GearFlogger

Montrail women's AT Plus GTX shoe

Montrail shoes continue to impress, the latest being the women's AT Plus GTX. Waterproof? Check. Breathable? Check. Light? At 22oz for a pair you'll hardly know you're wearing them.

The AT Plus GTX is designed to go the distance as a waterproof light hiker. The light refers to the weight, not the construction, and it's a surprisingly solid shoe. A reinforced toe box protects those SheFloggers prone to ramming their little piggies into every rock and log. The beefy laces over a generously padded tongue distribute the pressure evenly when snugged up tight. High arches are supported with a comfy footbed. And the Gryptonite traction won't quit on you, grabbing into just about any terrain, wet or dry.

Be aware that the AT Plus GTX is very low cut, by design intended for those who want the extra freedom of movement. This means you need to lace up tightly to prevent heel lift. Once you've done that you've got a shoe that will hike from here to eternity. In fact, our very own SheFlogger crushed a 3 mile run followed by a 15 mile grueling mountain bike race in the AT Plus GTX. It's a great shoe for multisport, transitioning seamlessly from talus to toeclips. Built on a relaxed last, it's great for medium volume feet or for smaller volume feet if you like a thick or double sock.

$107.99 (on sale from $135.00) at Altrec

Feedback Alpine Digital Bicycle Scale

OK, this is pretty awesome: a digital scale with a big honkin' hook from which you can hang your bike, your pack, your luggage or anything else that needs hangin', like tourists in Texas.

Feedback's Alpine Digital Bicycle Scale is useful for so much more than bikes. Once you hang it up by its nine-inch cord, three buttons on the front allow you to turn it on/off, zero the scale and set the units to either kilograms, pounds or pounds and ounces. We compared it to our postal scale and found the Feedback to be accurate to within about half an ounce. The rubberized hook is designed to take a mountain bike wheel so bring on your full-suspension fattie.

Equipped with auto-shutoff for those of us who have left most of our important brain cells on tops of mountains, it runs on four AAA batteries and maxes out at about 25 kilos or 55 pounds. The ruggedized housing stands up to garage-ape abuse and you can even clamp it into a bicycle repair stand. The whole unit is high quality and up to the usual Feedback levels of extraordinarily usable design. It'd be nice to see the max load double to let us weigh some big-mountain monster packs, but for 99% of what normally needs to get weighed the Feedback Alpine Digital Bicycle Scale is da bomb.

$62.00 at REI

Black Diamond Axe Protector

Sometimes it's the simple things in life, like not having your partner's axe or ice tool gouge a hole in your new spectra climbing pack while driving up to the mountains. Since he's the only one dumb enough to get up at oh-god-thirty and accompany you on your latest hare-brained epic-to-be, you have to grow him as a human being instead of ripping him a new one to match the hole in your wallet.

Gently suggest an axe protector, e.g. Black Diamond's version, cleverly named... the Axe Protector. At only 1.4oz and under ten bucks, the BD AP is a sound investment to protect all things soft and expensive from the pick and adze on your ice dagger. A pleasant GearFlogger-orange polyurethane with an adjustable elastic shock cord keeper, both ends should fit nearly any axe or tool unless you've got some freaky Viking war hammer jobbie you built yourself with your dad's tools, in which case stay the hell away from me, protector or no.

Maybe you have a hammer instead of an adze, or maybe you're one of those leashless goons whose tool is totally naked . In that case lucky you, save the price of a cold one with the Black Diamond Pick Protector ($4.95 at Moosejaw). For the ultra paranoid, or the obsessive-compulsive climber who must color-coordinate all accessories, there's even a Black Diamond Spike Protector ($4.95 at REI). Unless you've got some scary spike action going on that last one is probably overkill, but if you've been leaving your tool unsheathed, definitely put a glove on that love at least on the pick end.

$9.95 at REI