America’s Best Backpacking and Outdoor Adventures
By Michael Lanza
Early on a sunny but freezing October morning, my friend Chip Roser and I set out from the trailhead at Stanley Lake, in Idaho’s Sawtooth Mountains, hiking in the direction of the peak that forms the picturesque backdrop to the lake: 9,860-foot McGown Peak—not only one of the most-photographed peaks in the Sawtooths, but one of the most exciting, one-day hike-scrambles in the entire range.
Good morning Mike,
Anne is telling me she needs an avalanche beacon for a weeklong backcountry ski trip to Canada. We don’t own any because we retired from sketchy backcountry about the time beacons became ubiquitous. Given that I know she’s only going to have time to use this equipment one week this year, is it better to rent one? Or is this something I should buy, knowing I’ve got an active bunch and that someone might want and use it? I have other questions:
By Michael Lanza
As we slide uphill on skis, each of us carrying a full backpack, the three kids—two of them 14, one almost 12, but an advanced apprentice teenager—trail at least a tenth of a mile behind. If we parents slow down to let them catch up, they stop and tell us, “You can keep going.” So we do. Their audible, constant chatter and occasional screeches inform us that they remain within earshot—close enough that we’ll know if they need us, distant enough to not feel like we’re crowding their space with our oppressive adultness.
Yes, it has now come to this: They don’t want to ski with us anymore.
Breathable Insulated Jacket
Outdoor Research Superlayer Jacket
$225, 15 oz. (men’s medium)
Sizes: men’s S-XXL
outdoorresearch.com
What would you think if I told you that I went for a backcountry ski tour that involved climbing uphill for an hour, sweating enough to get both my base layer top and my hat wet, then skied for a while along rolling terrain, and finally turned around and descended fast to my car—all without making any layering change? That was just my first outing wearing OR’s new Superlayer Jacket. Over the course of several winter days field-testing it, in temperatures ranging from the low single digits to the 30s Fahrenheit, I found it so remarkably breathable that it often never left my body.
Waterproof Backpack
Sea to Summit Flow 35L Dry Pack
$200, 35L/2,136 c.i., 2 lbs. 4 oz.
One size
seatosummit.com
We reached the first, deep pool of water that we had to swim across in the narrow canyon called The Subway, in the backcountry of Utah’s Zion National Park. I tucked my expensive camera gear inside my new Sea to Summit Flow 35L Dry Pack, with my food and extra clothing—and hoped this pack would prove true to the company’s claim of being infallibly watertight. (I did put my camera gear inside another dry bag first, of course.) Then I dropped into the frigid pool—wearing a dry suit—and kicked across it, floating the Flow. And yes, it did keep its contents completely dry—thankfully. But more than just a glorified dry bag with shoulder straps, it proved itself to be a solid and comfortable pack for hiking all day, too.