The Gear Our Editors Loved in December

Published January 3, 2024 09:12AM

A few of us editors made the best use of the twelfth month in the year by climbing in Patagonia, hiking in New Zealand, and skiing in Colorado. Below is the gear that had us taking advantage of every last moment in 2023.

Outerknown OK Mono Puffer ($314)

It’s not particularly hard to make a good technical puffer—get the fit mostly right, pump it full of DWR-treated down, and watch that face fabric weight. Finding a good-looking puffer for use in town that performs just as well as it looks? Not so easy. That’s why we love Outerknown’s OK Mono Puffer, a super-stylish, slimming jacket that kept our testers cozy down into the 20s thanks to a healthy plumping of down alternative made from post-consumer plastic. The cut is slender enough to accentuate body shape, but roomy enough to layer underneath. A tall stand collar and stretchy cuffs keep drafts out. It’s super soft inside and out, with a durable, velvety polyester face fabric. Most important? It’s almost entirely made of post-consumer plastic and 100-percent recyclable—a bold claim that few brands can back up as well as this one. —Benjamin Tepler, gear editor

Rab Mythic Ultra ($495)

Although I originally got this jacket for a yurt trip in the Tetons, I’ve been living in it everyday. My wood stove only heats the upper reaches of my living room, so my office and bedroom are a veritable ice box. The 240 grams of 900-fill-power down are probably better served as a belay parka at a stance on the upper reaches of Ama Dablam, but it performs admirably in my frigid mountain town office. Once the Sierra finally see snow again, it’ll serve as my midwinter ski mountaineering parka and protect me from the gelid air on walks to and from the Clocktower Cellar. It packs to the size of a Nalgene and serves as a pillow on warm nights and a sleeping bag supplement on cold ones. I’m now convinced that I can’t live without it. —Jake Stern, digital editor

Nemo Forte 35 Women’s Endless Promise Sleeping Bag ($180)

I’ve been a big fan of NEMO’s “spoon bags” ever since they first debuted in 2013 when Backpacker gave it an Editors’ Choice award. The secret sauce is the hourglass shape: tapered at the waist and feet to keep weight and bulk down, with none of the typical claustrophobia of a mummy bag. Ten years later, I’m even more of a fan. The latest rendition, the Forte, was my bed every night on a recent month-long adventure in New Zealand, and I love it even more than the original. It still performs just as well, but now it’s part of Nemo’s Endless Promise collection, made of 100 percent recycled materials, recyclable at its end of life (not that that will be any time soon). A favorite feature: Nemo’s signature Blanket Fold draft collar, which I can tuck in around my neck or flip out for more airflow. Comfort and sustainability—a winning combination. —Kristin Hostetter, head of sustainability and contributing editor

Baloo Stonewashed Linen Sheets ($279), Honeydew Sleep Pillows ($129), and Avocado Silk Duvet Insert ($399)

It’s tough to partake in my favorite outdoor activities in November and December: too snowy to ride, not snowy enough to ski, cold enough that the fish are sluggish and lazy. It is the off-est of seasons. Which I love. During these cold, dark months, I spent a lot of time sleeping underneath Baloo Linen Sheets, an Avocado Silk Duvet in a Baloo cover, and atop Honeydew Sleep Pillows. The linens and the silk duvet are soft and cozy, warm on a cool night and cooling on a warm one. The pillows are designed for side sleepers, and you can easily adjust the amount of stuffing in each one for the perfect support all night long. When I have to rouse myself to feed the woodstove or top off my tea, I slip into my Olukai Mahana slippers, which have a rubber sole and are made with cotton that feels like a sweatshirt for my feet. —Abigail Barronian, senior editor

Blundstone #500 Chelsea Boots ($210)

I avoided Blundstones for years, averse to the mountain town ritual of sorting through 12 pairs of the same shoes at the front door of a party before you can go home. I wanted to be different. To wear Uggs (which I still do and highly recommend). But I finally caved, and I’m so glad I did. Whatever I can say about the classic, beloved boot has already been said, but they are truly the most versatile, low-key, comfortable footwear I have owned in a long time. They are appropriate in a dizzying number of situations: a nice dinner, a short hike, a long day traipsing around a foreign city. They’re good in cold weather, warm weather, and wet weather. They’re grippy on snow and ice. They’re easy to pull on in the ski area parking lot with numb fingers. They’re simply the best. I got the classic #500s, and couldn’t be happier with them. —A.B.

Jack Wolfskin Men’s Alpspitze 3L Jacket ($350)

German apparel brand Jack Wolfskin markets the new Alpspitze 3L shell as the perfect jacket for backcountry ski days due to its breathable Pertex Shield fabric, but I found it to be ideal for chilly days at the resort. I took my test model out for two extremely cold early-season days at Colorado’s Keystone Resort, and I expected to have my bones rattled by gusting winds and single-digit temperatures. I was pleasantly surprised when the Alpspitze blocked out the harsh temperatures and left me feeling toasty, even while riding the lift. It’s become my go-to resort garment, replacing my old Lowe Alpine shell, which had six years of heavy use on it. The Alpspitze 3L has many handy features for resort skiers: an oversized hood that will fit over a helmet, a handy sleeve pocket for your season pass, and high-vis reflectors on the back to make you visible to fellow skiers when light conditions are low. Plus, the color scheme stands out amid the contemporary greys and blacks that I see in the lift line. I’ve heard some testers grumble about Jack Wolfskin’s decidedly European fit (i.e. the brand runs small), but I long ago fatigued on baggy gear for resort skiing. The Alpspitze fits me perfectly. —Fred Dreier, articles editor

