Outside Magazine’s own gear girl suggests taking a look at the newly invigorated Eddie Bauer line with their First Ascent jacket. She also introduces Westcomb Cruiser, a company I’m not personally familiar with.A good shell jacket is critical on Kilimanjaro. As I’ve pointed out before, temperatures fluctuate greatly on a daily basis. In the morning […]

I’ve had a lot of customers ask about renting equipment for climbing Kilimanjaro. Some simply need a warm sleeping bag while other are looking for a full outfit including jackets and boots. My advice to the latter group is always the same, bring your own personal gear.Hiking 10+ miles per day, sleeping at over 10,000 […]

After my last post about the importance of boots I was reminded about another critical piece of equipment. On our last climb my friend Mike neglected to put on sunscreen or lip protection. By the end of the day his face was a deep shade of crimson; a bit painful but easy enough to live […]

I recently took a week’s vacation to backpack the trans-Zion trail and visit Bryce National Park (both were amazing). I tried to cut my pack weight down to the bare minimum and spent a lot of time thinking about what gear was nice, necessary or critical. I came to the conclusion that the most critical […]

I have been catching up on a few blogs I follow and came across Kristin Hostetter’s advice about which gear to skimp on. She suggests that if you need to skimp somewhere, go with a cheaper with a sleeping bag. Not only is this good advice for your regular backpacking trips, I think it applies […]