A continuous climb towards a safer world.
Meru Safety makes the inherently dangerous sport of auto racing safer through its cutting–edge grouping of protective equipment. Meru Safety currently provides a head-and-neck restraint and a helmet in the works that seeks to upend current concussion prevention standards, and we have several more safety products in development. Meru Safety’s products protect auto racing drivers and in the future we intend to revolutionize military and child car-seat safety. Since 2016, Meru Safety has developed, patented, and procured technology that aims to reduce concussion-causing forces.
The Story
Mount Meru is a mountain located in the Himalayas and its “Sharks Fin” peak lies 21,850ft above sea level. The name Meru originated from the ancient Sanskrit word for "peak", and Himalayan legend states the center of the universe sits atop Mount Meru.
Starting in the late 80’s, many of the world’s top mountain climbers began attempting to climb Meru’s “Sharks Fin” peak. These were experienced climbers who had conquered mountains all over the world and many made their living guiding climbers up Everest. But despite all the experience and skill, for the next 20 years, expedition after expedition failed to reach the peak. With each failure, the allure and legends of Meru’s peak grew. Everyone wanted to reach the peak, to see the center of the universe, but time and time and time again, failure ensued.
Then in 2008, Conrad Anker, Jimmy Chin, and Renan Ozturk made their first attempt at Meru. Like many before them, they didn’t make it, but they made it within 150 meters of the peak. Conrad at the time was one of the top climbers in the world and had a long history of first accents. Jimmy was a top climber in his own right but was most famous for his photography for national geographic. Renan was a young and inexperienced climber and artist who was trying to find his path into the elite climbing scene. The three-man team all came from drastically different walks of life, had 20 years in age difference, were at very different points in their careers, and all had different reasons to climb. They all agreed immediately after their failed 2008 climb that they would not be back. They said that the center of the universe was unattainable. However, following a failed 2009 Meru ascent attempt by an elite Slovenian team, the three climbers came back together on a common obsession.
Meru had kept them up at night. The Sharks Fin was a peak they had to climb. They had to reach the “Center of the Universe”. For two years, the three-man team planned and trained to complete the climb under a manageable amount of risk. During that time both Jimmy and Renan had near death accident on mountains, but both decided to continue the pursuit of Meru. Their efforts were finally rewarded.
In an eight-day accent, the three-man puzzle piece team was able to ascend to the top of Mount Meru. They were able to do so despite Renan having a stroke during the climb, and breaking their portaledge(hanging tent). Best of all, they had world class nature photographer/videographer Jimmy Chin on the climb to document it all.
The documentary produced from both of the teams climbs has become a staple for students to watch in business school across the country. Schools draw parallels to risk management and planning in the business world, but the most important parallel is the pursuit, the obsession. Business is hard, especially when you’re trying to innovate. Even more so when you’re trying to cut new ground. If you don’t have that mountain you are obsessed with climbing or the immovable object you want to topple, you will give up; you will fail.
When we created Meru Safety, we assembled a team from drastically different walks of life, ranging over 40 years in age, at different stages in our careers. We all came together on the common obsession that seemed like an impossible mountain to climb; make the inherently dangerous sport of auto racing safer. This is a steep mountain to climb, and we can climb for improvements little by little. Much like the ancient origins of our name Meru, we intend to reach the “peak” of safety. In our short time together, we have been able to create drastic reduction in concussion causing forces with our first Frontal Head Restraint named the “Ascent”.
Our climb does not stop there. Stay with us as we continue development on both the Ascent and in future lines of safety product. And as always, Enjoy The Climb.
- Founding Partner- AJ Burns