Gear
Archive
Down Economic stimulus in the form of a 650-fill down jacket with a soft, shaggy hood and a feminine cut. llbean.com…
Good for Trail Easily the warmest jacket here, the XV is absolutely stuffed with top-tier down (850 fill) and wrapped in a tougher-than-average DWR nylon shell. It’s a bit heavier—but a lot burlier—than other down jackets we tested. 2.1 lbs; firstascent.com…
How to make perfect cycling sunglasses: Start with photochromic lenses (not polarized, which hide the glare on slick spots) for day-to-night wind deflection and auto-adjusting tint. Then throw exhaust vents on the lenses to cut fogging. Next, grippy rubber at nose and temples. Last? Price it right.
I loved this glove for midwinter tours. My routine: Skin up wearing just the waterproof-breathable shells, then put the fleece liners in for a warm, dry descent. blackdiamondequipment.com…
Utility Whether touring or just pleasure-cruising, these lightweight soft-shell cycling trunks are our top pick for simple, relaxed, chamois-free bottoms. Quick-drying after a rainstorm or roadside swim, acceptable at the bistro or B&B, and sporting four pockets, they're a godsend. outlier.cc …
German Engineering If, like in that song, I was walking 500 miles, I’d wear this incredibly comfortable shoe, no question. Suede-lined, molding ergonomic footbed below. Supple, unlined leather above—meaning you control the climate with your choice of socks (or lack thereof). birkenstockusa.com…
If you prefer to do sun salutations in a T-shirt, opt for something moisture-wicking, like this mostly polyester one, which also has strategically placed mesh panels for releasing steam. marmot.com…
When you’re ready to graduate from a touring bike to a zippier ride—one with the streamlined speed, stiffness, and low weight to tackle a race but enough gears to let you climb any mountain pass—hop on this svelte option. Its full-carbon frame has the energy transfer and agility of…
All-conditions excellence marks the Fasano’s hi-def optics: The polarized, amber lenses are also photochromic, adjusting to light intensity on the fly. So you can trust these to take care of your eyes from dawn to dusk, whether you’re on the road, on a sunny deck slopeside, or in a…
Town Crossover Stuff the synthetically insulated Guise into one of its pockets and—voilà—it’s a U-shaped travel pillow. Though the DWR coating and pit zips give it a bit of technical prowess, without interior pockets, Velcro closures, or a hood cinch, this jacket is not designed for serious backcountry use.1.8 lbs;…
PUFF LIGHT Of all the jackets we tested, none saw as much field time as the Xenon. The slightly puffy top is stuffed with enough PrimaLoft insulation to be worn alone down to about 30 degrees. And while its face fabric appears thin and fragile, it’s anything but. One tester…
Warm feet, plus giving the planet a helping hand: The Brrogue’s outsole is made with recycled and natural rubber, while the suede and full-grain leather are both produced in factories that work to create fewer emissions. These boots aren’t for bitter temperatures, but the toothy tread will surprise you…
BEGINNER’S BOARD The INT’s top may be made of closed-cell foam, but that doesn’t mean it’s a poorly performing slug like most soft-tops. Because the business side of the board is all resin (like conventional glassed surfboards), with a set of two Future Fins and a Bahn Fin in the…
Headquartered five minutes from Canada’s St. Lawrence River and the mighty surf waves at Lachine Rapids, Riot helped launch big-wave riding as its own kayaking subgenre. The Astro carries on that tradition with a fast-planing hull and delayed rocker to aid aerial moves but maintains a bow profile narrow…
