How a Broken Shovel Led to the Best Overland Shovel Ever Made

DMOS started with a broken shovel.

In 2015, Susan Pieper was living in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, watching her son snap one shovel after another while building snow kicker jumps. The broken shovels revealed a larger problem: shovels strong enough for serious work were too large and cumbersome for skiers and snowboarders, while compact shovels were convenient to pack but not built to withstand serious abuse. Pieper set out to solve the problem by creating a professional-grade snow shovel that was strong, versatile, and portable enough to take anywhere.

The result was the Kicker Tool, now known as the Stealth Shovel. It was designed for building snow features, but engineered around an idea that would become foundational to DMOS: full-size performance without full-size bulk.

It could handle serious work while collapsing into a package compact enough to carry into the backcountry. Pieper introduced the Kicker Tool through Kickstarter, where the concept successfully found a following among the people who understood the problem firsthand. The design proved that a shovel didn't have to choose between strength and portability.

As the Stealth moved beyond the ski slopes and into trucks, cars and the hands of people using it for far more than snow, Pieper began to see another opportunity. The same problem she had solved for serious snow users existed in another community of outdoor enthusiasts: people who traveled by vehicle into remote areas and far beyond the pavement. Overlanders needed a shovel for dirt, sand and mud, but the underlying problem was the same: how do you get the strength and digging capability of a full-size shovel without giving up portability?

DMOS had already solved part of the problem with the Kicker Tool. The Stealth's extending handle delivered full-size reach and leverage in a compact package. The next step was to combine that with the E-tool's compact size and versatility, including its ability to work as a hoe or trenching tool, while retaining the strength and digging performance of a full-size shovel.

That idea became the Delta. A full-size shovel when you need to dig, but compact when you need to store it, and versatile enough to adapt to whatever the trail throws at you. It took the best ideas from the full-size shovel and the E-tool and brought them together in one tool: the strength and leverage to do serious work, the compactness to live on a vehicle, and the versatility to work as both a shovel and a hoe.

The result was a shovel that didn't ask overlanders to choose between capability and portability. They could have both.

From One Shovel to a Complete Overland System

The story didn't end with the Delta. If the goal was to create a shovel people could actually take anywhere, DMOS had to solve another problem: where to put it. The company developed a growing system of mounts and bags that makes carrying a serious shovel on a vehicle practical. The philosophy is simple: make the best shovel, then make it easy to carry, easy to access and ready when you need it.

This approach has established DMOS as a trusted name in the overland and off-road community. The Delta shovels aren't cheap, but when you need a shovel you can trust to dig you out of a difficult situation, they can become the most valuable piece of equipment on your vehicle.

And in a way, that brings the story back to where it began. A broken shovel started the search for a better way to Do My Own Sh*t (DMOS). The Delta is where that search led.