Daypack Gregory Miko 20 and Maya 20 $130, 20L/1,220 c.i., 2 lbs. 1 oz./936g oz. (men’s Miko 20) One size each for men and women, adjustable Miko 20: moosejaw.com Maya 20: moosejaw.com Don’t fix what ain’t broke has proven a timeless rule to follow and Gregory seems to take it to heart with the Miko and Maya, the brand’s 2023 updates of its classic Miwok and Maya. Wearing the men’s Miko on dayhikes of nearly 10 miles and 4,700 feet up and down 5,774-foot Mount Adams in New Hampshire’s rugged northern Presidential Range and a mostly off-trail dayhike-scramble of 11,330-foot Twin Peaks in Utah’s ..read more

Portable Backyard/Camping Firepit and Grill BioLite Firepit+ $300, 20 lbs./9kg moosejaw.com Many of us learned a lot about what we liked during the pandemic and many of those newly discovered or rediscovered likes have stayed with us—like sitting out in the back yard to eat and socialize. We realized (or were reminded): Hey, it’s nice sitting out here! That included evenings when cool temperatures might have previously driven us indoors. So we sought ways to heat our domestic outdoor spaces. Enter the BioLite Firepit+, a more civilized and controllable evolution of the old stone-ringed (someti ..read more

Winter Shell Jacket and Bibs The North Face Ceptor Jacket $400, 1 lb. 9 oz. (men’s medium) The North Face Ceptor Bib $400, 1 lb. 12 oz. (men’s medium) Sizes for both: men’s S-XXL, women’s XS-XXL rei.com When you love skiing, you commit yourself to enduring almost any weather conditions for your sport—and that requires a shell jacket and pants that really protect you from the elements. Through numerous full days of skiing at Oregon’s Mount Bachelor and the full range of Cascades weather—dumping snow, cold temps and wind, occasional sunshine and, yes, even winter rain—TNF’s Ceptor Jacket and Bib ..read more

Ultralight Alpine/Four-Season Tent SlingFin Hotbox $650, 3 lbs. 9 oz. slingfin.com Through three cold December nights camped at over 8,000 feet in Idaho’s Boulder Mountains, snow fell hard enough that I had to dig this tent out a few times. All that cold, white smoke was great for two reasons: the backcountry skiing my kids and I did—and testing the Hotbox, SlingFin’s answer to the challenge of creating a lightweight tent built for alpine climbing and other four-season adventures. The HotBox represents SlingFin’s modern take on the classic wedge tent for alpine climbing—with some stylizing of ..read more

Insulated Vest Ibex Wool Aire Vest $235, 7.5 oz. (men’s medium) Sizes: men’s S-XXL, women’s XS-XL ibex.com How useful—and valuable—is your insulation layer? Consider this: I wore the Ibex Wool Aire Vest as my only outer layer over the same two base layers (a lightweight, wicking long-sleeve and a warm fleece hoody) on days of vigorous Nordic skiing in radically different conditions in Idaho’s Boise Mountains: from sunny, calm, and mid-30s Fahrenheit to cloudy and below freezing with strong winds that made it feel much colder. And I did not overheat in the first circumstance or get cold in the ..read more

Hiking Shoes Hoka One One Anacapa Low GTX $170, 1 lb. 10.5 oz. (US men’s 9) Sizes: US men’s 7-15, women’s 5-11, all gender M3.5/W5-M14/W15.5 backcountry.com Sometimes it’s the subtle details that make a hiking shoe stand out. From a nearly 10-mile, 4,700-foot dayhike up 5,774-foot Mount Adams in New Hampshire’s northern Presidential Range on a sunny October day with temps ranging from the mid-30s to around 60 F, with some wet and muddy trail, to hikes in my local foothills on trails consisting mostly of dry, packed dirt with occasional rocky sections, the Hoka One One Anacapa LowGTX proved to ..read more

Soft-Shell Hiking Pants Outdoor Research Ferrosi Convertible Pants $99, 11.5 oz. (men’s 30×30) Sizes: men’s 28-42, women’s 0-18 backcountry.com I lived in the Outdoor Research Ferrosi Convertible Pants on three multi-day hikes that put them through quite possibly the widest range of three-season weather most backcountry wanderers might ever see: trekking hut-to-hut for a week on Iceland’s Laugavegur and Fimmvörðuháls trails and several dayhikes around the country, where cold wind and periods of light rain accompanied us almost every day; on a nine-day, nearly 130-mile hike through the High Sie ..read more

Ultralight Rain Jacket Mammut Kento Light HS Hooded Jacket $219, 5.5 oz. (men’s medium) Sizes: men’s S-XXL, women’s S-XL moosejaw.com When the sky darkened with foreboding, black and gray clouds that suddenly obliterated the sharply angled peaks flanking the John Muir Trail in the Evolution Basin of Kings Canyon National Park, I pulled on the ultralight Mammut Kento Light HS Hooded Jacket thinking: This thunderstorm will put it to a real test. Minutes later, the wind-whipped rain began hammering us. For an hour or more, my two companions and I continued uphill until deciding to quickly pitch o ..read more

Backpack Gregory Baltoro 65 and Deva 60 $320, 65L/3,966 c.i., 4 lbs. 14 oz./2.2kg (men’s medium Baltoro) Sizes: three adjustable men’s and women’s sizes Baltoro 65: backcountry.com Deva 60: backcountry.com If you tend to fill up a backpack with lots of stuff (read: beaucoup weight) on your backpacking trips, trying to do that with a pack that’s inadequate to the task will strike you as a fool’s errand before you get far up the trail. In reality, very few packs handle heavy loads well. From the Teton Crest Trail to the Sawtooths, the men’s Gregory Baltoro 65 once again demonstrated that it belo ..read more

Ultralight Backpack Mountainsmith Zerk 40 $220, 40 liters/2,440 c.i., 1 lb. 13 oz./822g (including removable accessories) One unisex size, fits torsos 16-19 inches backcountry.com Within the rather exclusive category of ultralight backpacks weighing two pounds or less, one sees similarities, most commonly and conspicuously a frameless, roll-top design with large external pockets. The Mountainsmith Zerk 40 takes that template and juices it with some smart details and add-ons, tougher materials, and a touch of modularity while keeping it significantly under two pounds. That suited my needs quite ..read more