GearFlogger

Mountain Hardwear Glisse ski pack

The Mountain Hardwear Glisse is the pack formerly known as the Huckster with a few useful updates. It's an odd little pack designed specifically for skiing, with a slim profile and some other nifty features helpful to backcountry Bobs and Betties.

At just over 2,000ci capacity the size medium Glisse weighs in at a respectable 3lb 5oz. Skis are meant to be carried diagonally, tips high and right, on the beefed-up front panel, but you could go a-frame if you chose. The next pocket in holds snow safety gear, skins, shovel, etc. The main compartment has a couple of zippered mesh pockets and a fleece lined compartment for eye pro.

There's an ice axe quick-release toggle so you can remove your axe without taking the pack off, a feature that is insanely useful when you inevitably need it. Hydration pocket, side compression straps, a vertically adjustable sternum strap and two Ice Clipper loops for gear on the right waistbelt round out the features. Overall the pack carries the goods and comfortably so. What more do you need?

$74.98 (on sale from $120) at Mountain Gear

Thule Snowcat Ski Carrier

Just in time for Valentine's Day and Spring skiing: nothing says I love you like a new rack! A roof rack, you gutter snipes. And what's better than a new rack? A rack that locks!

Thule knows racks like a strip club bouncer. The Snowcat is pretty much perfect for mounting on most factory roof rails that are the front-to-rear variety (not the left-to-right). It installs quickly and with no additional hardware required. Just telescope out to the necessary width and lock them down. Stick three pairs of mid-fats or a snowboard on each side and you're good to go.

The best thing about the Snowcat is that it comes with integrated locks. No more buying little lock cores as add-ons. The locks are intelligently designed so that they cover both the mounting hardware and the big old button that releases the scissor-style clamps that hold the skis down. Those add-ons can cost a pretty penny, and the Snowcat does it all for a very reasonable price.

$230.00 at REI

Black Diamond Ascension Custom STS climbing skins

It's not long til ski season, and for some of you it's time to get some new skin in the game since your old ratty ones look like that holey old t-shirt the SheFlogger never lets you wear in public. Black Diamond's Ascension Custom STS skins are often the first choice for skiiers who live in the backcountry; these are the only ones with both their STS tail and a sewn-in tip loop.

The Custom is sold in increments of 7cm, and all you have to do is cut the sides with the included tool. If you're a first-timer, just follow the instructions and in 30 minutes you'll have a complete setup. The STS tail will give you about 10cm of adjustment, so you might be able to use one set of skins for multiple skis: I can fit both my Atomic Chugach 170s and my K2 Shuksan 174s with the 167-174cm skin.

All BD skins climb great, and the Custom is no exception. Getting it on is quick, and getting it off is easy since there's a glueless strip down the middle lengthwise. The Customs are as bomber as they come, so unlike that t-shirt it'll be a long time before you get the evil eye from the SheFlogger.

$121.95 to $154.45 at Backcountry

Garmont Mega Ride randonee boots

Here's your ticket to ride with both step-in and Dynafit bindings. The Garmont Mega Ride randonee boot is an awesome four buckle backcountry doghouse that you can bring to the groomers with nothing lost in translation.

Weighing in at less than 7.5lb per pair the Mega Ride is plenty stiff enough with four fully-adjustable buckles and a power strap to boss around your fatties with confidence on the steeps. Switch them over to walk mode and they have lots of travel, and a beefy tread to goat it over rock and other mank when you have to do your bohemian bootpack routine.

The tongue is thickly padded, the cant is adjustable and there's a little plastic "spoiler" thingie behind your calf that does I-have-no-earthly-idea-what, but it looks cool. The liners are warm and you can lace them if you want - I just leave them loose usually. Overall the fit is more appropriate for medium to small volume feet, with plenty of arch support that translates into a more comfortable hiker than some of my mountaineering boots.

$459.93 at REI

K2 Shuksan alpine touring ski

Used to be that a rando ski was just some old boards with 'biner holes drilled in the tip. Oh what a difference a zillion years of evolution makes. K2 has updated their standout do-everything AT ski, the Shuksan, with a new tip that improves both edge hold and turn initiation.

Designed in collaboration with Martin Volkel, certified Swiss mountain guide and author of Backcountry Skiing, the Shuksan is a wood-cored metal-laminate brick house: 119-78-105 tip to tail, with a 16mm sidecut. It's supposed to be your one-stop backcountry shop, and it delivers with predictable personality: light yet solid, easy short to medium radius turns, good edge hold and beautiful touring performance.

