Ski now, ski later

I just got home from Timberline Resort here in Portland, OR where we were having freezing rain/rain. While these gloves were comfortable and kept my hands warm when dry, the gloves soaked through in less than an hour and then became freezing bricks. I had the gloves zipped up and my coat sleeve velcro'ed over the gloves to make sure no water dripped from my jacket to the inside of the glove. The gloves are new and the Hestra Leather Balm was a few ski sessions ago.

The C-Zone membrane made me nervous before I bought them, but now I'm pretty sure I'll be sticking with Gore-Tex from now on. Even though Gore-Tex gloves tend to soak water outside of the Gore-Tex membrane, my hands were DRY.

My 20 oz bottle seems to be just right for the 2-4 day backpacking trips I take with between 2-4 people, cooking 2x daily. Last trip to Ramona Falls with 4 people including dumping some fuel on wet wood to try to start a fire left us with about 4-8 oz of fuel left.

If you're using MSR superfuel, be careful. Jose almost singed his eyebrows from lighting wet wood doused with white gas. It was quite the fireball.

I used this on a few camping trips and recently on an annual skiing/snowboarding New Year's trip I take with a few of my buddies. This stove is great at keeping stews warm, making s'mores, and roasting toast. At home, I've actually used it with a cast-iron griddle and then my smaller Le Creuset saute pan (gradually turning up the heat) and it worked really well. Now if only I can convince the girlfriend to let me take the pan on our next trip...

Never thought I'd say, "hey, nice bladder" to a Platypus, but this a nice, basic bladder that can be used with most hydration compatible backpacks. I use a 3L with my Arrakis 50 and keep another 2L filled for longer trips or for when it's hot out and I think I'll need the water. No weird tastes, aired out after every use.

The hoser is a little long, requiring me to creatively route the tubing carefully as to avoid kinking.

I've used this NeoAir mattress for the last few years and it's been great to be able to cut down on weight and increase comfort. My girlfriend recently picked one of these up and hers came with a small patch kit (which mine didn't, but thankfully I haven't had to patch anything up!).

Be sure you have a nice, fluffy pillow with this pad -- without one, it's pretty easy to sleep with your back out of alignment and wake up sore the next day.

I've used this NeoAir mattress for the last few years and it's been great to be able to cut down on weight and increase comfort. My girlfriend recently picked one of these up and hers came with a small patch kit (which mine didn't, but thankfully I haven't had to patch anything up!).

Be sure you have a nice, fluffy pillow with this pad -- without one, it's pretty easy to sleep with your back out of alignment and wake up sore the next day.

As with the other reviewers, I absolutely love this pack. It's definitely on the pricey side and I found myself ratcheting up to finally pull the trigger on this bag. I like everything about this bag except for the hydration sleeve, which is pretty tight if you're trying to fit a full 3L hydration bladder (Platypus).

I have to remove a lot of stuff from my bag before I can pull the full 3L hydration bladder down far enough to avoid tubing kinks when the bag is all packed up -- I say pull because I literally have to pull the end of the bladder down into the sleeve. The sleeve is that tight. Would probably work a lot better with a 2L bladder, but why would you get a 2L bladder with a 50L + 10L bag?

UPDATE August 3, 2011: Still a great pack, comfy for skiing (thank goodness for Timberline!). However, the hose clip on the right shoulder strap broke when I carried skis over my right shoulder. Arc'teryx sent me another clip via Express Mail after I told them I need it by August, 12. Great warranty service.

I use these for skiing and hiking and they work great. The baskets fell off every once in a while when I first got them, but I made sure to really compress the baskets into place and now they're no problem. I love having these collapsed in the back of my 4Runner along with my Lowa boots -- always ready for a hike or adventure.

The adjustment feature is neat if you plan on using these as both skiing and hiking poles since oftentimes you'll want different lengths for different activities. The locks are snug as a bug caught in a spider web.

I absolutely love these pants - they're the most water resistant pants I've ever worn and are of great quality. The inside of these pants are a very soft fabric. Fit is perfect for me w/XL @ 6' tall with a 36" waist. This pant also has a RECCO reflector.