GearFlogger

REI Duffel Bag

A duffel bag is so versatile. It holds gear, sex toys and body parts with equal efficiency. Just be sure to grab the right thing at the right time, if you know what I mean. The REI Duffel Bag is an excellent and inexpensive piece of kit that does a lot of things well.

REI put a lot of thought into what could have been an unremarkable bag. First off it comes in a zippered tote sack that doubles as a toiletry bag, with a hanging loop, two exterior compartments under a zipper and two mesh compartments on the inside. The duffle itself is a tough Cordura bag, stats for the medium: 12 inches in diameter and two feet long for almost 3,000ci capacity. It weighs in at 12.6oz minus the tote and included carrying strap, also nicely designed with wide 2in webbing and swiveling carabiner-style clips on each end. It has a beefy wrap around handle so go ahead and overload it.

So why is it Denali Approved? It was our sled bag last season, fitting perfectly in a cut-off 2/3 length kid's plastic sled. The medium size fit a tent (the pole length is the deciding factor), shovel, stoves and miscellaneous gear perfectly, with room behind it to tie in gas cans. The big plastic clip-in points for the strap have holes big enough to take a full-size carabiner for hauling. The dry weight of the whole sled, bag and cord haul system was under three pounds. The cut off edge on the back of the sled kept it from backsliding, and it could easily be slung over a pack for the technical sections. A great combination, easy on the legs and the pocketbook.

$24.93 (on sale from $29.50) at REI

Sierra Designs Flex down jacket

You got to flex it if you want to sex it, baby! The beach is (flex bicep while pointing with thumb) thataway! Sierra Designs has been flexing it for some time now with their sleeping bags. Their 3-season bags use an elastic tape and their ultralight bags use an elastic thread, as does the Flex down jacket. Kudos up front: the Flex uses 100% recycled polyester fibers in the shell fabric.

The Flex isn't designed to be fancy: it's a big two-pound bag o' 750-fill down to keep your core happy, and we had no problem on walkabouts at sub-zero F temps. The Flex does have a few tricks up its sleeves, one of which is the sleeve itself, which uses what SD calls Condor Construction, a long fabric panel - basically no articulated cut - that minimizes hem rise when reaching overhead. The Flex elastic stitching helps with mobility as well, bestowing about 3-4 inches of give where you need it most around the holidays, the gut. Or as the SheFlogger calls it while pointing at me and laughing in front of her friends, the twins.

There are two tricot-lined zippered hand pockets, a tricot chin guard with requisite zipper garage, and a zippered inside left chest pocket with cord port. The left hand pocket has a handy little velcro-flapped credit-card sized pocket-in-a-pocket. The Flex is equipped for serious mountaineering with two large water bottle pockets on the inside down low; some big-mountain jackets only give you one, and you always wish you had another. The only adjustment on the jacket is the two-way adjustable hood, which brings up our only real nitpick, the lack of a hem adjustment. Even though it fits fairly snug by design a high wind is going to get in.

$249 at Sierra Designs (not yet available at retail at the time of this writing)

Glacier Mountaineering book

We're a big fan of books by Andy and Mike, so we were excited to see a "revised" edition of Glacier Mountaineering: An Illustrated Guide to Glacier Travel and Crevasse Rescue out this year. The original was published in 2000, and we figured a 2009 edition would have new and expanded material.

The bad news is there's nothing new except the cover, presumably to reflect its publication by Falcon Guides instead of original publisher Climbing Magazine. The good news is, it's still a highly readable and relevant title on the most important subject in the history of FloggerKind: 140 pages divided into ten chapters on technique and equipment to keep us knuckle-dragging climbers from the early extinction we would otherwise almost certainly be facing. Well worth inclusion in the seminal list at GearFlogger's Backcountry Bookshelf.

What sets Andy and Mike books apart are the unpretentious, fun writing style that is paired with cartoon-style illustrations of amazing clarity and detail. Better than any photographs, the illustrations invite and repay careful study, often communicating subtle tricks of the trade. See how to escape a belay for an example. In the book the final illustration on page 140 that shows a glacier traveller fully rigged with thirty callouts packed with good advice.  Picking up this along with their Backcountry Ski Book - some overlap, but hey, they're cheap! - and you are good to go.