PERFECT FOR PLAYING, SUITABLE FOR DOWNRIVER If your town has a play park, put this boat in it. Here’s why: On a steep breaking wave, a slow, bouncy boat will get you airborne. But on down-tempo man-made waves, the boat has to make up the difference. The Ronin does: It’s…
GIGGLES FOR ALL Funboards are often overlooked because they don’t have the sexy lines of a shortboard. But for most casual surfers, this WRV Fun Fish is just right—and the 7’6″ model we tested is the most user-friendly board here. Its flat bottom made for easy paddling and acceleration, allowing…
The gold standard of expedition paddling gets a makeover with a more versatile neck closure to fit everyone from a linebacker to an Olsen twin and—thankfully, with all that water rushing by—a “relief” zipper. kokatat.com…
Amphibian A webbed sneaker-sandal mash-up? About time! My new favorite summer shoe, the Paradox resembles a light hiker but is brilliant in the wet stuff, secure while crossing rocky rapids and perfect for watersports where you need more protection than you’ll get in a sandal. chacousa.com…
Get bang for your buck. The Big Air XP package comes with a beginner-friendly belay device (for catching your partner while she lead-climbs) and a locking carabiner (so you can secure your harness’s belay loop to the device, not shown). bdel.com…
Why they ruleThanks to light-sensitive photochromic tinting, the brownish glass lenses make an unheard-of plunge from dark (87 percent of visible light blocked) to the stygian depths of full-on snowfield blinkers (95 percent). » The Advances have all the features of traditional glacier glasses—flexible side shades, bendable wire-core temples, and…
Why They RuleA company that satisfies legions of birders—some of the fussiest buyers—obviously knows its optics. Focusing is superfast and precise, but not overly sensitive. You see it, you nail it. » The image is breathtakingly sharp, like an Ansel Adams glass-neg enlargement. » Though Steiner spec’d the Peregrines for…
The question: Do you buy a mountain bike with big travel or less weight, stable angles or lively handling? Ellsworth’s Epiphany eliminates the compromise, riding an inspired line between cross-country and downhill. You get a bike with five-plus inches of front and rear travel in a package that weighs…
At six pounds 13 ounces, the Reverse Combi is the heaviest of the eight new-for-2005 shelters we tested—and is probably the most tent you’ll want to carry. But this Gear of the Year’s thoughtful design and creature comforts threw our usual light-is-right rules out the mesh window. Perhaps bigger is…
Squeeze-bottle filters are handy for travelers and day hikers who don’t need to treat large volumes of water. Take one as a backup for a pump filter, or skip the pump if all you want is a bit of refreshment on the run. Be warned, though: Since bottle-style units rely…
1. The Virtue Two debuts a radical new suspension system (dubbed Equilink) that offers more than five inches of active travel but has none of the drawbacks—no pedal feedback, no bob, and no extra weight—that plague most long-travel systems. It’s super-plush and, amazingly, still handles like a hardtail. 2.
Why It’s CoolAgnes replaces the hood with a rectangular pocket that you stuff with your clothes (tip: stick to the clean stuff) to make a pillow. Given that you won’t be braving arctic nights in this summer-weight bag, a hood is less critical—and the pillow feature is pretty plush. »…
1. Rudy has taken LCD-obscuring polarization down just four notches, to 96 percent. It’s enough to kill glare but also let you see the screen on your iPod, phone, etc. Developed for sailors who need to filter out reflected light and still read electronic gauges, it’s great for all…
With eight settings, the Spot sports an impressive range of beams. Its low weight and intense one-watt LED make it a great choice for multiday treks. 3 oz; www.bdel.com Bummer: Changing batteries is a chore.
