Barely two weeks into his second presidential term, Donald Trump has already dramatically changed the policies governing public lands, outdoor recreation, and the environment.

On Monday, January 20, Trump renamed the country’s highest peak, 20,310-foot Denali, to Mount McKinley, replacing the indigenous title with that of the 25th president of the United States. The same day, Trump the U.S. from the Paris Agreement, the 2016 international treaty to battle climate change. He on oil and gas leasing within the state’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. He requiring the National Marine Fisheries, Bureau of Reclamation, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to begin pumping water from California’s San Joaquin Delta across the state—a move that could jeopardize endangered fish. And Trump announced a , which has a within the National Park Service.

These moves echo ones that Trump made during his first presidential term: like the controversial downsizing of Utah’s Bear’s Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments by almost a million acres apiece and the different climate, water, and wildlife protections.

But critics may forget that, during his first term, Trump also signed into law a pair of very significant conservation bills. In 2019, the John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act created 1.3 million acres of Wilderness and ten new Wild and Scenic River segments. It also increased the size of three national parks. Then in 2020, Trump encouraged the passage of the , which funneled $9.5 billion towards the infamous National Park Service (NPS) maintenance backlog. It permanently allocated $900 million annually to the Land and Water Conservation Fund, the nation’s single largest source of outdoor recreation infrastructure funding.

What will the second Trump administration mean for public lands, the environment, and outdoor recreation? Nobody knows for sure. But we’ve taken a look at the decisions Trump has already made, what he’s said he’ll do, and a wish-list created by personnel from the previous administration, to make an educated analysis.

Hiring Personnel Who Appreciate Outdoor Rec and Industry

One of the former president’s first personnel nominees for his upcoming administration was North Dakota governor Doug Burgum to lead the Department of the Interior. The agency controls some 500 million acres of public land and oversees the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and the Fish and Wildlife Service.

Critics have labeled Burgum a champion of the oil and gas industry, having led the state with the third-largest oil production and publicly criticized the Biden administration’s efforts to . At the same time, Burgum is himself an avid horseman, hunter, skier, and hiker and has been a booster of outdoor recreation in North Dakota, creating the state’s Office of Outdoor Recreation and allocating $1.2 million in grants for trail building.

Trump is also expected to name Burgum the administration’s energy czar, following through on his campaign promises to increase oil and gas production as a way to curb energy costs. Burgum’s nomination drew praise from the energy and mining sector. “He recognizes that affordable and reliable energy along with American mineral production are critical to growing our nation’s economy,” Rich Nolan, president and CEO of the National Mining Association told .

Conservatives argue that increased mining and domestic fossil fuel production could spur economic activity, but conservationists are bracing for the environmental blow. “Public lands are beloved and vitally important to people in this country. The first Trump administration treated these places like they’re meant to be dug up, drilled, or sold off for profit,” David Seabrook, interim president of the Wilderness Society, said in a press release.

Despite Burgum’s alignment with the oil and gas industry, other sources within the outdoor recreation community told șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű that the North Dakota governor represents a best-case-scenario nominee from the Republican administration. “Governor Burgum has shown a commitment to supporting outdoor recreation as an economic driver and a meaningful way to connect communities,” said Jessica Turner, president of outdoor recreation trade association Outdoor Recreation Roundtable, in a press release. “As an avid outdoorsman, we are hopeful that the governor’s long-time admiration of Teddy Roosevelt and deep understanding of business will help support and grow the recreation economy.”

According to Cody Schulz, director of North Dakota Parks and Recreation, which oversees the state’s new office of outdoor recreation, Governor Burgum is “an incredibly curious and collaborative leader who encourages his personnel to make decisions based on data.”

Schulz says that Burgum’s efforts to improve outdoor recreation in North Dakota stem from his own passion for the outdoors, and from an understanding that the industry can be an important economic driver. “Conservation and outdoor recreation infrastructure draws both visitors and new residents to North Dakota,” he says.

Burgum’s data-driven approach offers a ray of hope for fans of the Bureau of Land Management’s new Public Lands Rule, which considers recreation on equal footing with extractive industries like grazing and oil and gas when making land use decisions.

Moving the BLM Back to Colorado

In 2019, the Trump administration relocated the agency’s headquarters from Washington, D.C. to Grand Junction, Colorado. The relocation was touted as a practical move to get managers closer to the lands they managed and seen as a way to attract workers who may not have been able to afford D.C. ‘s notoriously expensive cost of living.

Eventually, the BLM’s headquarters was returned to D.C. by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland in 2021. According to a 2021 Government Accountability Office report, collapsing the D.C. office drove out the agency’s most experienced employees and the number of vacancies. Out of 176 staff told to relocate, only 41 accepted their reassignments and the rest left their positions.

Tracy Stone-Manning, who was appointed by Biden in 2021 to lead the BLM, called the move “wildly disruptive,” in a . “It’s years of opportunity cost when we could and should be focused on the work of the bureau, for public lands and the American people, and we had to instead focus on rebuilding the bureau,” Stone-Manning said.

Lawmakers in Colorado, , have said that they support moving the BLM headquarters back to Grand Junction.

Taking Aim at Environmental Policy

The downsizing of Bear’s Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments was one of the former president’s most high-profile decisions on public land. While the cuts were reversed by the Biden administration, it’s possible that Trump will again shrink the monuments. Utah Republican Representative John Curtis told The Salt Lake Tribune he .

The first Trump administration championed mineral extraction and land development as a way to pump revenue into local economies and return power over protected lands to states. The administration also weakened several bedrock environmental laws. Probably most significant were alterations to protections afforded by the Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA).

In 2017, Trump’s EPA , which afforded protections to seasonal wetlands and streams, particularly prevalent in the arid, but recreation-rich western United States. Then in 2019, the administration changed the Endangered Species Act,Ìęremoving protections for threatened species and making it more difficult to add additional species to the list. Agencies would also be allowed to conduct economic assessments when deciding whether a species warrants protection.

More subtle, but arguably more problematic, was the weakening of the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA), the law that requires an environmental review and public comment period for every major project. It’s used on everything from major timber sales to ski resort development.

Jon Jarvis, director of the Park Service under President Barack Obama, said NEPA helped guide multiple policies during his time with the NPS, from the relocation of wolves to Yellowstone, to the altering traffic flow in Yosemite. “Sunlight is a great disinfectant, and many of these agency plans would now be done in the dark,” Jarvis told șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű.

Trump’s Interior Department made several other controversial moves during his first administration that directly impacted outdoor recreation. In 2017, the department made a unilateral decision to increase admission prices during peak seasons at the nation’s most popular national parks from $30 to $70. There was so much furor about the decision that the administration canceled those plans five months later.

