Hardwear Sessions

Men's Journal Dec 09-Jan 10 just came out with their Gear of the Year! Mountain Hardwear cleans up in two categories. The Refugium Jacket for Best New Technology and the Intention 75 for Best Backpack.

The comfort-oriented Intention is designed for large loads and long days on the trail. The secret to the pack's suspension is our custom-shapeable Fit-Lock™ hipbelt, which wraps around the framesheet to draw the load tight, providing excellent balance and load transfer. Check out Mountain Hardwear's Intention 75.

Refugium reviewed by John Boy Walton, " This jacket is the bomb! The light weight, warmth and fit are good if not better than any mid-layer piece I've worn, but it's what's inside that really rocks." Read the whole review at Trailspace.com. Among the most popular gifts this season is the Mountain Hardwear Refugium and Radiance heated jackets, employing Ardica heat technology. Check it out in Mountain Gear's press release!

Heat your core - charge your electronics. This lightly insulated, low profile jacket comes pre-wired for Ardica Heat and Power Technology. Wear alone, or under a shell for extraordinary warmth and charge portable electronics on the go. Check out the Refugium Jacket

Skyledge 2.1 receives award in December 09-January 10 National Geographic Adventure. Reported as "must have" gear, and one of the most groundbreaking products of 2010."

The Skyledge is a compact, freestanding, three season tent designed for the serious backcountry user. An all-mesh canopy reduces weight and allows superb visibility and ventilation. Learn more here.

Mountain Hardwear Ice Climber, Dawn Glanc | Photo by Jason Watt

Once again Mountain Hardwear is psyched to represent the world of ice climbing at the famed Ouray Ice Festival in the "Switzerland of the Rockies", Ouray, Colorado. Come out for clinics from some of the world's top climbers and enjoy watching the competition, slideshows and presentations. Mountain Hardwear Athlete, Dawn Glanc will be attending the clinic and will also be competing on Saturday, to try and defend her title!!! What fans will be attending the Ice Festival on the Mountain Hardwear Facebook?

Dawn is chillin' in the Mountain Hardwear Women's Annamite Jacket:

Written up in the 12-20-09 Denver Post, the Bazuka Gloves deliver for waterproof breathability. "Gore-Tex has pretty much set the standard in breathable waterproof membranes for the past three decades, but the patented OutDry membrane found in Mountain Hardwear's Bazuka Gloves (MSRP: $170) is aiming to raise the bar." Read the whole review!

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Our most technical insulated glove for snowsport professionals, with OutDry® Waterproof Technology for extreme environments. We bond the waterproof, breathable OutDry® membrane to a full-leather body, sealing out water, wind, and cold. Insulated with Thermic Micro™. Full leather fingers and palm, with molded, closed cell foam protection on back of hand and knuckles. Learn more about the Bazuka Gloves here.

Steve Romeo's Website, dedicated to Backcountry Skiing and Ski Mountaineering in Jackson Hole and Grand Teton National Park, posted an OutDry experiment..

By randosteve, December 30th, 2009: Tetonat.com

OutDry Glove Technology from Kara Armano on Vimeo.

There has been a lot of chatter about a new glove waterproofing technology coming out of Italy these days called OutDry, which completely laminates a waterproof membrane to the outer shell of a glove. This is different from other technologies used by GORE and Polartec, in that most other membranes are attached to the shell of the glove by only the finger tips and base...near the cuff. OutDry claims that since there are less places for "dead air" (and water vapor) to accumulate, gloves made with OutDry will be more waterproof, as well as more breathable and durable.

Typhon Backcountry	Women's Echidna Backcountry	Epic Backcountry	Women's Epic Backcountry
Bazuka Snowsports	Jalapeno Snowsports	Guajillo Snowsports	Women's Pasilla Snowsports
Medusa Alpine Climbing	Medusa Mitt Alpine Climbing	Hydra Alpine Climbing

From what I can tell, so far, only one US company, Mountain Hardwear, currently uses this process to make their gloves. I was lucky enough to get a pair of gloves made with OutDry before my trip to Antarctica and Aconcagua, some Mountain Hardwear Medusa Gloves. Though the weather was too warm and sunny (thank you very much) to really need and use a warm glove in Antarctica, and too dry to really test the waterproofness of the gloves on Aconcagua, I have been doing my best to run them through the ringer since I've been back. To start out with, the workmanship of these gloves is.....read the full article here.

Year of the Ox Expeditions
By Mountain Hardwear Athlete, Mike Libecki

What an amazing year of expeditions for Year of the Ox in 2009! Here are some of the moments and visions from expeditions to fantastic Earth, from places that create the sweetness of life, and ultimate moments of living in the 'now.' They are like places right out of my daughter's fairy tale books, places like this inspire ancient tales of old. I went to two remote corners of the planet: Northwest China Solo and the absolute fantasy-land Socotra Island in the country of Yemen with my dear friend and best adventure partner Josh Helling, check it out:

Greetings from Libecki. I am just back from one of the most amazing expeditions of my life, back from a land of true fairytale status, seriously, from an island that is home to ancient granite towers and over 300 endemic species of plant, animal and insect life, with a culture that has not changed its ways for thousands of years, a fantasy land, that, for today's day of explorers is still (at least it was!) virgin, unseen, and holds the variable that adventure cannot exist without: Mystery. Even Sinbad the Sailor is rumored to have been here and battled huge dragon-like birds as they destroyed his ship.

Hanging in the "lost world". | Photo by Mike Libecki

My partner Josh Helling and I were the first climbers to step foot upon this Mystery Island. We made it to the top of its two highest rock towers and embraced its utterly-lost-world ambience. When I was there, I kept thinking back to when I was a kid, hearing Tattoo on the television yelling in a strange foreign accent, 'The plane, the plane," then hearing the famous host of the island, Ricardo Montebaum, announce ever so seductively, "Welcome to Fantasy Island." That is exactly what happened. Stay tuned for the full story, amazing photos that are like nothing you have seen before, and the full-length movie now in the edit room under creative manipulation.

