Gear Reviews

The North Face Ceptor Jacket.

Review: The North Face Ceptor Jacket and Bib

by

Winter Shell Jacket and Bibs
The North Face Ceptor Jacket
$430, 1 lb. 9 oz. (men’s medium)
The North Face Ceptor Bib
$410, 1 lb. 12 oz. (men’s medium)
Sizes for both: men’s S-XXL, women’s XS-XXL
backcountry.com

When you love skiing, you commit yourself to enduring almost any weather conditions for your sport—and that requires a shell jacket and pants that really protect you from the elements. Through numerous full days of skiing at Oregon’s Mount Bachelor and the full range of Cascades weather—dumping snow, cold temps and wind, occasional sunshine and, yes, even winter rain—TNF’s Ceptor Jacket and Bib kept my college-age daughter, a former ski instructor, smiling and ripping all day.

Read on

The Hyperlite Mountain Gear Mid-1 ultralight solo backpacking tent.

Review: Hyperlite Mountain Gear Mid-1 Ultralight Solo Tent

by

Ultralight Solo Backpacking Tent
Hyperlite Mountain Gear Mid-1
$675, 16.8 oz./476.3g
hyperlitemountaingear.com

After crossing Texas Pass, at around 11,460 feet, a friend and I descended into the incomparable Cirque of the Towers in Wyoming’s Wind River Range, reaching the shore of Lonesome Lake—where the sky suddenly darkened, soon followed by thunder and lightning. We hustled to pitch the Hyperlite Mountain Gear Mid-1 as a temporary shelter and both dove inside just as the full force of that thunderstorm walloped us with pounding wind and rain, even spawning a new, little stream that flowed under one end of the tent. But we stayed warm and dry inside it while waiting 30 minutes or more for the storm to pass. And that’s just one tale of the weather the Mid-1 endured, demonstrating its value as one of the very best ultralight solo backpacking tents available today.

Read on

The Rab Mythic Alpine Down Jacket.

Review: Rab Mythic Alpine Down Jacket

by

Water-Resistant Down Jacket
Rab Mythic Alpine Down Jacket
$390, 11 oz./313g (men’s medium)
Sizes: men’s S-XXL, women’s XS-XL
backcountry.com

Two separate, six- to seven-day, September backpacking trips in Glacier National Park and the Wind River Range presented a quandary: Starting out with the weight of a week’s food gave me added incentive to trim all superfluous weight from my pack; yet the possibility of temperatures dropping near or even below freezing made bringing adequately warm layers essential. The Rab Mythic Alpine Down Jacket achieved both goals, keeping me warm on mornings around freezing while weighing less than most comparably warm puffy jackets.

Read on

Oboz Katabatic Mid Waterproof boots.

Review: Oboz Katabatic Mid Waterproof Boots

by

Hiking and Backpacking Boots
Oboz Katabatic Mid Waterproof
$240, 1 lb. 13 oz./822g (US men’s size 9)
Sizes: US men’s 7-15, women’s 5-12
backcountry.com

Designers of backpacking boots—driven by consumer demand—have brought that category through an evolution of sorts to where many popular models look very similar: reasonably lightweight, waterproof-breathable, increasingly flexible and comfortable while maintaining good stability and support, and moderately priced. But as I found while wearing them on a pair of three-day backpacking trips and dayhikes in the Canadian Rockies and a four-day backpacking trip in the Wind River Range, the Oboz Katabatic Mid Waterproof achieve all of those qualities while weighing significantly less than many boots in this category.

Read on

The Nemo Hornet Osmo 1p ultralight backpacking tent.

Review: Nemo Hornet Osmo 1p Ultralight Tent

by

Ultralight Solo Backpacking Tent
Nemo Hornet Osmo 1p
$460, 1 lb. 13 oz./822g
backcountry.com

The wind never cut us a break while backpacking in the Wind River Range in August. For hours a day on the trail, it literally knocked us off-balance at times. And then it pounded us every night. Finally, on our last evening, it blew in with a violent thunderstorm that generated gusts probably exceeding 40 mph/64 kph and perhaps reaching 50 mph/80 kph, accompanied by driving rain for several hours. Although a friend (in another tent) and I didn’t sleep a wink until that storm abated well after midnight, the Nemo Hornet Osmo 1p kept me dry and survived those tempests while demonstrating its strengths and nice design features.

Read on