Fly Fishing Insider Podcast
Mountainist rents and sells outdoor gear for women across fly fishing, biking and motorized backcountry sports, paired with instructional content. The company exists because gear cost and fit, not willingness, are what stop most women from trying a sport - trying snowmobiling properly can mean spending around $2,000 before the first day out.
Tana Hoffman is the founder and CEO of Mountainist, a Wyoming-based gear rental and marketplace company for women in backcountry and motorized outdoor sports.
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What is Mountainist?
Mountainist is a marketplace and rental company built around women in outdoor sports, combining gear for sale, rental kits and instructional content. Its unusual feature is that it puts motorized backcountry sports and human-powered sports side by side, a pairing most outdoor brands keep separate. Fly fishing was added to a lineup that started with snowmobiling and dirt biking.
Why was Mountainist started?
Hoffman was running marketing and community for an outdoor film company when the pieces focused on women outperformed everything else and generated direct messages from women saying they wished they could do the same. The business case arrived separately: after moving to Wyoming she accumulated so much gear that she became the person friends borrowed from to try snowmobiling, dirt biking or fly fishing. Renting the gear removed the barrier that stopped those friends from starting.
What actually stops women from trying these sports?
The obstacle is rarely willingness. Doing snowmobiling properly means about $2,000 in gear before the first day, and a backcountry clinic at $300 to $500 becomes unreachable once $1,500 of required safety gear is added on top. Old, borrowed or badly fitting gear produces a cold, uncomfortable first day, which is what keeps beginners from coming back rather than the difficulty of the sport.
How does the gear rental process work?
Kits ship to a home address or directly to a lodge, packed in duffel bags inside boxes that close with tabs and a single sticker, so no shipping tape is needed for the return. The return label is included in the box and the customer drops it at UPS on the return date. Shipping to the destination lodge is a common request, because a snowmobile kit with boots, helmet and avalanche bag would otherwise eat a full airline baggage allowance.
How does Mountainist handle sizing for renters?
Outerwear is photographed on multiple models with their measurements published, so a customer picks a size by finding a model close to her own height and weight rather than guessing at a size chart. Boots and helmets are handled one-on-one after the order, because brand sizing differs and a wader-and-bootie combination changes the boot size needed. Video guides show what to wear under waders and how a full kit layers together.
How does Mountainist choose which gear to stock?
Product selection is community-endorsed rather than spec-driven. Roughly twenty women are asked what waders or boots they actually prefer before an item goes on the site, and the reasons that count are fit-related - chest fit, height, how a piece feels in use - not the marketing copy. When a men's model is what fits a particular body best, it goes on the site anyway and is photographed on a female model.
How does Mountainist connect women with each other?
There is no matching feature built into the platform yet, though it is planned. For now the connection point is a Facebook group of a few hundred members where women arrange rides, share public access recommendations and plan trips. Partnerships with small grassroots clinics, coaches and women's events do the rest, including a dirt bike festival that draws over 500 women in a weekend.
What advice does she give women new to fly fishing?
The first move is to ask someone already doing it whether you can tag along or look at their setup, because most people say yes. If nobody in your network fishes, beginner clinics, intro classes and local women's clubs are more common than they appear and take only a little searching. The harder part is accepting being a beginner and asking questions instead of staying quiet to avoid looking inexperienced.
Key takeaways
- Gear cost and fit, not interest, are the main barriers keeping women out of backcountry sports.
- Trying snowmobiling properly can mean roughly $2,000 in gear before the first day on snow.
- A $300 to $500 clinic becomes unaffordable when $1,500 of required safety gear is added, which is what rental is designed to solve.
- Rental kits ship in duffels inside tab-closing boxes with a return label included, and can be sent directly to a lodge instead of flown as baggage.
- Outerwear is photographed on multiple models with measurements listed, so renters size themselves by comparison rather than by chart.
- Gear is stocked only after roughly twenty women in the community confirm it fits and performs, including men's models when those fit better.
