Staff Picks 2025

During the first four years of my blog, I would post my favorite gear of the year. I haven’t published a favorite gear list in 10 years, the last being in 2015. This was mostly because I rarely buy new backpacking equipment.

I thought it might be interesting to create a 2025 version and compare it to 2015, to see what has changed (very little).

Nick, it seems like your favourite gear list is a list of trusted old friends 🙂.

I appreciate that. Stuff that lasts and lasts and does its job well. And when it dies, replace it with a younger version of itself.

I need to retire some gear after a long, hard walk. I find myself apologising to those old friends. I will try to reincarnate as much of them as possible (repair pieces for other gear etc.)

Cheers

Megan

My daily driver for the last month has been a Patagonia R1 Air hoodie over mesh. More or less replacing an AD90 quarter zip. A bit heavier. Much more durable and it doesn’t ride up at the waist.

My other go to is a five+ year old Patagonia DAS Hoodie Light. Lots of tape. Scorched cuffs from putting wood in a stove. I highly recommend it. I’d buy one again. When it’s on sale of course. Even with the tape, I think I’ll get another year or two from it.

For colder weather. Something we haven’t had here in Colorado this year. New to me is a Rab Mythic Ultra. It’s downfall is that the collar can push up on my ears a bit. The weight to down ratio is very good.

Standout for me in 2025 was my trusty backpack: Superior Wilderness Designs LongHaul 50. Very capable, comfortable, and durable. From dad pack mule trips to quick overnight ‘fast & light’ backcountry resets. It adapts to all my needs and just works. Looking forward to many more seasons.

+1 SWD (Wolverine)

My 2025 favorite are 2 pieces-1)Zimmerbuilt Quickstep in Xpac VX21 backpack. Had Chris customize it for me. 36L including all pockets. Replaced outer mesh with Xpac. It’s my day pack and it’s held up very well to bushwhacking and rough use. Light and durable. 12oz. I have about 500 miles on it.

2) Black Diamond Waterproof Over mitt shells. These are fantastic. Not only at keeping your gloves dry, as heat traps. The gauntlet is long enough to tuck under rain jackets cuffs, durable material that has held up great to heavy trekking pole use. I have had no issues with these. I won’t hike in PNW in early spring/fall/winter without these.

Nothing really new for me this past year, but I finished my second season with a new “quilt” and a new tent.

I am really liking my ZPacks classic sleeping bag that I modified to work as a quilt by adding snaps. This was my second season using it, and it’s my go-to these days because of the flexibility.

https://backpackinglight.com/forums/topic/add-pad-strap-to-zpacks-classic-sleeping-bag/

The Durston X-Mid 2 Pro is an excellent tent and I really have nothing to complain about. But it has more space than I need (even with one BIG dog) and a really large footprint from my perspective, and I often find myself spending a lot of time looking for a large enough site. I am actually thinking about going back to my old Nemo Hornet 2, which is more compact (really a 1.5P tent), although heavier.

I am glad to see the Xero Mesa II shoes on the list.  They are my go-to hiking shoes but I don’t see many other people using them.  It has taken me several years to work up to doing unlimited miles but my feet are now very thankful.  The soles can be a bit more slippery than you would expect on some surfaces, e.g. rocks with algae, but the upside is they are very light and durable.  A pair is 6oz lighter than the standard lightweight trail runners, thats 6oz you are not repeatedly lifting up – down – up – down.  Many hours on uneven gravel is a bit tiring on the feet but I’ve never had them not feel great the next morning.

I ordered a custom 17″ Bearikade which gives me a 16 day capacity.

I used it in July for a two week trip and really enjoyed not having to figure in the hassle and route compromises of resupplying.

One note on Mark’s excellent ski pick. (It’s hard to find a poplar ski with sidewalls at that weight!) They have rebranded the Free 97 as the Radical 97. Same ski, new graphics and name.

Nick, I was glad to see that your McHale LBP pack made your 2025 list. Do you know whether McHale is still making packs? I wrote to him in November but never heard back, and his “Letter from Dan McHale” (https://mchalepacks.com/letter/index.htm) hasn’t been updated since May.

Send him an email. I heard from him a couple months back via email. Seems he can’t update the website from where he moved to (apparently a somewhat remote location).

