Helly Hansen H2Flow Jacket

www.hellyhansen.com, 15.6 ounces
This unique variation on the venerable shelled fleece jacket design truly impressed us during recent tests, with its excellent insulation-to-weight ratio, easy venting, and fast moisture transfer in sweaty situations. At first glance the H2Flow looks like a standard hoodless zip-front jacket with a taffeta outer shell, fleece inner, and twin zip pockets. However, the shell fabric isn’t nylon, it’s tougher polyester, which resists UV degradation and doesn’t stretch or absorb water when wet. Beneath that is a 200g Polartec brushed fleece with yet another difference, a Swiss cheese pattern of circular cut-outs that trap air to increase insulation, while also helping to disperse sweat vapor. The cut-outs are body-mapped, with larger holes and closer spacing in high-sweat areas like the central back, while smaller, widely spaced holes cover the chest and midriff.

The side panels and sleeves are lined only with a lightweight brushed nylon, while the fleece torso is further lined with a loose open mesh for slippery layering and free air flow. As if that weren’t enough, two foot-long zippered vents run down the chest, and the pockets are all mesh, forming de facto vents as well.

The overall effect is a jacket that’s nearly as warm as a puffy when zipped up, but resists rain showers, transfers sweat better, and vents far more than either puffies or standard shelled fleece. The weather resistance and wide temperature range made it perfect for humid, chilly camp evenings and soggy autumn trail runs on damp, cold, 11,000-foot Boulder Mountain. It’s already become one of our key layering staples, as fall progresses into winter.
- Steve Howe

$200

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Sierra Designs Rohn 15 Backpack

www.sierradesigns.com, one pound, 13 ounces
Backpacks have a simple mission: To carry your stuff, comfortably, in stable fashion, with no more weight than you need. For day packs, that should be easy; but most are heavy on doodads, and too unstable for sports like trail running or skiing.

Not so this deceptively sleek 15-liter panel loader, built atop a plastic back panel covered with large foam and mesh bumps. The back panel, along with a wide, soft waist belt, makes the Rohn very stable, even on bouncy trail runs with a partial load and a full 100-ounce bladder. It hugged our backs without getting super sweaty, even with southwest monsoon humidity on 100-degree day hikes, thanks to huge air channels. “The die-cut shoulder straps were wide enough to be comfortable even when I was hauling 20 pounds of water, ropes, and carabiners into tight slot canyons,” one tester noted.

Useful features included mesh bottle-wand pockets; internal pockets and sleeves for bike pumps or avalanche probes; a single outside pocket large enough for goggles, with a key clip inside; twin hip belt pockets sized to hold smart phones, GPSunits, or four energy bar apiece; an internal compression system for the hydration pocket that could be tightened via a cordlock on the right hip, bike light attachment points, and a removable bungee net on the pack front to help augment capacity.

The packs’ bullet shape stayed out of our way on diagonal stride cross-country skiing and chairlift rides. Its combination of simplicity, stability and all-around utility has made it the go-to day hauler for our primary tester since he began using it in March of 2012.
-Steve Howe

$100

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Vapur Element Water Bottle

vapur.us
Carrying a hard, rigid, bulky water bottle takes up valuable space, which is why we’re partial to the soft-sided variety. Touted as “the Anti-Bottle,” the Vapur Element is constructed of a durable three-layer, BPA-free nylon plastic, and when it’s empty you can roll it up and slip it into a pocket, purse, or pack (try that with a hard bottle). In fact you can fold, spindle, and mutilate it—and it springs back to its original shape without cracks or dents. The dishwasher-safe bottle has a cap design that delighted our sausage-fingered testers: it flips open with the flick of the hand and seals soundly, with no leaks. What sets it apart from other flexible bottles is that it can be frozen, so you can use it for an ice pack, or fill it half way, freeze it, and then fill it up with liquid in the morning for an icy cold beverage. The free-standing bottle comes with its own carabineer, so you can easily clip it to a pack.
Available in 0.7 liter and 1 liter volumes and three color options

$12

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Lifeproof iPhone 4 and 4s Case

www.lifeproof.com, 1.1 ounces
You’ve spent a veritable fortune on your new iPhone—only to have it ruined while you answer a call (or text or while taking photos) a snow or rainstorm. We’ve tried a dozen cases for iPhones and most seemed too bulky or provided insufficient protection, until we found the Lifeproof case, which delighted our testers with its sleek design. At only 13.3 mm wide, it’s barely larger than the phone itself. The snap-on, O-ring case has a slick plastic exterior that doesn’t catch on everything when you’re trying to slip it in and out of your pocket. But best of all, the case is 100-percent dirt-, water-, and snow-proof. The case is guaranteed to not leak in up to 6.5 feet of water, a fact that was corroborated by one tester who went for an impromptu swim in the Rio Grande after a hot hike in Big Bend National Park. The phone was completely submerged, with no leaks whatsoever. The case is also guaranteed to protect the phone for short drops on hard surfaces—nice if you have kids with no sense of value; Lifeproof guarantees the case will protect the phone for drops up to six feet—we can attest that the phone and case can fall out of a car onto hard pavement and survive. The touchscreen sensitivity is excellent, with no loss of function or distortion. Included in the package is a headphone adaptor that allows you to use waterproof buds for swimming, snow sports, or running in the rain. Our testers’ only complaint? Plugging the charger in is difficult, and it’s easy to lose the water-sealing screw that covers the cord jack. Boaters should invest in the Lifeproof Life Jacket ($40), a bright orange rubber case that holds the phone firmly and floats to the surface if dropped in the water.

$80

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Tahoe Super Ski Pass

www.squaw.com/season-pass
Two Mountains, one pass, at a price that is a bargain at either one. I have had a Squaw Valley USA season pass since the ski season of 1982-83. To me, lift access at Squaw Valley is a necessity akin to oxygen, water, or shelter. Suddenly this year, my pass works at a whole other ski resort, the adjacent Alpine Meadows. Alpine Meadows has open boundaries where I can find fresh pow days after a storm, and my choices for groomers and tree skiing just tripled. Squaw’s KT22 will always be my favorite lift with it’s brisk, six-minute-and-42-second ride to 1,700 vertical feet of incredibly playful terrain, but the merger of Alpine and Squaw created a 6,000+ acre playground, making Tahoe Super Pass pass holders very hard pressed to not find what they are looking for.

-JT Holmes

Read our policy on gear reviews by professional athletes

$729

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