Peter Askulv

A trained biologist and chemist specialising in plant physiology, Peter Askulv is an avid ice climber and cave diver whose interest in technical equipment began on paternity leave, when he started sewing backpacks for friends. He formally founded Klättermusen in 1984 in Åre, Sweden, the idea conceived years earlier around a Norwegian campfire after a caving expedition. He took an unusually scientific approach for an outdoor brand — working at a microscope to study fabric structure and thread durability — and built Klättermusen's reputation on PFAS-free, environmentally engineered mountain garments. With his wife Eva he steered the brand to a quiet cult following across Scandinavia, Europe and Asia.