Our Story

Our story begin in the mid 1980's when our father, Glen Probst, had the idea to build a foldable & portable wood burning stove that he called the WoodFlame.  Glen was an avid backpacker and fisherman that loved exploring the Uintah Mountains in Utah.  

Open campfires were not permitted due to the growing problem of wildfires. He didn't want to carry big bulky gas stoves & fuel into remote lakes 10+ miles into the backcountry. As someone that liked to created he got started on his first version of the stove and by 1989 he filed for his first provisional patent application with the USPTO.  One year later he was granted the non provisional utility patent (US Patent Number: 4,971,045) and was headed off to the Outdoor Retailer Show in Reno, NV to show his new stove.  

The WoodFlame stove was well received and generated a lot of excitement in the Western United States.  We soon had a small stove factory in our family home in Orem, UT.  Glen worked as Director of English Language Department at Brigham Young University in Provo, UT.  He would work long hours during the day and then long hours at night making stoves.  

He always made time to go backpacking and fishing.  We would go as a family although never all together at once.  Having 10 children made that virtually impossible! Not everyone was excited to hike in 5-10 miles to fish, relax and most often get eaten alive by mosquito's! It's safe to say that the girls in the family have NOT camped since they were a youth.  

Being outdoors was one of Glen's favorite things.  He instilled a love for exploring and experiencing nature that has lasted a lifetime.  The small portable WoodFlame had other variations in sizes.  A larger one made for car camping (something we did very little of) was made and an even larger stove used as our fire pit in our backyard received years of use.  We have many fond memories of roasting marshmallows, hot dogs and flat bread cakes over the open fire.  

As his patent was nearing its end of life he asked his son's if they would be interested in doing anything with his stove.  We took the stove and re-tooled it and created the Folding Firebox.  The Folding Firebox, much like its predecessor, changed the landscape of how we backpack forever.  A couple of years later we sold out of our interest in Firebox.  

In an effort to remember the legacy of our father we started kampMATE and re-entered the market with a stove similar to the original stove and then intentionally called it the WoodFlame.  

Thanks for being apart of this journey with us!