i got the 1953 cu. in. pack and am very pleased with it...simple and well organized avalanche gear pocket, very adjustable and comfortable over winter clothing of various sizes. enough room to store extra clothes, small gear and food. Bladder pouch and sleeve work as intended with my camelback brand bladder - and it holds skies nicely...

compared to side by side tests with my freinds' mammut beacons, this one is clearly easier to use and faster at finding hidden beacons when doing field practice. everyone was able to find hidden beacons faster with the BCS tracker...idiot proof is a good thing in a beacon because most people are idiots when stressed by an emergency...less bells and whistles truly is more when it comes to rescue equipment...

skinned back into mayflower basin behind Breck last weekend - bars were nice for the last 600 feet of climb

I like them, the 3-pin is a nice cheap alternative to free pivot for touring. construction is high quality and simple. release mechanism released for me once last weeekend when I kind of cartwheeled in 3' deep firm untracked snow - never realesed on many crashes at the resort on hardpack - I think that is perfect - stepping back into the binding was real easy - just put the back of the ball of your foot in first and then weight the front of the mechanism and POP! your in...

couple things I don't like - sleeping bag slips all over it if you move around in your sleep alot. It's pretty thick so you slip off it and you notice that you slipped off it. Kinda stinks if everything is not perfectly flat. I like to sleep directly on the pad with the bag unzipped as more of a blanket - the tube construction makes this uncomfortable. and lastly, my dog popped my freinds Ether Thermo pad in it's 2nd season, so I question the durability.

Compared to my 10 year old old 3/4 length thermorest guidelite, I like the guidelite better...it's arguably more durable, lighter, flatter surface, lower, and sorta selfinflating

i've been wearing this shoe mdoel since I found them 5 or so years ago. this is my 4th pair. Each conception of them seems slightly less quality as the model before, but they are still a good shoe. I wear an 11.5 US and the size remains true with this model. My foot is slightly wider and flater than normal and i have never had a problem with the medium size width. The neoprene'ish sock-like tongue is my favorite component of the shoe. The dual foam for pronation control is also still good. The clear plastic arch support and ankle strap is cheesy. The shoe is fairly warm - it's warmer than my previous model of this shoe. It's been my experience that the soles hold up well for lightweight hiking, but scree slopes are vicous on them. Mine ussually live for about 1.5 years of near daily townie use and 150 or so backcountry hiking miles. The gortex will rip if you hike in rough terrain - the waterproofness goes out the window after that - it's a pointless amenity in my opinion. The toe seems better design on this shoe than previous "running shoe" style toes - this model has a rubberized nylon on the front of the toes instead of suede-like toe box - it seems like a durability improvement..