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I was hiking with a new friend recently when the conversation turned to powered hiking exoskeletons—the increasingly common wearable robotic frames that help your legs climb hills with less effort.
“The price has really come down,” he said.
I told him that a manufacturer had offered to send me one for review. It retailed for about $1,500, and I could have kept it. I said no.
My hiking partner was shocked. “$1,500!” he said, and looked at me like I’d turned down a winning lottery ticket.
I turned it down for several reasons. The first is obvious to me: I don’t trust myself to write an unbiased review of a gift that expensive.
But the bigger reason is that, the more I think about exoskeletons, the more concerned I become that they’ll soon be a common sight on mountains.
First of all, I can see the technology is extraordinary, and it has several excellent use-cases. If exoskeletons can help people with mobility challenges stay independent, get around town, or enjoy a walk they otherwise couldn’t manage, that’s genuinely wonderful. I’m all about it, and I hope the technology continues to improve.
But mountains are different, and the backcountry is very different. It doesn’t take much to imagine an 85-year-old on their way to a summit wearing an exoskeleton. The device works perfectly all morning but then, right at the top, it fails.
Now you have an 85-year-old stranded on a mountain, and a search-and-rescue team scrambling to the trailhead.
Good mountain gear generally reduces risk without masking our physical limitations. Exoskeletons are different: their purpose is to let us exceed those limitations.
Incredible piece of engineering? Yes. Totally.
Wonderful addition to mountain gear? Totally not.
The third objection came to mind as I wrote this: by reviewing exoskeleton products on a hiking website, I’m implicitly telling readers that these devices belong in the mountains. But I don’t believe they do. Even a critical review implies, “This is hiking gear worth considering.” That’s not a message I want to send.
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