Then in 2020, the department issued an order that allowed for e-bike use on any federal trail where regular bikes were allowed. Cycling advocates and at least one advocacy group applauded the decision that would allow better access for cyclists who rely on e-bikes. “The Secretarial Order will help get public lands visitors out of their cars and beyond congested visitor centers and parking lots,” wrote the cycling advocacy group People For Bikes at the time. More than 50 other recreation groups, however, formally objected to the policy, saying that the decision had been made without any study on its impact on wildlife and visitor safety.

This year, the Park Service ruled that it would make decisions on up to individual park units on a “case-by-case basis.”

Creating Fewer National Monuments

Some Western conservatives would like to see the administration spearhead an effort to repeal or weaken the 1906 Antiquities Act, which allows a president to create new national monuments. The law has been used in some 300 instances by presidents from Teddy Roosevelt to George W. Bush to protect millions of acres of federal land. Some of the nation’s most popular national parks began as monuments, including the Grand Canyon, Joshua Tree, and Grand Teton.

Only Congress can repeal a law in the United States, so abolishing the Antiquities Act would require a majority of both houses to want it gone. Given pro-monument public sentiment, that seems like a long shot.

More likely is a severe weakening of the law through the Supreme Court. Published in April 2022 by the conservative think tank The Heritage Project, the 2025 Presidential Transition Project, known colloquially as “Project 2025,” outlines the steps such an effort might take. The document calls for a “downward adjustment” of the nation’s national monuments, and then directs the republican President to “vigorously defend the downward adjustments it makes to permit a ruling on a President’s authority to reduce the size of national monuments by the U.S. Supreme Court.”

Throughout his campaign, Trump repeatedly distanced himself from the document. But authors of Project 2025 have noted that other prominent conservatives support weakening the Antiquities Act. In 2021 Chief Justice Roberts signaled that he is looking for a case whose verdict could be used to curtail the ability of presidents to create large monuments.

It may also mean the loss of a Biden-era protections like a 10-mile oil exploration moratorium placed around New Mexico’s Chaco Canyon National Historical Park to help protect Native American antiquities, and one on 221,898 acres of Forest Service and BLM land on Colorado’s Thompson Divide, just northwest of Crested Butte. The latter was the result of years of work by an unlikely coalition of ranchers, hunters, anglers, mountain bikers, off-road vehicle users, and environmentalists to protect the habitat of elk, bear, deer, moose, mountain lion, and a pair of endangered species: Colorado River cutthroat trout and Canadian lynx. The Project 2025 document specifically targets both protections.

Also on the chopping block may be Biden’s public land order to Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area for 20 years. The decades-long fight over proposed copper and nickel mines adjacent to the wilderness area was seemingly settled in 2023 with the order. At issue were concerns that mine waste would flow directly down the Kawishiwi River into the waterways of the nation’s most-visited Wilderness Area (some 165,000 visitors annually.) Project 2025 calls for that order to be reversed despite recent polling that shows 69 percent of Minnesota for the Boundary Waters.

All of these potential rollbacks fly in the face of what many Americans want, says Jenny Rowland-Shea, director of public lands for The Center for American Progress, a progressive research and advocacy group. She cites a , which found that 78 percent of Western voters want more emphasis on conserving wildlife migration routes, providing highway crossings, and limiting more development to protect wildlife habitats. According to the study, just 20 percent of voters want more emphasis on economically productive uses of land such as new development, roads, ranching, or oil and gas production.

“The United States is actually producing record amounts of oil right now,” she says.

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The classic three-piece layering system consists of a baselayer to move moisture away from your skin, a shell to keep wind and water out, and an insulating layer to hold in warmth. That middle layer is where the magic is. It’s the one you swap out to match the conditions, and the one you rely on to keep you perfectly ventilated on warm spring days and toasty warm in deepest winter. Your midlayer can be anything from a thick down puffy to a stretchy synthetic piece designed to dump heat through special channels or pores. Some midlayers also do double-duty, sporting protective panels or water-resistant coatings so you can tag them in as outer layers in a pinch.

So, in finding the best insulation on the market for 2025 we looked at a full spectrum, including vests that save weight by targeting the core, and even hybrid pieces that strategically place insulation only where it’s needed. After a long season of testing everywhere from North Idaho to the mountains of New Hampshire, these are the midlayers that came out on top.

At a Glance

• Editor’s Choice:
• Best for Aerobic Pursuits:
• Most Packable:
• Best For Frigid Days:
• Most Stylish:
• Most Versatile:
• Best Fleece Midlayers
• How to Choose Midlayers
• How We Test
• Meet Our Lead Tester

If you buy through our links, we may earn an affiliate commission. This supports our mission to get more people active and outside. Learn more.

Editor’s Choice

Stio Fernos Insulated Jacket

Sizes: S-XXL
Weight: 17.8 oz
Warmth: 7
Breathability: 7
Durability: 10

Pros and Cons
⊕ Great stretch
⊕ Super durable
⊕ Balance of warmth and breathability
⊗ Moderate compressibility

The Fernos Insulated Jacket is the sort of workhorse synthetic midlayer everyone should own. It’s got the perfect amount of insulation to keep you warm whether you’re pushing hard up the skin track or standing around in the snow staring up at your route. The face fabric stood up to the notorious west wind on Teton Pass’s Glory bootpack, but was still breathable enough to keep our tester from having to swap his base layer at the summit. Thinner panels under the arms and along the sides helped with the breathability score by venting heat where testers needed it most. The Fernos is surprisingly stretchy and durable enough we never worried about tears whether wrestling with a toothsome pup tailgating in the parking lot or bundling firewood back to camp.

Best for Aerobic Pursuits

Smartwool Smartloft Hybrid Jacket

Sizes: S-XXL
Weight: 16 oz
Warmth: 6
Breathability: 10
Durability: 8

Pros and Cons
⊕ Exceptional stretch
⊕ Super breathable
⊕ Generous pockets
⊗ A little heavy

This mullet of a hybrid jacket is all business in the front and breathability in the back. The Smartloft Hybrid Jacket protects the chest with a panel of wind- and weather-resistant softshell and quilted insulation— 50 percent recycled/reprocessed wool, 38 percent virgin wool (including trimmings from Smartwool’s cutting room floor), and 12 percent polyester. Meanwhile, the back, sides, and sleeves are cut from a stretchy, fleece-weight blend of merino, polyester, and elastane, which afforded testers exceptional movement and breathability while moving fast through the cold. Our New Hampshire trail runner and resident science teacher raved about “achieving perfect thermal equilibrium.” In Wyoming, our Nordic skier used the thumb loops in lieu of gloves on a warm spring day. A DWR finish kept the wintry mix at bay and a trio of zippered pockets handily secured things like keys, phone, and snacks.

