Mountain Hardwear Phantom 0 sleeping bag.

Review: Mountain Hardwear Phantom 0 Sleeping Bag

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Winter Sleeping Bag
Mountain Hardwear Phantom 0
$770, 2 lbs. 9 oz./1162g (regular, 72-inch)
Sizes: short, regular, long
backcountry.com

The forecast made me sit up and wonder: Will my bag be warm enough? For the three nights in late December that I planned to spend in a tent in Idaho’s Boise Mountains, lows would drop into the teens and single digits Fahrenheit—slipping below the “comfort” rating and approaching the “limit” rating of my Mountain Hardwear Phantom 0. And this on my maiden voyage with the bag; I had not used it yet. As it turned out, I had nothing to worry about with this extraordinarily warm and packable, ultralight winter sleeping bag.

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Beyond Clothing Dasche L3 Jacket with hood up.

Review: Beyond Clothing Dasche L3 Jacket

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Breathable Insulated Jacket
Beyond Clothing Dasche L3 Jacket
$190, 14 oz./397g (men’s medium regular)
Sizes: men’s XS-3XL
beyondclothing.com

Over several cold days of ski touring from Utah’s Wasatch Range to Idaho’s Boise Mountains, with temps in the single digits and teens Fahrenheit, snow falling, and a cold wind chill at times, the Dasche L3 Jacket rarely left my body, whether serving as a middle layer skiing downhill or an outer layer skiing uphill—a testament to its breathability and versatility. The fact that it comes in under a pound and under 200 bucks should make a variety of winter adventurers sit up and take notice.

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Deuter Freescape 40+ ski touring and freeriding pack.

Review: Deuter Freescape 40+ and Freescape Pro 38+ SL Ski Packs

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Ski Touring-Alpine Pack
Deuter Freescape 40+
$220, 40L/2,441 c.i., 3 lb. 5 oz. (men’s)
One size
backcountry.com

Deuter Freescape Pro 38+ SL
$220, 38L/2,319 c.i., 3 lb. 5 oz. (women’s)
One size
backcountry.com

There are days skiing or riding backcountry snow or on multi-day yurt trips where you need a pack with extra space for gear, layers, food, etc., and a feature set that lets you push your adventures to another level. That’s exactly what you get with the men’s Freescape 40+ and women’s Freescape Pro 38+ SL. On numerous days of backcountry ski touring, including four days at a yurt in Idaho’s Boise Mountains, I found the Freescape offers a degree of versatility for objectives in the mountains that smaller, skiing- and riding-specific packs do not.

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A family of hikers at the crater rim of Mount St. Helens, with Mount Adams in the background.

Three Generations, One Big Volcano: Hiking Mount St. Helens

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By Michael Lanza

The afternoon sun smiles warmly on us as my two kids and my nephew, age 10 to 15, my 76-year-old mom, and I—three generations spanning almost seven decades—plod up the final, strenuous steps to the crater rim of Mount St. Helens. The view could steal the breath away from God.

Before us, crumbling cliffs send small landslides cracking and rumbling down into the vast hole—2,000 feet deep and nearly two miles across—created by the eruption that decapitated St. Helens almost a generation before any of these kids were born. Seventy-five-mile views on this idyllic, Pacific Northwest summer day reveal behemoth, ice-capped volcanoes dominating three horizons: Rainier, Adams, Hood, and Jefferson. We hug and high-five and click off pictures, grinning with awe and no small amount of disbelief that we all actually made it up here.

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The Outdoor Research Skytour AscentShell Jacket.

Review: Outdoor Research Skytour AscentShell Jacket and Bibs

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Winter Shell Jacket and Bibs
Outdoor Research Skytour AscentShell Jacket
$429, 1 lb. 5.5 oz./610g (men’s medium)
Sizes: men’s S-XXL, women’s XS-XL
backcountry.com

Outdoor Research Skytour AscentShell Bibs
$429, 1 lb. 9 oz./709g (men’s medium)
Sizes: men’s S-XXL, women’s XS-XL
backcountry.com

The waves of December snowstorms rolled through for days, dumping cold, dry, light powder in the mountains. In the backcountry, the skiing was epic—as were the weather conditions. That’s when high-quality shells demonstrate their value. On numerous days of ski touring through hours of heavily falling snow, temps ranging from the single digits to the teens and 20s Fahrenheit, and frequent wind, OR’s Skytour AscentShell Jacket and Bibs passed every qualifying exam to rank among the very best outerwear for winter.

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