Mike taking it all in, in his portaledge. | Photo Courtesy of Mike Libecki

Mike climbing the granite towers on the remote island. | Photo by Mike Libecki

Year of the Ox Expeditions

Mike summits one of two first ascents he bagged during his trip to Socotra | Photo by Mike Libecki

This Island is called Socotra, it is off the coast of the country of Yemen, trust me, you don't want miss the story and movie coming soon to MountainHardwear.com, it is the most unique place I have ever been to and I feel obligated to share this fantastic area of our planet for all to enjoy and embrace. Oh yeah, and we just got out of Yemen before the political war mayhem broke out, we narrowly escaped being taken by the locals...

*In the above photos Mike is wearing the Correra Jacket. Look for it in the Fall 2010 line.

On to the China Expedition

Reviewed by Kevin Short, ESPNOutdoors.com

The Beryllium Jacket, Exposure II Bib and Compressor Pant were all mentioned in this glowing review on ESPNOutdoors.com:

Beryllium Jacket

"Three layer Gore-Tex ProShell, simple zip pockets, no big flappy bellows pockets, and it weighed a whopping 18 ounces. 18 ounces as opposed to 46 ounces for one of the big box store jackets that I had been wearing is a huge difference. All that extra weight built into a shell does not equal more warmth or wind resistance, it simply adds more weight that you're carrying around every minute you have it on your back. Ever wonder why your shoulders and neck hurt at the end of a long day's fishing?"

Exposure II Bib

"The Exposure uses Mountain Hardwear's proprietary waterproof/breathable laminate, as opposed to Gore-Tex. I saved a little money on the bibs (since most of the sweating you do is in your feet and your upper body, why go for the higher dollar Gore-Tex on bibs?) that I put into the jacket. The weight on the Exposure is about the same as any multi-layered bibs with full zips. Again, all those layers and all those zippers add on the ounces."

"The purpose of the layer next to your skin, the base layer, is to pull moisture away from your body. A wet body is a cool body -- that's the reason you sweat, to cool your temperature. If you leave too much moisture on the skin's surface, you'll cool down too much and be cold, thus the need for a base layer. I've long worn polypropylene as my base layer. I've tried everything from high dollar Patagonia to the cheap stuff....Read more."

Compressor Pant

"For bottoms, I'll wear fleece pants or a pair of Compressor pants from Mountain Hardwear over the Icebreakers.This combo is toasty warm for most days. If the wind is howling, I'll add the bibs and shell layer to top it all off, keep the wind out and seal in the heat."

Ethan Pringle on the cover of San Francisco Magazine

Leslie Crawford mentions Mountain Hardwear Climber, Ethan Pringle in her San Francisco Magazine article, How to get this healthy

Bay Area overachievers--from world-class rock climbers to star artists, bakers, and CEOs--reveal the health and fitness gurus who heal their battle wounds and keep them going strong. Read the full article here.

Mountain Hardwear Athlete, Ethan Pringle | Photo by John Dickey

Visit Ethanpringle.com to read more of Ethan's thoughts or visit Mountain Hardwear to view his favorite gear.

Mountain Hardwear attended the ice climbing community's favorite gathering,
The 2010 Ouray Ice Festival

Anna Jaques Hospital, their affiliate Partners in Development and Jim Ansara are organizing a collection drive for tents and sleeping bags (or money to purchase the same and help with shipping) to aid the tens of thousands of displaced and injured people in Haiti. Along with clean water, food and medical supplies, temporary shelter is desperately needed. Used tents as long as they are functional, and lightweight sleeping bags are fine and of course new tents and sleeping bags from any of our outdoor industry friends would be ideal. Since the climate is hot, lightweight sleeping bags are preferable and larger, camping style tents would be best but anything will be used. Mark Richey Wood in Boston, MA is working as the collection center, check all equipment and prepare for shipping to Haiti. Please help!

Mark Richey Woodworking 40 Parker Street, Newburyport, MA

Read By Robert Mackey article on the New York Times for the Latest Updates on Rescue and Recovery in Haiti.

Vortex sits on Sassafras Knob in the Pisgah National Forest outside of Boone, NC. It was first discovered by Zach Lesch-Huie but was first climbed with the collaborative effects of Mountain Hardwear sponsored Southeast Climbing Team, Pat Goodman and Pat Stone. Vortex stands at an intimidating 17 feet tall and is given the grade of V10. Shown in this video comp crusher Alex Johnson, plus North Carolinians Pat Goodman and Jessa Goebel get sucked into the magical, mystical Vortex.

>>Carolina Bouldering & Climbing Gyms

>>Northeast Bouldering & Climbing Gyms

The Bachelor Falls in Love with Mountain Hardwear!

Are you searching for love ....of the right product for your activities? Mountain Hardwear is willing to spread the love.

Click here to view the episode >>On the Wings of Love.

ABC's THE BACHELOR: On the Wings of Love

Mountain Hardwear products seen in this episode are: Satellite 6, Women's Typhoon Jacket, Compressor PL Jacket , Women's Nitrous Jacket.

Summiting Denali is hard. But try telling that Iraq war vet Marc Hoffmeister, who led a team of veterans and amputees to the top this past summer.
>> View the photo gallery, video and full story here.

Marc Hoffmeister,Team Leader Operation Denali

Previous Hardwear Sessions Posts
November 13, 2099 :Operation Denali Mission Complete!
April 7, 2009: Operation Denali

National Geographic also features Skyledge 2.1 in their Best of Adventure: Must-Have Gear.