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About Montbell Brand

The story of Montbell is the story of its founder and CEO, Isamu Tatsuno. Born in 1947 in Osaka, Japan, Tatsuno spent much of his youth dedicated to becoming a mountaineer. Deeply impressed by Heinrich Harrer's White Spider: The Classic Account of the Ascent of the Eiger, Tatsuno had two dreams - to become a famous climber and to start a mountaineering equipment company.

By the early 1970s, Tatsuno had achieved his first dream by becoming a renowned climber. In 1969 at the age of 21, he became the second Japanese to climb the North Face of the Eiger in the Swiss Alps. He also climbed the North Face of the Matterhorn. In 1970, he opened the first rock climbing school in Japan.

In 1975, Tatsuno achieved his second dream and he founded his own company, Montbell Co., Ltd. He also became enthusiastic about canoeing and kayaking and won the third annual competition of the Kansai Wildwater kayaking competition. In the nearly three decades since, Tatsuno has kayaked numerous rivers including the Trishuli River, the Marsyangdi River, and the Seti River in the Himalayas of Nepal; Kurobe Canyon from the Japan Alps to the Sea of Japan; the Colorado River through Arizona's Grand Canyon; and rivers through the jungles of Costa Rica in Central America.

But Tatsuno's many accomplishments are not limited to just adventuring and running a business. He is also deeply involved in social causes. In 1991, he founded Paramount Challenge Canoe (a Japanese association promoting canoeing for the disabled) and is very active in education as well. He works as a Professor at the Biwako Seikei Sports University; is on the Committee of the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology; As well as the Committee for the Outdoor Education Foundation for Youth.