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That’s it. You want out of the ticky-tack 9–5 office life. You’ve burned all your button-up shirts and kicked down your cubicle and smashed your company printer to a rap track a la Office Space. Now you want (cue Dixie Chicks) wide-open spaces, somewhere to make a big mistake. A job where you can wear a cowboy hat, eat Lara bars all day, and clock in at that great office known as Mother Earth. Well look no further, friend. Below, a list of 25 Utah companies that put the great back in the great outdoors.
Kühl
Location: Salt Lake City
Look, they dropped the pun first, but there’s a reason this company is German for cool. Doesn’t every employee want a personal lunch chef, a green workplace and a boss who used to live in a snow cave? Plus, every day is Bring Your Dog to Work Day.
Goal Zero
Location: Bluffdale
Who says you have to be a lawyer or doctor to pay the bills? At Goal Zero you can fight poverty, go solar, and help the planet — as a job. So tell that to your parents this Christmas.
Backcountry.com
Location: Park City
It all started with a dream, two buddies and a garage office. Now it’s gear central for in-the-know outdoorists. But you won’t be working in a garage: You’ll be shredding the slopes or hiking the hills on your Park City lunch break.
Black Diamond Equipment, LTD
Location: Salt Lake City
Climbers and skiers making top-notch gear for climbers and skiers — that’s the secret ingredient in this dynamic Utah business. Black Diamond’s been setting the gear standard worldwide for years, and now you can do it with them.
Gregory Mountain Products
Location: Salt Lake City
If there were a backpack-making Olympics, Wayne Gregory would win it in categories you’d never even heard of: hip-angled waist belt systems, center locking bar tack… they’ve thought of all the details that make your bags work for you.
Klymit
Location: Ogden
When was the last time someone cared enough about you to map your body for maximum sleep loft? That’s just the kind of thing the Klymit team is down for: getting down to details to make the best sleeping pads around. So what are you waiting for? Be a comfort innovator now.
Liberty Mountain
Location: Sandy
Wanna be the Scrooge McDuck of outdoor gear? Then come work at one of Liberty Mountain’s ginormous warehouses packed with all kinds of woodsy equipment. At night, laugh maniacally as you swim through your booty of backpacks, snow pants, carabiners and wool socks.
ProBar
Location: Salt Lake City
Are you a food-tilitarian who wants all the benefits of a healthy meal in one small place? Yes? Sounds like you’re ready to be a ProBar Ambassador, teaching the good people of America the good news — that you can cram a whole lotta vitamins and minerals into bars, chews and nut butters with sick names like Bolt, Fuel and Base.
Petzl
Location: West Valley City
If you didn’t even know “night trail running” was a thing, don’t tell these guys. Work at Petzl — and play it cool — long enough and you’ll pick up a lot of new, adventurous hobbies, like mountaineering, caving and bouldering. And if you’re gonna do it, you might as well do it in style, decked out in the latest, most advanced adrenaline-junkie gear around.
Super Fly
Location: Sandy
Now Utah’s got a whole ’nother business devoted to hanging people at great heights from tiny bits of cloth and metal. It’s called paragliding, and these guys are the best in the biz. Work for Super Fly and make jumping off a cliff fun again.
Skullcandy
Location: Park City
Ever wonder what happened to all those cool skater kids your mother said would never amount to anything? Well they started a headphone business and it’s so cool and dope and sick that if you work there you’ll almost forget you’re at work. Come on, feel the noise! (Skater kids listen to Quiet Riot, right?)
Camp Chef
Location: Hyde Park
Move over Martha Stewart, there’s a new chef business in town — a business that believes camping is no excuse to not make amazing barbecue, Dutch oven and other gourmet delectables. Work for this crew and who knows, maybe soon you’ll be eating high-alpine strudel with the best of them.
DNA Cycling
Location: Sandy
If the name sounds scientific, that ‘cause it is. The folks at DNA Cycling don’t just make bike clothes. They’re the NASA of apparel design. Think laser-cuts, bio-ceramics, suspension systems and superb chamois: all words you might not understand but that make your race gear feel painted on. And isn’t that a good way to spend your workweek?
Jaybird
Location: Salt Lake City
Think of some headphones. Now think of some headphones you might wear if you were running a marathon uphill both ways, in outer space. Something stay-put, durable, sweat-proof, wireless. Jaybirds. Now think of designing these things for work.
Ogio
Location: Draper
Ever designed an “adrenaline-raising” collection of bags? No? Well you haven’t lived. Luckily, there’s a remedy. Come work for Ogio and you can design and sell sports bags to carry anyone’s passion. Golf? Skiing? Biking? Underwater basket weaving? There’s a bag for that.
Rossignol
Location: Park City
These guys have been here since skis were made of wood, and they’ve got the awards, Olympic medals and rave athlete reviews to prove it. Wanna design the best of the best for the best of the best? Looks like you found your calling.
Specialized (Distribution Center)
Location: Salt Lake City
The name says it all. This is a company who makes bikes for “discerning” riders — people who wanna get there fast, get there right and get there light. It’s also a company that gives bikes to schools to improve focus and stop ADHD. So whether you like shiny things or want to stop being distracted by them, this business is the place for you.
Zodi Outback Gear
Location: Midvale
You’re the kind of customer who wants a hot shower on Everest. Zodi’s the kind of company that will make that happen. (This is not a metaphor. They literally installed a hot camp shower on Everest, as well as providing thousands of happy campers with insta-hot outdoor ablutions closer to sea level, too.) So if you have champagne shower taste on a camp budget, or you just wanna work with people who do, this is the company for you.
Reynolds Cycling
Location: Sandy
You’ve always wanted to be a carbon fiber pioneer, you just didn’t know it was a job. Now it is. Along with Paul Lew and the folks at Reynolds — the original carbon fiber explorers — you can bring the people of these United States the lightest wheels and forks known to man. Science, my friend. Science.
Chums
Location: Salt Lake City
Holding onto your glasses since 1983, this company knows how to have a good time. Their founder was a river guide. The company mascot is a Booby Bird. They sell JERCS: Just an Eyewear Retention and Comfort System, that is. You get the picture. Working for these folks is like a giant Price is Right check for being a loveable lunatic.
Dale Boot
Location: Salt Lake City
Welcome to Dale Boot, home of the original foam-injected liner! Yup, these folks have been churning out industry-standard ski boot liners for decades, and keeping your feet toasty to boot.
Atomic
Location: Ogden
Atomic goes big or goes home. Their slogan: We ARE skiing. Their mission? To make “individually perfect” ski products. If you like your ambition big and bold, get on the Atomic team. And ski hard, bro.
Browning
Location: Morgan
Browning’s been called The Best There Is in firearms, originating in that historical sweet spot when the accuracy of your rifle was more important than inventing color photography. Ogden, Utah–native John Moses Browning’s superior designs conquered the West, then the world.
Salomon
Location: Ogden
Salomon wants you to play more and pay less for the best ski equipment around. And if you work for them, you can get paid more to play more and pay less. And hey, we’re not economists, but we don’t see a downside in there anywhere.
Hoyt Archery
Location: Salt Lake City
Paging Katniss Everdeen. Hoyt Archery called. They want their bows back. We kid, we kid. But Hoyt Archery doesn’t. They just keep shelling out the hits. Literally. And you can be part of that.
Find your dream job at KSL Jobs.
