Meet the Maker: Doug Heinrich of Aniiu

This episode is part of the Meet the Maker series where we highlight an entrepreneur who is making specialty gear for ice climbers. If you’ve ever wanted to hear the story behind some of your favorite – and soon to be favorite – products, that’s what today’s conversation is about.

We’re doing this because we believe that thoughtfully-designed gear is more than the sum of its parts: they are crafted by folks who have decades of experience in the sport, are refined through countless iterations and testing, and brought to life with genuine passion to solve real problems.

Said another way, these folks represent the heart and soul of product innovation.

🎙 Today we chat with Paul Shaugnessy and Charlie Faust

Paul and Charlie are the the Founders of Beartooth Alpine, who specialize in metal goods made in the USA.

Driven by an ethos of “do not conform”, their mission is to produce the best gear possible out of the best materials. Period.

Their latest release — specialized picks — have gotten folks excited: their 2mm-tapered Ice Hawk is optimized for minimal displacement and durability while their Master Scratchers have been hailed as the best ice climbing mixed pick that will actually hold up to the rigors of scratchy terrain.

🎁 Giveaway

Paul and Charlie are generously offering a set of picks to listeners. They have picks for all major ice tool models, including the Nomic, X-Dream, Hydra, and Dark Machine.

Here’s how to enter:

In the conversation, be on the lookout for the answer to the following question:

• 👉 What is one fundamental difference between their picks and most stock picks on the market?

Once you have the answer to the question:

• Follow @beartoothalpine and @ice_ice_beta on Instagram
• DM the answer to the question to @ice_ice_beta
• Comment on the giveaway post on our Instagram: “#donotconform” once you’ve sent in your answer
• Share the giveaway post to your story for an extra entry
• Winners will be randomly selected from submissions that meet all the rules on Monday, December 2!

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📸: Cover photos courtesy of Paul and Charlie

Credits:

• Intro music by Hannah Noelle Enomoto (thanks, sis!).
• This episode was edited by Andrew Salomone of salomonesound.com.
• And of course, a big thanks to our sponsors, Aniiu Gloves and Furnace Industries!

Become a member:

Thanks for listening! If you enjoyed the conversation and want to help us do many more episodes like this, please consider becoming a member.

(For less than the price of a bougie beer per month!).

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