1. From backyard strolls to backwoods epics, the Backcountry was our favorite all-purpose snowshoe. Its frame is really two pieces of aluminum alloy held together at the toe and heel by sturdy, flexible plastic, so the deck self-adjusts to tricky terrain. The inner tail is streamlined to allow a…
Conjuring a packable, synthetic cold-weather bag is a tough trick, but EMS pulls it off by stuffing the Velocity 5 with highly compressible PrimaLoft Sport insulation, wrapping it in a superlight Pertex Quantum shell, and pairing it with a compression stuffsack. The bag is a smart, affordable choice for…
Lift lines to skin track. Heli-drops to sidecountry laps. Snowshoeing, skiing, snowboarding. We subjected more than 20 new winter packs to serious use and abuse to whittle the list down to seven, a mix of generalists and specialists. But if you’re anything like us, you want one pack…
PENNY WATCHERThe Aztec and I got off to a rough start when I incorrectly rigged its guylines in a cold rain. All was forgiven when this size-XL camper dove inside and found more than seven feet of internal length, and more than five of width at the front door. My…
It isn’t quite the holy grail, but for high output in bad weather, like ski-touring in a storm, this jacket gets darn close to solving the weatherproof-breathable equation. While it’s not technically waterproof—the seams aren’t taped—one tester stayed dry for hours in sleet and wet snow. And when the…
A PORT IN ANY STORM If protection—not weight—is your chief priority, the three-person Tengu is your shelter. It’s what’s commonly known as a Euro (or dry-pitch) tent, because you clip the poles to the tent’s fly, not its body. The upshot: In a storm you can pitch the Tengu with…
BETTER THAN YOUR BED Letting your car do the carrying for you? Sleep like royalty in the Luxor. It has 650-fill down on top and synthetic material underneath, where feathers get squashed. Fittingly, it has a laundry list of creature comforts, such as a flannel-like liner, handy pillow sleeve, and…
With seven angle settings and eight brightness modes, the tiny Cosmo is ideal for everything from washing dishes to scavenging for more firewood. 2.9 oz; bdel.com…
PLENTY OF ELBOW ROOM With elastic in each baffle, this bag expands as you toss, turn, and even sit up cross-legged to cook or play cards. When you finally stop thrashing, the bag’s elastic keeps the thick sheets of MontBell’s house-brand synthetic insulation close to your body, so you won’t…
CLIMBER’S FAVORITE The stripped-down Prolight 27 performs best when it’s going up. How do we know? After spending time in Colorado scaling multipitch climbs in Eldorado Canyon and summiting (and then skiing down) Longs Peak, our American Mountain Guides Association–certified tester didn’t want to give it back. “It was perfect,”…
Apparel manufacturer Ground has hit the tent on-ramp at full speed. The Ajanta, its first three-season tent, is an impressive debut. An intuitive, hubbed pole architecture makes it easy to set up, while such details as arched vents on the fly kept condensation to a minimum, even on a…
Base-Camp King A zero-degree-rated, 650-fill down bag for $219? It’s not a misprint. The Coromell saves a few bucks by using duck down. While duck and goose down are virtually the same performance-wise, you generally pay a bit more for goose down’s superior reputation. And Kelty certainly didn’t skimp on…
Pocket Rocket When you want the hyper-efficency of a Jetboil stove, but need to cook for two to four people, it’s hard to beat the Helios. The company’s proprietary FluxRing (a baffle on the bottom of the included two-liter pot) helps conserve energy, while the upside-down canister stand lets you…
Serve up good, strong, and hot coffee courtesy of GSI Outdoors’ double-walled and insulated 30-oz Java Press. gsioutdoors.com…
Good for Frontside “This is the ideal Vermont groomer ski,” said one tester. Indeed, lightweight skis are great for backcountry travelers and mogul skiers, but to hold a 45-mile-per-hour turn on ice, you need some beef under you. With layers of steel and a power-boosting binding plate,…
The ideal goggle should vanish on your face, and the Crowbar comes pretty close. The extra-wide spherical lens and inverted V-shaped frame combine to provide the best peripheral vision of all the goggles we tested. oakley.com Bonus: Choose from almost 50 different frame/lens combos.
Stomp backcountry booters with this Recco-equipped, all-purpose powerhouse. The anti-slip lining in the heel pocket kept us locked securely in place. vanssnow.com…
Weighing in at just over a pound and a half per pair, the TLT Verticals are 50 percent lighter than any other AT binding on the market. Don’t worry, they’re burlier than they look—you can ski them hard. 1.7 lbs; dynafit.us Bonus: Dynafit reinforced the climbing post this…
This lightweight true-twin charged in the park and pipe, providing snappy power, easy switches, and smooth nose and tail presses. For improved freestyle performance, it has a softened tail for smooth butters and a wide centered stance (up to 23.5 inches) for riding rails. roxy.com …
CRUD DESTROYER Good for Powder The three-year-old Pontoon remains the best crud-buster of the lot, which is key. While all reverse-camber skis are fun in powder, once you hit manky snow (like the kind that wants to tear the ligaments off your knee), you’ll appreciate the…
One of the best all-mountain boots this year, the expert-level Blower “feels like an F1 car with monster-truck suspension,” said one tester. And while we don’t normally condone manfur, it’s what makes this twitchy, race-inspired boot so comfy. nordicausa.com…
The upper vents are lined with mesh, while the two in front create good airflow—our goggles never fogged up. But our favorite thing about the Vigilante is the Boa fit system. Just spin a knob at the back of the helmet to dial in the perfect fit.
