Mountain Hardwear Quark Jacket
May 27, 2009
Anyone who has gone anywhere with me in the past year knows how obsessed I am with my MHW Stimulus Jacket. I wear it everywhere, on hike trips, bike trips, ski trips, you name it. I have serious Stimulus love. I even bought a second one just in case something tragic happens to the first one. So naturally I was stoked to try the Quark, which is the hooded version of the Stimulus, kinda. It’s much the same; with the same ultrathin, ultralight material, same basic styling, and same ability-to-be-stuffed-into-its-own-pocket, but there are a few differences. First, the fit is much more relaxed. I really think this is meant to accommodate the pit zips, which the Stimulus doesn’t have. If you like pit zips, you will like this modification. Personally, I despise pit zips. If you need that much ventilation, take your jacket off! Put on a different layer. Just leave the jacket in one piece. That way, all jackets can be more streamlined and pretty. As it is, I feel like this jacket has a bit too much extra fabric everywhere. Too baggy, even though it’s the same size as my venerated Stimulus.
It also seems a bit longer than the Stimulus, just a tad. It could be just an illusion because of the bagginess, but it does seem as if there’s a little extra length, but no extra width to go along with it. Since it hits a little lower than hip bones, being slightly too snug in that area creates still more bagginess, since the hem of the jacket is bound to ride up a little. Sigh. Perhaps this is one for the taller ladies. One more design difference – the Quark has rip-and-stick (otherwise known as Velcro) cuffs. My instant dislike of most things Velcro makes me think this is a major step down from the Stimulus’s elastic cuffs. Again, just a preference thing – but I don’t really get the appeal of Velcro cuffs on a lightweight jacket. You’re not likely to be wearing gloves or mittens so you don’t need a cuff that can snug down over the cuffs of your gloves, do you? Who knows, maybe you do, but I don’t.
The hood is OK, if you like hoods. I suppose that’s the whole point of the Quark, having a hood, so there you have it. I got to use the hood as a mosquito shield yesterday, and I was darn glad to have it, so I can tell you that it works well for that, anyway. I know I sound as if I’m being really negative about this piece, so don’t get me wrong, it’s a great jacket and will keep you warm and dry in all kinds of conditions, and is superlight and super compressible to boot. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this jacket, other than that it has pit zips and I don’t particularly like pit zips. It has Velcro cuffs and I don’t like Velcro. Therefore, I am biased – but let me fall back on that little caveat of opinion. With the pit zips, it’s just not as good as the Stimulus, or so I think now, while it’s not raining out. I guarantee you that the first time I’m out in pouring rain in the hoodless Stimulus, I will be thinking, “hmm, wish I’d brought the Quark instead.”
Mountain Hardwear Vail Computer Bag
May 26, 2009
Everyone who knows me (or reads this site) knows that I am pretty merciless when it comes to making fun of stuff. Bloggers are currently in my crosshairs, especially outdoor/adventure/sports bloggers.
Since the Geargals site has become more popular, I’ve been pinged by a few outdoorish blogs so I got curious and did some reading. My conclusion: blogs written by outdoorish people are bad. Hilariously bad. As an outdoorish person with a web site, I really don’t know what to think about my conclusion, but my opinion stands. I’ve read five accounts of the same endurance race, written by five different participants – each covers not only their story but everyone else’s story, and each of them are remarkably the same: “It was far, really far. And very cold, and really snowy. I got really cold. I had to ski and ski and ski and ski and then I slept. And then I ate a bunch, and then slept, and I was cold so I skied to get warm. Then I ate. [Insert name of other participant] was struggling, because it was very cold and the race was very long, and very snowy.” The tendency to mention other bloggers is my favorite part. You get these people together and they ALL have to blog about each other, and make ego-massaging comments about how badass and hardcore the other bloggers are.
And the pictures! The pictures. Oh, my. How many billions of pictures do they need to post? “Here is the view from the start. Here is the view 20 minutes later. Here is the view from my lunch spot. Here is a picture of my muddy boot. Wow, that mud hole sure was muddy! Here is a picture of my skis. Here is a picture of my totally disgusting sweaty, blistered, shriveled feet. Here is a picture of my car at the end of my hike.” God! Give me a break. Stop. Please stop. No one wants to see the 11th picture in a row of the same micro-dot on a hillside a quarter mile away that you claim is a mountain goat.
I also can’t get over the number of people who go on a trip and then scamper home to their computers to post the (usually rather mundane) photos all. over. the. Internet. In the course of my research for this article I found a few local folks who post the same trip reports over and over again, on over a DOZEN message boards. They use the same username on all of them. And post the same stuff. Hee! It’s too good. How much of a badass hardcore skier/biker/climber/whatever are you if 90% of your day is spent posting on the Internet – and not even hiding it? And I know I post on the Internet via this site all the time, but that’s different! It’s my actual JOB. It’s not the same. Shut up.
