What New Gear are you trying for 2013

[Jacob Smith]

Personally I'm switching from my MLD SoloPro Cuben tarp and a bivy to a Zpacks Hexamid Solo and a MLD Solomid

Also moving away from my Cannibalized ULA CDT and going with a new medium sized zpacks zero with only a rear pocket and a roll top

Also switched from wood stoves back to alcohol with a zelph starlyte and a litetrail 550 pot.

Moved to Cuben rain gear from zpacks and a montane slipstream, R1, and Montbell UL DJ for insulation and wind duties.

Gone to no cook/ prep meals for everything but dinner.

Still considering replacing my Petzl E-lite with a zebra light, but haven't made the jump yet.

Also dropped my sawyer squeeze in favor of Aqua Mira and a piece of fine mesh for filtering.

Dropped my camera and GoPro since I think the world has seen enough videos of the AT.

Got a Road ID so that should my bad lung give me problems on the trail at least they'll be able to identify my body

Almost moved to a tiny spyderco salt proof knife in place of a razor blade

Also dropped my old National Geographic maps in favor of Trail Profiles.

At 6'0 165 I'd like to lose another 10-15 pounds, but that is a constantly losing battle and a vast improvement over the 285 I weighed in at in October of 2010.

[HkNewman]

Definite:

Tarp (cuben)

15F sleep system (sold mine years ago – miss it)

Maybe:

0F sleep system

[Max Dilthey]

Dropping my Nikon D5100 and 40mm Macro Lens for a Nikon D7000 and a 16-85 Wide angle Lens. Adds a lot of weight (more than 1lb), but worth it for me!

Dropping the Clif Bar, Nuts, and Dried Fruit diet for cooked dinners, likely with a Stoic Ti pot and a Ti wood stove.

Dropping the EMS 20º Solstice bag for a Mountain Hardwear 32º Ultralamina and a down jacket.

Dropping the Nalgene Cantene flexible bottle for a Nalgene 1.5L hard plastic bottle. Still carrying the Platypus 2L.

Now that I look at it, I seem to be only adding weight in 2013….

Bike Touring: Adding a suspension seatpost and adding back the modified Ortlieb panniers.

[Duane Hall]

HMD Echo II shelter
Zpacks Arc Blast pack – these for sure, and
probably Zpacks breathable cuben rain jacket.

[Nathan Watts]

Want to try out the new Soul tent from Big Sky. Free standing 1P shelter. Should work great on tent platforms, especially if I need to share the platform.

Got my eye on some new Haglofs shells coming out this spring

Started using a Lifeproof case for my phone

Picked up some waterproof/breathable 3/4 length shorts. Might be good for warm wet weather.

[Raymond Estrella]

Helly Hansen Warm Series baselayers (so far the Odin is my favorite).

Thermarest Altair sleeping bag

XTherm pad (using right now).

I am doing my own over-quilt project this winter too and have been using a Jacks R Better Sierra Stealth and a Thermarest Alpine Blanket for that. (I will use both alone later in the year too as the temps go up.)

Later this spring I am going to use the new Nevis hybrid bag as I think that is an interesting concept. I just got one but have not even looked at it yet as we are still below 0.

I too may try the Soul tent from BSI.

[Jennifer Mitol]

For me, I really, really need to stop buying new gear. Haha…
So, I'm going to focus on playing with my clothing and food. I'm doing the JMT this summer and it will be my longest hike (I'm purposefully dragging it out to 3 weeks so I can spend more time on the trail), so ill really need to work on nutrition.

And I'm finally going to start actually SELLING things this time, instead of buying so much of other people's stuff ;)

And any advice on how to stop buying gear would be most appreciated. That new big Agnes Q super light sure looks nice………..

[Travis Leanna]

Thermarest X-therm

Katabatic down hood

Down mitts

TBD: a pack for my north Dakota trip. Possibly the ULA Catalyst.

[Aaron Reichow]

Hoping to get a few weekends in with a Solomid I bought two winters ago from the Gear Swap- haven't been on a solo trip since and haven't had the chance to try it out.

Going to actually try using the alcohol stove this summer- have a Zelph Cobalt SL I've only tested on car camping trips. Might be time to retire the Brunton Raptor.