$11.53 at Amazon

Feathered Friends Down Booties

They say you shouldn't kill the goose that lays the golden eggs. We say bag that honker, stuff him into some ripstop nylon and make a nice pair of socks. Great minds think alike, and Feathered Friends has come up with the ultimate down camp booties named, after a worldwide branding talent competition, wait for it... Down Booties!

Quality and design set these booties apart. They use only the highest quality 800+ down, 4oz fill weight in a pair for a total weight of 10oz for men's medium (sizes 8-10). Design is top-notch: the inner bootie is basically a down sock with a waterproof sole and snaps at the cuff that allow you to choose three degrees of snugness. The outer bootie is a nylon shell with a Schoeller waterproof/breathable rand, two drawcords at the ankle and cuff, and a thin but surprisingly effective foam insert footbed.

The shell plus insulation layer design essentially mimics what you would wear on the rest of your body, and on Denali we found it proved versatile and performed great. We couldn't wait to park our dogs in these booties after humping all day and making camp. At night we'd slip off the shells and use the inners in the sleeping bag. If you want to get all Stevie House you could bring just the inners, and replace the inner boot on your mountaineering boots for camp use, assuming they're double boots. The down inners only weigh 5.2oz for the pair. Great kit from a great company.

$85.00 at Feathered Friends

Mountain Hardwear Dome Perignon hat

I like the nightlife. I like to boogie. I like to wear hats made from Polartec Thermal Pro. It's a simple life, and the Mountain Hardwear Dome Perignon is a simple hat. In any case, it simply kept my brain bucket warm on Denali this year, so I'm sold.

Thermal Pro is a 200 weight fleece with a nice subtle waffle weave. Mmm. Waffles. The Gore Windstopper fleece earband keeps your flappers toasty, and an elastic section at the back stretches for optimal fit. Unlike some hats it comes in small, medium and large sizes so you can dial in the fit exactly where you want it.

There's just enough of a curve around the bottom to cover your ears, and the piping is a nice fat roll that makes it easy to pull on. Peak hats like this are more than just a random design. A little bit of air space up top facilitates moisture working its way out the top and evaporating, until those little drops of water are just so much vapor, like Sarah Palin's presidential chances.

$30.00 at REI

Outdoor Research Banff Bodysuit

Holy catwoman! Make no mistake, the Banff bodysuit from Outdoor Research confers superhero powers, just like the men's version, the Saturn Suit. It just doesn't get much better than Polartec Power Stretch 150 over every square inch of your body.

The Banff does the Saturn one better with full sleeves, complete with thumb loops. The back, sleeves and cuffs from the ankle down are made not from Power Stretch but from Motion Fleece, a thinner and even stretchier fabric with the same sheer facing. The sheerness is the goodness, because if you're using it as an inner layer it really reduces friction between layers for more freedom of movement. Its application on the sleeves and cuffs make it easier to slide on jackets and boots too, with no bunching.

The chest zipper has a neck guard to prevent vampire bites, and there's a rainbow style crotch zipper to answer nature's call. Front-to-rear rainbow zips are the way to go, revealing much less dainty flesh to the outside elements. Flat seams and overall excellent quality complete this awesome outfit, and the weight is light and right at an even pound. Comes in any color you want, as long as it's black. If you're deep in the doghouse, the Banff will distract the SheFlogger long enough for you to get out. Until the next incident, of course. See you then.

$198.95 at Altrec

Platypus 1 Gallon Water Tank

Ah, the platypus. Waddling along at the very pinnacle of evolution, sharing that exalted summit with the likes of Brangelina and Moose's Tooth Fairweather IPA. Also, taking up space in "the pig" as we fondly named our expedition sled that glided along behind us effortlessly on the Kahiltna. Of course, we also called the pig many other names that rhymed with pucker. Always with love in our hearts, though. We love the pig.

And we do love the Platy. Here's the 411: fly into Kahiltna Base Camp and you're immediately sharing space with a few hundred of your closest friends. Assuming your closest friends are foul-assed climbers polluting every piece of meltable snow in sight. Anyway, you need water, so you either have to pack it in or find some clean snow. We're here to argue for packing it in.