Most Packable

Patagonia Das Light Hoody

Sizes: XS-XXL
Weight: 12.2 oz
Warmth: 9
Breathability: 6
Durability: 7

Pros and Cons
⊕ Water- and wind-resistant
⊕ Excellent warmth-to-weight
⊕ Packs down well
⊗ Expensive

The Das Light Hoody is the ultimate puffy layer for cold and wet conditions. Patagonia’s years-long quest to build a synthetic alternative to the loftiest goose down (which loses its insulating properties when wet) resulted in its proprietary Plumafill insulation. Imagine hundreds of feather boa-like strands draped throughout the jacket, providing very nearly the same warmth-to-weight ratio as the finest goose down, but with a much faster drying time and warming capabilities when wet. Stuff 65-gram Plumafill inside an ultralight, 10-denier wind- and-water-resistant shell, and you’ve got a puffer that kept our testers toasty even while skiing in single digit temps in British Columbia’s Monashees, as well as on one unfortunately rainy ski tour in northern Idaho. It stuffs down to the size of grapefruit in the pack, and amenities like four pockets, a helmet-compatible hood, and a two-way zipper for use with a harness make this an expedition-ready piece.

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Arc’teryx Atom Insulated Hoodie – Men’s ($300)

Alpine-proven as a mid layer or standalone jacket, the men’s Arc’teryx Atom insulated hoodie is your companion for backcountry skiing, climbing, snowshoeing or winter commuting. Insulation is synthetic. Weight for the product is 13.05 oz

Best For Frigid Days

Outdoor Vitals Nova Pro

Sizes: XS-XXL
Weight: 14.5 oz
Warmth: 10
Breathability: 7
Durability: 6

Pros and Cons
⊕ Great price
⊕ Excellent warmth-to-weight ratio
⊕ Water resistant
⊗ Less compact than other down jackets

First and foremost, testers were wowed by the Nova Pro’s price tag. It’s remarkable to find an 850-fill down hoody for $250, much less one with such a full feature set. The bells and whistles on this jacket include three-point tensioning in the helmet-compatible hood and another drawstring at the waist to help keep out drafts, as well as thumb loops at the wrists. When those made the jacket too toasty, we used the pit zips to dump heat—a rare but welcome feature in a down puffy.

The Nova Pro’s real innovations come in the fill and fabric, though. Down offers two big advantages over other kinds of insulation: it’s remarkably warm for the weight and packs down very small. The disadvantage is that if it gets wet, the down clumps together, eliminating its insulating properties. To combat that, the Nova Pro employs a hybrid fill of water-repellent-treated down and synthetic fibers, which retains the majority of its loft when soaked.

Outdoor Vitals also applied a DWR coating to the jacket, making it water resistant; testers watched some unusual early-spring Wyoming rain bead up and roll off of the jacket’s fabric without soaking in. That made the Nova Pro great not only for marginal freezing temps but also in wet flurries or light drizzle. All that insulation is packed into baffles, which are woven instead of stitched into the jacket’s main fabric. That makes for fewer stitching holes through which the down can escape. The only downside to the Nova Pro is that all of those niceties add weight—making it less packable than you might expect from an 850-fill down.

Most Stylish

Oyuki Tƍya Down Insulator Vest

Sizes: XS-XXL
Weight: 8.1 oz
Warmth: 5
Breathability: 9
Durability: 5

Pros and Cons
⊕ Unbeatable warmth-to-weight
⊕ Huge stash pockets
⊕ Exceptional breathability
⊗ Not much wind protection

It’s hard to beat the warmth-to-weight ratio of a down vest. It traps the bulk of your body heat by insulating your core and, without sleeves, vests are also exceptionally breathable. The Toya Insulator also employs Allied Down’s recycled, water-resistant 700-fill down, meaning it’s easier on the planet, more lofty when damp thanks to a hydrophobic coating, and quicker to dry. Testers loved this vest not just for all of that, but for its whimsical Japanese styling. There’s a plump, chin-height collar and a pair of massive drop pockets on the vest’s front. “I think the pockets are a style hit, but they worked great for stashing a couple of PB&Js,” commented one tester. There’s also a pair of zippered, fleece-lined hand pockets to warm up your digits or secure valuables.

Most Versatile

Mountain Hardwear Kor Airshell Warm Hoody

Sizes: S-XXL
Weight: 13.4 oz
Warmth: 6
Breathability: 7
Durability: 9

Pros and Cons
⊕ Four-season insulation
⊕ Terrific moisture management
⊕ Super packable
⊗ Insufficient insulation for colder days

“Packing for my next trip, it’s hard to imagine leaving this layer at home,” said our Boulder-based tester. The Kor Airshell Warm Hoody perfectly straddles the knife-edge between a superlight windbreaker and an insulated midlayer, making it an essential piece in the mountains in any season. The 20-Denier stretch ripstop outer fabric was tough enough to withstand 30-mph gusts and a season’s worth of abuse from pack straps, a climbing rack, and shouldered skis—all of which our tester employed during missions around the Front Range. The jacket’s eco-friendly main fabric is made of 59 percent recycled nylon and coated with a DWR that easily shed snow and drizzle. It’s insulated with a thin layer of AirMesh, a brushed-back mesh made with hollow core yarn that traps heat and provides exceptional warmth to weight. It was enough to keep us warm bootpacking and skinning in temps in the teens. In colder conditions, or at rest, we slapped a shell or puffy on top, and the supple mesh liner helped move moisture away from our base layers, keeping us dry and toasty. At 13 ounces, it’s super-light but still boasts four zippered pockets, an elastic drawcord at the hem, and a two-way zipper for compatibility with a harness and belay device.

How to Choose Midlayers

Insulated midlayers come in as wide a range as the activities you’ll use them for and the conditions you’ll use them in. The fabrics and insulation they use go a long way toward determining warmth, breathability, and weather protection. Here’s how to judge what will best serve your needs.

Water-Resistance

Down-filled layers offer the best warmth for their weight but can lose that advantage if the garment gets soaked from precipitation or an accidental dousing. Once wet, down clusters wilt and pack down—which means they lose all their insulating ability. If you expect especially wet conditions, a synthetic insulation (like in the ) or a bio-based fill (like in the ) will do better at retaining its loft and therefore keeping you warm when wet.

