GearFlogger

The Beckoning Silence book

I get bored enough listening to my own climbing stories, why would I want to read about the experience of others? For good reason, it turns out: Joe Simpson's The Beckoning Silence is a page turner.

Yes, Simpson is the one who was on the wrong end of a cut rope in Touching the Void, but Beckoning is a much more interesting story. He recounts highlights of his climbing career with a focus first on psychology and relationships and only second on actual climbing. It would be easy for a climber writing about where his head happened to be at any given day to sound self-absorbed and shallow, but Simpson really pulls it off: everyone I've talked to who has read Beckoning says it resonates.

Climbing is a head game where you are constantly on your guard against self-doubt and other demons that travel with you. Pretending they don't exist is not the best tactic, and can lead you into situations that you really would rather avoid. Simpson is refreshingly frank in acknowledging and developing this theme, and Beckoning will connect with any climber who has ever wondered, why am I doing this?

$12.89 at Amazon

REI Saltford jacket

I'm the kind of person who feels deeply wronged if I have to check a bag when I travel, so I always appreciate good multipurpose clothing to cut down on volume. The REI Saltford jacket couples soft shell performance with a classy look that will work for business casual.

REI bills the Saltford as a travel jacket, which sounds about right. There are two oversize external chest pockets, a single smaller internal chest pocket with cord port, and two hand pockets, all zippered. The hem adjusts with drawcords through the hand pockets, and the cuffs have two snaps each for an adjustable fit. There's even a full zipper flap with chin guard.

The fit is loose in the body and long in the sleeves, so if you prefer a trim fit try a size smaller than you normally would. The front half of the Saltford, behind the pockets, is lined, and the collar has a nice fleece-like liner as well. The unlined material is very thin, slightly elastic and moderately wind and water resistant. If you want a jacket that goes from meeting to mountain the Saltford works. And plays.

$119.00 at REI

GearJunkie Contest

TheGearJunkie.com has launched a new weekly gear giveaway contest. Sign up at http://thegearjunkie.com/giveaway to be entered into a weekly drawing for prizes the likes of a half-year supply of Clif Bars, Tech40's TrailLeader Watch, a pfd fro Kokatat, the Thule Echelon Bike Mount, a Kelty Light Year XP 0 degree sleeping bag, and much more.

Adventure Medical Kits Ultralight .7

As a climber 99% of your time is spent buying, sorting and packing shiny things. The other 1% is spent adjusting your beret to a rakish angle (French), painting little fake six-pack lines on your abs (German), drinking yourself silly (UK) or trying to figure out some complicated sponsorship scheme involving sick children or animals (American).

In reality the first thing you should take with you on your backcountry adventures is often the last thing you devote any thought to: a medical kit. Lucky you, Adventure Medical Kits is here to enable your slacker lifestyle by doing your thinking for you. They produce a complete line of safety and survival products for just about any outdoor activity.

The Ultralight and Watertight series includes kits for one to four people, weighing from 3 to 10 ounces. All have an external ripstop nylon pouch with tie-in points and internal Aloksak waterproof bags - like ziplocs only beefier. The .7 is an 8oz 2-person kit containing all the basics, from moleskin, duct tape and tweezers to dressings, tape and medications. All the items are high-quality and sized right for the intended use. Use the Ultralight kit as is or supplement to your own specs, but don't leave home without an ounce - or eight - of prevention.

$24.95 at REI

Mountain Hardwear Micro Dome

Back to basics, folks. The Mountain Hardwear Micro Dome is indispensable wherever you need a little love on your noggin. Polartec 100 and a soft, my-mama-loves-me feel make this hat worth every penny of its teeny tiny price. It's not unusual to own more than one, so don't feel like a freak. Well, not for that anyway. One size fits many.

Warning: do not get the light purple one unless you are a woman. I don't know how the hell that color made it into the men's section. Don't do it. I'm watching you. Yeah, you.

