Jonathan S. Shefftz

I just realized that my review from many years ago is still archived and contains a potentially confusing reference: "Membrane buttons can be a bit hard to press if wearing very bulky winter gloves." Starting in Fall of 2004, BCA redesigned the housing with buttons that are far easier to operate with bulky winter gloves, so please ignore that part of my old review!

This ice axe is definitely not well-suited for serious mountaineering. Although it does have the standard B rating, and the spike is much more than just a cut-off shaft, as featured on some competitors sites. But for ski mountaineering trips that require an ice axe for only relatively brief sections (and hence the axe will stay on the pack the majority of the time), the ultra-lightweight is a great relief. Furthermore, although the technical performance of this axe is hardly outstanding, it will make you safer since you'll never have another reason not to leave your ice axe at home to save weight on a tour where you might encounter steep terrain.

If you cram a lot of gear (especially hard objects like ski boots) into your pack and then compress it tightly, this handy little device will prevent water from spurting out hydration tube's mouthpiece when the reservoir is squeezed too much inside your pack.

Amazingly light - when empty, like it's not even there. Can also hook up a Platypus drinking tube to make it into a hydration system. A few drawbacks from the minimalist design: -- Have to be very careful filling it up, given how small the opening is. -- The design allows it to be freestanding, although it can tip over, so don't leave it standing up on its own if the cap is not on. -- Drying out the inside in between trips takes some times.

These work very well for adapting an alpine vise to secure Nordic touring skis. However, for Nordic race skis, a dedicated full-length ski support form is still a must.

Although it's advertised for phones, I use it to keep a GPS or digital camera at the ready on my pack. Although not as protective as the bigger cases sold for such purposes, it is lighter. Just be sure to girth hitch your electronic device's lanyard to your pack in case the pocket does come loose.

For strapping my skis together, I prefer to use the hook-and-loop ski strap style padding to separate the ski bases and edges. But Voile straps work very well for securing gear like crampons to the outside of my pack, plus they have the even more important benefit of coming in handy for some backcountry emergency repair.

Seems kind of silly at first, but this item will eventually save lots of time when scraping off wax by keeping your scraper sharp, especially harder wax for colder temps. It works well though only if you can screw it down onto the top of a wooden work bench. I sharpen my scraper after ever few scrapings, and it really does make a noticeable difference.

This is a must-have item for repairing rock damage to your edges, both smoothing out nasty burs, and also roughing up case-hardened edge segments that your tuning file just skips over.

Light, comfortable, protective, versatile—this helmet definitely deserves its popularity. Just some minor nitpicks to be aware of: -- For warmer weather, although you can remove the vent plugs and various pads, keep careful track of them. If you often need more ventilation, consider the Fuse model instead. -- The ear flags can be a bit drafty in cold weather, though a balaclava will solve that problem.

Delivers high flow rate yet shuts off easily. Just be careful to have enough overlap on the tube, or else the mouthpiece could slip off. (I had this happen once to me when I wasn't being careful, and I've also found a couple on backcountry trails.)

Very lightweight emergency insurance. Also, it made a great floor when I used it once in one of those single-pole minimalist floorless tents.

This bag offers an outstanding ratio of warmth to weight, with high-quality construction and materials throughout. The only drawback I've found is that the shell is only mildly water resistant, so for wet climates buy the more waterproof version or take along a BD Winter Bivy (or buy a synthetic bag instead).

Far more elaborate than the typical reservoir, and very easy to hold open while filling. A few drawbacks though: -- Have to be careful to tighten all the way when closing, otherwise can leak. -- Can be tricky to open up sometimes. (Try breathing into the tube, which can change the air pressure up against the cap.) -- On the heavy side for a reservoir. -- The design encourages lashing to the outside of a pack, but that places the weight where it is less efficient to carry.

It doesn't really weigh just one pound (a bit over 17 ounces actually), but it's still absurdly light. The shovel blade is reasonably sized, although the shaft is quite short. I use other shovels when I expect to be doing any pit work, but for spring tours where pit work is not needed, this shovel is perfect, and you'll never have an excuse for leaving it at home.

Ski crampons should be required gear for any steep traversing skintrack. They greatly enhance security in such situations. The only drawback of the Fritschi design is that you have to exit the binding to attach the crampon, so best to figure you that you'll need the crampons before you're suddenly on steep terrain and have to do some tricky moves to exit and then reenter the binding. The other problem is finding a convenient way of carrying them in your pack, try threading some shock cord through the small holes in the crampon for an external attachment approach. If you have the most recent generation of Diamir bindings though, you might want to consider the newer Axion crampon, which can be affixed yet not deployed until you actually need it.

This is the pant I always bring along on all my backcountry trips, it's been pretty much everywhere. Actually, it's almost never been out of my pack, but in case the Schoeller pants are enough for the weather, I can quickly zip these over my pants without having to remove my ski boots. In my pack, they are very small and very light. When I do actually wear them, they have been completely waterproof and reasonably breathable. They would probably not hold up to extensive use for, say, lift-served skiing, but they are great at what they are designed for.

