Vintage Backpacking Gear

The Mountain Hardware SuperMegaUL 1 Tent is an ultralight 1 person double-walled tent that weighs 1 pound 14 ounces, not including tent stakes and stuff sacks. With a tunnel style design and front vestibule, it has a long bivy style feel to …

Mystery Ranch’s Wet Ribs (retired and replaced by the Mystery Ranch Wing Man Pocket) are a backpack accessory pocket that connects to your pack’s shoulder straps and hangs on the front of your chest or ribs while hiking. It has a large …

Katabatic Gear is best known for their quilts, but they also make backpacks, including the Helios 55 cuben fiber pack, what I jokingly refer to as “the other white backpack.” I’ve been using the 32 ounce Helios 55 for backpacking and winter alpine ascents …

The Boreas Gear Buttermilks 55 is a lightweight backpack suitable for weekend or multi-day backpacking trips. Although it’s a bit on the heavy side at 3 pounds 1 ounces, the Buttermilks combines the simplicity of a minimalist ultralight-style backpack with the load …

I’ve owned a pair of Smith Knowledge Turbo OTG Fan Goggles for a couple of years now. They have a built-in battery-powered exhaust fan that prevents fogging, which can a real problem on winter hikes when you need to wear full-face protection …

The Granite Gear Crown VC is a bomber pack that combines the durability and quality that Granite Gear packs are known for with many of the features and functions that characterize lightweight and ultralight backpacks. It has been a big hit long-distance …

The Osprey Variant 52 a great winter backpack for overnights and ice climbing and one of the best winter backpacks you can buy off-the-shelf from a mainstream gear manufacturer. It’s lightweight, roomy, exceptionally comfortable and easily reconfigured for many usage scenarios. I think Osprey …

The LL Bean Primaloft Superlight Jacket is a lightweight hooded insulated jacket, perfect for winter hiking, cross-country skiing, and other highly aerobic winter sports. Insulated just over the front chest and sides, and not on the back or arms, it’s a kind of a …

I carry a fleece pullover year round on day hikes and backpacking trips. Fleece is warm, it wicks extremely well, it doesn’t shrink in the wash, and needs no special care. A fleece pullover will keep you warm when it’s wet, it …

If you’ve ever been cold at night in a hammock or tried using an underquilt and still been cold, you’ll be interested in a new hammock manufacturer named BoneFire Gear. Founded in 2014 by Jeremy Puskas, BoneFire Gear makes hammocks that have …

The Berghaus Hyper Jacket is a minimalist rain jacket that can be used by hikers and runners. Weighing just 3.3 ounces in a men’s XL (94 grams), it is a waterproof breathable jacket with a surprisingly good DWR coating that sheds rain well …

The Big Agnes Bitter Springs UL1 Tent is a double-walled tent with a very large front vestibule that is useful for gear storage or for your dog to sleep in if you backpack with a canine friend. Weighing just 2 pounds 5.5 ounces, …

Montane’s Tigertooth Pro Glove is a technical softshell alpine glove that provides enough dexterity, warmth and water resistance, to hold a mountaineering ice axe in the ready position in cold winter weather. The problem with most high dexterity gloves is that they don’t provide …

The Nemo Obi 1P single person, double-wall tent is spacious, simple, and quite lightweight, weighing just under 3 pounds. With a built-in vestibule, it is suitable for 3+ season camping and backpacking in good weather and bad, with ample external tie-downs to …