A 'vested' way to keep out cold temperatures

As a former ski instructor, Nate Alder watched kids go from cold to hot on the slope and struggle taking off helmets, gloves and jackets before cooling off enough to ride downhill.

The minute they cooled down, a freak weather storm could pick up the wind and force them to put layers of vests and jackets back on.

The 28-year-old former Brigham Young University student has now designed a revolutionary inflatable vest that fills with argon gas within 1 second, trapping the body's natural heat production inside.

The idea for the four different kinds of vests — intended for snow sports, hunting, water sports and outdoor hiking and camping — originated when Alder went scuba diving in Brazil in 2006 and heard about suits inflated with argon for diving in freezing temperatures.

"When skiing, you have three options if it gets too warm," said Alder, CEO of Klymit. "You can ride down to the car and put your jacket down there, and if a freak storm comes in you have to ride down again. You can go down to lodge and pay for a $5 locker. Or you can wear a backpack, which messes with your center of gravity or balance."

Even though he'd never taken a chemistry class and avoided the periodic table of elements, Alder began learning all he could about argon — a gas that he formerly considered highly flammable.

Alder approached engineering and business students about designing a possible vest for an annual business plan competition at BYU.

"The first mentors said it wouldn't work, that there was no way to get gas to stay inside a fabric," Alder said. "I tried in a polite way to say I'm going to do this anyway."

Nearly three years of 15-hour workdays later, Alder succeeded. He and a business student heard about Gore-tex, a membrane that is 20,000 times smaller than a raindrop. When made into a material, the water molecules pressurized, using the same concept as osmosis.

"It transfers water molecules across the membrane surface while trapping the large argon molecules inside," Alder said.

Therefore, the suit not only inflates with gas to heat the wearer but also is water-resistant, lightweight and can deflate within seconds by turning a button conveniently reachable at the chest.

After years working at minimal pay, the company now has the four vests manufactured and is working on new designs for camping pads that keep the argon gas inside the fabric longer.