about us

Make New Camping Memories with Kelty

When I think of Kelty, I think of the outdoors for everybody. Do you remember your first S'more? We at Leonidas are thrilled to have Kelty as part of our offering. We hope you and your family will enjoy making new memories. Kelty offers their best selling items to members of LeoAdventures. Shop Kelty for tents, sleeping bags, child carriers, packs and shelters. --leo

In 1952, Dick Kelty, a carpenter, builder, and avid outdoorsman, started making backpacks for his friends in the Sierra Club for 24 bucks a pop. His friends were grateful. These 24-dollar packs revolutionized backpacking, implementing for the first time Kelty's ideas of a hipbelt and lighter aluminum frames. Soon, Kelty and his friends were exploring the Sierra Nevadas with heavy loads, no shoulder pain, going farther, longer, and happier into the wilderness than ever before.

Five years later, Dick Kelty quit his carpentry business to start an outdoor gear company. Staked out in an old garage, he welded aluminum tubes into frames while his wife, Nena, cut, sewed, and fitted the pack bags. Today, Kelty gear promises the same dedication to innovation and getting outdoors that Dick Kelty had forty-eight years ago.

Kelty started as a company making it easier for friends to enjoy the wilderness, and that's what we still do. We just have a few more friends.