Good for Touring If you spend as much time going up as coming down, the new Dynafits are the way to go. They're unbelievably light but tougher than they look. “You really can charge on these,” maintained one tester. The Vertical FT12 is fundamentally the same as the previous…
TELEMARK Good for Telemark While a few hard-chargers preferred the slightly heavier Scarpa T1 Lady for in-bounds turns, they raved about the flyweight Elektra off track. It's a good boot for a short-calved, aggressive woman and, as one tester said, “has consistent flex.” 7 lbs; garmont.com…
Like old-school Jordans, the One has an air chamber in the heel, which, along with a shock-absorbing insole, helps take some sting out of big landings. Best for narrow feet. flow.com…
Good for Telemark With the same cut and rockered tip as the Coomback, the Gotback was our favorite all-mountain tele-ski. But if you ski mostly groomers, you might want something with more edge grip: Although testers loved the way the early-rise tip plowed effortlessly over crud, some wished it…
Good for Resort The inner lacing system helps keep your forefoot exceptionally snug, but testers were most impressed with how light this Boa-laced boot is. Thanks to an ultralight outsole (made from blown EVA foam), your feet won’t feel like cement blocks at the end of the…
Good for Frontside K2 increased the width of this longtime favorite by four millimeters this winter and added a forgiving wide-footprint Marker binding to match. The result? One of the easiest-skiing high-performance front-side skis just got easier to ski and more powerful (since the binding transfers energy…
This bike-helmet-esque lid has a barrel ratchet adjuster that fine-tunes to head size with a quick turn. Another quick flip of a lever on the top opens and closes ten vents, and we love how your goggles nestle into the short brim, which has a fog-eliminating vent.
TELEMARK Good for Touring The overhauled Switchback won many converts with its new bomber 410 heat-treated stainless-steel toe bar. “A perfect match with lighter two- or three-buckle boots for touring,” said one Wasatch-based tester. It is the lightest telemark-touring binding on the market, but hard-and-heavy chargers preferred the beefier,…
Big Mountain In 2008, NTN turned a thousand years of freeheel thinking on its head. No more duckbilled boot toe. Instead, NTN added a safety-release system, step-in convenience, unprecedented downhill power, and free-pivot touring function. Rottefella lives up to its name, which means “rat trap” in Norwegian. But Americans have been…
Top it off with an ultralight lid like CAMP‘s SPEED HELMET.
Don’t let the faux-fur detailing fool you. The winter-specific sole held well on snow and ice, and the suede is 100 percent waterproof. www.hi-tec.com…
Rome’s new lacing system lets you adjust four different areas—the inner liner, forefoot, ankle, and upper cuff. Sounds complicated, but two cords are all it takes. And it works. The Libertine received the highest score for out-of-the-box comfort and chutes-to-kickers credibility. TAGS: customizable fit, supportive…
This pack is like the diet that promises all the ice cream you want—lose weight with no compromises!—except the Ki works. At slightly more than two pounds, it’s as light as legit packs get, yet the padded hipbelt and rigid polyethylene frame, combined with excellent compression and stability, let…
BIG FAT CARVER Despite the Olympus’s big but curvy proportions and rockered tip, it can, like all Elan skis, carve a mean turn. When you put it on edge, its deep sidecut and powerful guts (two sheets of metal and a burly wood core) penetrate even the hardest morning snow.
