It’s with great sadness that we report the death of Gordon Davison, the co-founder of British climbing and hillwalking brand, Berghaus. Gordon passed away on the evening of 24th June after suffering a heart attack at the age of 85.

Gordon has left a lasting impression on the outdoor community, following a history of producing some of the most innovative – and now classic – kit in the business. This drive to innovate first began when Gordon teamed up with friend and fellow entrepreneur Peter Lockey in 1966, to open the LD Mountain Centre. LD Mountain Centre was set up to develop and sell products to fellow mountaineers across the UK.

“Many of Gordon’s designs have filtered down into the modern Berghaus gear”

An engineer by trade, Gordon soon learnt that his designs were gaining in popularity and, in an effort to boost trade himself and Peter began branding their equipment Berghaus after competing retailers’ reluctance to buy products branded with the LD Mountain Centre name.

The name Bergahus is an abstract translation of Mountain Centre into German – a centre in the mountains being a mountain hut; a ‘Berghaus’.

As far as British outdoor clothing manufactures go, Berghaus has to be up there as one of the best and to this day, remains a force in the market. This is largely due to the drive for innovation that inspired Gordon to begin creating climbing and hillwalking kit.

Some pivotal Berghaus innovations include the Cyclops internal frame back system for high-volume backpacks, the highly technical Extrem range and of course, the Yeti Gaiter which quickly became the benchmark for waterproof gaiters.

Berghaus has been a mainstay in our round ups, equipment reviews and Outdoor 100 product guide for a while now, and many of Gordon’s designs have filtered down into the modern Berghaus gear.

Thanks for all your work, Gordon.

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This article first appeared on our sister-title Outdoors Magic.