GoLite reincarnated as MyTrailCo.

GoLite was a legendary outdoor gear and clothing manufacturer based in Boulder, Colorado. The company was founded in the late 90s by the Coupounas family. They designed and manufactured light and ultra-light clothing, footwear, backpacks, tents, sleeping bags, hydration packs, and accessories. GoLite products are used for backpacking, hiking, thru-hiking, adventure racing, trail running, mountaineering, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, and alpinism.

They sponsored an Eco-Challenge team, and by 2008 had created an astonishing product line which emphasized the use of dyneema -- a fiber known for extremely high strength and low weight.



From my observations in the 2000s, they changed their business model to a direct-sales philosophy and omitted the middle retailer, giving them better pricing control. Having said that, their prices undercut many far more seasoned manufacturers, and given that fact, the quality control, too, was astonishing.

Golite brand Retail stores started to enter the mix, and with the rise of the brick and mortar stores, Golite's website (presumably the main source of revenue) began to flounder.

During this era, it was common to see "Out of Stock" on a vast amount of the most sought after items, including the legendary 'Golite Jam 70' pack, which could be out of stock online for months at a time.

However, this negation wasn't limited to the "gear" it was the clothing items as well, which must have been a massive hit to their revenue stream, and, because of this, on Oct. 13 of 2014 the company that operated as Golite filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

BizWest: "Despite retail failure, GoLite founder hoping for comeback..."

Case and point

Today, "Golite" is on the comeback trail as "MyTrailCo," and while it shadows its former self, some solid gear-systems are shipping.

Like a Time Lord from Gallifrey regenerates a new "incarnation," MyTrailCo might look a bit different, but the framework of Golite continues (just a bit slimmer and leaner).

The first thing I noticed was a slightly re-tooled "Jam Pack," which was one of their biggest hits from the previous incarnation;  ranging from $149-$179 these packs are still reasonable, especially considering the quality. The new Pyramid Shelter, too, looks suspiciously like the older Hex-3, which was a great 4-season tent.



Though MyTrailCo is just starting back up with a meager few products, it looks to a promising future.

Three Creepypasta to enjoy while Night Hiking

(3) "Candle Cove"

This story starts off with a forum thread that talks about an old children’s show from the ’70s, which was about a little girl who imagined herself to be friends with pirates. As memories of the show were shared back and forth between the commenters on the thread, it became clear that beneath the show’s “cute” and low-budget appearance, there was something dark and disturbing.


(2) "The Russian Sleep Experiment"

Russian researchers in the late 1940s kept five people awake for fifteen days using an experimental gas based stimulant. They were kept in a sealed environment to carefully monitor their oxygen intake so the gas didn't kill them, since it was toxic in high concentrations. This was before closed circuit cameras so they had only microphones and 5 inch thick glass porthole sized windows into the chamber to monitor them. The chamber was stocked with books, cots to sleep on but no bedding, running water and toilet, and enough dried food to last all five for over a month.

The test subjects were political prisoners deemed enemies of the state during World War II.

Everything was fine for the first five days; the subjects hardly complained having been promised (falsely) that they would be freed if they submitted to the test and did not sleep for 30 days. Their conversations and activities were monitored and it was noted that they continued to talk about increasingly traumatic incidents in their past, and the general tone of their conversations took on a darker aspect after the 4 day mark.

(1) "The Harbinger Experiment"

"The world we live in is full of things we don’t understand. Being the curious humans that we are, we naturally try and seek these things out. Doing so has lead us to remarkable discoveries and inventions that we never could have imagined a hundred years ago. We have defeated disease, built to the sky itself and even created machines that could take us beyond the clouds and into the stars. If our ancestors could see us and what we have created, I’m sure many of them would see us as gods.
Our innate curiosity and lust for knowledge has not always led us to greatness, however. True evil and darkness have also been uncovered in humanities conquest of knowledge. And in the end, I fear this evil will be our doom."