Somehow, everything here is too heavy for me :) My highlight in 2025 was the xmat foam mat from xfoil. Now I leave my NeoAir at home because the xmat is sufficient. For me, there is no better benefit/weight ratio.

Chris, do you think the xmat is any different than other EVA rollup pads (MLD/GG/SO/Nunatak, etc)?

And have you tried XFoil itself? Is it really stronger than polycryo? They claim it has UHMWPE in it, but the price is similar to polycryo. Just curious.

Someone did a deep dive into the Xfoil-it’s polycryo re-marketed.

My gear is now changing very little year to year, since I’m happy with most of it. I did receive a new stove for Christmas, so it will be a test to see if I love it more than my MSR Windburner. which I’ve been using since 2018 and loving it. Even if I like my new system better (ti pot and MSR pocket rocket deluxe), I’ll keep the Windburner; it’s just so reliable and fast. I do have to replace shoes far too often, and I can never purchase the same model again, so that’s always an experiment. But I expect my key pieces of gear – sleep system, basic clothing, etc. to last a long time. I won’t replace anything until the old one wears out completely.

I wonder, does the possum down beanie itch at all? I hate most beanies, because they all itch. Artificial or natural fibers, my head really hates being cooped up in a beanie at night. Necessary much of the time however, in Alaska.

The zpacks possum down is very soft. However it’s mostly merino wool. I don’t find the socks or the gloves itchy at ~29% possum/52% merino. The beanie is ~38% possum/ 48% merino.

It’s not EVA, but Metallocen-Polyethylen. Their website has a comparison table with the technical data for EVA, xmat, and LD,but unfortunately it’s only in German. It has the same strength as EVA, but is much lighter.

I highly doubt that xfoil is polycryo. I switched from GG Polycryo to xfoil, and it feels much moreresistant (unless there is already a hole in it). There are several videos where people use it as a hammock to demonstrate this, which I wouldn’t expect Polycryo to be capable of.

Polycro tears easily.  I just pulled on the corner.  There was a little tear.  Then the corner quickly tore off.  Which was fine in that case, I don’t need the corner, it’s just as good a groundsheet without the corner.

Is xfoil better?  If a tear starts, does it quickly propagate?

I have come to hate the polycryo plastic as a groundsheet. Once it does start to tear, you end up with dozens of itty bitty pieces and that’s a lot of crap to pack out. Better nothing, or something more sturdy – and alas, heavier.

Chris, thanks for that report. It appears that XFoil is not the same as polycryo, although both are broadly classified as polyolefin. That’s a broad category which includes polyethylene and polypropylene.

The XFoil guy says that he has a plastics background and the XFoil is stronger than polycryo. It’s good to know that your experience matches that claim. Also XFoil is lighter than most common polycryo. As you say, the best information appears to be in German.

The foam sounds interesting as well.

Bill pointed out that a silnylon groundsheet would actually weigh less than polycryo.

Although water shakes off polycryo better

I think maybe I’ll switch to silnylon.  I have some that’s 0.75 osy that would be good

As far as I know, the lightest SilNylon is 0.75 oz/yd², which is heavier than polycryo. Do you know of a lighter version? I tried SilNylon once, but it absorbed to o much water. I’ve been using my foil for 3 years now, but I always carry a small piece of tape with me for repairs so that tears don’t get any bigger. And it’s essential to search the campsite thoroughly. As with so many things in the ultralight sector, you save weight, but you have to be more careful when handling it.

From lightest to heaviest:

• Duck standard polycryo is 0.7 mil, 0.51 osy
• XFoil is 20 gsm, 0.58 osy
• 15D Membrane silpoly is 0.93 osy
• Duck Heavy Duty polycryo is 1.5 mil, presumably 1 osy
• Tyvek 1443R soft structure is 43 gsm, 1.25 osy
• Tyvek homewrap (hard structure) is 1.8 osy

So the heavy duty polycryo that people often use for ground sheets is heavier than silpoly, and XFoil is lighter than that. Silpoly should not absorb a lot of water like silnylon, and should be more durable. I think that’s the point I tried to make offline.

It’s true that 0.7 mil polycryo is slightly lighter, but that stuff is pretty flimsy.