The Tecnica Plasma S hiking shoes.

Gear Review: Tecnica Plasma S Hiking Shoes

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Hiking Shoes
Tecnica Plasma S
$150, 1 lb. 14 oz. (US men’s 9)
Sizes: men’s 7-14.5, women’s 5.5-10.5
rei.com

The notion of a hiking shoe that can be heat-molded to your feet like the liners of ski boots seemed too good to pass up. So I took the Tecnica Plasma S shoes on what struck me as two perfect tests: dayhiking 12,662-foot Borah Peak, highest in Idaho, which entails an almost relentlessly steep, 5,200 vertical feet of ascent and descent in seven miles round-trip, mostly on trail, but also includes a few hundred feet of third-class scrambling; plus backpacking the Teton Crest Trail. The Plasma S delivered on the promise of a customized fit—but it’s important to understand the limits of this technology. Read on.

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Rafters on the Middle Fork Salmon River in Idaho's Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness.

Photo Gallery: Floating Idaho’s Middle Fork Salmon River

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As our big group of several families and friends disembarked from our flotilla of rafts and kayaks and wandered up to our campsite on a sandy beach beside the river, I started surveying facial expressions. We had just finished the first day of a six-day float trip down Idaho’s Middle Fork Salmon River—a day filled with running rapids, swimming, cliff jumping, fishing, and drifting lazily down one of the West’s most lovely river canyons—and I wondered: What was everyone thinking?

It didn’t take long to ascertain the collective mood: All I saw were smiles, laughter, and the kind of deep calm most of us don’t experience often enough. This did not surprise me. I knew from experience that’s the effect the Middle Fork has on people.

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The Slingfin Portal 2 ultralight backpacking tent in the Grand Canyon.

Review: SlingFin Portal 2 Backpacking Tent

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Ultralight Backpacking Tent
SlingFin Portal 2
$485, 2 lbs. 14 oz.
slingfin.com

Everyone wants a super lightweight tent—which makes sense: Give that your tent is one of the heaviest pieces of gear you carry, it offers great potential for weight savings. But not everyone wants the drawbacks of an ultralight tent, which can include tight living quarters and, in particular, so-so stability in strong wind. Enter the SlingFin Portal 2, one of the sturdiest sub-three-pound tents out there, as I discovered on a six-day, 74-mile backpacking trip in the Grand Canyon and stormy nights camping at Idaho’s City of Rocks National Reserve.

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Therm-a-Rest NeoAir UberLite air mattress.

Review: Therm-a-Rest NeoAir UberLite Air Mattress

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Insulated Air Mattress
Therm-a-Rest NeoAir UberLite
$230, 9 oz. (regular, 20×72 inches, in its stuff sack)
Sizes: small (20×47 ins., $140), regular (20×72 ins.), regular wide (25×72 ins.), large (25×77 ins., $210)
backcountry.com

As I was loading my backpack at the start of a six-day, 74-mile backpacking trip in the Grand Canyon, I smiled as I held the stuffed Therm-a-Rest NeoAir UberLite air mattress in my hand; call me a gear geek, but unusually small ultralight backpacking gear just has that effect on me. One of my hiking mates glanced over and said, “Is that your air mattress?!” Yea, it’s that tiny. And if you’re serious about reducing your pack weight—as any backpacker should be—you should be taking a serious look at the NeoAir Uberlite. Here’s why.

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The Gregory Miwok 18 daypack.

Review: Gregory Miwok 18 and Maya 16 Daypacks

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Daypack
Gregory Miwok 18/Maya 16
$110, 18L/1,098 c.i., 1 lb. 12 oz. (men’s)
One men’s and women’s size, adjustable
moosejaw.com

Look at a row of modern daypacks in any store or at an online retailer and you’ll see an increasing number that strive to strike a balance between good carrying comfort and capacity, with a smart feature set that’s not over-engineered, and low weight. Many of them are using the template employed by Gregory’s Miwok and Maya daypack series for years. Carrying the recently updated Miwok 18 on sections of a five-day trek through northern Spain’s Picos de Europa Mountains, and on an eight-mile, 5,200-vertical-foot dayhike of Idaho’s 12,662-foot Borah Peak—with some third-class scrambling—I was reminded of everything I’ve liked about this pack for a long time, and had an opportunity to evaluate a fine, major improvement these outstanding daypacks have just received.

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