Warmth

The general rule of thumb is the thicker the layer, the warmer it is. That comes with trade offs like weight or packed size if you have limited space in your pack. If you know it’s gonna be frigid, by all means, go for a thick puffy like the . But that piece could be overkill if the day heats up. Consider layering more than one less warm piece, like the and the , to give you more options to mix and match amid changing conditions.

Weather Protection

If you plan to wear a wind- and waterproof shell over your midlayer, you won’t need to worry about your midlayer’s weather-blocking ability. If you don’t intend to carry a shell, however, look for a piece that sports wind-blocking panels and/or a DWR chemical treatment for more wind and weather resistance. The and the are both good examples.

Activity Level

If you are going to amp up the cardio for extended periods of time, look for a more breathable layer. The better your midlayer vents water vapor, the less sweat you’ll trap next to skin. That’s both a comfort advantage and a safety win: moisture can quickly sap your body heat if you stop moving or encounter strong winds. More porous fabrics, like on the or , will allow that perspiration to move away from your body, keeping you dry as well as warm.

How We Test

• Number of testers: 7
• Number of products tested: 50
• Mountain ranges represented: 14 (Whites, Greens, Front Range, Gore Range, Bitteroots, Selkirks, Monashees, Wasatch, Teton, Pioneers, Sawatch, Park, Mosquito, Gros Ventre)
• Toddlers towed in a chariot: 1

Last winter, we found that more than half of our test crew were teachers. You’d think we’d want a slightly more epic batch, but in reality these were our ideal evaluators. For one thing, their need to get out skiing, running, cycling, and climbing was uncompromising, if only to shake off the stress of teaching today’s youngsters. That meant that they went out no matter the conditions, pushing these garments to their limits. For another thing, they are used to grading stuff, and criticizing the fit of a hood or odor-fighting properties of a fabric was a welcome change from marking up another essay on Moby Dick.

For this test, we put insulated models of every stripe through the rigors of lift-accessed and backcountry skiing, climbing, snow biking, Nordic skiing, and tailgating. Conditions ranged from single digits in Wyoming to rain in North Idaho to 70-mph gusts on New Hampshire’s Mount Washington. Of the 50 layers we wore, there were shelled puffies, traditional down sweaters, synthetic hoodies, lightly-insulated windbreakers, and a couple of vests. Our testers graded warmth, breathability, fit, durability, sustainability, and price. Their verdicts led us to select only the best of the batch. Those are the reviews you’ll find here.

Meet Our Lead Tester

Frederick Reimers

Reimers was raised on a canoe-tripping summer camp in Ontario, Canada, and had completed a trio of 40-day expeditions before he even shipped off to college. When his parents sold the camp and moved to Jackson Hole in the 1990s, he followed. He has made a career from scribbling about outdoor culture and gear ever since. In addition to șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű, his work has appeared in The New York Times, Smithsonian, Bloomberg Business, and Ski. While Wyoming’s long winter does feel a little long round about April, that makes it the perfect place to test layers. You’ll find Reimers testing them on ski slopes, Nordic tracks, and godforsaken pre-dawn dog walks.

The post The Best ČѱđČÔ’s Insulated Midlayer Jackets of 2025 appeared first on șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű Online.

A modern fleece jacket is essentially a better sweater. It performs the same role as those fisherman’s cable knit jobs of yore: you wear it over your baselayer to keep you warm when the elements turn nasty. But it is lighter and quicker drying, designed for backcountry travel when every ounce counts.

We tested thicker fleeces for colder temps, more breathable fleeces for high-intensity activities, wool-based fleeces that are naturally odor-fighting, and synthetic fleeces for better durability. Our test crew put these midlayers through the ringer while skiing, running, cycling, and climbing, wearing them with waterproof shells and without. We also kept an eye on the style, as, in our opinion, there’s truth to the notion that we perform better when we look and feel great.

At a Glance

• Editor’s Choice:
• Best for High-Intensity Exercise:
• Most Durable:
• Best for Frigid Temps:
• Most Breathable:
• Best for Spring Skiing:
• How to Choose a Fleece
• How We Test
• Meet Our Lead Tester

If you buy through our links, we may earn an affiliate commission. This supports our mission to get more people active and outside. Learn more.

Editor’s Choice

LĂ© Bent Sentinel Midweight Waffle Knit Zip Hoody

Weight: 14 oz
Sizes: S-XL
Warmth: 7/10
Breathability: 10/10
Durability: 7/10

Pros and Cons
⊕ Super Stretchy
⊕ Excellent warmth-to-weight ratio
⊕ Great breathability
⊕ Constructed out of natural fibers
⊗ No way to cinch the lower hem

For such a classy hoodie, the Sentinel has a lot going on. First and foremost, it’s knit using Nuyarn, a product from a New Zealand-based company that’s developed a way to spin merino wool fibers into a stretchier, loftier, and more durable, yarn. Nuyarn creates a custom yarn blend for each brand partner, and we love that LĂ© Bent chose to integrate natural bamboo fibers—rather than synthetic polyethylene—making for a more sustainable garment.

In our testing, no performance was sacrificed in the choice; the Sentinel was remarkably stretchy, tough, and warm for its weight. The Sentinel’s waffle knit structure adds further loft, and therefore warmth, and lends a chic texture that made the garment stand out from the rest of the fleeces we tested. Our test team agreed that it’s the quintessential four-season mountain layer: light, stretchy, and breathable enough for high-output activity in the cold, thin enough when temps are warmer, and roomy enough to layer under when temps turn brutal. Zip it on for a winter expedition, or for that first date at the bistro.

Best for High-Intensity Exercise

Rab Evolute Hoody

Weight: 12 oz.
Sizes: XS-XL
Warmth: 8/10
Breathability: 9/10
Durability: 7/10

Pros and Cons
⊕ Exceptional warmth to weight ratio
⊕ Very quick drying
⊕ More than 50 percent recycled materials
⊗ May need to size up

The Evolute pulls off a pretty impressive trick: it was one of the most breathable fleeces we tested while also offering some of the best weather protection. The secret lies in the Primaloft Active Evolve fleece’s construction—silky polyester fibers woven to a mesh chassis with lots of space between them. That space makes for lots of trapped air for insulation, but it also provides room for breathability when things get too steamy. Because the fleece structure is too airy to stand alone, it’s paired with a thin outer fabric that brushes off wind and abrasion.

The Evolute became an everyday layer for one tester, our New Hampshire-based winter trail runner. “It was crazy warm, but I never felt clammy no matter how hard I went,” he said, “even if I was a little overdressed.” Rab kept it super-light with elastic at the hem, rather than a draw cord, and just a pair of zippered hand pockets.

