The clothes you wear against your skin is essential in keeping you warm and dry when recreating outdoors. Yet for some reason, many people ignore this and continue to wear plain, cotton underwear in cold, nasty weather. Perhaps one reason for this is the cost of technical underwear, especially merino wool, is expensive. Well, you…
Category: Gear Reviews
Rockport Katrina boots review
Women’s winter boots come in all shapes and styles, but if they’re not waterproof, fancy looks mean nothing when your feet are cold and wet. Slipping on the ultra-chic Rockport Katrina boots, I thought there’s no way these lace-ups would keep out wet rain and snow, but it turns out these shin-high kicks would (bad…
Icebreaker Apex Zip review
I am a convert. Long have I worshiped at the altar of polyester base layers, they of the plasticy stink-after-a-few-hours-of-activity long underwear. But Icebreaker has opened my eyes to a new world of moisture wicking, insulating base layers with their merino wool offerings, like the Apex Zip. The Icebreaker Apex Zip is a thick, long sleeved…
Salomon Quest 30 Pack review
Salomon has been hitting it hard these days with their release of backcountry ski gear like the Quest 12 boots, Guardian bindings and also the Quest 30 backcountry pack. I’ve been hauling my gear on ski tours in the Wasatch with the Quest 30 on my back for the past month, and like all of…
Atomic Automatic ski demo at 2012 Outdoor Retailer Winter Market
At the 2012 Outdoor Retailer Winter Market All Mountain Demo, a lot of skis were available to test out on the slopes of Solitude Mountain Resort. There were so many in fact, that it would have been impossible to try them all in one day. I only clicked my boots into five skis… but of…
Black Diamond Revert and Carbon Megawatt skis at 2012 Outdoor Retailer Winter Market
Black Diamond has been busy these days, refining and expanding their backcountry ski offerings. The entire Efficient Series has been changed to what they’re now calling the FreeTour skis, and we can look forward to some new models to go with it. The Revert is a brand new design that the company is calling the…
Sherpa Adventure Gear Om Jacket review
When adventuring in the mountains, an insulated mid-layer jacket is essential gear. While down jackets are super warm, they don’t insulate when wet, so synthetic is always better when weather gets cold and damp. These days, I’ve been taking the Sherpa Adventure Gear Om Jacket along with me because it is a super light-weight synthetic…
Salomon Guardian 16 backcountry binding review
Ever since backcountry skiing has exploded in popularity, ski companies have struggled with finding the most efficient way to build a binding that switches between tour and ski mode in a simple, effective way without compromising downhill performance. Salomon and Atomic have partnered to create the Guardian 16 and Tracker 16 backcountry bindings that will…
Osprey Karve 11 Sidecountry Backpack review
Backcountry skiing is all the rage right now, but sometimes you just want to ride the lifts and find untracked powder beyond a resort’s boundaries. In those instances, you don’t need a full, heavy pack filled with tons of gear to get you through an entire day of touring. Enter the Karve 11 pack from…
Outdoor Gear 2011: The Best of the Rest
Continuing our look at the top outdoor gear of 2011, we’re taking a gander at the best picks from our Contributing Editors, Callista Pearson and Ryan Malavolta. Often times, women’s gear gets overlooked, so we’ll start with Callista’s favorite gear that she tested, reviewed, and loved the most in 2011. Merrell Jolene Tri-Therm Jacket The Merrell Jolene…