Hypocritical, you say? Hear me out – this blog is about gear. Lots of different kinds of gear, how it performs, and what it’s like. Most outdoor blogs are about….the blogger. One person who is convinced that the interwebs need to know their every move and thought. Hardly any actual, useful, interesting information is posted on these blogs because they are too focused on being soooooo self-contratulatory.
It’s painfully transparent that each and every one of these people is seeking attention, sponsorships, and/or jobs, but since very few of them can come up with anything other than the I’m-so-badass-and-committed-yet-amusingly-self-depracating schtick, none of them stand out. And because these blogs and message boards are just too good to be true and too funny not to be completely in-your-face serious, we’re honoring the outdoor blogger by featuring this MHW laptop bag. Of course, this is a women’s laptop bag, and my few hours of outdoor blogger research revealed the unconfirmed theory that most outdoor bloggers are dudes, so this might not be of help to actual bloggers. Which is OK, since they don’t seem to ever put their laptops away, so they probably don’t need a bag anyway.
First, though, we’ve got to make fun of some folks. For your entertainment, I’ve collected The Very Best of Outdoor Blogs and Message Boards (at least the ones that my one day of research uncovered), in all their hysterically self-important glory. I’m not sure what to do about giving credit where credit is due, but I’m also not sure anyone wants to actually claim any of these quotes. So I’ll post them without sources for now, unless anyone spazzes.
- ” I have got to say that I’m EXTREMELY impressed with myself.”
- “What I have not revealed up to this point is that I loaned [her} my bike, which she knows is a crazily exotic bike, thereby causing her untold intrepidation. Nobody drives so slowly and overcautiously as in a borrowed Ferrari." OK, OK, we get it, your bike is nice and you liken it to a Ferrari. I'm also pretty sure that "intrepidation" is not, you know, a word. Try "trepidation". Now, if any bloggers find this post, I'll be deluged with heaps of criticism about my own grammar and spelling, mark my words.
- "But the blood and humiliation was all worth it to have a chance to meet the master." Note: "the master" is....another blogger. We're not talking meeting Ed Viesturs, here.
- "Sitting at the kitchen table one day later raw is how I feel, like I rubbed my whole being hard up against the earth, scraping away layers, physical and deeper." Now, this person is talking about a ONE DAY ski trip in great weather with good conditions. Drama much?
- "I rode X miles up X feet in elevation in X amount of time in [insert dramatically inclement weather here].” OK, that’s not a direct quote, but it sums up the content of 99% of outdoor blog posts. Trust me, I just saved you a bunch of time.
- “the doc also issued a stern warning that he meant ‘normal for normal people, not normal for [me].’” Oooh, you’re so abnormal. We get it. Eyeroll.
- “I weighed myself about 36 hours after I finished, and I had lost 4 pounds. At that point, I had already eaten about six big post-race meals, and my feet and ankles were still very swollen. At the finish, I was probably 6-8 ponds lighter than normal. For the first week afterwards, I was consistently eating 5-6 full meals a day. I weighed myself again a week later, and I was back to my normal weight. All in all, not a lot of fluxuation.” The fussy hyper detail just to let us know that his weight didn’t change is what got this one into the Best List.
Two words sum up these blogs: WHO CARES? Trust me, bloggers; no one besides your spouse and your mom care about the mundane details of every little trip outside your front door. Give it a rest, already. But for those of you who set their best PRs sprinting for their keyboards to make a post after every hike you go on, take a gander at this MHW laptop bag. It’s spiffy! It’s got bold black and white styling; you won’t look boring and corporate. It’s MHW so everyone will know you’re outdoorsy, even though you’re sitting at the local Starbucks, typing and posting pictures for three and a half hours. The handy outside zippered pocket holds your thumb drives, cell phone, and whatever you can think of to clip to that little spiral telephone-cord looking thing inside the pocket.
For some reason, the zippered opening is not as big as the actual bag itself, so laptop size is limited. My 15″ MacBook fits in the bag with a bit of maneuvering, but those of you with those desk-sized machines are out of luck. There’s not a ton of extra space for much else, so if you travel with a (small) laptop, a normal-sized notebook, and a few other knickknacks, this will be perfectly sized for you. Have fun typing away!
