Who is Yvon Chouinard? Find Net Worth, Quote, Awards, Fact, Wiki

Yvon Chouinard Wiki Biography

Yvon Chouinard was born on 9 November 1938, in Lewiston, Maine USA, of part French-Canadian descent. Yvon is a businessman, environmentalist, and rock climber, best known through his company Patagonia. He’s also well-known for the numerous sports he practices, and his business that manufactures climbing gear. All of his efforts have helped put his net worth to where it is today.

How rich is Yvon Chouinard? As of mid-2016, sources inform us of a net worth that is at $300 million, mostly earned through the success of his business endeavors. He’s a very successful climber, but has also helped create numerous patents. He’s written several books too, and all of these endeavors have ensured the position of his wealth.

Yvon Chouinard Net Worth $300 million

Early on, Chouinard was very fond of climbing and often went on treks with Tom Frost and Royal Robbins. He became a Sierra Club member, and then founded the Southern California Falconry Club. While doing studies on falcons, he became more interested in rock climbing, and went on to make his own equipment to save money on gear. He learned how to be a blacksmith, and eventually started his own business.

Yvon became a climber during what was called the “Golden Age of Yosemite Climbing” – he was a part of the 1964 ascent of the North America Wall without using any fixed ropes. The following year, he ascended Muir Wall in the same manner, and became an advocate of the style which would become the focus of modern rock climbing. He achieved several ascents in the Canadian Rockies, and decided to apply these rock-climbing techniques to mountain climbing. He introduced chrome-molybdenum steel pitons for climbing and even climbed the difficult first pitch of Matinee. In 1968, he climbed the Cerro Fitzroy in Patagonia along with Douglas Tompkins. Later on, he would complete climbs in the European Alps and in Pakistan. Due to being an advocate of climbing, he became the protagonist in the film “Valley Uprising” which was about this era of climbing.

Yvon bought a second-hand coal forge and began making pitons, and started selling them for financial support while going on his other adventures such as surfing and climbing. The success of these pitons led him to start Chouinard Equipment with Tom Frost, beginning with improving ice climbing equipment, and he also published “Climbing Ice” during this time. In the 1970s, the pitons were causing concerns on how it was making cracks in the Yosemite, so Chouinard then decided to introduce Stoppers, Hexentricks, and Crack-n-Ups, promoting the new method called “clean climbing”. – these items would be patented and are still in production today. They continued experimenting and improving their wares, but later had to file bankruptcy in 1989, to protect themselves from liability lawsuits. Eventually, the company re-established itself as Black Diamond Equipment, Ltd.

While the success of Chouinard Equipment was ongoing, Yvon bought rugby shirts and was able to successfully sell them too. This led him to establish the gear and clothing company called Patagonia, then deciding that the company should focus on environmental activism, and even established a cafeteria that offered healthy food. The company also provided on-site care and committed to put 10 percent of the sales to environmental causes. In the early 1990s the company switched to all organic cotton, and one of its most recent projects is supporting the film “DamNation” which Chouinard produced.

For his personal life, Yvon married Malina Pennoyer in 1971, and they have two children.