When it comes to fickle weather, spring and fall take the cake. One minute it’s bluebird, the next, Mother Nature is throwing a snowy tantrum. It’s hot for a second, freezing cold a minute later. For days where the elements are as unpredictable as Miley Cyrus’ antics, the Arc’teryx Atom SL has your back.
For the past few years I’ve been relying on my Tarptent Scarp 2 or my Teton Sports Mountain Ultra 1 for any of my tenting adventures. They’re both great, but the Tarptent is designed to be an ultralight, small thing and the Mountain Ultra only sleeps one. I wanted something that was big enough for two with more room for luxuries. When Mountain Hardwear gave us the chance to pick out our ambassador kits for the winter season, I jumped at the chance at working with the Optic Vue 2.5.
I’m the world’s laziest person ever; when it comes to the elements, I tend to baby my down jackets and prefer my stinky, synthetic insulation over the fluffy good stuff. When Outdoor Research sent over their Diode Hoody, I was a little skeptical. A down jacket to battle the elements? It didn’t seem real.
The Hanes white v-neck managed to be a wardrobe staple in my volleyball playing high school years. These days, I don’t wear much cotton because I sweat a lot and also occasionally wear the same shirt for days filled with many sweaty activities on end. Finding that perfect non-cotton t-shirt that fits just like that Hanes tee has been hard, but somehow, Patagonia managed to do it with the Patagonia Merino Daily T.
Adidas is one of those companies that I associate with standard athletic gear: gym shorts, volleyball jerseys, shoes. Over the past few years, they’ve been building up an impressive team of athletes—Kevin Jorgensen, Sasha DiGiulian, Nina Williams, to name a few—that I respect and admire. I met up with Adidas Outdoor at Outdoor Retailer this past show to check out what they had to offer. The new Terrex Solo Approach Shoes caught my eye.