Most Durable

Houdini Power Houdi

Weight: 1.05 lbs
Sizes: XS-XXL
Warmth: 9/10
Breathability: 7/10
Durability: 10/10

Pros and Cons
⊕ Excellent warmth to weight ratio
⊕ Very soft and stretchy
⊕ Excellent durability
⊗ Expensive
⊗ Runs slim

The Power Houdi has been Houdini’s core product since 2003, with few changes. Customers report that the garment can last them up to 10 years, and many boast multiple, in different colors. When we got our hands on some, it became obvious why they are so beloved. One tester described the Power Houdi as “instant coziness,” and all remarked on how bombproof it is. One tester said it easily shrugged off friction from shouldered skis while heading up Jackson Hole’s notorious White Spider boot pack, and from the sandstone on Boulder’s Flatirons during a spring climbing mission, reported another. That Flatirons scrambler loved the Houdi’s two-way zipper that allowed him to more easily access his climbing harness as well as the sturdy thumb loops on the sleeves that kept his hands warm despite clinging to the cold rock.

The secret is the very thick Power Stretch Pro fuzzy fleece fabric, the elasticity of which helps it ward off puncture and retain its snug fit. The only drawback we saw was that the Power Houdi, despite very good breathability, was simply too warm on milder days. It’s worth noting that the European-style fit is long and narrow.

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Patagonia Men’s Synchilla Fleece Jacket ($149)

For a cozy and classic fleece, look no further than the Patagonia Men’s Synchilla Fleece Jacket. Made of 100% recycled polyester and Fair Trade Certified sewn, this full-zip jacket features double-sided fleece and an anti-pilling finish to keep it looking like new. The stand-up collar is designed for warmth, while the rugged outer collar is trimmed with recycled nylon plain weave. The left-chest pocket and two welted front pockets, all with webbing zipper pulls, provide plenty of space to stash your essentials. Durable, set-in sleeves ensure comfort while wearing a pack, and recycled nylon helps this classic hold its shape and resist abrasion—making it a true essential for every cool-weather outing.

Best for Frigid Temps

Columbia Arctic Crest Sherpa Full Zip Fleece Jacket

Weight: 1.3 lbs
Sizes: XS-XXL; 1X-6X; LT-5XT
Warmth: 10/10
Breathability: 7/10
Durability: 9/10

Pros and Cons
⊕ Abrasion and weather resistant patches
⊕ Great value
⊗ A little heavy
⊗ No recycled content

The heat-capturing Omni-Heat Arctic tech in Columbia’s Arctic Crest Sherpa fleece was inspired by polar bears. Turns out that the arctic ursine’s fur isn’t white just for camouflage to sneak up on seals, it’s actually translucent to allow the scant winter sunlight to pass through to the black skin beneath, which absorbs the heat like a black T-shirt on a hot summer day. The dense fur then helps trap that heat next to the skin in a micro-greenhouse effect.

Similarly, the Arctic Crest fleece uses this solar-capture insulation trap warmth from the inside. Worn by itself without a shell on top, the Arctic Crest was a furnace on the ski track, leading one tester to joke that he felt hot enough to “rip apart an igloo bare-handed.” Testers also loved the Arctic Crest’s full feature set—nylon DWR-treated panels on high-wear areas like the hood, shoulders, and forearms, three zippered pockets for secure storage, and hidden elastic drawstrings at the hem to seal in heat. The only downside? Those niceties add weight.

Most Breathable

Paka PAKACLOUD

Weight: 14.5 oz
Sizes: XS-XXL
Warmth: 7/10
Breathability: 10/10
Durability: 5/10

Pros and Cons
⊕ Exceptionally soft
⊕ Odor-resistant
⊕ Super breathable
⊗ Not wind resistant
⊗ Very small hand pockets

The term “fleece” originally meant the pelt of a wooly animal. These days, it connotes a lightweight sweater made of petroleum-based yarn. Colorado-based B-corp Paka is bringing back fleece’s origin story with its PAKACLOUD midlayer. In Paka’s case, the pelt is that of the South American alpaca from whence it derives its name. Alpaca wool compares favorably to merino sheep’s wool in its warmth, wicking, and natural odor-fighting properties. It’s also lighter and softer, all while being arguably more sustainable—sheep can be hard on the land where they graze whereas the alpaca is a critical part of the Peruvian highlands ecosystem where the company sources its wool. (They also support their indigenous women contractors by paying them a livable wage.)

In order to make a garment that will stand up to the rigors of outdoor adventure, as well as ring in for under $175, Paka created a fabric that’s a blend of 42 percent alpaca (traceable to the source) and14 percent merino wool, with the remainder made of recycled polyester and nylon. The result is incredibly light, extremely warm, and, in the words of one tester, “the softest fleece I’ve ever worn.” It’s super breathable for high exertion—too breathable for one tester who’d left his shell at home on a fat bike ride when a sudden squall kicked up. Everyone loved the quarter zip for weight savings, but quibbled with the oddly small hand pockets and wished the hem drawcords were a little more tucked away. Style note: If you’re cheering the return of the boxy fit, this is your fleece.

Best for Spring Skiing

Flylow Lassen Fleece Lined Flannel

Weight: 1.39 lbs
Sizes: S-XXL
Warmth: 8/10
Breathability: 5/10
Durability: 8/10

Pros and Cons
⊕ Street/slope crossover appeal
⊕ Good wind protection
⊗ On the heavier side
⊗ No recycled materials

Flannel button-downs never go out of style—especially not in ski country. If rocking a crinkly nylon shell at aprùs or on the fat bike isn’t your jam, the Lassen Fleece Lined Flannel might be. Flylow clearly designed this shirt with outdoor rigors in mind. Along with a liner of fleece soft enough to wear next to skin, a zippered interior pocket can secure your RFID ski pass, car keys, or other valuables while the snug collar snaps extra high to seal in heat. The interior sleeves are lined with a slippery taffeta to ensure frictionless pole plants on the uphill skin track. With its double-layer construction, the Lassen provided our testers with enough wind protection to wear as an outer layer for sunny spring ski conditions, and garnered a few approving nods on the lodge deck after.

How to Choose a Fleece

Fleece jackets range in warmth, breathability, and weather protection. Here’s how to judge what will serve your needs.

Will You Pack It?

As a rule, fleece isn’t as compressible as, say, goose down. So it takes up considerable space in luggage or backpacks. If you need serious insulation but only occasionally, so that it remains packed most of the time, you might consider other, more space-saving insulated jackets. Amongst those we tested, the is the lightest and most compressible.

