» Dispatches from HG

Welcome to Canada

geargals — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 18:32:20 +0000

I usually contend that people who follow each and every outdoor excursion with a painfully detailed blog post about it, complete with pictures and picture descriptions and in some incredibly fussy occasions, a GPS map of the route probably are not as awesome at said outdoor activity as they say they are. How good at it can you be if you still have time to post on every message board, web site, and your own blog about all the epic things you just did and if all you can think about after a day of skiing or a few hours of biking is making a blog post about it? I think I mentioned in a review that I’ve seen the same trip report with the same photos and same username posted to over ten different web sites. I mean, no matter what, that’s just not awesome. It’s interesting to me that so many people can’t just enjoy what they did and instead have to try to convince the anonymous internet that they had a good time.

So if you don’t post anything about your adventures on any web site, you must REALLY be epic and cool, right? Right? That’s what I’m hoping, because I am woefully behind at maintaining Geargals. It’s a rare occasion when my writers are tapping their feet waiting for their reviews to be posted. Usually it’s me making hysterical phone calls and writing pleading emails for writers to get their copy in on time. So turnabout is fair play, Geargals! You just cool your heels, and you know, this might be a good opportunity for you to get AHEAD on your reviews! Just an idea.

All loaded up for the five day drive to Vancouver.

Unfortunately my extended hiatus was not caused by super awesome epic mountain bike and ski trips like I would usually hope for. Instead my big adventure has been the seemingly endless administrative and logistical issues caused by moving to Canada for the winter. I’ve been planning this since, oh, 2005, when I learned that the Winter Olympics would be in Vancouver this year. I desperately wanted to be working in Vancouver for the Olympics and so I am. It’s very cool but I have been losing sight of how cool it is to achieve a goal simply because it’s been a rather difficult transition. Immigration issues combined with a stunningly expensive housing market are stressors enough, but add to that a fairly massive lifestyle change (I now live in a CONDO and work in an OFFICE) and an unexpected two hurried and extremely inconvenient trips back to Alaska to tend to the problems caused by absentee housesitters have left me reeling. I’d love to be writing this from the other side of the troubles, looking back on all of them and congratulating myself at getting through it, but it seems we’re still mired in the middle, with Gearguy taking one for the team and missing the Olympics by staying in Alaska to tend to the northern issues and neither of us having really any idea how it’s all going to work out for the next year.

So we drove. And drove. And drove. It was frozen and cold the whole way....

But I’m not complaining, exactly – more like offering an explanation. I like to keep the web site moving but it really did get shoved to the bottom of the pile with all this going on. My original idea was to feature more Canadian manufacturers and do a big ‘discovering Canada’ type of project while I’m here, but I’ve been a tad busy. With things at least temporarily cooled off and in a sort of even-keeled limbo, I am hoping to get things caught up. I’ve missed all the winter trade shows (and when I REALLY needed free beer more than ever before, too! What timing) and have dialed back my expectations for epic trips for the next month or two. However, my petty little problems cannot stop the Olympics juggernaut and the Games are right around the corner! And despite all the hassle, the bottom line is that Geargals will be covering the Games live from Vancouver. Or at least we’ll be covering the gear at the Games live from Vancouver.

....until day 5, when hey! Bare pavement! Above freezing temps! Welcome to Vancouver.

And yes – we’ll be putting Canadian manufacturers in the spotlight as much as we can. Some of them I’ve already featured, like Lorpen – whose PR rep met my inquiry about shipping to Canada with an odd silence and, with the tone one uses when speaking to a particularly slow kindergartener, “Well, Lorpen is a Canadian company, so yes, we ship to Canada.” We’re also excited to get going with our newest feature, reviews and information about destinations, resorts, and trips. Which I’m sure I’ll be going on any day now, eh?

New Feature in the Works

geargals — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 20:47:57 +0000

Since the Geargals are globe-trotting international product testers these days, we’ve decided to add a new feature. We’re going to be reviewing destinations and resorts – if we ever go to them, that is – to give our readers some ideas for outdoor-oriented vacations.

So, you guessed it – we’re on the hunt for destinations! If you’ve got any to suggest or if you just want to plug your own resort, destination, or vacation idea, drop the Head Geargal a line at jill@geargals.net.

You’re Where, Now?

jillmissal — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 21:37:03 +0000

So it’s about time I caught my readers up on where I am and what I’m doing. I really should have done it before my winter break, but I didn’t, so I’m doing it now. Better late than never? Anyway.

With winter hiatus came a much anticipated change of scene for the Head Geargal (that’s me). I had the opportunity to work in Vancouver, BC for the next year, so I ditched the rest of the Geargals and jumped at it. The break from constant sub zero temperatures and 20-hour nights was too tempting to resist. Alaska can be nice, but man is it a drag if you rarely get out, and getting out of Alaska is expensive and difficult. An extended visit to a new locale was just the ticket, and the novelty of being back on the road system has not yet worn off.

I thought Vancouver might be a great base for the Geargals operation because of the city’s proximity to pretty much any sort of outdoor activity you can think of. So far it’s really delivered; in the last month I’ve been hiking, running, mountain biking (on DIRT. In December!), and skiing. I also have climbing and swimming to look forward to, and I won’t have to wait until June like I would in Alaska. Sweet! It’s a great chance to test out some gear for more temperate climates as well as, well, some rain gear. Yes, it rains here – a lot. Since I’m used to my precipitation frozen, I’m excited about putting some of this “waterproof” stuff through its paces.

I’m also extremely stoked about being in Vancouver to cover the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, kicking off on February 12th. The buildup to the Games is quite exciting, and while I didn’t get lucky enough to score tickets to any events, I’m looking forward to the party scene and the general excitement.

