and the gear he makes who, someday requested, via e-mail, if there was one factor he might do to assist Durston develop and prosper.

Candy is a Bay-area resident who has labored for greater than 20 years as a product supervisor (at the moment for a monetary firms outfit referred to as Empower), a vocation he describes as “overseeing what we’re doing, when and why.”

He first turned conscious of the X-Mid when it was nonetheless being supplied via MassDrop.

“I used to be immediately intrigued,” he talked about. “The design was revolutionary. I started to research the corporate and Durston himself. I used to be very impressed by each. Dan obtained proper right here all by way of as a extraordinarily humble man who was obsessed together with his tents.”

Candy, an avid runner who has accomplished the John Muir Path, ordered an X-Mid.

“The final word time I used to be that enthusiastic a couple of new product was when Apple obtained proper right here out with the iPod,” talked about Candy, who admits to proudly proudly proudly owning three X-Mids, which I’m optimistic maintain absolutely erected in his man cave. “On the time the iPod was launched, it was underappreciated how far forward Apple was in contrast with the choice firms. It was kind of the same as quickly as I acquired my first X-Mid.” So, he contacted Durston.

“We talked pretty fairly a bit about gear and future alternate choices and, on the tip of the dialog, I outfitted to assist him with some small factors like supplies procurement,” Candy talked about. It was then that Candy posed the thought of launching the Durston Gearheads Fb group, which he did in October 2020. Neither he nor Durston anticipated fairly a bit. Candy figured that, if he acquired varied hundred followers, “which can be good.”

“I acquired Dan to enroll, so he might add his voice, which was crucial,” Candy talked about. “I’d do a complete lot of the early posts. I attempted to be witty and humorous, nonetheless furthermore useful and galvanizing. Additional individuals began signing up and posting.”

As evidenced by the request I made to its membership final April, Durston Gearheads are engaged. They reply, whether or not or not or not a submit is about methods to appropriately pitch an X-Mid atop a wood campground platform or nothing greater than exhibiting off a set of photos of a Durston tent or pack being deployed in Tasmania or the Scottish Highlands.

The responses are overwhelmingly supportive. I’ve combed by a whole bunch of Durston Gearheads posts and have seen nary a syllable which can be interpreted quite a bit a lot much less positively than “Although we might sometimes disagree on applicable tent guyline pressure, we’re all a part of this cult problem.”

As of the time of publication, Durston Gearheads has nearly 14,000 subscribers, which, in accordance with Candy, is probably possibly primarily probably the most for any third-party group centered on a single craft/cottage outside gear company. (I’ve not been able to independently affirm this.)

Candy talked about he hunted down two two-month intervals when Durston Gearheads had additional posts than the Ultralight Backpacking group. Even when that’s a case of statistical cherry-picking, it’s nonetheless spectacular.

I merely at present eyeballed the official Fb group for an organization that can utterly be thought-about a direct competitor to Durston. That group has 32,000 followers. Nearly all the content material materials supplies comes from the corporate itself, which makes varied posts per week, most of that are heavy with polish however momentary on stoke. So far as engagement, the last word 5 posts exhibiting on that company’s Fb web net web page had solely three options. The final word 5 posts I seen on the Durston Gearheads web net web page garnered 247 options, quite a few which have been themselves responses to earlier responses. It was like being a part of a rambling discourse happening in a trailside watering gap amongst individuals sporting tattered clothes and battered footwear.

The dedication of the Durston Gearheads has been institutionalized by two collateral icons: the colour “sage” and sometimes-elusive Durston stickers. Each are to Durston’s followers what rubber duckies are to Jeep homeowners or friendship bracelets are to Swifties.

Based totally on Durston, when his first batch of X-Mids was able to be produced, the manufacturing company instructed him his colour options have been restricted to crimson, blue, or sage. He thought the primary two colours appeared horrible, so, by default, he chosen sage, which has develop to be the official colour of the Durston group, with followers making frequent on-line reference to sage, whereas posting photos of themselves sporting sage-colored garments or holding sage-colored bric-a-brac.

