In his downtown Kalispell studio, Josh Korning makes about a thousand bags a year. The simple design of his backpacks is what attracts fellow climbers with a similar ethos, he said.  

"A big part of climbing is taking the fewest things you need and being very flexible with what you have. So really that minimalist aspect of my personal life, of climbing and alpine climbing, translates directly to minimal gear designs and my whole aesthetic," Korning said.  

Those choices can be seen across his brand TUFA Climbing, but don't be fooled by the minimal design. His high-quality bags are a culmination of his passion for sewing useful gear, learning from some of the best mentors in the industry and being an avid climber himself.  

TUFA stands for Technical Unique Functional Art, but Korning said he chose it because it is also the name of a type of rock feature that is famous among climbers. 

"It's like a limestone drip, kind of like a stalactite that you'd see in a cave ... There's a few of them in the U.S., but it's something you'd see on climbing magazine covers," he said.  

Korning started getting into climbing in eighth grade, when he and his best friend biked over to the local gear shop and bought a rope, some slings and a pair of shoes to share.  

It was before Missoula had an indoor climbing gym, so learning the ropes was very literal — figuring out how to climb from more experienced folks around local spots. 

"After that I kind of got more into the climbing community and started climbing with other people. That's where I learned a lot. And all I did through my twenties was climb," he said.  

Learning from older, more experienced people was in line with climbing culture — a spirit of mentorship carried over to his love of sewing bags.  

His first project was a chalk bag out of recycled materials, like an older bag he had torn up and an absorbent cleaning cloth used as a liner. As he got more into creating his own bags, opportunities to enhance his skills started popping up.  

He started learning more about sewing from Jeff Shapiro in Missoula, a professional designer and "mountain athlete of all sorts," Korning said, whose work involved making hang gliding harnesses.  

"He really mentored me in how to sew, but also how to think about outdoor gear design and construction and all of those things that make a great pack," Korning said.  

Korning got even more experience sewing packs at Mystery Ranch Backpacks in Bozeman, where he started working in 2013. But one of his most impactful mentors is John Middendorf, world-renowned climber and designer of modern-day portaledge tents, a deployable hanging tent system used by climbers in high alpine environments.  

Middendorf's hardware company A5 Adventures led him to "unequivocally change the big-wall game," according to the American Alpine Club. Middendorf eventually sold A5 to The North Face in 1997, but Korning met him as he was developing a new company with updated designs for his portaledge tents.  

"Working with him was amazing for learning about suspension systems, how to test load transfer and all of those things. He was one of the more prolific mentors of my life in terms of the climbing community," Korning said.

Korning also spent time working under another prolific climber named Hal Walcoff before pursuing TUFA Climbing full-time.  

While all of that experience led him to develop the brand, Korning has been selling TUFA packs since he was in college.  

"I started TUFA in 2012, making chalk bags back in college and just started selling them on Etsy to local climbers. Then in 2015-ish, when I moved to Eugene, Oregon, I started this backpack called the Mochilla," he said.  

The Mochilla pack is an alpine climbing backpack Korning has been iterating on for more than a decade. He said it's popular among a certain group of climbers in the community for its minimal design.  

"Doing this clever design can lead to a lighter backpack, but also something that's practical to make and that performs well. It's just a sweet spot, so I really dialed in my aesthetic and continued to go about building the brand around it," Korning said.  

After deciding to see how TUFA Climbing could grow as a business, he got in touch with Rob Driscoll, director of the Small Business Development Center, which is located on the Flathead Valley Community College campus. The center works as an extension of the U.S. Small Business Administration to provide resources to small business owners, including guidance on finances and connecting them with loan opportunities. 

Driscoll and Korning met almost every week in 2025. 

"Working with him was really motivational, but the big thing he helped me understand was kind of what investors are looking for and how deals are structured. He also helped me understand what type of things I need to get in order to get an SBA loan," Korning said.  

The outdoor industry is "super cutthroat and super saturated," said Korning, who feels lucky to have his packs be popular by word of mouth, which he considers his biggest marketing asset.   

As someone who cares about quality, making all of his packs in his Kalispell studio is how he prefers to keep production moving at this stage in his business. 

"Part of my advantage of being a one-person brand here in Kalispell is that I really understand textiles and sourcing and all of those things. So I'm able to bring those things together and make truly like world-class products," he said.  

When it comes to scaling up his business, it's important to Korning that the bags are continued to be made in the United States. While getting financing and future partnerships may make that a reality, he plans to be careful on how that next phase of his company pans out.

A few years ago, Korning experimented with outsourcing pack production by partnering with a sew shop in Seattle. It proved to be too difficult, he said.  

"I learned a lot from that about contracts, communication, all of those things. And yeah, it's just a challenge to keep all of that together. Eventually, I'd like to connect with the really high-quality USA sew shops," Korning said. 

For now, Korning is content with balancing a busy life as a single dad and making his bags for the climbers who keep coming back to his products. 

"I do everything myself. It's not just the production, but my website, photography and copywriting — like the whole thing. It's kind of just a personal creative expression and outlet, so it's something I'm pretty grateful for," Korning said.  

To see TUFA Climbing products and learn more about the gear company, visit tufaclimbing.com.  

Reporter Taylor Inman can be reached at 406-758-4440 or [email protected]. If you value local journalism, pledge your support at dailyinterlake.com/support. 

    Josh Kornish, owner of TUFA Climbing, sews a zipper for one of his products inside his studio on Thursday, Nov. 12. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider   

    Josh Kornish, owner of TUFA Climbing, sews a zipper for one of his products inside his studio on Thursday, Nov. 12. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider