“Oh God,” I groaned to myself as I opened the news story about a designed to “power” people uphill. We’ve already got folk using – do we really need external muscles too? What’s next, escalators up the mountain? On second look, however, I realized that this particular product was a collaboration between a mobility technology company named Skip and the renowned outdoor brand . I’ve spent a fair amount of time with Arc’teryx in recent years, at their and more recently their , and I’m pretty sure they’re not in the business of helping people slack off when they’re in the mountains.
Gear I've tested like their is generally extremely high quality – albeit expensive – and technical. It’s designed for serious explorers, even if you just want to wear it around town. After a breathless CNN article titled “Are these exoskeleton pants the hiking clothing of the future?” I decided to approach Arc’teryx myself to find out what these futuristic hiking pants are – and who they’re actually meant for.
In the words of Cam Stuart, Manager of Research and Engineering at Arc’teryx Advanced Concepts, the MO/GO exoskeleton pants are “a wearable powered hike assist which supports users in getting out into the mountains they love.” “Named after the Mountain Goat - one of the world’s best climbers that tend to gather in some of the most scenic, hardest-to-reach places – it enables users to tackle elevation like never before by providing a boost to th.