Vintage Backpacking Gear

The PowerPot is an anodized aluminum cook pot that has a built-in thermocouple in its base that is capable of generating electricity from heat. The PowerPot blows the Biolite away in terms of power generation efficiency and speed. Not only that, it’s completely stove and fuel independent, so you can generate …

The Boreas Gear Lost Coast 60 Backpack is an internal-frame backpack suitable for multi-day backpacking trips and adventure travel. With a lively color palette, the Lost Coast is a very comfortable, stylish, and streamlined technical backpack that will appeal to hikers who want one pack for backcountry adventure and more …

The Therm-a-Rest Altair 0 degree down sleeping bag is a very comfortable cold-weather sleeping bag that is excellent for side-sleepers or winter backpackers looking to shave more weight off their winter gear list without breaking the bank. Often called a top bag in Europe, the Altair 0 places most of its …

Designed for climbing and winter peakbagging, the Osprey Mutant 38 Backpack only weighs 2 pounds 15 ounces (size medium), and has a clean streamlined design optimized for rock and ice climbing that won’t slow you down over rough scrambling or more technical routes. Key Features Dual ice axe/tool attachments (top …

As a side sleeper, I’ve struggled to sleep comfortably in mummy shaped sleeping bags for years. They’re usually too tight around the shoulders and legs for me to roll onto my side. So I was intrigued when I learned about NEMO’s new spoon-shaped sleeping bags which are wide in the shoulders and …

Granite Gear has a new multi-day backpack called the Lutsen 55L. The pack features a new adjustable hip belt, hip belt pockets, and an adjustable frame, so you can dial in a custom fit that matches your hip size and torso length exactly, the two most important variables in getting …

If you thought that the only place to buy ultralight cuben fiber stuff sacks is from cottage gear manufacturers, you’d be wrong. Granite Gear makes excellent waterproof roll-top cuben fiber dry sacks. Called eVent Uberlight CTF3 Dry Sacks, these cuben fiber stuff sacks have the added advantage of a breathable eVent air …

The Big Agnes Scout UL 2 person tent is a single wall, ultralight-style tent with ample room for two people. Weighing 1 pound 9 ounces (without tent stakes) it includes an inner tent with high bathtub floors, mesh ventilation, and a roof fly, rivaling many of the features and function of …

The Bergans of Norway Helium 55L backpack took me by surprise. Weighing 2 pounds 9 ounces on the SectionHiker scale, the Helium is set up like a climbing/winter backpack with tons of external attachment points but carries very much like an ultralight backpack, with side mesh pockets to carry water …

There are three things you should take away from this review of the new 24 ounce Sierra Design’s Backcountry Quilt: Sierra Designs has improved on the original quilt concept with a built-in hood that will appeal to backpackers and campers who’ve used mummy bags in the past but want to lighten …

The online retailer, Campsaver, has started to manufacture and sell their own branded men’s and women’s mummy bags and hoodless sleeping bags, including the Campsaver Ultralight 30 Down Sleeping Bag, filled with 850 fill power goose down. Priced at just $299.95, it’s an excellent value (see table below) relative to …

The Big Agnes Pitchpine 45 SL is a lightweight hoodless sleeping bag that only weighs 20 ounces. Perfect for summer or lightweight backpacking, the Pitchpine is insulated with highly compressible 850 fill power Downtek treated down which is more resistant to moisture and faster drying than untreated down feathers. The Pitchpine 45 …

The MSR Nook 2-person, double-walled tent is spacious and quite lightweight, weighing 3 pounds, 3.7 ounces. With a built-in vestibule, it is suitable for 3+ season camping and backpacking with a built-in front vestibule to store gear, ample tie-downs to improve stability in high winds, and well-sized side vents to improve …

The new updated version of the Flashlight 1 UL is now available commercially and significant improvements have been made to the ventilation, which is now on par with that found in many single wall ultralight tents. In addition to shaving the weight of the tent, Sierra Designs refactored the big side vestibule and replaced …