All in all, this is a pretty great tent. At 6'4" its one of the only solo tents that I could find besides the non-free standing Sierra Designs Light year that's long enough for me to fit in without my feet hitting the tent wall. The tent is lightweight and roomy for a solo, and relatively easy to set up. My biggest beef is the lack of a pole hub on the foot of the tent so you have to stake it out to make full use of the interior space. Also, the tent uses loops and not snaps to attach the "spine" of the tent to the poles. Not a big deal, just adds a little time/thought to the setup process. As for getting in/out of the tent, yeah its a bit snug, but hey, its a solo tent. What did you expect?

Bottom line: For a tall guy, it'd be hard to go wrong with this tent. Though, personally, I upgraded to the SL2, which is roomier and still far lighter than just about every other solo tent out there.

I swapped my SL1 for the SL2 after finding it for the same price ($200). I'm very happy with the switch. The SL2, for being only a hand-full of ounces heavier has much more useable space, while being just as light as every other solo out there. I've camped at 20 degrees with this tent in a 20 degree bag with a reactor liner and was more than comfortable. Breathability on this tent is great. I have yet to have any condensation problems. Thus far I've mostly used it in a scrub/desert environment and the tent body and floor had held up well despite the spikey vegetation. On an interesting note, despite the tent color the light inside the tent is surprisingly natural, and not the sickly green you'd expect. A definite bonus. Buy the footprint though as the floor is thin. All in all a great buy if you can find it on sale. Otherwise, it's definitely a bit pricey.

I've been jacket shopping for the last six months and the Exum was one jacket I tried out. This is a GREAT jacket if you can find it on sale. It's incredibly light and impressively tough for the weight. I really liked the laminated wire brim. At 6'4" the cut on the Large was a little short for me, and going to an XL would have been too baggy. I swapped it for a Backcountry Stoic and haven't looked back. Event is a far better laminate than even Gore-Tex Pro in terms of breathability. I'd still recommend the jacket if it fits you well and you have no preference of Gore-tex vs Event.

This stove is compact, reliable and easy to use. It's also pretty darn fuel efficient if you only need to boil water. Forget simmering anything unless you want to hold your pan about 3-4 inches above the flames while your food cooks (hugely inefficient on fuel). This is a trade-off I'm fine with as I bought it for cooking freeze-dried meals,. I'm still able to cook anything I need to on this stove albeit with a little extra work. I've even cooked venison on this stove and it turned out great. An added bonus, the refillable bottles mean you're not having to recycle canisters after every camping trip.

After some shenanigans getting the right size shell shipped to me, I can definitively say I love the Stoic. This is after six months of getting shells and sending them back (just ask the gearheads). After five days of skiing in both the rain and single digit temps here are my initial thoughts.

Okay, yes the sizing is a bit weird. I'm 6'4" 193 (long, lean build) and the Large fit nearly perfect IF AND ONLY if I wanted it as a stand alone shell. Normally I'm a Large, but whatever, I went up a size. With any sort of layers, added in an XL fits me like a frickin' glove. I can wear my base, my R2 fleece and my Cloudveil belay parka (or soft-shell) under this and have plenty of mobility. With a heavier layer (down jacket) the XL fits me fine although the sleeves pull up a little. The length is fine and I'm a pretty lanky guy. The biggest complaint I have about the fit is that the neck/hood doesn't work well with layers/helmet. The neck is a bit tight wearing a second jacket as a layer. Similarly, the hood isn't big enough to accommodate a helmet unless it's low-profile. So, my solution, buy a lower profile helmet and deal with a slightly tight neck when i have to batten down the hatches. Seems simple enough to me.

Secondly, eVent knocks the socks off of Gore-Tex. Being the bigger guy that I am, I also happen to be pretty darn sweaty (understatement of the year). Even skiing in 40 deg, rainy weather I never felt clammy in this shell and I ALWAYS feel clammy, even in a Gore-Tex Pro Shell. This stuff is worth the hype.

Let's put it this way. I sent back my Arcteryx Theta AR back to Backcountry when I tried this thing out. Why? Generally great fit and AMAZING breathability. Is it for you too? Dunno, try it. You can always send it back. Why would you though? At 14 oz, with this kind of durability and breathability you won't find a better shell.

I got a pair of these a few seasons back, so this isn't for this season's skis, but I love the World Pistes. GREAT all-around skis and I haven't regretted the purchase yet. K2 makes great planks. They've held up very well to three seasons of abuse and with any luck should have several more in them. These definitely aren't a powders ski but they'll do the job in a pinch. The only place I've been underwhelmed is trying to ski these puppies in really crusty snow, though that's probably more my own fault than the fault of the skis.

I've been really impressed by this jacket so far. I've used it for camping, climbing trips, skiing, walking to the coffee shop, etc. The coldest its seen was about -10 or so with wind-chill (no shell). It's durable, warmer than your toaster oven, the zippers don't snag easily, it fits well and it makes a great pillow in a pinch. I actually almost prefer it to my pillow at home. I'm 6'4" 193 lbs, so pretty long and lanky on the whole and the Large fits me well. Yeah, the waist is way baggier than I'd like but I figure that's what the draw-cords are there for. They've got to make these things so they'll fit me now and me in 30 years when I've got a beer belly right? Exactly. Who's got the next round?