Men’s Journal is an active lifestyle magazine and website with a focus on gear, adventure, travel, health and fitness, food and drink, and style. Our readers seek out the best experiences to lead the interesting life. To meet the standards of this highly influential readership, we’ve introduced our MJ Approved series on MensJournal.com. Whether it’s a hotel, a blazer, a recipe, a slope or a saw, our editors put them to the test and feature what they deem best as MJ Approved.

Also, straight outta Canada, our new friends at UP KNORTH have the ultimate balance of city and country.  Based in Vancouver, we can attest to their urban appeal, and I don’t know if any of you have ever been to the west coast of British Columbia, but it hosts probably some of the best skiing, biking, and climbing in the world.  And, coming from a Montanan, it quite a compliment.  Check out their store here

福岡の長浜にクレッターワークスの全ラインナップを取り扱っている新店舗、Directorsさんがオープンしました！おめでとうございます！

Blog: http://directors1.blogspot.com/

Alex and Jennifer Lowe skiing toward the north face of Notch Top in Rocky Mountain National Park in 1982. OG Kletterwerks Bags in tow

Alex Lowe was a Montanan who arrived on the national climbing scene in the early eighties with a voracious appetite for climbing in all disciplines. He became known as the “ Jack of all Trades” and “The Fiend”, climbing big walls and difficult free routes as well as forging steep ice and notable alpine ascents around the globe. Alex was known to be fast, bold and somewhat of a visionary in developing the direction of mixed climbing and technical ice routes. In the spring of 1999 he was called, “the world’s best climber” by Outside Magazine. He died in October 1999 at the age of forty, buried by an avalanche in Tibet.

Jennifer – The North Face of Notchtop was one of hundreds of adventures that Alex and I shared in the mountains during our first years together. Our Kletterwerks packs accompanied us as we explored the US and traveled to Europe, Alaska and South America to climb. In later years Alex went on to climb on every continent and we settled in Bozeman where he worked as a professional athlete and guide and I settled into parenting and a career in art.

Jennifer Lowe-Anker, an artist and author is now married to Conrad Anker and resides in Bozeman, Montana.

Max – My father Alex was an unbound free spirit. From what I know of his life, he lived it for the precious moments of uncertainty and serenity, and the people and places that made it full. He was not a man to burn daylight, and moved through the world with an energy that was contagious. I can only aspire to leave such an impact on the people around me, and to hold myself to such standards of a life of fruition.

“The Jack of All Trades”

Thank you Alex, for all that you have done….

Dana Gleason with Chris of Pilgrim

Follow them on IG http://instagram.com/pilgrimsurfsupply

Or Visit them in Brooklyn: 68 North 3rd St.

Salt Lake City – Outdoor Retailer  http://www.outdoorretailer.com/

New York City – Capsule  http://capsuleshow.com/

London – Jacket Required  http://www.jacket-required.com/

Las Vegas – Capsule  http://capsuleshow.com/

Tokyo  http://www.kletterwerks.com/dealers/

Oh, and we wrapped our photo studio in Woodland Camo, which looked pretty sweet….

We all need bags.  So let us pay homage to a legendary bag maker.  Elegant by design, functional by use; Dana Gleason’s packs, bags and accessories have been celebrated the world over.  With Dana himself at the helm, along with his son, Dana III as lead designer, we at Mystery Ranch Backpacks have resurrected the Kletterwerks line of products from a 35 year silence.  Maintaining the functionality of a lifetime of building packs for alpinists, hunters, military and firefighters, we take the same pride in the construction of these stylish packs and bags you see today.  Stemmed from historical designs, and updated with modern amenities, Kletterwerks products demonstrate the ultimate connection between the urban and rural.  We are dynamic.  We strive for an affiliation to all aspects of life. And we build bags that come with us every step of the way.  Welcome to Kletterwerks, we are back…