How Much Will You Sweat in This Fleece?

Some fleeces use a dense construction that traps in body heat but limits breathability. If you’re cross-country skiing, running, or logging outdoor workouts that involve constant exertion, look for lightweight fleeces or hybrid constructions that place breathable, less-insulated panels under the arms and in other hot spots. While all of these fleeces offered great breathability, was a bit of a unicorn, offering exceptional breathability with a decent dose of wind resistance for high aerobic output.

Will You Wear a Water- and Windproof Shell over This Fleece?

Most fleeces offer some water resistance, but that varies—and no fleece can be counted on to deliver complete waterproof protection against rain or sustained snow. Most fleeces are also porous enough to let breezes in, which is great for sweat mitigation but bad for comfort amidst 30-mph winds. Consider whether you’ll wear a shell sometimes, always, or never: Ski-tourers might choose a fleece with some weather-resistant panels, like Columbia’s , so they can skip a shell when it isn’t frigid. Resort skiers are better off with breathable fleece worn always under a shell jacket, like the .

Do You Run Cold?

If you’ll wear the fleece in 0-10 degree temperatures, or if you’re always chilly no matter the conditions, choose a thicker, high-pile fleece like the .

How We Test

• Number of testers: 7
• Number of products tested: 25
• Mountain ranges represented: 14 (Whites, Greens, Front Range, Gore Range, Bitteroots, Selkirks, Monashees, Wasatch, Teton, Pioneers, Sawatch, Park, Mosquito, Gros Ventre)
• Moose successfully dodged on-slope: 2

Last winter we found that more than half of our test crew were teachers, and it turned out that these were our ideal evaluators. For one thing, their need to get out skiing, running, cycling, and climbing was uncompromising, if only to recharge for another week in the classroom. That meant that they went out no matter the conditions, pushing these garments to their limits. For another, they are used to grading stuff, and welcomed the opportunity to evaluate the performance of a midlayer instead of another middling essay on Moby Dick.

For this test, we put as many fleece models as we could get our hands on through the rigors of skiing, climbing, running, and snow biking in cold and uncomfortably wet conditions across North America. Of the 25 we evaluated, we wore full-zip models and pullovers, wool and synthetic pieces, heavy and lightweight layers. Our testers graded warmth, breathability, fit, durability, sustainability, and price. Their verdicts led us to select only the best of the batch.

Meet Our Lead Tester

Frederick Reimers was raised at a canoe-tripping summer camp in Ontario, Canada and had completed a trio of 40-day expeditions before he even shipped off to college. When his parents sold the camp and moved to Jackson Hole in the 1990s, he followed. He has made a career of scribbling about outdoor culture and gear ever since. In addition to șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű, his work has appeared in The New York Times, Smithsonian, Bloomberg Business, and SKI. While Wyoming’s long winters do feel a little drawn-out come April, that makes it the perfect place to test layers. Find Reimers testing them on ski slopes, Nordic tracks, and bitterly cold predawn dog walks around town.

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Price: $650
Weight: 10.6 oz
Size: ČѱđČÔ’s S-XL

In 2015, Gore-Tex debuted its lightest and most breathable product: , a waterproof shell material without the traditional protective face fabric. Instead, the waterproof membrane forms the outer layer, which you can literally shake to dry, because the water beads right off. The material weighs less and vents better than three-layer alternatives, and never wets out. The tradeoff is durability. Until now, Crepe-thin Shakedry jackets were marketed to weight-obsessed runners and road cyclists for frontcountry use.

Read more: The Best Puffy Jackets and Midlayers of 2023Ìę

To bring Shakedry to the trekking and backcountry skiing world, NorrĂžna combined Shakedry with Gore-Tex Active, a still very light and breathable three-layer fabric aimed at the set. Shakedry rings the torso and lines the underarms of the jacket, while Gore Active comprises higher-wear zones like the hood, shoulders, and hem.

One tester wore the Jacket backcountry skiing in Montana and British Columbia. “It’s the most breathable backcountry hardshell I’ve worn,” he said. “And I sweat like an amorous water buffalo.” Another tester wore this shell over just a base layer while skinning the slopes of Iceland’s Troll Peninsula in relatively warm, drizzly maritime conditions, and was wowed by the fact that it kept him completely dry despite weighing just 10.8 ounces (about half as much as standouts like The North Face’s Summit Stimson Futurelight Jacket).

Because Shakedry is so breathable, the Lyngen Gore-Tex Active Jacket skips pit zips in lieu of an inch-wide mesh panel that opens and shuts with a zipper running parallel to the main front opening. Without the extra bulk of pit zips, the jacket packs down to the size of a grapefruit—despite the fact that it has a generous helmet compatible hood, stiffened hood brim, and hip-length hem. (The slim, mountaineering fit also contributes to its light weight and bulk.) But take note that this system doesn’t work as well with bibs, because the front-center vents overlap with the bib fabric, which blocks some moisture transfer—which does not happen when you layer bibs under a jacket with armpit vents.

But how durable is it? Gore-Tex Active is tougher than Shakedry, but it’s still an ultralight fabric, and users should take reasonable care with the Lyngen Gore-Tex Active. That said, the shell easily held up to a season of ski touring in Yellowstone, Canada, Iceland, and Greenland without any rips. One quibble: the jacket is only available in men’s sizes.

Ìęliterally grew up at a summer camp. His father was director of Ontario’s Keewaydin Canoe Camp, and Frederick parlayed that experience into a decade of year-round work leading rafting, mountaineering, and sea kayaking courses for Colorado Outward Bound. These days he lives in Jackson, Wyoming, about to embark on a massive expedition into parenthood along with his wife and two dogs.

Back to the Winter Gear Guide

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No wonder Teddy Roosevelt called the Grand Canyon “the one great sight which every American should see.” Walk to its edge, and the earth falls away into an expanse of peaks, plateaus, and gorges so vast it can be disorienting. Descend below the rim, and the sense of awe only grows. The canyon is essentially an inverted, 6,000-foot, 277-mile-long mountain range, where you are dwarfed by sheer stone walls stacked to the sky and vistas that multiply with every turn. In the desert landscape, the water can be the most astonishing sight. Turquoise streams rush whole out of rust red cliffsÌęand cascade through travertine pools. At the bottom of the canyon, of course, liesÌęthe engine of this great geological conundrum—the thrumming, persistent Colorado River, whichÌęcarved the gorge over millennia. If there’s a better place to gainÌęperspective on our own relative insignificance, I don’t know it.

