Neptune Mountaineering has completed its redesign of the museum housed within its retail store located at 633 South Broadway, Boulder, CO and expects to have it completed by Sept. 30, 2013.


Neptune Mountaineering was bought by Austin-based Backwoods, an outdoor gear and apparel retailer, at the beginning of 2013. The company has remained dedicated to preserving the history and uniqueness of Neptune Mountaineering and the storefs original founder, Gary Neptune, still owns and maintains the museum himself.gThe redesign has been an exciting project for me, the biggest difference is that the space, provided by the storefs new owner, allows many items to be at eye level and displayed in a much more coherent fashion than before.h Gary Neptune, founder of Neptune Mountaineering, said. gA majority of the museum is located in the area that we use every week for presentations, but the museum fixtures will be moveable and it is now a great public area.h

The museum houses various pieces of climbing and skiing equipment, mainly from the most significant period of mountain and polar exploration, the mid 1800Œs to the last half of the 20th century. There is also a large collection of photographs from this period. The museum will be represented throughout the 15,000-square-foot store and the redesign will be aimed at organizing parts of the current collection, creating more story lines and enhancing the value for the skiing and climbing community from all over the world.


gThe larger part of the display is a timeline of technical rock and ice climbing gear dating back to 200 years ago. And, almost as large is the area devoted to the high peaks and the poles. This is less of a timeline and more of an opportunity to tell stories while weaving in some history,h Neptune, added.


A single-store mountain shop located in the shadow of Boulderfs Flatirons, Neptune Mountaineering first opened its doors on April 1, 1973. In the beginning, Neptune Mountaineering primarily repaired climbing and ski boots, and installed edges on wooden skis and re-shafted axes. Today the store is full of climbing, backpacking and backcountry ski equipment and gear, and the companyfs founder, Gary Neptune, has filled the shop with artifacts of his related passion for climbing and skiing. The gmuseumh within the store began to take shape in the late 1970s and has become one of the most extensive collections of its kind throughout the country.


gWe love having the museum within our store and wefre excited to see how Gary will showcase the many artifacts and stories that follow through this redesign. Therefs always tremendous energy and interest about the museum and hearing Gary tell the stories behind each piece makes each tour unique,h Jennifer Mull, CEO of Neptune Mountaineering, said. gBeing a part of this process has generated so much excitement within the store and the climbing community that we look forward to sharing the updates with our customers as well as those who travel from all over the world to see these relics within the walls of our store.h


For more information about the museum at Neptune Mountaineering, visit www.neptunemoutaineering.com.