Hyalite Designs Creator Katie McKinstry Stylos | Beyond the Trailhead Podcast Ep. 45
Beyond The TrailheadShow Notes
In this episode of Beyond the Trailhead, I sit down with Katie McKinstry Stylos, the artist, graphic designer, professional climber, and creator behind Hyalite Designs. Katie is based in Bozeman, Montana, and Hyalite Designs is named after Hyalite Canyon, a place close to where she lives and climbs. She shares how the canyon, the mountains, and the places she loves outside continue to inspire her work. The main part of Katie’s work is something incredibly unique: she takes retired climbing rope and turns it into one-of-a-kind mountain-inspired wall art. These ropes have lived real lives. They have protected climbers, traveled through the mountains, been part of big days, scary moments, and personal memories. Instead of throwing them away once they can no longer be used safely, Katie gives them a second life as art. We also dive into: • How Katie went from the horse world to climbing • Why she chose graphic design as a career path • How Hyalite Designs started while she was still in school • Why she registered her business before graduating • How old ropes from the climbing gym became her first art material • Why she stopped making rugs and focused on wall art • How pricing artwork became one of the hardest parts of the business • Why galleries helped her understand the real value of her work • Why every rope art piece is one-of-a-kind • How custom pieces, design fees, edits, materials, and shipping all affect pricing • The mental side of running a creative business • How saying yes too much led to burnout • Why she had to email clients and admit she could not take on every project • How she balances rope art, graphic design, climbing, and time outside • Why building your own brand can be harder than building one for clients • The ventilation and safety side of cutting and melting rope • Why professional communication is better through email than Instagram DMs One of my favorite parts of this conversation is Katie’s honesty about creative burnout. She talks about how saying yes to too many commissions eventually started hurting the quality of her work, and how she had to step back before she ruined the thing she had worked so hard to build. This episode is full of art, climbing, business, creativity, pricing lessons, burnout lessons, and a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to turn a very niche idea into a real business.
Connect with Hyalite Designs Website: https://www.hyalitedesigns.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hyalite_designs
Listen to Beyond the Trailhead YouTube: https://youtube.com/@Beyondthetrailhead Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/beyond-the-trailhead/id1860050826 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/11g9jx9Oyd2YSHipi0mmDy?si=72d97f11c5f64ea6 Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/beyondthetrailheadpodcast Website: https://obristimagery.com
For those asking about safety gear we use outdoors you can get 15% off Overwatch x Rescue with code BEYOND15.
More from Beyond The Trailhead
In this episode of Beyond the Trailhead, I sit down with Scott Hannon, founder of The Ultralight Mindset and creator of the uLAS Ultralight Adventure Sandals. Scott’s story started with a simple backpacking problem: he hated carrying camp shoes. After long days on trail, he wanted something lightweight enough to justify packing, but still durable enough to actually protect his feet around camp. His first prototype was made from an old sleeping pad. That didn’t last. Then Scott bought a $5 pair of flip-flops from Walmart, cut the bottom layer off, ground away the extra foam, added his own lacing system, and started testing. That prototype finally worked. After years of experimenting with materials and testing the sandals on backpacking trips, surf trips, and the Tour du Mont Blanc, Scott eventually launched The Ultralight Mindset. We talk about: • How Scott got into ultralight backpacking • Getting hypothermia on his first backpacking trip • Why he never thought camp shoes were worth carrying • Building his first sandals from sleeping-pad foam • Cutting apart Walmart flip-flops to make a working prototype • Balancing ultralight weight with real durability • Testing gear on actual trips instead of just at home • Why surfers unexpectedly started loving the sandals • Running a 100% direct-to-consumer cottage brand • Learning Shopify and e-commerce from scratch • The Instagram ad that worked TOO well • Why Scott actually shut the ad off because too many orders came in • Competing without obsessing over competitors • Whether to hire employees or outsource production • Why ethical manufacturing matters to him • Why scaling customization can get complicated • Why “time and flexibility” are his definition of success The uLAS sandals weigh just 3.7 ounces per pair in a men’s size 9 and are designed to be lightweight, packable, and durable enough to actually use around camp and beyond. If you’re into ultralight backpacking, cottage gear, outdoor business, camp shoes, or building a company around the life you actually want to live, this episode is for you. CONNECT WITH THE ULTRALIGHT MINDSET Website: https://theultralightmindset.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theultralightmindset LISTEN TO BEYOND THE TRAILHEAD YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@obristimagery Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/beyond-the-trailhead Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/beyond-the-trailhead FOLLOW CRAIG / OBRIST IMAGERY Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/obristimagery Website: https://obristimagery.com If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe, leave a review, and send it to the backpacker with Crocs swinging off the back of their pack. For those asking about safety gear we use outdoors you can get 15% off Overwatch x Rescue with code BEYOND15.