$15 at REI

Seattle Performance Medicine

You all know how I feel about running so you can imagine how excited I was to take a treadmill test at Seattle Performance Medicine. Yet I am unable to resist anything that lets me quantify either gear or performance, and SPM will give me numbers that I can add to my vast repertoire of excuses for poor climbing performance: "Oh, I could have redpointed that 5.13d if only my VO2 max wasn't acting up."

The tests involve walking and running (or biking if you're into that) on a treadmill until you tell the sadistic bastards you can't do it anymore. While running you're wearing a mask and they throw things at you and call you names like "sweaty, milk-fed, sandwich-eating bitch." OK, not really. The staff is extremely professional and you even get a real doctor to go over your results with you.

I can now compare myself to my peers. I'll use Ed Viesturs. You may have heard of him. He certainly has never heard of me, but screw him, he doesn't get out much, he's too busy rolling around naked in piles of money and free gear. My VO2 max = 43, Ed = 66. I know, it's scary they're so close. On the relative scale I rate as "very good" and Ed is "competitive ultra-endurance." Same-same.

My lactate threshold - no, I don't actually lactate, that's just what they call it = 88% of VO2 max, which is pretty high and probably explains why altitude doesn't seem to affect me too adversely. Where VO2 max is about how well you burn oxygen for energy, LT is about generating energy without oxygen. In another measure my heart rate dropped 50 beats in 2 minutes from my max HR of 195, which is a pretty good recovery time.

The biggest surprise for me was finding out that my resting metobolic rate was 1,632 calories per day, 25.7% of which was from burning protein. My recommended intake was 2,150 calories, with under 17% protein burning; these numbers show I'm burning lean muscle mass because I'm not eating nearly enough. These numbers don't include exercise calories either. SPM gives you a customized training recommentation with heart rate target zones, calories burned at each and a lot of general sports nutrition tips. All in all, great service and great information.

$425 at Seattle Performance Medicine

Salomon B52 boots

Not quite as fun as carpet-bombing small countries that can't fight back, Salomon's B52 is nonetheless a wicked warm snow boot. Actually called the B52 TS GTX I must omit the alphabet soup because it makes me want to hurl the contents of my stomach onto the nearest marketing executive. Bastards. Stuff your TS in your AH.

The boot is nice, though, and light at 2lb 11oz for a pair of size 9s. Supposedly comfort-rated to both -40F and -40C - no, really, look it up - the Thinsulate 400 easily handles -20F standing around and colder temps if you're working. They're waterproof as advertised, which is critical for a winter boot since hypothermia when wet is more dangerous than much colder but dryer weather.

The one-pull lacing works well, although it's a bit of a chore to store the lace-lock in the little pocket on the top of the tongue. The collar is nicely padded with a thick fleece, and the beefy grab-handle makes getting them on smooth. The proven Contagrip outsoles give great traction. Overall these do everything a winter boot should: warm, dry, comfortable and easy on/off. Hard to beat especially since you can find them on sale now. They're not listed online; call your local REI store and ask for item number 740886.

$89.93 (on sale from $135.00) at REI, in stores only

The North Face Thin Air eyewear

The Thin Air sunglass/goggle hybrids from The North Face gave me a whiplash flashback to a date I only refer to now as "the incident." Like my date the Thin Airs are svelte, sexy and look good in red. Like my date the Thin Airs are expensive. And like my date the Thin Airs ultimately disappoint with substandard performance that falls far short of their come-hither promise.

Handling the Thin Airs in the store they seem like the perfect hybrid eyewear: both lenses are set in a single easily interchangeable frame, a glacier shield pops into place for maximum goggle-like coverage, and there is a clever elastic band that clips behind your head built into the temples.

In the field it's a different story. The clever elastic band stretches out and won't retract into the temples. Toting the extra lens assemblies takes a decent amount of space. And the coup de grace: the Thin Airs fog easily. All could be forgiven but the last, which is one of the most frustrating experiences one can have in the backcountry, second only to getting one's low-hanging fruit caught in a zipper. Buyer beware.

$200.00 at The North Face