I've got a fresh pair of La Sportiva Wildcats that I'm going to crack open once the snow and ice are gone. My current pair is pretty much lugless right now, but wearing Microspikes that doesn't make much of a difference. :)

Congrats on the weight loss!

[daniel B]

Jen – I keep telling myself also…. "No More Gear" (its that paypal thing that makes buying gear sooooo easy). So I picked up the Zpacks Hex Solo plus with beak last week. After doing a portion of the SHR with a fellow member and seeing how light he went I'm trying to get under 28lbs for our next SHR trek. I think the only extra thing i'll get this year along with the zpacks will be another quilt from enlightened equip.

[spelt with a t]

Longer, wider MYOG hammock

Pitching my hammock tarp for ground camping

Dry bag hauler (MYOG)

MYOG Peapod to replace top and bottom quilts

As for new, commercial gear, I'm saving for a packraft.

[Jared Baker]

Trying out some new MYOG pieces.

A new pyramid tent, 2 quilts, a 5 x 9 tarp and a lightweight hammock w/ asym tarp. Got the tarp and hammock set up done, and hoping to have the rest ready to go by March.

As far as buying any new commercial gear, got the fingers crossed that I can make it through the year (okay, I'll take the next 3 months) without buying anything else.

[Dean F.]

I might try a different sleeping pad. I've certainly proved that I can sleep on 1/2" closed-cell foam pad, but I'm willing to see if I can make a big difference in comfort for little gain in weight.

I thought I'd get an XS Thermarest ProLite to use as a torso pad and put a full-length 1/8" foam pad under it and my bivy. That way the thin foam pad protects the bivy and Thermarest from punctures a bit. If needed I can stuff my pack under my legs too, but for most three-season hiking I figure my legs will do ok with the thin pad.

[Elliott Wolin]

Original Neoair short purchased on clearance (otherwise I couldn't afford it) instead of Thermarest Prolite short (too thin for my old bones unless the ground is nice and soft).

Steripen Opti for short trips instead of AquaMira drops or tablets (will carry the latter as backup).

Thin down or synthetic puffy jacket instead of fleece or polyester/polypro.

Hope to purchase base layer with a hood.

Hope to find fishnet underwear (e.g. Brynje) for reasonable price (list prices are out of my league, at least what I found so far).

Will carry more and different stakes for my tarp based on BPL article a while back.

Plan to install zippers in my under-tarp RayWay style net tent.

And most important, hope to get out a lot more to justify all of the above!

[Phillip Asby]

I'm a newbie so I'm trying all sorts of new things (at least compared to car camping…)…

The biggest are:

Golite Feather 20 down bag instead of an REI Lumen 25 synthetic. This is both size, weight and warmth/flexibility driven.

Exped Synmat 7 pump in place of Alps Lightweight self inflating pad. This is slightly size (they weigh about the same) and comfort for the same weight driven.

Potentially a Brunton Bantam white gas stove for cooler temps – may not be required in my area so this may get donated to the Scout Troop or kept as a backup. I have an inverted cannister option which may win the day.

[Alex Romanko]

Hopefully a EE Rev 20 and a Hexamid Solo.

[Eric Blumensaadt]

Got a new Scarp 2.

Working on my "bag topper" idea for my WM Megalite. Photos soon.

[Adam Rothermich]

I just ordered a Borah Gear Stealth. The lead time quoted on the website puts the delivery around my birthday, so that will be a nice surprise and right in time for me to start hiking again.

I've also recently purchased an Esbit wing stove and a titanium windscreen to replace my original Caldera Cone for my SP 700. Its always been a pain to pack and I didn't want to spend the money for one of the new Ti Calderas that would fit inside the pot. Plus I don't like always worrying about alcohol spilling. It will be nice to be able to use different pots too. Sometimes I just want to use a Foster's can.

Over the winter I also purchased a used Patagonia synthetic vest (I think its an old Puffball) and a Melanzana Hard Face vest. The Melanzana is more for doing trail maintenance where the stretchiness will be appreciated.

Also on my list of things I'd like to get this year are a bivy (probably Borah Gear) and some small tarp. I can't decided between a flat cuben tarp or a silnylon MLD Cricket. I also want to try out the new Sawyer squeeze.

Adam

[Justin C]

Soon to have my new Laufbursche Huckepack. Can't wait. Hopefully no other gear needed this year.

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