Mountain Safety Reasearch [MSR]  began as a newsletter in 1969 that covered topics around mountaineering safety. The Newsletter was originally an organ for Larry Penberthy to communicate better ideas for the gear and techniques for the more severe conditions of high altitude, glacier and winter camping. Later when MSR started manufacturing gear, and offered gear from other companies such as Chouinard's Great Pacific Iron Works, the Newsletter took on the role of catalog. Some of the later newsletter issues actually had 

In 1973, Larry Penberthy was an engineer and inventor who developed the MSR Model 9 camp stove, a design which used white gas and was relatively fearsome in cold weather. He separated the stove burner from then fuel tank, and then used pressurized auxiliary fuel bottles as the tank, and used a better wind screen. 

Cold weather mountaineers loved it because it was great for melting ice and snow into water. It roared, and was nicknamed Krakatoa. Not good for omelettes ... it did not simmer well. This evolved into the Whisperlite stove, a multi fuel stove capable of running on a wide range of liquid fuels. He also designed an ice axe that was supposed to dig into the ice better and stop a slide. Penberthy also introduced aluminum-shafted ice axes; metal axes have replaced earlier wooden-shaft designs.

MSR was acquired by REI in 1981. In August 2001, MSR was acquired by Cascade Designs.