About

There is a word called MYOG.

This stands for “Make your own gear.”

Blue Traverse Gear began with these words.

While walking trails around Japan, including the Tokai Nature Trail, I began to think, "I want to make my own equipment."

Starting with hammocks, then tarps, down quilts, backpacks, and shelters...

I always design with the assumption that I will be walking long distances.

When backpacking/long distance hiking, where you don't necessarily reach the peaks but walk from town to mountain and from mountain to town, the first thing you need is light weight.

And it's minimal and simple.

Reducing the setup area makes the shelter lighter and reduces its impact on nature.

There are limited places to set up camp below the tree line in Japan's low to mid-range mountains.

This means that it also needs to be "stealthy" to reduce the surface area and setup space.

Lightness, low impact on nature, and stealth are organically combined to express the philosophy of UL hiking.

Blue Traverse Gear was born out of a process of constantly designing my own journeys.

The longer the distance, the less functionality we needed.

In the end, I decided that as long as it could protect me from the wind and rain, that would be fine.

Multifunctional shelters also have complex structures.
Once damaged, these types of gimmicks are difficult to repair on the trail.

To shave.

The design philosophy must not stray from "minimalism."

Eventually, the things they made became skeleton shelters and simple backpacks.

Is it possible to maximize each of the minimal functions that remain as the framework?
This is the ideal we pursue at Blue Traverse Gear.

Founder / Designer / Builder

Yamanaka "Chips" Jiro