Backpacking Utah’s Mind-Blowing Death Hollow Loop
The Big Outside
by Michael Lanza
5d ago
By Michael Lanza Like many desert Southwest hikes, southern Utah’s Boulder Mail Trail begins from its western trailhead with a lot of laboriously slow walking in soft sand—miles of it, up, down, over, across. When not walking in beach sand, or for brief, merciful spurts, firm sand, we’re hiking over slickrock, that most grippy of ground surfaces where we can move much more quickly—except where the slickrock tilts at severe angles, as it does much of the time. Then it begins an adventurous exercise in strenuous, calf-pumping ascents or cautious descents with backpacks, constantly zigzagging to ..read more
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Review: Nemo Riff 30 Endless Promise Sleeping Bag
The Big Outside
by Michael Lanza
2w ago
Sleeping Bag Nemo Riff 30 Endless Promise $360, 1 lb. 15 oz./879g (men’s regular) Sizes: men’s and women’s regular and long nemoequipment.com Nemo’s Riff down sleeping bags have long carved out a unique space among high-end backpacking bags with their spoon shape and comfortable dimensions, as well as the zippered “thermo gills” on the chest area for adjusting the bag’s degree of warmth to vent on mild nights or batten down the hatches on chilly nights. Spending eight nights in the 2024 update, the Riff 30 Endless Promise, in Glacier National Park in September and in southern Utah in early Oct ..read more
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Backpacking the Canadian Rockies: Nigel and Cataract Passes
The Big Outside
by Michael Lanza
1M ago
By Michael Lanza A couple of hours up the Nigel Pass Trail, after a lunch break beside boulder-strewn rapids on chalky, glacially silted Nigel Creek, we pop out of forest into sub-alpine terrain with wildflowers and the kind of dense, low brush that conceals grizzly bears better than we think—enjoying our first expansive views of the peaks flanking this valley in Banff National Park. As we make our way farther up the valley, our gentle trail turns steeper, leading us up to Nigel Pass at 7,200 feet (2,195 meters), where we drink up a 360-degree panorama of tall cliffs and treeless mountainsides ..read more
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Review: Rocky Talkie Mountain Radio
The Big Outside
by Michael Lanza
1M ago
Two-Way Radio Rocky Talkie Mountain Radio $110 each/$220 per pair 6.1 oz./172.9g (one radio only), 7.9 oz./224g (including carabiners and leash) rockytalkie.com Over more than 30 years of climbing and skiing in the backcountry, I’ve had a few close calls, some directly due to the inability of my partner and I to hear or see one another. One of my most trusted partners—a longtime friend who once saved me from a potentially long lead-climbing fall by leaping down a steep hill at the route’s base to reel in many feet of rope—also once took me off belay before I reached the top of a pitch and anch ..read more
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Review: Black Diamond Distance 1500 Headlamp
The Big Outside
by Michael Lanza
1M ago
Rechargeable Ultra-Bright Headlamp Black Diamond Distance 1500 $200, 7.5 oz./213g blackdiamondequipment.com Comparing any hiking-oriented headlamps I’ve used to the Black Diamond Distance 1500 headlamp feels rather like comparing a Honda Civic to a Bradley armored fighting vehicle. At 7.5 ounces/213 grams, and putting out a supernova-like 1500 lumens at max power, the Distance 1500 is at least twice the price of all of today’s best headlamps for the backcountry and more than doubles most of them in weight and power. Over six months of testing this beast hiking, climbing, mountain and road biki ..read more
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Review: Salewa Alp Trainer 2 Mid GTX Boots
The Big Outside
by Michael Lanza
2M ago
Backpacking and Trekking Boots Salewa Alp Trainer 2 Mid GTX $230, 2 lbs. 5 oz./1.05 kg (men’s US 9/Euro 42) Sizes: US men’s 7-14, women’s 6-10.5 backcountry.com Eight days of hiking in Iceland, including two dayhikes totaling nearly 10 miles of the peaks Blahnukur and Brennisteinsalda in the Fjallabak Nature Preserve and six days trekking nearly 49 miles on the world-class Laugavegur and Fimmvörðuháls trails, presented the full range of conditions that will test any boots: rain falling at times on most days, temperatures from the 30s to 50s Fahrenheit, and hiking on often-wet dirt, pebbles, ro ..read more
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Review: Beyond Clothing Alpha Aura Jacket
The Big Outside
by Michael Lanza
2M ago
Hooded Fleece Jacket Beyond Clothing Alpha Aura Jacket $180, 12 oz./340g (men’s medium) beyondclothing.com On days of resort and backcountry skiing ranging from relatively mild winter temperatures just below freezing to a frigid day ski touring that dropped to 10° F by the time I finished, Beyond Clothing’s hooded Alpha Aura Jacket demonstrated its versatility as a supremely breathable middle and outer layer for cool- to cold-weather activities year-round, with unique design features that improve its weather protection and durability under a backpack. At 12 ounces/340 grams (for the men’s medi ..read more
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Review: Mystery Ranch Tower 47 Crag Pack
The Big Outside
by Michael Lanza
2M ago
Rock Climbing Crag Pack Mystery Ranch Tower 47 $325, 47L/2,870 c.i., 4 lbs., 7 oz./2 kg backcountry.com When it comes time to huck a heavy rack of gear to the crag, most climbers I know conscript a hiking or backpacking pack to the task. Invariably, their gear ends up in a massive, twisted pile of cooked spaghetti in that pack’s main compartment, and these climbers must then dump everything out to find what they need and repack each time they move to another route. With the Tower 47, Mystery Ranch solved this problem by designing a pack for cragging from the ground-up. With a high capacity, th ..read more
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Review: BioLite Headlamp 800 Pro
The Big Outside
by Michael Lanza
3M ago
Rechargeable Ultralight Headlamp BioLite Headlamp 800 Pro $100, 5.3 oz./150g bioliteenergy.com From an 18-mile, 13-hour, four-summit, partly off-trail hike in Utah’s Wasatch Range in early October to many evenings biking city streets after dark, I’ve found that BioLite’s rechargeable Headlamp 800 Pro stands out for a rare combination of ultra-bright power, wide range of modes, modest weight for a backcountry headlamp that packs this much power and versatility. When you’re out well before dawn or after dark on a hiking, trail-running, climbing, ski touring, mountain biking, or other adventure w ..read more
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Review: Black Diamond Dawn Patrol 32 Ski Touring Pack
The Big Outside
by Michael Lanza
3M ago
Ski Touring Pack Black Diamond Dawn Patrol 32 $200, 30L/1,831 c.i., 2 lbs. 9 oz./1.2 kg (S/M) Sizes: S/M and M/L (32L/1,953 c.i.) blackdiamondequipment.com When ski touring or riding in the backcountry, besides our skis or board, our pack becomes the piece of gear we interact with the most—and we place competing demands on a ski touring pack: We want it light and comfortable for the up and the down but to also have easy, quick access and critical organization and features. On many days of backcountry ski touring, I found the Black Diamond Dawn Patrol 32balances those demands well and excels fo ..read more
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