During the winter months of 1982, my father, Charlie Hackbarth, designed a pack saddle for our first pack llama with the help of his Uncle Tant, a skilled harness maker and compulsive inventor. In 1985, my folks launched a line of llama pack equipment called Mt. Sopris Llamas Unlimited, named after the mountain that dominates the view at our original location in Carbondale, Colorado. In 1998, when the town of Carbondale outgrew us, we moved to the small town of La Veta in the south-central mountains of Colorado, where the twin Spanish Peaks that tower over our office often remind us of Mount Sopris.
Our superior line of pack equipment and care products for llamas and alpacas established our name within the camelid community, but eventually our halters, leads and equipment were discovered by owners of other livestock such as goats, sheep, reindeer, yaks, and donkeys. In 2010, we officially expanded our line to include all smaller pack animals and livestock and renamed our company Sopris Unlimited.
As the second-generation in a small family business, I’ve put in quite a few miles on the trail with pack llamas and quite a few hours in the Sopris Unlimited booth at conferences. Now I help keep the website up to date.