This is the El Cap Boot by Big Rock Candy Mountaineering, it’s a classically-styled mountaineering boot designed with all-day comfort in mind, and each pair is made by hand in Portugal.
Big Rock Candy Mountaineering, or BRCM for short, is an American company that was founded to bring back classic hiking and mountaineering gear, adding a dose of modern materials but keeping the retro look.
This is the El Cap Boot by Big Rock Candy Mountaineering, it’s a classically-styled mountaineering boot designed with all-day comfort in mind, and each pair is made by hand in Portugal.
History Speedrun: Big Rock Candy Mountaineering
Big Rock Candy Mountaineering was started because two guys couldn’t find a specific jacket. Its sounds strange, but Samuel Hardeman and Peter Middleton both wanted a vintage Eddie Bauer Kara Koram, the down parka Bauer made for the 1953 American expedition to K2. According to Hardeman, good ones more often than not go for $1,000 or more, and the sleeves were always too short for him anyway. So they made their own version and launched the brand in 2024.
Both already knew the apparel trade inside out, Hardeman interned at Knickerbocker back when it still had a Brooklyn factory, where he sewed before and after office hours, and then took his first full-time job at Rowing Blazers.
Middleton worked in fabric research at Ralph Lauren before starting Wythe with a Kickstarter campaign for oxford shirts. Mutual friends introduced them because they were obsessed with the same things. At first they considered making the parka for Wythe. But the more the two read about the early American outdoor industry, the more it looked like a company of its own.
Big Rock Candy Mountaineering now makes clothing inspired by the alpinists and gear makers of the 1950s through the 1970s. The Arctic Parka is its take on the mid-century American expedition parka, with 600 fill-power duck down and custom ice-axe buttons.
The footwear collection came early on, which Hardeman later said was a major risk. The company’s El Cap boot is a resoleable, Portuguese-made take on the French varappe climbing shoe. It’s since become one of the brand’s best-selling categories.
Hardeman has always been upfront that BRCM isn’t trying to be the most technical outdoor brand, he hikes in the shorts and boots, and Middleton skis in the Bridalveil Jacket. The range sells through Huckberry in the US and through stockists including Merci in Paris and Beams Boy in Japan.
The El Cap Boot
The El Cap is Big Rock Candy Mountaineering’s leather lace-up boot, it’s based on the French varappe-style climbing shoe – varappe is the French term for rock climbing.
BRCM developed a custom last for the El Cap, shaped for comfortable everyday wear. A last is the foot-shaped form, typically made from wood, plastic, or metal, that a shoe’s upper is stretched over during construction – its shape sets the fit and silhouette of the finished shoe.
The upper, lining, and insole are all leather, a rubberized leather mudguard covers the toe, heel, and base of the upper. The hardware is metal eyelets and a lace lock, and the collar carries what the company calls an “ice axe” leather ankle guard.
The El Cap is Big Rock Candy Mountaineering’s leather lace-up boot, it’s based on the French varappe-style climbing shoe – varappe is the French term for rock climbing.
The boot is Blake-stitched and resoleable, and its sole is stamped with BRCM’s carabiner logo. Each pair comes with a custom box, a dust bag and three spare sets of laces – one contrast, one tonal, and one black.
Each pair of El Caps is made in Portugal, they come in US sizes 6 through 13, and in half sizes up to 12. Huckberry is currently selling the Nutmeg Brown and Chocolate colorways out of their US online store here, though the Chocolate version is sold out at the time of writing.
Images courtesy of Big Rock Candy Mountaineering + Huckberry
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