The Outtabounds has great glide on the flats, and turns reasonably well on moderate terrain. Uphill grip can be weak though on firm snow, especially if you fall toward the bottom of the weight range for your ski length, so pick your priorities before you pick your ski length. (And choose the Rebound if you want more touring performance or the Boundless if you want more turning performance.) Overall though, Fischer is definitely leading the field in waxless turn-oriented backcountry skis, with Atomic and Salomon producing what appear to be close imitations of the Fischer SBounds line.

This is a classic 12-pt steel crampon, so not much to say here, although the semi-automatic (i.e., heel throw, with plastic toe cradle, not a wire bail) "NewMatic" attachment system is very secure.

Unlike the BD Whippet, this ski pole self-arrest grip can be almost instantaneously deployed or retracted, with no parts to store away somewhere. That was my primary reason for purchasing it (instead of a Whippet), since I need a self-arrest grip only for steep exposed traversing skin tracks (i.e., up to lower 40s), not for the descent. The Condor also offers more hand protection than the Whippet, and is a bit more versatile in offering options for holding it. But be forewarned of two installation problems: 1. To use the strap like a normal ski pole, remove the key ring that comes with the strap, and instead buy a ½-inch key ring from a hardware store. One should suffice, since all the ½-inch versions I've seen are pretty bomber (and unfortunately are very difficult to install: use needle-nose pliers), although if in doubt use two. Do *not* use the flimsy little versions that a garage uses for your key when you bring your car in for repair: even two of these are insufficient. (I tried...) 2.a. For installing on a BD pole from Fall 2004 or later, buy the version with the shaft, remove the BD grip, cut off the Condor shaft just a bit below the Condor grip, slide the BD pole shaft into the remaining Condor shaft, and secure w/ epoxy. 2.b. For BD alu pole from before Fall 2004, could buy the version w/ the shaft, buy an extra flicklock mechanism from BD, hack off the very bottom of the Condor shaft, dremmel out a cutout in the shaft, affix flicklock. Or buy version w/o shaft, remove BD grip, add some very small shim (maybe a couple layers of plastic tape), then put on Condor. (I happened to have an extra BD upper shaft available.) 2.c. For a more traditional twistlock pole, if the diameter is exactly right, buy the version w/ the handle and you're all set. Otherwise, buy the version without the handle and use various shims (small layers of plastic tape work well) & epoxy to get it to fit, or if big differential, then see 2a. ***** Fortunately once all this is done, operation in the field is very quick and easy!

This has been a very reliable binding for me in the backcountry. (I have three pairs on various setups.) Sometimes it can get jammed up with snow when trying to reenter the binding, but this is almost always easily and quickly cleared. Otherwise, it tours almost as well as my track race bindings, but offer enough support for turns on moderate terrain. But definitely buy this "manual" version though and not any "automatic" version, which can have (many) problems.

This is a big shovel, and the shaft does not get any smaller when stowing it away, but it moves lots of snow quickly. The inclusion of a snow saw is a great value, and stows away easily in the shaft. The snow saw can be used with the shovel grip (making the shovel usable, but less than ideal), or with the upper shaft of many adjustable ski poles (but don't leverage it too much in this configuration or you could break the ski pole). I also found an old downhill ski pole that was the right diameter, hacked it off partway, and created a dedicated handle for the snow saw. Overall, not my first choice for a typical backcountry tour, but worked great for all the pit work in my Level 2 and Level 3 avy courses.

Excellent detail for loading maps onto a compatible Garmin mapping GPS unit, it covers where you recreate. For example, of some areas on the west coast I've skied, Lassen, Tioga Pass, Rainier are all covered. But Hood, Tahoe, Shasta, St Helens, the Sisters, Adams, Shasta are not. (Yes, they're not National Parks, but the East version does cover many areas outside of National Parks, perhaps only because the eastern states have so few?) Fortunately, the Garmin website has a very useful feature that allows you to zoom in a national map and determine specific coverage areas.

This software is amazingly useful for creating customized maps, interacting with your GPS unit, or just saving the cost of buying new paper maps for new places all the time. However, unless the new version that just came out in spring of 2006 fixes this, the software still has no integrated help system and no undo feature, plus has other annoying quirks. Another drawback is that buying multiple western states can get pretty expensive. On the other hand, the latest version now includes the cute 3-D views and USB support, which were previously available only in a separate upgrade package.

The Raven Pro is amazingly light for a full steel head and a real alloy spike (as opposed to just a plug in a cut-off shaft). The pick and adze are on the narrow side, but that appears to be the only performance concession made to save weight. The weight penalty is surprisingly small compared to my all-aluminum ice axe, and the additional performance is worth the weight on routes where I know I'll be using an ice axe for extended periods.