Julbo Ultimate Cover Sunglasses ($260)

I have never been a fan of superheroes or their ridiculous costumes, but I will happily overlook the Batman-vibes of Julbo’s new Ultimate Cover sunglasses. They are light and flexible and stow in a jacket’s breast pocket without any fuss. The frame can be paired with your choice of five lenses, my favorite being the accommodating “Reactiv” lens, category 2-4, which adjusts to the available light. I have spent the last month alpine climbing in El Chaltén, Patagonia, and I appreciate how once I put the Ultimate Cover shades on, I can climb grey rock in the shade, glaringly white ice in the sun, or watch the sun set behind Cerro Torre without needing to adjust my eyewear. But my favorite feature, of course, is the Ultimate Cover’s removable Spandex nose and side shields for blue-sky days. My nose has yet to see sunscreen or a sunburn while wearing these glasses, and I don’t notice the nose shield whatsoever. The Ultimate Cover achieves the ultimate metric of gear success: it performs so well you forget it’s there. —Anthony Walsh, digital editor, Climbing

Fjallraven Abisko Lite Wool Beanie ($30)

As the cold north wind blew into the high plains during December, I switched from caps to beanies for my daily runs, and was reminded that I have three problems with most running beanies. 1) They tend to be too thick, feeling good for the first mile or so, but then holding in so much exercise heat that I have to take them off and stuff them into the waistband of my running tights. 2) Because I wear them every day and sweat profusely (see point #1), polyester hats quickly get skanky, but most wool hats are even hotter. 3) They’re too tight and don’t stay in place, riding up on my greying hair that is thinner and slicker than it used to be. Fjallraven’s Abisko Lite Wool Beanie avoids all of these pitfalls. Its thin, 50 percent merino, 50 percent polyester fabric is just the right weight to keep my head warm on runs down to as cold as the low 20s Fahrenheit, but breathes well enough to wear comfortably up to around 40 degrees. Its cut and light stretch make it disappear on my head: it stays in place but doesn’t squeeze or ride up—and is long enough to cover my ears. Plus, the merino resists odors, even when I’ve worn it so much it has salt lines. I also like the muted colors and Scandinavian feel of the design. I feel ready for a few more months of winter runs with this hat in my collection. —Jonathan Beverly, senior running editor, gear

Solo Stove PI Prime ($299)

I never thought I’d be a pizza oven guy—ordering takeout has always suited me just fine—but I’ve spent the last couple of months testing out Solo Stove’s new PI Prime, a propane-fueled pizza oven that reaches temps up to 950 degrees, and it has become a staple in my family’s weekly dinner plan. I’m not gonna lie, there’s a learning curve to this thing. I burned a lot of pizzas when I first started dabbling with the PI, but I eventually figured out the secret (preheat to 700 degrees or hotter, but reduce that heat when you put the pizza in the oven so it doesn’t burn on top). The pizza I can make with the PI is great, but I like this oven for its versatility. Slip a cast iron skillet into the PI and you can sear steaks in about a minute, or roast a pan of vegetables on the fly. You can only have so much pizza, even when you’re cooking for kids like I do, but being able to use this oven for two or three meals a week makes it worth the price and space on my grilling deck. –Graham Averill, contributor

Roark Bommer 2.0 Short ($89)

I’m a fair-weather cyclist and trail runner, which means when the temperatures drop, I spend more time in the gym getting swole (Read: checking Instagram while mindlessly spinning on a stationary trainer). The Bommer 2.0 has become my go-to short for gym days thanks to the boxer/brief compression liner, multiple pockets and overall comfy fit. I’m tall with chicken legs, so I appreciate the 7-inch long hem, and the flat-seam liner completely eliminates chafing. But it’s the suite of pockets that have truly won me over; the shorts have two standard hand pockets with magnetic closures so your phone doesn’t fall out in the car on the way to the gym, as well as backside zipper pockets big enough to stash a key or debit card. There’s even a cell pocket on the thigh of the liner which holds my phone in place when I’m doing plyometrics. And did I mention they’re long enough to cover up a good portion of my chicken legs? —G.A.

Rab Khroma Latok GTX Pants ($600)

It’s hard to get excited about pants, but I wore the new Rab Khroma Latok GTX constantly during a three-day backcountry ski trip in Colorado, and it was love at first sight. The fit of the Khroma Latok is perfect—not racer tight, but not so loose that you feel like you’re wearing a skirt—and the pants are loaded with smart, user-friendly features that have made them my go-to-choice for backcountry days. The Colorado trip was full of big climbs and knee-deep powder descents, and the Khroma Latok GTX are made from 80D recycled Gore-tex Pro, the most breathable and durable waterproof material that Gore-tex produces. The result is an outer layer that performs like a champ during high-output backcountry adventures when there’s more climbing than skiing. They breathed like a ventilator going up and kept the deep powder at bay during my embarrassingly high number of falls going down. And if a climb gets truly hot, the pants have big side zippers on the exterior thighs that allow you to dump heat fast. I never needed them, but I appreciate that sort of safety net. The material has some stretch built into it, but Rab also went overboard (in a good way) with articulated knees. No matter what position I found myself in during my testing period, I never felt like the pants were constricting. They were so comfortable, I often left them on while hanging out in the yurt after I was done skiing. —G.A.