America’s Oldest SAR Crew Helped Danner Make the Ultimate Boot

For the latest installment in our ongoing Sole Searching series of deep dives into past, present, and future icons with partners Vibram, we head to the Pacific Northwest to learn about a new boot from an longstanding brand synonymous with durability and function, Danner. To see how we got here, check out past Sole Searching features on NNormal and Arc’teryx.

Sometimes a shoe or boot gets made because a company sees a chance to make some money. Other times, a piece of footwear finds its genesis in a serendipitous collision of people, businesses, volcanic geography, and Samaritanism over nearly a 100 years. That is, essentially, the story behind Danner’s recently released Crag Rat Evo, a rugged, all-season light mountaineering boot built on a platform of purpose-built Vibram rubber.

The introductory Sparknotes to that story are as follows. In the 1930s, Charles Danner began making spike-soled boots for logging and moved his namesake company to Portland, Oregon to support the Pacific Northwest’s booming timber trade. A decade prior to that, a group of climbing enthusiasts in nearby Hood River began aiding in mountain rescues, and, by circumstance, became the Crag Rats, America’s oldest volunteer search and rescue organization. The all-volunteer group still operates year-round in the Mt. Hood and Columbia Gorge region today.

Source: https://fieldmag.herokuapp.com/articles/danner-crag-rat-evo-design-story