Black Diamond product reviews

Black Diamond Dawn Patrol Hybrid Pants.

Review: Black Diamond Dawn Patrol Hybrid Pants

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Ski Touring Pants
Black Diamond Dawn Patrol Hybrid Pants
$325, 19.5 oz./553g (men’s small)
Sizes: men’s S-XL, women’s XS-XL
blackdiamondequipment.com

We all know the challenge of finding pants that keep you dry, warm, and comfortable when ski touring or riding in the backcountry: You need them to release heat and moisture when you sweat hard going uphill and repel snow and wind when moving through exposed terrain in stormy weather or charging hard downhill. On days of ski touring in Utah’s Wasatch Range that displayed all of winter’s multiple personalities—from temperatures in the teens with dumping snow and the wind blowing hard to warm March sunshine with the temps in the 20s, BD’s Dawn Patrol Hybrid Pants demonstrated why they’ve remained enduringly popular among backcountry users.

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The Black Diamond Vision Down Parka.

Review: Black Diamond Vision Down Parka

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Down Jacket
Black Diamond Vision Down Parka
$465, 1 lb. 4.5 oz./581g (men’s medium)
Sizes: men’s S-XL, women’s XS-XL
blackdiamondequipment.com

On a morning in the first week of March, with the temperature a blood-thickening 17° F at a campsite on the edge of The Maze District of Canyonlands National Park, this fat down parka felt like my best friend. That followed a night in the teens spent inside a sleeping bag not rated for temps that low, when I spread the parka over my torso and hips inside my bag and felt an immediate infusion of warmth that enabled me to enjoy a comfortable night of sleep.

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Black Diamond Spot350 headlamp

Review: Black Diamond Spot350 Headlamp

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Headlamp
Black Diamond Spot350
$40, 3 oz. (with three AAA batteries, included)
backcountry.com

BD’s latest update to its Spot line of headlamps, while incremental, maintains this light’s high functionality for backpackers, climbers, trail runners, backcountry skiers, and other users. The Spot350 illuminated moonless nights for me on a six-day rafting and kayaking trip down the Green River through Desolation and Gray canyons, demonstrating the reliability and versatility that its lineage has on many past adventures, such as rising before dawn to beat the heat on a 74-mile backpacking trip through the Grand Canyon in May and predawn mornings and dark evenings on a 94-mile traverse of the CDT in Glacier National Park and a 45-mile hike in the Pasayten Wilderness, both in September.

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Black Diamond Distance Carbon FLZ trekking and running poles.

Review: Black Diamond Distance Carbon FLZ Trekking Poles

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Trekking and Running Poles
Black Diamond Distance Carbon FLZ Poles
$240, 12.7 oz./360g (per pair 105-125cm, with trekking baskets)
Five adjustable sizes: men’s and women’s 95-110cm/37-43.3 ins. and 110-125cm/43.3-49 ins., men’s 125-140cm/49-55.1 ins.
blackdiamondequipment.com

Trekking poles vary widely in weight, packability, adjustability, and durability—and the balance between those competing attributes determines their recommended uses and versatility across activities. Then there’s Black Diamond’s Distance Carbon FLZ poles, which I’ve used for everything from dayhikes and trail runs of up to 15 miles in Idaho’s Boulder and Pioneer Mountains and Boise Foothills; dayhiking the Cory Pass-Edith Pass loop in Banff National Park, about nine miles with a steep 3,400 feet of up and down; and a 10-mile, 3,600-vertical-foot October dayhike on a trail strewn with wet, slippery rocks and mud in New Hampshire’s White Mountains; to five-day backpacking trips of 77 miles on the Wonderland Trail around Mount Rainier and 47 miles in The Maze District of Canyonlands National Park, and in the Wind River Range. Their unique design hits a sweet spot for dayhikers, lightweight backpackers, and distance trail runners. Here’s why.

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Black Diamond Distance Carbon Z trekking and running poles.

Review: Black Diamond Distance Carbon Z Poles

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Trekking PolesBlack Diamond Distance Carbon Z Poles$220, 10 oz./264g (per pair 110cm, with trekking baskets)Five sizes, non-adjustable: 110cm/43.3 ins., 115cm/45.3 ins., 120cm/47.2 ins., 125cm/49 ins., and 130cm/51 ins.blackdiamondequipment.com With gear, exceptionally low weight often means compromising functionality, durability, or both. With Black Diamond’s Distance Carbon Z Poles, though, there’s little compromise. On a mostly off-trail, two-day backpacking trip to Quiet …

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