The second icon is the Durston sticker. On the planet of outside gear, the place company stickers are handed out by the bucketful and crowd autos, trailhead bulletin boards, and Nalgene bottles, having a sticker would hardly seem like a cult-worthy downside. Nonetheless the Durston Gearheads have turned the stickers into their equal of gang tattoos. Not all individuals qualifies. You have to buy a Durston product. And, even then, hope for among the many best.

“We’re nonetheless a small company with solely quite a lot of staff, principally members of the family,” Durston instructed me. “We normally neglect to incorporate stickers in our containers after we ship merchandise. So individuals began joking about how solely a choose few of our purchasers have been worthy of the stickers. They turned sought-after objects. Of us have jokingly outfitted them within the market on eBay.”

“One among our Fb group members posted that, everytime you purchase a sticker, it’s possible you’ll get a free tent,” Candy talked about. “It actually snowballed.”

That is the kind of problem that firms pay good cash to consultants to create, normally artificially. It’s model loyalty that can’t be purchased.

A typical Durston Gearhead submit theme facilities spherical what occurs when one member of the cult runs into one totally different contained in the wild, an occasion that’s turning into additional widespread as the corporate’s merchandise proliferate all by way of the Pacific Crest and Appalachian trails.

These posts depict scenes akin to this: One Durston tent proprietor sees one totally different X-Mid pitched on a far ridge and runs full throttle by a snake-infested lavatory to change a secret handshake with a fellow Durstonite. There are sometimes images of Durston purchasers congregating in backcountry settings for no utterly totally different set off than all of them mattress down in tents coloured sage.

To underscore that remark, correct proper right here’s a recent quote from the Durston Gearheads Fb web net web page, made by an avowed cultist named Carmen Hays Brown:

In a recent submit there was somebody who talked about we should at all times on a regular basis have a phrase we title out to have the pliability to speak to utterly totally different X-Mid prospects, My husband and I obtained proper right here up with this whereas on path final evening:

“Could the Sage bless your hike” 

And the correct response is:

“Extended Reside the Durston!” 

I’m not a member of the Durston cult. I non-public no Durston gear, which now consists of eight types of tents, three backpacks, trekking poles, and a few ancillary selections. I’ve solely ever laid eyes on Durston merchandise a handful of conditions. I personally don’t bleed sage.

That talked about, I’m an infinite fan of the Durston Gearheads Fb group and eyeball it on a near-daily foundation: due to it’s pleasurable, witty, informative, supportive, passionate, and it takes me to locations I in one other case wouldn’t go. It’s not merely somebody trying to promote you a tent or backpack, although that’s undoubtedly an infinite a part of it. Candy talked about as fairly a bit when he outfitted to assist Dan Durston develop and prosper. And that’s OK.

Durston Gearheads jogs my memory, in a social-media world thick with each conceivable strategy of vitriol and divisiveness, that whereas our options in gear are an crucial a part of the ultimate mountaineering expertise, they’re solely a small part of the equation lastly. We’re all members of a a lot greater cult, one outlined by a shared urge to throw upon our as soon as extra a pack that’s normally too heavy and normally too gentle and head so far as our legs will carry us into the backcountry. And whether or not or not or not that pack is made by Durston or one different specific particular person, it’s an opportunity for connection, a manner for kindred spirits to acknowledge each other on the path and say, “You aren’t alone.”

By the best way by which by way of which, I assume I ought to diploma out that I’ve nonetheless to search out out on a mannequin new ultralight backpack.

John Fayhee has been writing for Backpacker since 1986. His newest e e-book, “A Extended Tangent: Musings by an earlier man & his youthful canine mountaineering daily for a yr,” was launched final September by Mimbres Press. He lives in New Mexico’s Gila Nation.