GearFlogger Blog

Came across the GearFlogger blog (www.gearflogger.net) last week. Good stuff here. It’s put up by two guys in Alaska, Denali veterans and all, who review “equipment for human-powered backcountry adventure.” The posts are concise and to-the-point, no lollygagging. Plus, they’re funny. Just two AK backcountry wanderers—one of which is a director at AARP—waxing poetic about gear they love, and venting their “collective spleen about gear that failed in the moment of need.”

Says Senior Editor Ken Osterkamp: “We’re based out of Anchorage, Alaska, where we have year-round access to rock, ice, snow, dirt, water, wind and mud. We don’t make any money, and believe it or not that’s on purpose. By not accepting advertising or commissions, tracking site statistics or engaging in any form of personal hygiene we are free to focus our simple minds and dirty bodies on the shiny objects we crave.”

The product that inspired GearFlogger to start up, according to Osterkamp, was a stove: “The Brunton Optimus Nova (Nova: Spanish for “it doesn’t go”) was supposedly a serious mountaineering stove. It sucked badly and almost put the serious hurt on us at 17,000 feet on Denali when not one but two of them failed. Not too long after our review pointed this out it was replaced by a different model. Funny thing is, the Nova had won Backpacker Magazine’s Editor’s Choice in 2001, thus proving that magazine gear reviews are nothing but gear-porn beauty contests.”

Check out the Floggers’ opinions and daily gear musings here: www.gearflogger.net

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