The beauty of the Platypus one gallon water tank is that you can pull it in the pig up to camp two, and then you don't have to melt snow. One gallon is four quarts/liters, enough for two people to cook and fill their bottles for day two on the mountain. The tank itself only weighs three ounces, and is easily cached or carried if you're through-hiking. The zipper closure holds tight, the handle is perfectly located for pouring, and not only do you save the time and effort to melt snow but you save a bit of fuel as well.

$22.95 at REI

MSR XGK Stove Expedition Service Kit

Sometimes bad things happen to good expeditions. All too often that bad thing is your stove taking a little trip to the island of Tango Uniform. Altitude, cold and your partner's gross incompetence are contributing factors.

For those unhappy times the wise expedition pre-pares for re-pairs. Larger expeditions can simply go redundant and bring multiple, preferably identical stoves. That might be overkill for two and three person teams, which is where the MSR XGK Expedition Repair Kit comes in handy. It's 4oz of prevention if you're carrying an MSR XGK stove, which is likely given its deserved popularity.

Pretty much everything you can replace on an XGK is included: flame spreader, jet cleaning tool, jet and cable tool, safety pin, pump cup and oil, fuel filter, check valve ball and spring and plug, fuel tube bushing, X and GK jets, shaker needle with cover, air tube, dip tube, 2 fuel tube o-rings, 2 fuel bottle o-rings and 2 control valve o-rings. Sorry, no partridge, no pear tree.

$30.00 at REI

REI Power Stretch Half Zip Top

An old favorite, updated AND on sale: the REI Power Stretch Half Zip pullover is made from one of our absolute favorite materials, Polartec Power Stretch. This material wicks great, insulates great and provides just the right amount of wind and water resistance to use stand-alone, or pair with serious shells for expedition wear.

The Half Zip format is simply a must-have; it vents well yet zips up around the neck when the going gets cold and/or the action stops. REI has changed their Half Zip a few times in past years, not always for the better. The last iteration moved the pocket to the sleeve, always an awkward place to stash stuff. If they're smart, they'll leave perfect alone this time. The pocket is back on the chest, and they've kept the slightly longish sleeves with thumb holes, another favorite feature. New to the piece is a handy loop on the inside neckline for hanging it up.

The hem drops a little long in back, nice whether you're a tucker or not. The fit overall is close but not constricting, thanks to the four way stretch and appropriate for a base layer where you want as much material in contact with your skin as possible to get maximum wicking function. The Half Zip makes a great stand alone cold weather aerobic piece and layers great thanks to its trim fit and smooth finish. Reflective strips around the zipper and a reflective logo on the right rear shoulder round it out. Verstatile, cool colors and on sale too; two thumbholes up!

$49.99 (on sale from $79.50) at REI

Arc'Teryx Alpha LT jacket

Arc'Teryx earns a twofer: along with the Alpha SV bib comes the Alpha LT jacket, a stellar example of what good mountaineering kit should be. The LT barely nudges 13 ounces on the scale; yes, you read that right, a serious-duty waterproof, windproof shell at well under a pound. With the jacket and bib, all you need is a codpiece and you're good to hook.

It was difficult for me to give up my much-beloved Sigma SV soft shell, but the LT saves half a pound and a packs down even smaller, plus it's fully waterproof. My only real complaint about the Sigma was the pockets; problem solved on the LT with its reach-across chest pockets for easy access under a pack. An internal zippered pocket stashes wallet or MP3 player, and on the left and right hip are little foam bumpers (Hemlock) that prevent the LT from riding up through your harness. Pit zips, zipper garages, helmet compatible hood and a full length zipper flap round it out.

The fit is typical Arc'Teryx, which is to say just about perfect. The few adjustments are all you need to dial it in. The hem drops down in back just a bit, which is nice. The Gore-Tex 3L Pro Shell is getting a lot closer to soft shell, not exactly supple but minimal annoying crinkle and swishing sounds. My only concern was durability, but the LT got lived in on Denali with no visible scarring, including sucking up a sixty pound pack with no complaints. Breathability is excellent. The Alpha LT is top drawer all the way.

$499.00 at REI