It’s been over a decade since Sitka Gear burst onto the scene of the outdoor community. In 2004, they literally took the industry by storm and delivered high performance outdoor gear to the hard-core outdoor athlete. Until this time, the hunter wasn’t considered an athlete. However, founder Jonathon Hart saw a serious need for these athletes out there, which would become one with the animals and the terrain they live in. These hard-core athletes didn’t need clothing, they needed gear and gear for all types of terrain and weather conditions.

New for 2017 from Sitka Gear is the Ascent Series Optifade Subalpine line. It’s more than just a new pattern, as this purpose driven design is what is putting Sitka Gear leaps and bounds ahead of its’ competition by providing extremely specialized clothing and equipment for very specialized hunters. What this means is that you will be able to not only have a product that provides great concealment, but one that is built for the specific types of hunting you do.



The Optifade Subalpine pattern is designed with the elk and deer hunter in mind. The science behind the pattern is for those of you that are stalking or ambushing animals from the ground, in tree covered, vegetated terrain. It has a super high contrast, with black being the dark and bone color being the lighter side. When you engage with animals inside of fifty yards, this contrast will create an illusion to the animals, making them look through you instead of at you. When you aren’t detected as a predator, this allows you to get much closer to your prey. The greens and tans in the pattern allow you to blend into nearly any terrain, from the desert floor of Arizona, to the thick timber of the northwest. The diversity of this pattern allows Sitka Gear to then define products which are very specific to each application.

This new Optifade Subalpine pattern will not only allow Sitka Gear to have a concealment pattern for every situation and terrain a hunter could need, but it is also allowing them to get very product specific for each and every hunting situation. Those of you that are early season archery hunters, where high level performance, breathability and functionality is the key, you will now have a highly tailored system in the Ascent Series Optifade Subalpine line, which is totally different from that of the late season rifle hunter, tackling sub-zero weather conditions.