Summer Sales: Calendar this!

Spokane based Mountain Gear has a sweet sale going on in celebration of 30 years in business.

You still have until midnight tonight, August 1 2013, to snag a single wall Black Diamond Firstlight for under $230, or a HiLight for $280. This is one of the lightest, toughest one person mobile lounges around. It's a bit snug for two without the vestibule.

I just picked up a HiLight on sale, my first single wall tent since I gave my old Todd-Tex one-person Garuda to a mentee as a high school graduation present. He was off on a motorcycle ride across the country. Man, I loved that tent. But it didn't survive the beatnik adventures of the great Dylan Comstock. 

The very studly Patagonia Nano Puff Hybrid jacket

And have you tried this? Patagonia has redesigned its Nano Puff Hybrid Jacket for fall 2013, so I'm taking a flyer on last year's model. Its precursor, the R2 half zip pullover, with beefier insulation in the chest and lightweight R1 stretch around the hips and on the forearms, served me well on backcountry ski trips and under bibs on lift access days.

Until they invented the Nano puff.

Then, ever since Ed Viesturs designed a lightweight down hybrid jacket with stretch panels for Eddie Bauer, hybrids with lightweight, "body-mapped" insulation have become the rage. 

Let's see if this really is the best of all possible worlds.

If not, I can always go back to reading Candide. At least I'll look cool in the café.

Happy anniversary, Mountain Gear! Bin good to know ya.

Get a sweet deal and wasabi dreams
with the Black Diamond Hilight
Sale ends midnight tonight
call (800) 829-2009

Travel Healthy

Liquid salad. Best I ever drank. This stuff is worth its weight in gold.

And it better be, because it's priced like gold.

If you ever needed a good reason to nip into a Starbucks on the road, this is it.

Evolution Sweet Greens and Lemon.

500 ml. 80 calories. Packed with good, fresh, delicious green stuff. Tastes like celery and parsley. It's a Grace Kelly movie in a bottle.

Hope that made you smile.

Get out there and stay healthy in the air and on those long layovers.

Chin chin.

Worst Loo Paper

The sales copy says: “Who doesn’t want toilet paper that glows in the dark?”

I don’t, not if it means wiping my bottom with strontium aluminate or zinc sulfide.

This has got to be the most idiotic product ever let loose on the backcountry.

I found out about its existence in the camping/touring issue of BMW ON, the motorrad club's news magazine. Now I worry about the sanity of its editorial staff.

Please, don’t embarrass me. Promise me now you will never, ever go near this roll of loo paper. Or anybody who turns up in camp with it.

Have You Tried This?

"Water-repellent down."

Hmm. I wonder.

It's no purist's heavenly cloud, but this new Encapsil down belay parka from Patagonia looks pretty sweet.

500 grams is definitely the right weight, putting it alongside my go-to RAB synthetic hooded belay jacket.

But $700? And how breathable will it be? And I've got to send it back to Patagonia for liquid CO2 cleaning?

First Ascent came out with a bantam-weight prototype using this technology a while back, more like a down sweater. I haven't tried it. The RMI guide I talked to, who had worn his all season on Mt. Ranier, said it's the best cruiser he's ever worn.

I'd love to hear from you if you've tried this new pairing. Or know anyone who has.

For readers just getting into alpine gear, you definitely need a belay jacket. And you probably need two. One for summer flare-ups and epics. Another for winter trips and ice climbs. The four main features you should be looking for in any belay jacket are:

1. Packability
2. Hood that fits over your helmet
3. Two main zippers for warmth plus access to your harness
4. Chest pocket; handwarmer pockets that don't interfere with your harness