Founded by Tom Liggett in 2021, Alpenglow Gear emerged from a passion to reimagine the ultralight gear and gadgetry that backpackers and thru-hikers carry and rely on during their extensive, outdoor adventures.
The initial inspiration for Alpenglow was actually to create an ultra-lightweight bear canister called the OutClaw – but after a few prototype tests that led to broken canisters and well-fed grizzlies, along with some regulatory hurdles – Tom pivoted to crafting practical gadgets.
Drawing on his engineering experience and technical know-how from his career as a car-parts designer at Tesla Motors, Tom was called to design and develop a sub-one ounce air pad inflator called the Alpenblow that he would bring along and product test on his 2023 thru-hike of the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT).
“On my long hike I thought that every fabric item I used was quite well-designed,” said Tom, “but that the gadgets and hardware products I was carrying could be optimized for hiking long distances from town-to-town.”
Two thousand miles and many air pad inflations later, Tom – whose trail name is appropriately “Gadget” – arrived at the Northern Terminus of the PCT with Alpenblow in tow, inspired to improve on the product and take it to market.
“Designing car parts is fun,” says Tom, “but I lasted three months back at my day job before resigning to work full-time on gear-making. The skills learned (at Tesla) were invaluable for negotiating a supply chain and making resilient, consumer-grade products – but, ultimately, I loved making my own gear enough to start making other people’s gear.”
Handcrafted in Tom’s small work from home office turned gadget workshop in Redwood City, California, Alpenblow became the brand’s debut item, a featherlight 0.3-ounce micro inflator designed with the modern thru-hiker in mind.
It’s a tiny luxury device that runs off any USB-C connection such as your phone or battery bank, and blows up your inflatable air mattress while allowing you to preserve your precious personal energy and lung power, which is especially valuable in high altitudes and smoky conditions.
The Alpenblow also comes with a series of air pad valve adaptors, makes a noise equivalent to a “moderate rainfall,” and uses less than <1% of your device's power – an important factor when you consider most hikers being days between opportunities to recharge.
With data from the 2024 Halfway Anywhere PCT survey showing that over 88% of thru-hikers used inflatable mattresses, the micro inflator was a no-brainer for Tom, but he has also had to learn the skill of listening to his own inner guidance to steer his start-up journey.
“The most challenging part of starting a company is trusting yourself to make the right decisions and trusting that your intuition about what a customer wants is true,” Tom says, “Should I have picked pink and purple (from sunset tones) for the debut product? That takes trust in your intuition!”
For Tom, those challenges also go hand in hand with some of the greatest perks of being a solopreneur. “The best part of starting a company is having the agency to make major decisions immediately (both financially and in product design) and seeing the outcomes much sooner.”
This agency over the company continues to drive Tom to work on more innovations that will improve the life of backpackers and outdoor adventurers in all domains, like his next two products – the Alpenflow and the Alpenstow.
“Both are lower-mass versions of existing products in the archaic camping stove ecosystem and will help thru-hikers shed a few ounces,” says Tom, who also alluded to the Alpenshow and Alpenfaux being even more inventions set to come to life down the road.
With all this tinkering going on, it’s hard to imagine Tom has any extra time, but he’s made it a priority to balance his business with his lifestyle. “When I’m not assembling inflators, I’m hiking the Santa Cruz mountains, roasting coffee, and hosting trivia at my local brewery.”
We have much to look forward to in the coming years from Tom and Alpenglow Gear and its impact on ultralight gear and gadetry. As for Tom, he’s looking forward to one day encountering hikers in the Sierra using Alpenglow Gear products.
“And perhaps then,” he laughs, “I’ll finally know if the color scheme is too gaudy.”
Ali Becker is a freelance writer and adventure storyteller who spends half the year backpacking and bikepacking and the other half sleeping in strangers' beds as a professional house sitter. She and her partner, Mathieu, share their ups and downs on their IG channel at @trip.longer and hope to inspire others to get outside, adventure in nature and find their own freedom. You can learn more about them here: triplonger.ca.
