Western North Carolina Mountains: Home To The Largest Concentration Of Outdoor Companies East Of The Rockies

Credit: Made by Mountains; Industry Nine

When people think of the western North Carolina mountains they tend to think of natural resources like waterfalls, amazing vistas, world class mountain biking, climbing, and fishing, quaint adventure towns, thousands of miles of trails for hiking and backpacking and epic southeastern whitewater. Now, those are definitely accurate depictions of what the western North Carolina mountains have to offer, but what you might not realize is the extent to which these mountains have impacted an entire outdoor industry. These mountains have inspired a community of gear makers, professional guides, outfitters and retailers. The result…WNC boasts the largest concentration of outdoor companies east of the Rockies. Gear is inspired here, built here, tested here, refined here.

In this episode we sit down with Andy Williamson, the Executive Director of the Outdoor Gear Builders, to talk about the $28 Billion Dollar Outdoor economy in the state of North Carolina, and how these mountains have made industry leaders…people who have made tools and equipment to perform in the wild, people who have rethought their purpose, and people whose dreams of starting their own outdoor gear company, outfitter, and guide service have been brought to life, as well as communities of people who work hard to develop and protect WNC’s natural assets.