But all this comes with a downside. The park gets crowded. visited in 2021 alone. Don’t let that stop you from planning a trip, though. Just a fraction of visitors bother to descend into the canyon itself, which means it’s easy to find solitude. But with 595 miles of established trails, 278 miles of river to float, and countless panoramas, historic sites, and overlooks to explore, it’s hard to know where to start. Here’s how to make the most out of an adventure to one of our country’s most rugged and iconic places.

What You Need to Know Before Visiting the Grand Canyon

Beware of the heat.

The interior of the canyon averages triple-digit highs June through August, and those temperatures contributed to in 2017 alone.ÌęSo unless you’re a reptile or riding in a raft, plan your visit for the other nine months of the year.

If a summer trip is your only option, head to the North Rim.

The North Rim gets about aÌętenth of the visitorsÌęand,Ìęat an elevation of 8,297 feet,Ìęruns nearly ten degrees cooler than the South Rim.ÌęIn fact,Ìęall park amenities on the North Rim are closed November through April, and theÌęroad into the park closes in December—or earlier if enough snow falls—meaning you can only access the North RimÌębyÌęhiking, snowshoeing, or cross-country skiing with a backcountry permit.

Be prepared for some paperwork and hope for some luck.

Many of the park’s best adventures, like camping in the backcountry, running your own trip down the Colorado’s rapids, or spending the night at the Phantom Ranch at the canyon’s bottom, require winning a lottery to land the necessary permits.

Rafting Permits in Grand Canyon National Park

If you know your way around an oar rig, the odds of winning a permit for a noncommercial river trip are notoriously difficult, especially for popular times like autumn and spring. For example, there were 459 applications to launch on September 18, 2019, alone. On the other hand, some days in December, when the days are short and the nights are cold, see no applicants at all. No matter your launch date, it costs $25 to apply for a permit. If you win, a Ìęmust be paid immediately andÌęis applied to yourÌętrip’s final price tag, which will dependÌęon the size of your group.

Backpacking Permits in Grand Canyon National Park

Your odds for scoring are much better and only cost $10 per permit, plus $12 per person per night in the canyon or $12 per group above the rim. A word of note on this, though: the park’s reservation system is still dependent on pre-Y2K technology, meaning you have to apply via fax, regular mail, or in person. Your best chance for landing your dream hike is sending in a written application a little over four months before your planned trip during what’s called the earliest consideration period, which starts on the 20th of every month and runs through the first of the next. Trip applications submitted during this time are rewarded through a lottery. After that it’s first-come, first-served. Don’t fret if you don’t snag the spot you want, and definitely don’t cancel your trip. Most people don’t know it, but once you receive your permit, you can call the backcountry office to try and modify it. The nonprofit Grand Canyon Trust has a good explainer of the .

How to Get There

Grand Canyon National Park is split into two distinct zones divided by, well, the actual canyon. It’s a long four-and-a-half-hour drive to get from one rim to the other, so plan carefully. If you’re visiting the North Rim, it’s quickest to fly to Las Vegas, a four-and-a-half-hour drive from the park. If you are bound for the South Rim, from Phoenix it’s a three-and-a-half-hour drive, or you can splurge on one of the few daily flights into Flagstaff, Arizona, just an hour and a half south of Grand Canyon Village, the main hub for exploring the park. No car, or prefer not to drive? runs vans from Flagstaff to the village three times a day from May 15 to October 16.

Where to Stay In or Near the Grand Canyon

South Rim

is a landmark, not only for its location just steps from the canyon rim but also for its iconic architectural style, which influenced many of the National Park lodges that followed. Built in 1905, it’s worth taking a look at the log-sided lobby, even if you aren’t staying there. Like most NPS lodging, rooms are basic, expensive, and hard to come by (from $394). You’ll want to book a year in advance, especially if you covet one of the three balcony suites on the canyon side, which cannot be reserved online. You’ll have toÌęcallÌęthe hotel directly, and they’ll cost you double the regular room rate. There are , all pretty basic, and another half dozen in the town of Tusayan, just outside the park, about six miles from the rim.

For camping on the South Rim, your best bet is to headÌę25 miles east of Grand Canyon Village for the prized sunsets at . It runs $18 per night but is first-come, first-served, so plan to snag a site midmorning when campers are clearing out.

North Rim

Go for the Western Cabins at theÌę. With nothing between your front porch and the canyon but a few pine trees, cabins 301, 305, 306, and 309 are some of the best accommodations in the park ($271, open May 15 to October 15). If those are booked, grabbing an Adirondack chair from the main lodge’s veranda and settling in as the sunset washes the Deva, Brahma, and Zoroaster Temple buttes in flaming alpenglow is a solid second choice.

You can catch the same west-facing views at the ,Ìęa mile or so north of the lodge. Book sites 14 to 19, right on the rim, if you can, though they’re often reservedÌęa year in advance.

Canyon Floor Ìę

The Phantom Ranch, tucked into a shady cottonwood grove at the bottom of the chasm, in 2018, and entries are due a whopping 15 months ahead of your desired dates. If you don’t make the cut, try for a spot at the adjacent Bright Angel Campground, which requires a backcountry camping permit. You can still order meals from Phantom Ranch, which will lighten your load for the hike in.

The Best șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍűs in Grand Canyon National Park

Most park visitors never leave the developed enclave of Grand Canyon Village on the South Rim. They roll up in their rental car, park, stroll to the guardrailÌęrim, browse the gift shops, and then head to the next national park on their checklist. That’s not an exaggeration: the park estimates that the averageÌęvisit lasts less than four hours. Even hopping on the free shuttles that stop for fresh views along the South Rim every mile or so isÌęenough to leave most of the horde behind. The farther you get from the visitorÌęcenter, the more the crowds thin out.

Biking Routes

Rent bikes from , locatedÌęnext to the visitor center, and cruise the South Rim. The Hermit Road winds seven miles along the rim from the village and is closed to private cars March through November, making it one of the most scenic cycling paths in the world. Or head east from the visitors center and link the bike path with the car-free Yaki Point Road. Jutting far into the canyon, Yaki Point is a popular spot to catch the sunset splashÌęrosy light across a 42-mile swath of canyon all the way from the Palisades of the Desert, 25 miles to the east,Ìęto Havasupai Point, 17 miles west.

