Peter Hall’s journey into river stand-up paddleboarding (SUP) began with a restless curiosity. Early on, he wanted to take paddleboarding into whitewater—a place where traditional boards didn’t work. That challenge sparked the creation of Hala, an inflatable-only paddleboard company based in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. From the outset, Hall’s mission was to design boards that made river SUP not only possible, but exciting.

From backyard experiments in Steamboat to game-changing innovations like the StompBox retractable fin, Peter Hall and Hala Gear have rewritten what’s possible in river stand-up paddleboarding.