I'm Marco, founder and Master Craftsman of Astucas. I'm passionate about mountains, and I'm in love with the Pyrenees. I love backpacking, trail running and skimo. My ideal plan is to spend several days in the mountains and sleep under the stars.
However, at first I was frustrated because I wasn't able to complete many of the trips. I blamed it on my lack of physical shape, bad weather, mountain conditions… No matter how hard I trained and planned my trips, I was unable to hike those dreamed traverses, to reach those summits that my friends did reach.
After lots and lots of research, test and suffer on the mountains, I discovered something amazing: it was my equipment that was failing. Without realizing it, my equipment weighed me down with each step, with each meter that I ascended. It was too heavy and made me go slow and end up fatigued and sore.
I also discovered that there was much lighter equipment: ultralight equipment! I began to move in the mountains with an agility that I had never moved with before. I reached places I never thought I would. I climbed more peaks than my friends. But this ultralight equipment was also hard to find, certainly uncomfortable, and didn't work very well in the uncertain weather of the Pyrenees.
That's why I started designing and crafting my own ultralight equipment. As a hobby, in a room of my house. I tested all my equipment to the limit and thus improved my designs. So much so that all my mountaineering friends wanted to have the same equipment. It worked just as well for them as it did for me.
In 2013 I decided to quit my job as a teacher and I founded Astucas. So that mountain enthusiasts like you also have this big advantage when they head to the mountains.
I invite you to discover my latest creations and, why not, to become the new leader of your mountain group.