True to its 50/50 design the Shuksan performs equally well on hardpack and in the pow. We even used it for area skiing and it works well enough that if you want to keep only one rig for front and backcountry this'll do ya. The only compromise is that the light weight makes it a little more difficult to drive uphill through the mank, but overall the Shuksan makes all the right tradeoffs and is a reliable and capable bring-it-all-on backcountry partner.

$349.97 at Mountaingear

Allen & Mike's Really Cool Backcountry Ski Book, Revised

We're huge fans of everything Mike & Al, and so it was a good day to be a GearFlogger when they revised and released an updated version of their classic Backcountry Ski Book. If you're unfamiliar with Mike and Al's books, you're really missing out: both the writing and the illustrations are clear, concise and unpretentious, making for truly enjoyable reading and learning.

Not just for skiiers, about half the book contains great information on general backcountry safety, camping, and ethics that will be useful to anyone going out to them thar hills. The skiing specific chapters include plenty o' tips on equipment and technique. The authors give equal treatment to AT and tele gear, avoiding completely the totally useless arguments about which is better

I didn't compare this edition to the last one, so I can't tell you what's new. I just picked it up and reread the whole thing. If you're like me and you can't remember what you had for breakfast, it's ten bucks well spent. Buy it on Amazon together with Backcountry Skiing and you are fully informed.

$10.36 at Amazon

DaKine Mini Tune tuning kit

Calling all tools: your case has arrived. DaKine's Mini Tune kit has just what you need and nothing more, so you'll actually carry it with you and have it when you need it.

The Mini Tune's compression-molded case just fits three items: a T-handled torque driver with five bits stored in the handle and a 8/10mm wrench; a snuff can of Afterburner flourinated wax suitable for all snow conditions; and a two-sided mini edge tuner with a choice of zero or two-degree bevel.

You should be able to get 'er done in the field with this kit, and the compact case means you'll be more likely to bring the damn thing in the first place. Can't go wrong here.

$25.00 at MooseJaw

DaKine Mustang glove

DaKine makes a wide range of gloves for skiing and snowboarding. The Mustang is classifed as their "high performance freestyle" glove. It's so supple it feels more like a dress or driving glove, but the padding on the knuckles and the back of the hand gives up its serious side.

Getting down to business the Mustang has pre-curved fingers, although the leather is so soft finger stiffness is really not a factor. The cuff is neoprene lined, but the rest of glove is leather and will get wet during a day throwing powder. The cushy tricot lining will keep that wetness from affecting your hands too much.

The cuff has a zipper, but it just barely snugs the fit and isn't meant to stabilize the wrist at all. A better design choice might have been some kind of elastic or adjustable webbing that could keep snow out no matter what. If you're looking for a light-duty glove for warm and not too wet conditions that can double for about-town duty it's a good choice, especially given the reasonable price.

$49.95 at Backcountry

DaKine High Roller snowboard bag

DaKine put some serious thought into their top-of-the-line snowboard bag. The High Roller is a padded and wheeled bag designed for shredders who have to board airplanes before they get to board the good stuff.

The High Roller is nicely laid out: the two exterior boot pockets on the ends and the smaller pocket in the middle are arranged around some dead space that are angled just right to accept bindings on a mounted board. You can snug a bare spare in a separate padded area under the main compartment, and there's an interior pocket for your tools and other paraphernalia.

The bag rolls well, has good handling options on the top and both ends and it's burley enough to take some serious abuse. Available in two sizes, 165cm and 180cm, the longer length will accept shorter backcountry skis and poles as well. The price is definitely right, more so when you consider the total investment you're protecting inside.

$159.00 at REI

Backcountry Skiing book

Backcountry Skiing: Skills for Ski Touring and Ski Mountaineering is to Backcountry Betty as Einstein is to Imus. Where BB is destined for trash heaps and second-hand bookstores everywhere the only time anyone will ditch their copy of BS is when a revised edition comes out.

BS is an awesomely complete reference to everything its title indicates. Targeted at "intermediate to advanced in-area skiers" but accessible to all skill levels, the book's ten chapters cover all the gear and techniques you'll need to be better at everything. The authors' lofty goal is to bring it all together "in one place," and they pull it off in spades.

Choosing and fitting skins? Nine pages. Assessing avalanche danger? Forty-seven pages. It's all there, with the notable exception of navigation: for some reason this subject is given very short shrift, but at 339 pages I guess something had to give. Backcountry Skiing exemplifies the highest level of quality that I've come to expect from the Mountaineers Outdoor Expert Series of books. A no-brainer: buy it and read it.

$13.57 at Amazon.com