If there is one singularly conspicuous omission in the SierraDescents repertoire, it is unquestionably a ski descent of San Jacinto Peak via Snow Creek. There are many fine peaks and routes to covet in California, but among ski mountaineers in the know, Snow Creek stands alone.

To those unfamiliar with the San Jacinto Mountains, their scale may well sound like a misprint. From the low point in Coachella Valley, some two hundred feet below sea level, San Jacinto’s 10,834-foot summit is a mere 40 miles away, creating more than 11,000 feet of vertical relief—one of the largest in the contiguous United States (more…)

I was under the impression Scarpa’s new Skookum was a Frankenboot of parts borrowed from other Scarpa models in an evil-genius attempt to create a downhill performance monster.

To my surprise, this monster proved remarkably well mannered on both the uphill and downhill side of the equation—plus at a measured seven pounds, ten ounces (size 26), the Skookum weighs less on my scale than Scarpa’s climbing-oriented Spirit 4 (albeit at one shell size smaller). Perhaps we should recheck Scarpa’s official description to see if we’ve missed something (more…)

Probably the most critical comment I can make about MSR’s Reactor backpacking stove is that it sat unused and unopened inside my closet for nearly two years.

Winner of a 2007 Backpacking Magazine Editor’s Choice Award, the patented Reactor is an integrated canister stove that employs both a heat exchanger and a pressure regulator to deliver superior performance and efficiency in wind, cold, and high altitude—that is to say, the Reactor is designed to thrive in all the environments that give traditional canister stoves fits (more…)