The Gear Junkie Scoop: The North Face Animagi Jacket
Dressing right for aerobic activity in cold weather is a continual challenge. With its new Animagi Jacket, The North Face offers a hybrid option that insulates where needed but also breathes.
Horizontal panels and a high neck give the Animagi the look of a vest worn over a base-layer top. But those dark sleeves are connected to the puffy panels, providing full coverage on the arms (but only a hint of warmth).
Indeed, the sleeves and the side of the torso are a thin stretchy material that wind cuts through. But your core is protected with the PrimaLoft-stuffed front and back panels.
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November 19, 2009
The Gear Junkie Scoop: GearPods
Take a watertight polycarbonate container and cram it full with gear. That's the gist of a GearPod, the namesake new product from GearPods Corporation of Polson, Montana.
The company (gearpods.com) offers a line of ready-made adventure and survival kits. Each one uses screw-shut polycarbonate vessels about the size and shape of a water bottle. They fit unobtrusively in a backpack and protect the gear and small items inside until needed in the outdoors.
A customer can pick from more than a dozen pre-made kits, including collections assembled for first-aid, survival, cooking, and shelter. Inside, the company packs bandages, matches, cord, fire starters, water-purification tablets, whistles, blades, and other small items for a task.
The larger kits, including the GearPods Wilderness, which I tested out, offer a stock of essentials for first aid, survival, and shelter. The Wilderness package costs about $165 and lets you "effortlessly carry the gear and tools you need to manage contingencies and stay prepared--even during unplanned nights out," as the company puts it.
Total weight of the GearPods Wilderness kit is 1.8 pounds. It measures about 14 inches long, and the screw-together tubes are about three inches in diameter.
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November 16, 2009
The Gear Junkie Scoop: Injinji EX-Celerator Socks
When you pay $38 for a pair of socks--that's $19 per foot, excluding tax--they had better be something special. The EX-Celerator Socks from Injinji Footwear, which have individual toe slots and an over-the-calf compression fit, do indeed qualify as special.
Putting them on is a task. The compression legging, made of a
calf-squeezing nylon/Lycra fiber blend, is a tight fit. Add Injinji's
patented "five-toe-sleeve technology," where each piggy has to be
wiggled into place, and pulling on a pair is no fast feat.
But once adjusted and on, the socks feel great. They fit like no other sock I have worn, hugging toes, feet, ankles, and calves like a second skin.
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November 12, 2009
The Gear Junkie Scoop: Ultra-Light Hiking
Rod Johnson, owner and founder of Midwest Mountaineering, took a multi-month journey on the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) this past summer to push the limits of ultra-light gear. His experiment in minimalism for the great outdoors included more than 1,000 miles of hiking and unconventional gear tricks, such as using bubble-wrap for a camp pad. His food--freeze-dried meals and Clif Bars--was bundled together at night in an odor-proof bag and used as a pillow.
You can take or leave Johnson's unconventional advice. But here are a few field-tested equipment suggestions and trail techniques he employed to trade comfort in camp for a lighter load while walking hours each day on the Pacific Crest Trail.
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November 05, 2009
The Gear Junkie Scoop: Topo Ranch Topo T-Shirt
It ain't a technical top. Some people think its prairie-dog-with-wings motif is silly or childish. But the Topo T-Shirt, an organic-cotton, casual short-sleeve, has been an unlikely wear-everywhere jersey for me over the past few years.
I am on my second one. The $36 shirt just fits right, and its 100-percent organic cotton fabric stays soft and supple after many washings.
About the graphic: It gets a lot of attention. There's something cute but also melancholy about the hopeful rodent that's seemingly just met his doom and is rising to heaven. Or is he ascending in rebirth like a phoenix? (That's what the sales copy suggests at toporanch.com.)
The singer and pianist Ben Folds was once caught on film crooning with a Topo T-Shirt on. To me, that elevated the quirky design to a cult status of some sort. Or maybe I am simply partial to rodents with wings.
--Stephen Regenold writes about outdoors gear at www.gearjunkie.com.
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November 03, 2009
The Gear Junkie Scoop: Cutter Cyclical Shell Jacket
Touted to be a "storm fortress" with a pedal-specific cut, the Cyclical Shell offers a solid waterproof/breathable top with a svelte look tailored for commuters and the urban single-speed set. It employs
eVent fabric, which is commonly used in outdoors- and mountain-oriented outerwear, to make a form-fitting, sweat-dispensing jacket that repels rain, sleet, snow, and wind. And it comes in both men's and women's models.