Why They’re CoolDefying their given name, the two-pound-12-ounce Alpine Trails are great warm-weather boots, with breathable all-leather construction and no waterproof lining. » The high-topped uppers fended off whistling-thorn acacia in Tanzania’s Selous Game Reserve, while protecting my ankles from rocks and (I hoped) mamba bites. Support was excellent for…
ATOMIC‘s SNS PILOT RACE SKATE BINDINGS can be equipped with the SNS Wedge ($15), a “gas-pedal” shim that magically balances your weight on both the gliding and the kicking ski.
Take the collective experience of a century of Italian bootmakers, add Gore-Tex, and subtract most of the leather and you get this Old World/New World mash-up. It’s a hiking boot with the support to carry a heavy load, and it feels much lighter than its weight suggests. Our feet…
Alpine Touring The Eagle’s wider mounting platform is sturdier than its predecessors’ and better at transferring power to the ski for increased edge-to-edge responsiveness. Accepts most alpine and all AT boots, and the smartly designed heelpiece makes switching from touring to downhill a cinch. 4.3 lbs. TAGS: smooth, sturdy…
NEED FOR SPEEDAt slightly less than two pounds, this no-frills climbing bag doubles as an elegant overnighter. Handy compression straps cinched my sleeping pad and poles to the outside without a lopsided feel—but the Speed holds just over 1,800 cubic inches, so you’ll want to leave the frying pan behind.
This aerodynamically designed pole is flat for speed and light for quick planting action. But fast doesn’t mean delicate. Because it’s made of carbon fiber and molded under extreme pressure, this pole is not likely to snap. swixsport.com …
BEST EVERYDAY PACK Consider the RPM a showcase pack from the less-is-more school of design. Climbers who loathe extraneous doodads will love the lean construction, but so will anyone looking for a simple, lightweight, do-anything hauler. On hikes and even long runs, the padded (but frameless) back panel and well-cushioned…
BASIC BAG If you could turn an old metal lunchbox into a ski pack, it would look like this—a utilitarian, bargain-priced hauler. The 1,647-cubic-inch pack held all the tools we needed for a daylong ski-mountaineering trip, stayed out of the way when we spent a morning making laps at Vail,…
PREFERS TECHNICAL TRAILS The mashed-up name says it all: smear + edge = “smedge.” True to the equation, the Smedge is a serious approach shoe that won’t let you down when the trail gets vertical. Plastic overlays fortify the shoe’s mesh, so it won’t tear. And like a rock shoe,…
Backpacking is more fun with lighter loads. That’s why we loved the weekend-size Xenon, which can hold more than a week’s worth of comforts yet is surprisingly light. The women’s moldable hipbelt fits a variety of body types comfortably. Ditto the easy-to-adjust suspension system. 5.9?lbs, 4,100 cu in; ospreypacks.com…
This was the most secure daypack we tested this year. Credit the superstretchy harness system, which twists with the body. Smart: The Maya’s internal compression system turns the pack into a tight bundle in one pull. 1.6 lbs, 1,040 cu in; gregorypacks.com…
The lightly insulated Winter Trek is ideal for shoulder-season hiking before the snow flies. Once it’s on the ground, this is a great boot for aerobic snowshoeing or hiking. Runs narrow. columbia.com…
Why It’s CoolA pickup is great for hauling many kinds of things—kayaks, lumber, muddy mountain bikers—but is surprisingly ill-suited to bicycles. Even trucks with pre-drilled fork mounts in the bed leave you with a wheel to tie down and no storage room. The Rec-Rac changes all that. Twin C-shaped clamps,…
Top Ultralight Lunch-hour hikes. Mountain-bike rides. Long trail runs. At 600 cubic inches, the Fluid 10 is just big enough to fit the essentials—shell, camera, lunch, etc.—without any wasted space. The light, ridged polypropylene framesheet gives it some stability (and a bit of ventilation) without adding too much bulk or…
After a week slogging through wet snow and mud with a fully loaded pack in New York’s High Peaks, one tester was sold. “Impressive grip—and way more supportive than they look.” Two other props: A heat-reflective lining ups the warmth factor, and they’re just low-key enough to wear around…