Taking the mountain to the military.

• Position: Western

When Mark Kearse was a student at Myers Park High School in Charlotte, friends nicknamed him "Goose" because of his long neck. Roughly three decades later, a former classmate helped the co-owner and president of Valle Crucis-based Misty Mountain Thread-works Inc. find his company's golden egg.

Misty Mountain was started in 1985 in a Blowing Rock garage, where founder Woody Keen stitched together rock-climbing harnesses before selling them to adventure schools such Outward Bound in Asheville. Kearse, who knew Keen from high school, became a co-owner in 1989, and the company moved to Valle Crucis a year later. In addition to harnesses for recreational climbers, gyms and adventure schools, it makes various other climbing gear that is especially popular with serious climbers. A marketing survey found novices were 10 times more likely to purchase a harness from Salt Lake City-based Black Diamond Equipment Ltd., its biggest competitor. However, 60% of Misty Mountain users have four or more harnesses as opposed to 26% of Black Diamond owners.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

The recession was killing Misty Mountain when, in the fall of 2008, Kearse attended his 30th high-school reunion, where he ran into Sally McCoy. The CEO of Petaluma, Calif.-based CamelBak Products LLC, best known for its backpack-style water dispenser, had led her company's move into the military market. Kearse used her contacts to do the same. Misty Mountain doesn't sell directly to the military but through vendors, one of which collates the harnesses with other items to create kits that contain everything needed on a rescue mission, such as rope and defibrillators. The five service branches employ the harnesses for everything from rappelling out of helicopters to mountain warfare. Navy SEAL Team 6, which carried out the raid on Osama bin Laden's compound in Pakistan, uses Misty Mountain equipment.

The company benefits from...