Mountaineering Supergroup Designs New Eddie Bauer

Eddie Bauer, that boring bland suburban burp of threads, is getting back to its roots by hiring a "dream team" of mountaineers to design a new line. So now you can zip up and channel Sir Edmund Hillary. Sort of. In any event, come April EB will launch the creations from a vetted gathering of technical climbers and guides, including 25-year mountaineer vet Peter Whittaker; Ed Viesturs, who has stomped 8,000-meter peaks sans oxygen; Dave Hahn, who's summitted Everest ten times; guide Melissa Arnot; Alaskan pro Chad Peele; and cool-weathered science geek Seth Waterfall. Would I buy underwear from these guys? Probably not. A good FU foul weather jacket? Absolutely.

“It doesn’t get any better than Whittaker, Viesturs, Hahn and team,” said Neil Fiske, President and CEO of Eddie Bauer. Whittaker, the team leader for the First Ascent line, said this collective brain trust is a first. “The role of the guides in the development of this line is unprecedented,” Whittaker said. “Combined we spend more than 1200 days a year in the high mountains. We know what gear works best out there, and what it takes to be prepared. We designed it. We built it. We live in it. And nothing goes to market until we literally sign off on every detail. We put our names on it, right down to the hang tags.” One very attractive aspect of the FA line, at least to me, is that it keeps things stripped down and simple. “Our approach to First Ascent is to keep the product pure, focusing only on what you need,” says Viesturs. “The guiding mantra has been about simplification, functionally and performance. That’s why we say it’s everything you need, nothing you don’t. It’s that simple. And simple is better.”