Melissa McNeil: OGE's Footwear Specialist

Melissa MeNeil is OGE's Retail Specialist for footwear, and OGE's customer service specialist. She's originally from Peculiar, MO, but Melissa has lived in the Midwest, Rockies, Alaska and Mexico as well as Vermont. Ashland, WI, Rancho El Nogal close to Yepachi in the state of Chihauhua, Mexcio, Setnet site off the coast of Kodiak Island, AK, a car outside of Missoula MT and Jackson Hole, WY were her homes before she arrived in BTV. Fortunately, Melissa is not super tall, so the car thing worked out. A climber, biker, runner and farmer, Melissa has been with OGE for nearly a year, and she's making the most of her latest stop on the map. She's picking up kayaking and practicing her fly fishing cast, while squeezing in hikes and runs and swims before and after work, and on her days off. When Melissa dreams big, she thinks about establishing a route up the classic west ridge of El Gigante, Mexico’s biggest wall, sometime in the next year. She put in over 15 routes in the Candamenia Canyon just up stream El Gigante and has hiked to the base of the wall twice in the last six years. Maybe she'll work on it while she's on her dream trip, a year-long climbing tour of North America living out of the back of a Toyota Tacoma with her girlfriend and dog. Melissa's most memorable adventure: horse packing through the Wind River Mountain range with her Aunt and Grandma. "I was five and was responsible for this little white horse that I rode by myself for nine days of no baths, sleeping in tents, cooking over a fire/camp stove and tang."

What Melissa says she is best at? "Getting sh*t done." Her favorite backcountry meal: oatmeal with walnuts, raisins and peanut butter. And her favorite piece of gear? Darn tough socks Melissa climbs in a Black Diamond Primrose harness, in La Sportiva Mythos or Evolv Bandit shoes, La Sportiva Boulder X approach shoes, with a Black Diamond ATC Guide primary belay device, and Wild Country Wild Wire quickdraws.