About
Durston tents and backpacks are designed by Dan Durston in the heart of the Canadian Rockies with a focus on creating ultralight gear that genuinely enhances your backcountry experience.
Dan has been a hiker and adventurer for over 20 years. He has amassed hundreds of nights in the outdoors and written thousands of technical gear posts in ultralight online communities like BackpackingLight.com and r/Ultralight. Never content with the status quo, Dan has been building his own gear for over a decade including building one of the first DCF tents back in 2009 before most other companies working with DCF existed.
Dan is continually pushing the limits of outdoor adventure. His travels include hiking the 2600 mile Pacific Crest Trail (2014) and the first yo-yo of Canada’s Great Divide Trail (1100km x 2, 2017) along with his wife T, who also helps with Durston gear. Dan also held the Fastest Known Time on the 90 km Stein Traverse (19 hours) and is the 5x fastest finisher in the Bob Marshall Wilderness Open (~100-mile off-season traverse of the Montana Rockies). In 2022 he developed a high route extension of the Continental Divide Trail / Great Divide Trail continuing up the Canadian Rockies.
Prior to starting his own company, he worked as a gear tester for several other ultralight companies and reviewed gear for BackpackingLight.com. With Durston Gear, Dan combines his comprehensive technical knowledge with extensive field experience to design the highest performance ultralight equipment. His designs start from scratch using a first principles design philosophy to solve real-world problems. With the core idea developed, we work with some of the world’s top outdoor gear factories to produce the highest quality gear. The factories we use also build gear for respected brands like Arcteryx, MSR, and Black Diamond.
Dan’s wife T is also a key member of the family business. T is an accomplished hiker and trail runner, having hiked the PCT and GDT with Dan and then going on to solo hike the Great Divide Trail (2019-2020). She is often out backpacking and trail running, having ran long trails like the Skyline Trail, Rockwall Trail and many others. With Durston Gear, T provides friendly customer support, ships orders, and builds accessories like the Stargazer kits.
Our first tent – the X-Mid 1 – was introduced to widespread acclaim in 2018 through a partnership with Drop.com. Since then, we have added a 2P version (X-Mid 2), several backpacks, and the superlight X-Mid Pro series with DCF fabrics.
2023 is poised to be a great year with a lot of new gear in the works including a new 55L pack and X-Mid Pro 1 tent and something special in the fall. Please join our mailing list and Instagram to stay in the loop. We only message the mailing list a few times per year when there’s something major to announce.
Follow @durstongear on Instagram
Find out about new gear + download Dan’s ultralight gearlist