The first boundary layer wind profilers were developed to measure winds in a gap region below the lowest observation of larger VHF radars, primarily as part of a tropical radar network. The original design would not work well in cold or mountainous regions because of low sensitivity and ground clutter. With improvements in hardware and in software algorithms, cold weather and complex terrain are no longer serious hurdles for these radars. In the past decade, the network of profilers deployed by NCAR's Earth Observing Laboratory has proven valuable in many experiments in mountain environments. These include the Salt Lake Valley, UT (the Persistent Cold-Air Pool Study and the Vertical Transport and Mixing Experiment), Owens Valley, California (the Sierra Rotors Project and the Terrain-Induced Rotor Experiment), Steamboat Springs, CO (the Inhibition of Snowfall by Pollution Aerosols Experiments), Juneau, AK (Juneau Airport Wind System), and Reno, NV (Reno Basin Inversion project). This presentation will describe the now-proven capabilities of small wind profilers in complex terrain for mountain meteorology and air quality projects, and potential capabilities of a new deployable network under development.