Hiking Trails

For day outings, skip the South Rim’s well-trampled Bright Angel Trail, which drops into the canyon right at the village, and take the shuttle bus from thereÌęto the South Kaibab Trailhead. The seven-mile path, one of the best hiking trails in Grand Canyon National Park, descends 4,780 feet all the way to the river, but many people merely opt for the 1.8-mile round-trip to the comically named Ooh Aah Point. On the North Rim, the mild five-mile Widforss Trail winds along the rim and then ducks through ponderosa pine and aspen groves to Widforss Point, where you can catch views of sheer, jagged buttes like Wotans Throne and the Zoroaster Temple or the battlements of Transept Canyon.

Backpacking Trips

The remote, arduous may well be the Grand Canyon’s most astonishing backpacking trip. Start the 21-mile, three-day loop from the Bill Hall Trailhead at Monument Point (which shaves 2.5 miles off the traditional Indian Hollow Trailhead route), 34 miles down a sometimes impassable road from the North Rim town of Jacob Lake. It passes by Thunder River itself, a large creek that pours straight out of cave midway up the red canyon wall and tumbles down tiers of lush, vegetated pools. Don’t miss the chance to spend an afternoon exploring the twisting Deer Creek Narrows, or detour down the rafter’s trail to the river to check out the outlet of the narrows, 80-foot-high Deer Creek Falls.

The granddaddy of Grand Canyon hikes is going rim to rim, dropping all the way to the river, crossing the bridge at Phantom Ranch, and then climbing out the other side. Some break up the journey with a night at Phantom Ranch. Others prefer to knock it out in a day—the current record is two hours and 39 minutes.ÌęTo preserve knee cartilage, most people start at the lower South Rim, descendÌę4,460 feet on the Bright Angel Trail, and thenÌęascendÌę5,850 feet on the North Kaibab Trail to the North Rim Lodge, for a total of 21 miles. Some of theÌęmore ambitious hikers and runners goÌęrim to rim to rim, but for the one-way trip, you’ll need transportation back. If you can’t talk a friend into picking you up on the other side (a four-and-a-half-hour drive one-way), you can dropÌęa car off yourself and catch a ride back with the for $120.

Boating and Paddling

There are two ways to boat the Colorado River: by motorized raftÌęor in a human-propelled oar or paddle raft. I can’t recommend the former. The outboard engines feel like a violation of the river’s stretches of sublime silence, and the hugeÌę30-foot rafts—packed shoulder to shoulderÌęwith passengers—mute even the formidable whitewater.

The best way to experience the river is at its own pace,Ìętaking on the towering waves of famous rapids like Crystal and Lava Falls in an 18-foot oar rig. You’ll drift for days through face-melting scenery, blast down hundreds of galloping rapids, and camp each night on sand beaches beneath a lane of bright stars. PlusÌęyou can packÌęsteaks and fresh veggies in coolers, chill beers beersÌęin drag bags in the river, and best of all, enjoy the complete lack of cell-phone reception. If you don’t have the experience or a permit to DIY, more than run river trips through the Grand Canyon, ranging in length from three to 18 days and costing around $2,000 to $6,000.

Where to Eat and Drink Near the Grand Canyon

If you’re driving up from Phoenix, stop in Flagstaff, a college town with a burgeoning food and brewery scene. For lunch, pop by for locally sourced beef patties served on English muffins, and grab a Blake, which features homemade Hatch-chile mayo, roasted green chilies, and sharp cheddar. Staying for dinner? The folks at say their fare is good for the soul—cast-iron cornbread, jambalaya, and slow-smoked barbecue are all on the menu.

Inside the park, dining options are mainly limited to large-scale concessionaires who win service-contract bids. , which runs most of the Grand Canyon’s restaurants, now sources 40 percent of its ingredients from sustainable or local vendors. At the El Tovar dining room, the signature prime-rib hash—which features Arizona-grown beef, cage-free eggs, bell peppers, and chipotle hollandaise sauce—should set you up for a descent into the canyonÌęand back.

Ìęin Grand Canyon VillageÌęsells Flagstaff-made baked goods, sandwiches, and coffee. The cinnamon pound cake is worth stashing in your pack for a midride snack.

Across the canyon, the view fromÌęthe veranda at theÌę makes for some of the best alfresco dining on the planet. From the dinner menu, try the wings, which are braised in spicy prickly pear cactus juice. Wash it down with Flagstaff-brewed beers named after park features, like the Phantom Ranch Red.

Just outside the park, the Meadows Edge Coffee Trailer, beside the , serves a blueberry-pomegranate smoothie and the canyon’s best latte. A little farther on, at the junction of 89A and HighwayÌę67, the Jacob Lake Inn is famous for itsÌę. There areÌę15 varieties on offer, including chocolate parfait and lemon zucchini with pecans.

If You Have Time for a Detour

While getting a permit to float through the Grand Canyon takes some doing, paddling 15 miles upstream fromÌęthe park into Marble Canyon requires no permits, fees, or reservations. Dogs are also allowed, so you can finally let the pups out of the van.

For camping, part of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area (the section of river between Lee’s Ferry and Glen Canyon Dam)Ìęcontains first-come, first-serveÌęsites. Or relatively strong paddlers can rent a kayak from in nearby Page, Arizona, and head upstream to campÌęin theÌęInstagram mecca that is . From the beach, you can just make out the silhouettes of the hordes on the rim.

Want to mountain bike at the park? You can’t. But the , on Forest Service land abutting the North Rim, has become theÌęgo-to destination for fat-tireÌęriders wanting to cozy up to America’s favorite abyss. Twenty-two miles of singletrack wind through ponderosa pine forests and meadows, occasionally popping out at the rocky rim for eyefuls of the Big Ditch. Most cyclists post up for a few daysÌęat dispersed car-camping spots like Locust Trailhead, midway on the route.

Editor’s Note: We frequently update this National Parks guide, which was originally published on Dec 4, 2018.

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Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Outdoor Retailer was our industry’s indispensable event. Twice annually, more than 20,000 people crowded into the trade show, wandering a vast grid of booths that displayed companies’ top-secret coming attractions—racks of impossibly light down parkas, cases of glittering climbing hardware, and gadgets like stoves that charge a smartphone with a twig fire. The national media reported breathlessly on next year’s gear and shop owners and employees rubbed elbows with outdoor celebrities like Alex Honnold and Bear Grylls and partied at corporate shindigs featuring bands like Parliament Funkadelic and Macklemore.

Beyond the gear bacchanal, Outdoor Retailer was instrumental in growing the industry’s conscience. Dozens of conservation and equity nonprofits rallied support at the show, and the Outdoor Industry Association (OIA), which has been the show’s title sponsor for over 25 years, grew from a trade-issues lobbying group into a more forceful advocate for public lands protection and social equity. