In April 1971, University of California Santa Cruz students Eric Reynolds and Dave Huntley were in Alaska on the Juneau Icefields on a school project in Glaciology. It was here on the glacier, amongst these students, that the idea of a Marmot club began. To become a Marmot, you had to climb a glaciated peak with another Marmot. One of the rules of the club was that everyone was president.

That summer and through the semesters until 1973, Eric and Dave made prototypes of down products in their dorm room in Santa Cruz. In 1974 Eric, Dave and Tom Boyce rented a 100 year old stone building near downtown Grand Junction, Colorado and opened a rental and retail shop under the name of Marmot Mountain Works. Marmot grew from 7 dealers in 1974 to 11 in 1977. 

Marmot has grown since 1977. It is now headquartered in Santa Rosa, California and has offices in California, Colorado, Canada, Hong Kong, United Kingdom, Sweden and Germany. Its products are distributed in 44 countries. The company however has not changed that much in thirty six years, it is still all about the highest quality performance product.