P.S. I totally have a bet going as to how much hate mail and accusations of hypocrisy I’m going to get over this post, so let ‘em rip. At least I know you can’t get me on the pictures, I just post gear pictures, so there
Osprey Xenon 70 Pack
May 23, 2009
OK, so we already posted one gal’s thoughts on the Xenon 85 pack, but I think it’s worthwhile to get another reviewer’s perspective on the Xenon line. I issued the 85 liter pack to a Geargal who used it for a trip to the Alaska Range, and I’ve been using the 70 liter version for various backpacking endeavors. I tend to not carry enough stuff to need a 70 liter pack, so I took my time in deciding what I thought of this one since I’m not used to those sorts of loads.
I first used this pack during a multi-day trip for a university backpacking class I teach. I bet you wish you could have gotten college credit for doing what you do all the time anyway, right? Well, now I get paid for doing it, so life is great! Anyway, since I was traveling with students, I knew they’d be slower than my usual pace and that I’d have to carry all that university-mandated safety gear, so it was a good chance to break in the Xenon 70. My first impression was that of the dozens and dozens of features on the pack. I love pockets and stash-places, but there were so many on the Xenon I really didn’t know what to do with half of them. There are so many buckles and straps and special organizational features, you won’t believe it. Since then I’ve schlepped the Xenon along on a few other trips, and my first impressions remain the same. I was hoping it would grow on me as it did the other reviewer, but sadly not.
Not to say that it’s not a well designed pack and might work really great for some folks. The sleeping bag compartment has a cover that folds up so you don’t have to waste space, which I like, but then why put the compartment in there in the first place? It just generates more straps and buckles. Aside from that, the 70 liter capacity makes for a quite impressively sized main pack, with two really handy crescent-shaped pockets on either side. Those pockets are winners. There’s also a top cap-style lid that converts into a fanny pack for day hikes. Again, kind of neat, but for a person like me, just makes more straps and more buckles and therefore more weight to carry. All those features add up when it comes to how much weight you’re really hoisting on your back. On the other hand, this pack is pretty light for a multi-day pack, so I guess they had some leeway to put more buckles on. Still, if it were me designing the pack, I would have stayed minimalist and kept it even lighter. Still more features: there are two lines of kind of slot-shaped holes on the outside of the pack, designed to allow more room by adding Osprey’s modular additions. I didn’t try these, because really, if I need more than 70 liters of stuff, I’m going to find a way to back out of the trip.
One of my favorite features are the zipper pulls. These are great. They are actual loops of tough, stiff-ish plastic over cord, and can easily be grabbed while wearing heavy gloves. Good thinking, Osprey. With all the straps on the pack, the designers also wisely made the compression strap red, so that you can find it amongst all the others. Good thinking!
My biggest struggle with the Xenon has been the fit. I’ve discussed it at length with Osprey, who swear up and down that this is the best-fitting pack out there. I have to disagree, but then again there are a number of modifications and customizations that one can make to this pack that I haven’t tried. You can heat mold the hip belt, though I found that after using it for almost a year, the belt molded to my hips anyway. You can also bend and shape the metal stays, which seems to me to be advanced-level pack fitting that I wasn’t up for. I really don’t think that either of those mods would help the fit trouble I had with the pack, which was that it always seemed to be pulling me backwards. The lumbar pad ended up just sitting on my sacrum and seemed to act as a lever to keep the load tipping backwards. I was able to adjust everything so that it was tolerable, but aside from the lumbar pad and the very top of the pack, the pack didn’t touch my back at all. It wasn’t screamingly uncomfortable, but it could be better, let’s put it that way. I’ve put this pack on a few other people and they’ve had similar complaints (though it is funny to watch them fumble with all the straps and features). One of my students has the 110 (!) liter version, and he had similar fit gripes as well. All I can think of is that perhaps this pack is geared towards one particular body type, and that type is not mine.
Patagonia Stretch Ascent Jacket
May 22, 2009
Patagonia was kind of a sleeper for me. I know that all the cool kids wear it, people who can’t afford it call it “Patagucci”, it’s the gear of choice for many serious climbers, etc. etc. But I never really got into Patagonia until they very wisely sent me a pile of stuff to check out for Geargals. Now I’m a convert.
Their latest offering to Geargals, the Stretch Ascent jacket, is a great follow up from our last love, the Ice Field Jacket. The Stretch Ascent is a non-insulated shell; perfect for varied weather days and shoulder seasons. It’s got the Patagonia Magic Pockets – oh, doesn’t anyone else call them that? – that can pack an immense amount of gear but somehow don’t add bulk to the jacket. It was my favorite feature of the Ice Field and the Stretch Ascent has the same portals to other dimensions behind the pocket zippers. It’s cut much the same way as other Patagonia jackets, with a little more room in the waistline and with a mid-hip length. It’s not as body-conscious as other jackets, but now that I think about it, that is probably the secret to the Mystical Pockets.
