Gear for Trekking Nepal
After a two-week trek in Nepal earlier this year, Gear Junkie steps back to examine the clothing and equipment that worked en route to Base Camp at Mount Everest.
Heated Boots Fail To Impress
Columbia’s heated boots, powered by lithium-polymer batteries, are touted to provide the “warmth of a furnace.” Our test found this to be far from the case.
Free USGS Topo Maps
Your guide to the free downloading of 1:24,000-scale USGS topo maps. Go forth taxpayer! Enter into the public domain. And download at will.
La Sportiva Baruntse Boots
A serious alpine butt-kicker. The Baruntse double-boot does duty from glaciers to high Himalaya peaks.
Columbia Heated Boots
Heated boots have long been a Holy Grail. Columbia continues on the quest with its heated men’s and women’s boot models.
Minimalist Multi-Tool
At just 5 ounces, Gerber’s bare-bones Crucial tool is the lightest butterfly-opening multi-tool in its line.
Wenger Nomad Compass Watch
You’ll be the best-looking navigator in the city with Wenger’s high-end Nomad Compass, a $375 timepiece enclosed in a stainless steel case with black and red accents.
Review: Leki Trekking Poles
Leki’s ergonomic hand grips, like what’s found on the Thermolite AERGON Antishock model, help set the trekking poles apart from the competition.
Ribz Frontpack
In the world of backpacks, there is a niche category of products that positions compartments and pouches over the chest. The RIBZ Frontpack is a new entry into this esoteric product realm.
Rand McNally fabMAP
Take a microfiber lens cloth and print a map on it. That’s essentially what Rand McNally did with its fabMAP products, a cartographical collection featuring cities and parks around America printed on a soft fabric.
New York Times: North Country Trail article
The trail goes through more than 100 state parks and state forests as well as areas managed by the National Park Service. It brings millions of day hikers each year into some of the finest natural places that New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota and North Dakota have to offer.
Pearl Izumi Infini T Long Sleeve
You know that t-shirt you love so much because it fits just right? This top manages to channel some of that mojo. The fabric is silky smooth, and the fit is streamlined but not restrictive. And the Infini T wins extra design points for the angle-cut cuffs that keep your hands bunch-free, plus a soft baffle inside the neck zip that prevents chafing.
Osprey Talon 11 backpack
When a hydration pack isn’t quite enough and a full day pack is a skosh too big, the Osprey Talon 11 is jumping up and down yelling, “Pick me! Pick me!” At first glance, it’s hard not to fall in love with the little acid green pack that has reflective flames on the front. After all, it’s light-weight, flashy and reasonably priced.
Review: Mountain Hardwear Quark Jacket
The Quark Jacket from Mountain Hardwear is described as “mosquito netting with a waterproof and breathable laminate.” It is indeed light weight, though it does its job to keep rain out while granting a noticeable amount of breathability. . .
Terra Nova Laser 20L Review – The Gear Junkie Scoop
Developed for sports like adventure racing and mountain marathons where you might run for hours with a backpack on, the to-be-released Laser 20L is marketed as the “best in class for weight, features and fit.” This is my test. . .
Hi-Tec V-Lite Altitude Ultra
Waterproof-breathable boots are nothing new in the outdoors industry. But Hi-Tec has partnered with a U.K.-based defense company on its latest leather boots to incorporate a technology developed for military clothing worn in a chemical attack. . .
Gear Review — Buddy-Board
“Is your life worth 30 seconds?” That’s the question posed by Buddy-Board LLC on the packaging of its namesake product, a dry-erase board made for recording information about your backcountry adventure. . .
SteriPEN JourneyLCD Review
I spent part of last evening zapping helpless microorganisms swimming in tepid water. But it’s ok, the little suckers were trying to make me sick. The SteriPEN JourneyLCD, a UV-light-emitting water purification device, eliminates common threatening microbes, viruses and bacteria that might otherwise make one ill if sipping tainted water. . .