Geargals will continue to bring you perspectives on gear from the Last Frontier, we’ll be capitalizing on our new international flavor by featuring more Canadian manufacturers and taking advantage of exciting urban stuff like bike commuting and perhaps even some warm weather gear come the summer. Sometimes a change of pace is just what the doctor ordered, and after a few weeks enjoying more than three hours of daylight and nice midwinter dirt singletrack, I think the doctor might have a point.

Zippers

geargals — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 18:35:43 +0000

Industry, let’s have a talk. You’ve made such incredible gains in technology and design lately. Every year your products get better, lighter, tougher, and more fun to play with. Except for your zippers! What gives? This year I’ve had zippers fail on more products I can think of. Jackets, backpacks, storage items – nothing is worse than having a zipper fail in the field. OK, well not NOTHING. But still, it’s pretty sucky.

Yes, most of you have a good warranty and will fix zippers at no cost. But come on! I don’t want to be without my precious gear for the six weeks it takes to send it in to you to get a new zipper. Every time I send an item back for repair, I am a little anxious about getting it back. I’ve always gotten it back, but still. Who knows if you’ll decide to just replace it with a different one I won’t like as much? The last thing any of us need is added stress in our lives, especially about things as petty as zippers.

And the thing is, I can tell immediately when zippers are likely to fail. They feel flimsy and weak, and zip all weird, and it’s easy to tell that a zipper is crap. I know if I can tell, you can tell – so why are you sending out garbage zippers? I know there are a lot of weight weenies out there. I bet they can suck it up to deal with a few extra grams of good zipper if needs be. A jacket that stuffs into a pocket doesn’t do much for me if the zipper that seals the pocket busts immediately. A backpack with a bad zipper – useless.

You can probably tell that I recently experienced a negative experience with a zipper. I was stuck in the field with a bag with a broken zipper. This is an issue when you’re traveling by helicopter and the rotor wash scatters all your stuff every single time the helicopter lands. It’s also an issue when it rains or snows and you want to keep your stuff dry. Face it – it’s just an issue.

So please, please, don’t send us crap zippers. We know that you know they’re crap. This zipper failure epidemic has really only started in the last year, so something is going on when reliable manufacturers suddenly are releasing products with shoddy zippers. QC, people, QC.

The Long-Awaited Relaunch!

geargals — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 04:35:52 +0000

Welcome to the new and improved Geargals site! After months and months of promises and delays, we finally got our stuff in a pile to bring you this snazzy new site. Based on reader feedback, we wanted a site with more ways for readers to communicate with us and with the industry. The super-snazzy brand spanking new Geargals Forum is now live, for you all to fill up with chatter. So go and chatter, and behave well, for if you are foolish, I shall smite you from the Forum and you will chatter no longer. One other thing about the Forum: it’s for ladies only! Sorry, dudes. I know I’m all about equality but let’s face it, most of the outdoor forums are mostly for dudes with a “ladies room” or some garbage. So this is my way of helping to balance the Internet. However, since the point of this site is to give women more information about gear and outdoor stuff, I will make an exception for industry peeps. So if you’re an industry dude, let me know and you get a free hall pass to wander the forum and contribute in valuable and meaningful ways.

Also new on our site is the much-hyped Geargals Dressup! It’s our most fun new feature and the one many of you have been waiting for. You may have noticed we’ve reviewed a lot of gear since we launched the Geargals site in 2007. We’ve had the privilege of checking out dozens of brands and hundreds of products, and we wanted to find a way to recognize the stand-out pieces from the last year and a half.

In true Geargals fashion, we couldn’t bring ourselves to do some lame, recycled “gear of the year” gimmick, because you can turn to your favorite magazine for that (oooh, the “gear issue!” I think my favorite tidbit of “gear issue” lameness was a feature on “The North Face Jacket.” Um, right, which one? Could it be more obvious that “gear issue” magazines are bunk? Anyway…) Thus, instead of cranking out tired rhymes and the standard studio pics of the “gear of the year” pile, we developed the Geargals Dressup! We chose our favorite products from the last year and made a game out of them. Visit the Geargals Dressup page and choose from all the gear we thought was top-notch, and just drag-and-drop it onto the Geargal and the Geardog to create your own perfect outfit.

We chose the gear for this year’s dressup out of all the products we tested in 2007 and 2008. Featured on the Geargals Dressup this year are:

On Geargal-
Mountain Hardwear Stimulus Jacket
Mountain Hardwear Synchro Pants
Mountain Hardwear Compressor Jacket
Ellsworth Epiphany Mountain Bike
Mountain Hardwear Synchro Pants
Cannondale Roam Bike Shoes
Julbo Trail Sunglasses
Sugoi Neo Pro Bike Shorts
Patagonia Ice Field Jacket
Volkl Queen Attiva Skis
Scarpa Star Lite Ski Boots
Isis Long Jane
Julbo Revolution Goggles
La Sportiva FC 1.1 Hiking Shoe
La Sportiva Nepal EVO GTX Boot
APF Powersox

On Geardog-
D-Fa Sub Woofer Jacket
Ruffwear Bark ‘n Boots Grip Trex
We wanted to feature one of Geardog’s favorite toys, but he loves the Gourdo the best and however we drew it, it looked just….wrong. I’ve gotten some weird looks carrying it around in real life, too, so for now we’ll just say: Geardog likes the Gourdo.

Happy dressing! Keep checking back for the, er, last-half-of-2009 Dressup! And don’t forget to get the conversation going on the Forum!