Black Diamond gear reviews

Gear Review: Black Diamond Element 60/Elixir 60 Backpacks

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Black Diamond Element 60
Black Diamond Element 60

Backpack
Black Diamond Element 60/Elixir 60
$220, 60L/3,661 c.i., 3 lbs. 6 oz. (men’s medium)
Sizes: men’s medium and large (62L/3,783 c.i.), women’s small (58L/3,539 c.i.) and medium (60L/3,661 c.i.)
blackdiamondequipment.com

On a June backpacking trip with my 13-year-old son to Alice Lake in Idaho’s Sawtooth Mountains, I found myself clambering over four-foot-tall, slick, densely consolidated drifts of snow not yet melted out on the trail, fording a fast, frigid, and knee-deep creek, and tiptoeing over logs across the creek. In circumstances that challenge your balance, it’s nice to have a pack that feels like an extension of your body, rather than tugging you in a direction you don’t want to go. The impressively lightweight Element 60 did that, plus it has the capacity for longer trips and smart design details.

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Review: Black Diamond Dawn Patrol Hybrid Jacket

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Black Diamond Dawn Patrol Hybrid Shell
Black Diamond Dawn Patrol Hybrid Shell

Winter Shell
Black Diamond Dawn Patrol Hybrid Jacket
$365, 1 lb. 2 oz./510g (men’s medium)
Sizes: men’s S-XL
blackdiamondequipment.com

We expect more of jackets made for our winter outdoor pursuits because we spend more time in them than in a rain shell in summer (which may not even come out of your pack). Most of all, it has to fend off a wide range of nasty weather while breathing well enough that you don’t wind up creating a nasty storm of sweat on the inside. Black Diamond’s new Dawn Patrol Hybrid Shell did just that for me over numerous days of skiing the backcountry of Idaho’s Boise Mountains, in temperatures ranging from single digits with a below-zero wind chill through the high 30s, in falling snow, light rain mixed with wet snow, wind, and just plain calm, sub-freezing air.

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Gear Review: Black Diamond Coefficient Jacket

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Black Diamond Coefficient Jacket
Black Diamond Coefficient Jacket

Fleece Jacket
Black Diamond Coefficient Jacket
$139, 11 oz. (men’s medium)
Sizes: men’s S-XL
blackdiamondequipment.com

Keeping your body from overheating or getting cold while active is a challenge in shoulder seasons, or anytime you encounter fast-changing weather and temperatures from the 20s to the 50s Fahrenheit. The key is clothing that provides just enough warmth without making you perspire too much, and that moves moisture out quickly when sweating becomes unavoidable. On numerous spring and fall days of hiking and rock climbing in Idaho’s City of Rocks National Reserve and Castle Rocks State Park, and dayhiking in July in Mount Rainier National Park, the Coefficient Jacket hit that ideal balance that kept me from cycling between hot and chilled.

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Gear Review: Black Diamond Sonar Daypack

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Black Diamond Sonar
Black Diamond Sonar

Daypack
Black Diamond Sonar
$140, 2 lbs. 1 oz. (S/M)
Sizes: S/M (24L/1,464 c.i.), M/L (26L/1,587 c.i.)
blackdiamondequipment.com

What causes your body to get tired and achy on a dayhike? Well, aside from the obvious factors—how far you walk, the terrain’s ruggedness, and your pack’s weight (we’ll leave your physical condition aside for now)—don’t overlook the importance of how your pack fits and behaves on your back. When we walk, our bodies move a lot, arms, hips, and torso included. On several dayhikes, including a climb up Mt. St. Helens (10 miles, 4,500 feet), starting out with about 20 pounds (including food, water, and clothes for my family), and a 28-mile, 8,000-vertical-foot loop through Idaho’s White Clouds Mountains in just over 10 hours, I found the Sonar’s fit and suspension noticeably reduced the level of fatigue and soreness I felt at the end of each day.

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Gear Review: Black Diamond Vapor Climbing Helmet

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Black Diamond Vapor
Black Diamond Vapor

Climbing Helmet
Black Diamond Vapor Helmet
$140, 7.5 oz. (M/L)
Sizes: S/M (21-23 ins./53-59 cm), M/L (23-25 ins./58-63 cm)
blackdiamondequipment.com

I’m afraid to put this new helmet down somewhere and take my eyes of it: My climbing partners unabashedly confess how covetous they are of it. After wearing the Vapor for several days of rock climbing at Idaho’s City of Rocks National Reserve, Castle Rocks State Park, and Mores Mountain, I’m quite loathe to lose it. Those included a couple of hot days baking under the desert sun, one of them on the five-pitch route Sinocranium on Steinfell’s Dome at the City. The Vapor is hands-down the coolest, lightest, and most comfortable climbing helmet I’ve ever worn—by comparison, much more comfortable than BD’s older Half Dome helmet, which I’ve worn for years.

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