SPOT Satellite Messenger
I blogged on this last week in my OR Show wrap-up, but the PLB-like device deserves a bit more attention. Indeed, the SPOT Satellite Messenger is a new type of personal locator beacon, one that gives you options as to which kind of emergency (or non-emergency) communiqué you want to blip out from the wilderness to the world at large. . .
Gear Review — Gregory Z22 backpack
Designed for day-long excursions — mountain trekking, peak bagging, adventure racing, and the like — the Z22 can manage up to 25 pounds of cargo in its 1,300 cubic inches of capacity. But what makes the little pack unique is its new suspension system, which allows air to circulate behind the back panel, between the pack body and your back, thus keeping you cooler. Or so the theory goes. . .
Gear Review — Trek Talonz
I like this idea. Pole baskets with an attitude! Indeed, I thought of something similar once about 10 years back. But it looks like DG Industries beat me to the punch. . .
Hikin’ the Ice Age Trail
Check out my story in today’s (Friday, Oct. 27) New York Times on the Ice Age Trail, a National Scenic Trail established by Congress in 1980 to tell the story of the recent icy past via the educational medium of a hiking trail. (click here to link to NYT) Six hundred miles of the Ice… Read more »
New knives! (Buck Sirus; Wenger Evolution S)
Indeed, Buck markets the Sirus ($93) and its other assisted-opening knives to campers, hunters and hikers, touting quick access to the blade as well as built-in safety measures to make sure it does not pop open unexpectedly.
Kid carrier backpacks – REI Piggyback, Kelty Tour
Our baby daughter turns one-year-old next month, and in the ongoing challenge to keep active with the little one backpack child carriers have been a godsend. In the past six months, my wife and I have hiked in Sweden, trotted along in local orienteering races, walked unencumbered with the dog on a leash through our neighborhood, and even shoveled snow with a content baby in the carriers we’ve been using.
Sea to Summit waterproof gear bags
In 1990, an Australian named Tim Macartney-Snape took a swim in India’s Bay of Bengal, and then he shouldered a backpack to start a long hike uphill. Four months later, hiking from the ocean, through the foothills of the Himalayas, and eventually climbing to base camp on Mt. Everest and up the mountain itself, Macartney-Snape stood on the summit of the world’s highest peak.
National Geographic Maps, TOPO! State Series
National Geographic Maps employs 60 full-time cartographers to produce publication supplements, atlases, globes, recreational maps and maps used for the society’s video and television productions. This division also produces TOPO! State Series software, a collection of digitized United States Geological Survey (USGS) maps packaged by state or region.
Mora knives
More than 100 years ago, in the rural Swedish village of Ostnor, just outside of the well-known town of Mora, a knifesmith named Erik Frost founded Frosts Knivfabrik. The Mora region was renowned for its high-quality blades, and Frost built his company on knife making principles and practices that had been handed down for many generations.
Jetboil Review – Personal Cooking System
The Jetboil Personal Cooking System (PCS) has been called a total rethink of the traditional camp stove. The all-in-one $80 product, which debuted two years ago to much fanfare in the outdoors press, integrates a small butane burner with a special heat-transfer ring and a 1-liter metal cup. The end result is a cooking system that is about twice as fuel efficient as competing stove models, according to the company’s tests.
The Thumb Compass Review
The thumb compass is a funny little esoteric piece of gear that’s slowly earned my respect over the past few months. I was first introduced to the concept by an orienteering acquaintance who could run through the woods like a deer, jumping logs, dodging branches, skirting swamps, all while reading a detailed map and taking quick glances at the small thumb-mounted dial.
Brunton SolarRoll Review
Brunton’s SolarRoll products are flexible plastic sheets with embedded solar paneling made for powering electronic equipment deep in the wilderness. The rolls weigh less than the average camp stove but output up to 14 Watts of power, which in my tests was enough juice to recharge a laptop computer.
Brunton GreenHeat flammable canisters
Brunton has taken the decades-old concept of canned heat and added a couple crucial modern twists. The company’s new line of GreenHeat fuel canisters, which are being marketed to backpackers, climbers and anyone else who needs to pack as light as possible, are filled with a special concoction of gelled and highly-flammable vegetable oil.