backpacking gear reviews

Gear Review: Big Agnes Battle Mountain 2 Mountaineering Tent

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First campsite at 10,300 feet below California's Mount Whitney.
First campsite at 10,300 feet below California’s Mount Whitney.

Mountaineering Tent
Big Agnes Battle Mountain 2
$700, 7 lbs.
moosejaw.com

On a four-day, April climb of the Mountaineers Route on California’s Mount Whitney, strong winds raked our campsites—especially for two nights at our high camp at 12,000 feet, below Whitney’s dramatic East Face. But my teenage son and I hardly noticed the wind, sleeping like babies. On a trip where we needed a sturdy tent, but didn’t want to haul something heavy and bulky, the Battle Mountain 2 gave us a very livable shelter that’s significantly lighter and more compact than many competitors.

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Big Agnes Storm King 0 sleeping bag.

Review: Big Agnes Storm King 0 Sleeping Bag

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Winter Sleeping Bag
Big Agnes Storm King 0
$380, 3 lbs. 9 oz. (regular)
Sizes: regular and long ($400)
moosejaw.com

When is a mummy-style bag too constricting? I’ve used ultralight, three-season bags that felt a little too coffin-like. But in winter—or wintry conditions, such as you encounter when mountaineering in spring and summer—there are more practical reasons to use a bag with extra space, and you get it with the Storm King 0. Beyond its dimensions, the Storm King’s water-resistant down feathers, fairly unique “system” design that requires sliding an air mattress into a sleeve on the bag’s bottom side, and its relatively affordable price for this category of bags merits a close look.

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Therm-a-Rest NeoAir XTherm

Review: Therm-a-Rest NeoAir XTherm Air Mattress

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Insulated Air Mattress
Therm-a-Rest NeoAir XTherm
$230, 15 oz. (regular)
Sizes: regular (20x72x2.5 ins., tapered), large (25x77x2.5 ins., tapered), Max (25×77.2.5 ins., rectangular)
backcountry.com

When sleeping outdoors at any time of year, you have two simple objectives: comfort and warmth. We tend to associate the former with our choice of air mattress or pad and the latter with our choice of sleeping bag. But the air mat is actually the key to both goals, because dollar for dollar, your money achieves more warmth from an air mat or pad that adequately insulates your body from the cold ground (which can rapidly drain heat from you) than from your bag. In the NeoAir XTherm—which I tested on numerous trips, including several nights sleeping on snow—you get an all-season air mat with more insulation, pound for pound, than any competitor.

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Gear Review: Exped SynMat Hyperlite Duo Air Mattress

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My wife, Penny, inflating the Exped SynMat Hyperlite Duo air mattress.
My wife, Penny, inflating the Exped SynMat Hyperlite Duo air mattress.

Insulated Air Mattress
Exped SynMat Hyperlite Duo
$279, 1 lb. 12 oz. (with stuff sack)
One size
moosejaw.com

Let’s face it: Side-by-side air mats in a tent have a way of taking the love out of camping, because when curled up with your partner, one or both of you tend to slip into the gap between the mats. Not any more with the SynMat Hyperlite Duo. My wife and I shared it happily for three nights on a mid-July rafting and kayaking trip on the Green River in Dinosaur National Monument, and were surprised at how much more comfortable it is even than we expected.

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Gear Review: Keen Aphlex Mid WP Boots

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Keen Aphlex Mid WP boots, Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Keen Aphlex Mid WP boots, Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Lightweight Boots
Keen Aphlex Mid WP
$160, 2 lbs. 3 oz. (US men’s 9)
Sizes: men’s 6-15, women’s 6-11
moosejaw.com

Lightweight, mid-cut boots at this price make up a competitive category of hiking footwear, and quality varies significantly. Many models are, frankly, made for first-time boot buyers and bargain shoppers who make a choice based on a couple of simple criteria: Whether the boots feel good (often achieved with plenty of foam padding, which doesn’t necessarily translate to good performance) and have any kind of waterproof-breathable membrane (a high-demand feature for hikers). To see whether Keen’s Aphlex Mid WP rose above all that mediocre chatter, I wore them on a two-day, 34-mile backpacking trip in Great Smoky Mountains National Park in mid-October, hiking long days with plenty of elevation gain and loss.

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