In this episode of Beyond the Trailhead, I sit down with Peter Williams, founder and creator of DRYE Fan.
In this episode of Beyond the Trailhead, I sit down with Lance Taylor, General Manager of LOWA USA.
In this episode of Beyond the Trailhead, I sit down with JM Fabrizi, Director of Backcountry Garage. JM has spent years on the small-brand side of the outdoor industry. He joined Coalatree in 2017 and eventually ran the day-to-day business before Backcountry acquired the brand in 2026. Coalatree became the first brand in the new Backcountry Garage program, and JM now leads the Garage while continuing to help oversee Coalatree. That experience gives JM a pretty unique perspective: he knows what it feels like to be the small outdoor brand knocking on the door of a huge retailer, and now he’s on the other side helping Backcountry find those brands. Backcountry Garage was created to help emerging, niche, and differentiated outdoor brands get discovered without disappearing into a massive online catalog. JM talks about how difficult it can be for a small company to tell its story next to giant brands with huge marketing budgets, and how the Garage is trying to give those companies more visibility and support.
In this episode of Beyond the Trailhead, I sit down with Seth Beiden, Marketing Director at Mountain House. If you’ve spent any time backpacking, camping, hunting, fishing, traveling, or building an emergency food stash, there’s a good chance you’ve seen or eaten a Mountain House meal. Seth brings a unique background to Mountain House. He spent nine years at CamelBak during a major growth period, then moved to the agency side, started his own PR agency, later joined Sasquatch Agency, and eventually came back in-house with Mountain House. That mix of product, PR, brand, and outdoor industry experience gives him a really interesting view of where Mountain House has been and where the brand is heading next. We get into the history of Mountain House, the difference between freeze-dried and dehydrated food, and why “food in a bag” is not all the same. Seth explains that Mountain House is owned and operated by Oregon Freeze Dry, and that one of the biggest differences with Mountain House is that the company selects the ingredients, cooks the meals, and freeze-dries the food in-house. We also dive into: • Seth’s path from CamelBak to agency life to Mountain House • What he learned from working both in-house and agency-side • Why Mountain House is trying to honor its heritage while still modernizing • Why freeze-dried and dehydrated food are not the same thing • Why taste, texture, color, and nutrition matter in trail food • Why it is risky to grab a random meal before a big trip • How Mountain House thinks about classic meals, new recipes, and customer feedback • Why the same handful of meals show up in stores even though Mountain House makes way more options • How food trends, allergies, dairy-free options, vegetarian meals, and high-calorie meals affect product development • Why marketing is involved in recipe development more than Seth expected • What food scientists actually do behind the scenes • Why meals have to be cooked differently before they are freeze-dried • How Mountain House cooks massive batches of food before freeze-drying them • Why testing meals at home is not the same as eating them after a huge day outside • How Mountain House is listening to thru-hikers, backpackers, hunters, emergency-prep customers, and everyday outdoor people One of the wildest parts of this conversation is hearing Seth explain that Mountain House meals are cooked in massive batches before they are freeze-dried. He talks about 1,200-pound cook pots, 53-pound blocks of butter, food scientists, and the pressure of making sure a meal tastes right after someone adds hot water in the backcountry.