Since climbing is not my first avocation, I get a little tired of the giant hoods on everything; they’re meant to fit over climbing helmets which for climbers I’m sure is just fabulous. I kind of prefer a more head-size hood on a jacket or two, but I can live with it. Of course, “helmet-size” doesn’t mean ALL helmets; I gave my ski partners a good laugh as I struggled to pull the hood of the Stretch Ascent over my ski helmet. No, incidentally, it did not work. But for everything else involving helmets smaller than ski ones, the Stretch Ascent is a great companion. It packs down pretty well so there’s no reason not to tuck it in your pack just in case the weather goes south. Its H2NO fabric repels all precipitation and cuts the wind, too. Paired with light layers, it’s a formidable shield from the elements.
Ibex Calais Bike Shorts
May 22, 2009
Bike shorts are an age-old dilemma. We all have our favorite pair, in which the padding is perfect, the spandex is not too tight, and the length is just how we like it. If you’re like me, you wear that pair all. the. time. and don’t think twice about pulling them out of the dirty laundry for the third day in a row. A little gross, I know, but you’re going to the mountains! Who cares what you smell like? So there you are, content in your minimalist, one-pair-of-bike-shorts ways, when you finally score a hot date with an even hotter bike partner. Will you wear your dirty bike shorts? If your answer is “yes,” I hope you’re not going on a date with me anytime soon.
But yes, we’ve all been there – short on bike shorts. If you bike as much as I do, this can be a significant problem, so I was really thrilled to try Ibex’s wool Calais bike shorts. They are a bit different than typical bike shorts. For one thing, they are not shiny spandex. I have to say that it’s an improvement. I mean, I like the “tight” thing; that’s one benefit women have over men – they can look not-ridiculous in spandex bike shorts – but it was odd getting used to the slightly more relaxed fit of the wool, and the lack of shine. It was also a little unusual getting used to the waistband with no drawstring, but it didn’t cause any discomfort or (worse!) embarrassment. As a matter of fact, these are super comfortable bike shorts, with exceptional padding and more give than I’d expect, especially given the absence of chafing. If you’ve packed on a bit of chunk over the winter, you don’t have to worry about stretching these so much they get a tad transparent as do spandex types – not that I know this from experience or anything. My one complaint – and this might be a significant one, if it really is a hot bike date you need these for, is that they are shorter than I prefer. They do show a bit of leg, and that brings everything back to the chunk issue. You can hide a lot with tight black pants, but not if the black pants only go 1/4 of the way down your leg. So I might save these for the end of the summer, which is also conveniently when I buy most of my clothes, which in turn goes a long way to explain why none of my pants fit right now….
Giro E2 Bike Helmet
May 1, 2009
I admit that I didn’t put a ton of thought into purchasing a new bike helmet when I saw that my old one was broken. It was the first gorgeous day of the year, I was on my way to go riding, and didn’t have a lot of time to shop. Heck, I NEVER take a lot of time to shop. I went to the bike shop, grabbed a few boxes from the “on sale” section and looked through until I found one that fit and had a visor: the Giro E2. My broken helmet went to the trash and I went straight to the trailhead to go riding.
Luckily for me, this snap decision worked out great. I love the E2, and not because it’s pink. OK, not JUST because it’s pink. It’s light and airy, with TONS of ventilation – nice when it’s a sweltering 65 Alaskan degrees outside. Seriously, for Alaskans, 65 is pretty warm. The visor protects my eyes from that weird yellow thing in the sky, and the full-coverage back protects my head from impact, should I fall backwards. And with as much as I crash, that is a real possibility.
I’m used to using a complicated system of bandannas, ponytails, and sunglasses to keep my riding headgear in place, so it’s been a bit of a transition to the E2, which doesn’t have enough room in the harness in back to pull my ponytail through. I’m not super keen on the ratchet system, which never quite seems to work right. It’s kind of a weird process by which you have to push (or pull? I can never remember) these two buttons to tighten. It doesn’t work well so I just end up pushing on the harness to ratchet it tighter. Then you are supposed to be able to pull (or push? it doesn’t work, so I can’t tell) the buttons to release. That works a little better, but it’s not ideal. I miss the wheel-dial my old helmet had. Next time I buy a helmet, I will look for that type of harness. That’s the only flaw in the E2 from what I can see.
Other than that, the E2 is great. It’s cute, highly visible, well-ventilated, and light. Best of all, it’s not broken, so my head is safe, at least until my next crash.
