I bought this boot for snowshoeing and snow hiking. Took them from the tram at San Jacinto to the peak on the first outing. Warm, good fitting shoe that looks a little like a rain boot in that it is wide and a little clunky looking. No blisters after 5 hours and my feet were not overly hot either, while my friend had wet feet in the wet SoCal snow. My only complaint is that this boot is kind of close to the weight of my other Solomons I've used a couple of times on Whitney. I bought this one because the weight of a pair was spec at 1lb 6oz. (size 9). Granted, I am cursed with size 12 feet. But 1lb 8.8 oz is the weight of one boot on my postal scale. Hmmmmm!

I'm a SoCal guy, so this kind of pant is way too much for most conditions. Liked the workmanship and design, but just more of a Utah kind of usage. I have heavy pants already, was looking for something to deal with temp in 25 deg to 40 deg range. The pant felt too heavy, despite the cuff breathing concept.

Love the fit and brim on the Goat Wool Flexfit. I use it mainly for running and hiking and it is very comfortable. It wicks more than most of my other hats, but dries out easily. The only bad thing is the color, the light blue came from someone without much concern for those whose manhood is occasionally threatened.

I got my headphones and liked how they played with my old mp3 player. Loaded up the unit SD card with music and tested it on my old player. However, after charging the internal battery via USB port and loading the card, a few things happened.

First, the unit status light turned blue after charging for a while. The instructions said that it should turn off. Then, pushed the play/pause button for 3 seconds and instead of a blue (good) status and mp3 music, the light just went out. Tried every combo but no joy.

Cost me $8 to ship it back, even though it was obviously a defective unit. Didn't want another $8 gamble on something that has got quality control problems..

My pole baskets looked a little tired, so bought some Talonz before going on a 50 mile backpack with friends and family. Ended the segment with Mt. Whitney and also had some snow on Forester Pass. The baskets added security (or at least they seemed to) on the snow slopes and dirt. They clink a little because they are metal, but that's the only downside.

Had bought Riva Z Comp on used TUA 110 Cross Rides. It is a simple, reliable, less active binding. Decided to mount a new pair , with riser kit on my lightweight Outtabounds. Tried them last week at local resort and was able to do easy double black with soft Spring conditions. I really like this lightweight setup and looking forward to trying it backcountry with the new bindings.