At $299.95, the shell is expensive when compared to other cycling-specific rainwear (you can get it on sale, though, while it lasts for $179.97 at cutterbike.com). The price may be high, but it's performed almost flawlessly on the road and trail in my tests so far.
There's no doubt the Cyclical jacket was designed by cyclists. It has a "pedal-specific cut," as the company puts it, meaning the lines and seams are made to cover and fit a person crouched over handlebars. There are long, hand-covering cuffs, waterproof zippers, and extra long coverage on the "tail" (lower back area) to help block tire spray on clothes.
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October 28, 2009
The Gear Junkie Scoop: Stormy Kromer Bunkhouse Trousers
As recently as five years ago, Army-Surplus wool pants were a stalwart piece in my winter outerwear getup. I'd pair the coarse, jungle-green trousers, which were purchased for $20 to $30 at secondhand shops, with a Gore-Tex shell jacket for ice climbing and head outdoors into the chill air of northern Minnesota or Ontario's Orient Bay area, where ice axes and tall, cold cliffs afforded a venue for the ascent of frozen icefalls as high as apartment buildings.
Kick a crampon through the tough matte of wool above the ankle cuff and, oh well, the pants didn't set you back all that much. They were warm, too. And, unlike hard-shell pants I'd paid hundreds of dollars for, the cheapo woolies breathed so well you could feel subzero air seeping in and out just slightly with the wind.
This winter, wool pants are back. Though the price has shot up, the Bunkhouse Trousers from Michigan-based Stormy Kromer (stormykromer.com) hold true to my vision of a solid pair of winter pants. They are made with thick and plush--but tough--wool blend.
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October 27, 2009
The Gear Junkie Scoop: Winter Base Layers
I'm not sure exactly when humble "long underwear" became "next-to-skin technical base layers," but somewhere over the past decade designers in the outdoors industry switched up the nomenclature and cut words like "skivvies" and "long johns" out of the conversation.
It was an apt decision, however, and not just a marketing ploy. Indeed, the tight-fitting tops and tights outdoors people wear against their skin have seen serious innovation in recent years. Here are three new and impressive base-layer tops I have been testing as of late.
GoLite DriMove BL-2 Longsleeve Zip: It may sound improbable, but this top employs a fabric that has volcanic minerals embedded in its threads. Called Cocona Minerale, the natural lava rock ingredient is touted to increase wicking, protect from UV sunrays, and add odor control. In my tests, the Longsleeve Zip worked alone as a top for hiking and trail running on cool days, breathing well for hours at a time outside. The fabric, which has a heavy, textured weave, dries relatively fast once soaked with sweat. Layered under a fleece top and a shell jacket, the Longsleeve Zip has functioned for me as a great foundational piece to aid in comfort, warmth, and breathability. Bonus: Because Minerale is embedded in the fabric, it won’t wash off or wear out like other treatments might. $55, golite.com
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October 23, 2009
The Gear Junkie Scoop: Outlier 4Season OG Pants
At $180, the Outlier 4Season OG Pants are a specialty product created for a small, affluent market niche. Essentially, these are "performance dress pants," a unique hybrid for office workers who bike commute or active types who want a comfortable pair of pants to do double duty in social situations and during moderate physical activity.
Made in New York City with Schoeller Dryskin Extreme fabric, the OGs pull influence from sources as distant as the world of fashion and mountaineering. The company (outlier.cc) calls the pants: "the ultimate in versatility, both socially and technologically."
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October 21, 2009
The Gear Junkie: Red Bull Energy Shot
Caffeine. Taurine. Glucuronolactone. These are the energizing--and sometimes controversial--ingredients that have fueled untold millions of outdoors and action-sports types since 1996 when a previously unknown blue-and-silver can appeared on shelves in the U.S. market.
Red Bull Energy Drink is now a fixture from cyclocross races to bouldering walls with active people looking for a subtle chemical edge. A boost in the guise of a beverage is an accepted performance-enhancing procedure and a ritual for some as common as a morning cup of coffee.
New this summer, Red Bull unveiled a concentrated version of its original energy drink. The Red Bull Energy Shot comes in a tiny re-sealable bottle. Inside, two liquid ounces of non-carbonated concentrate serve as an even quicker way to get Red Bull's energizing contents into your system.
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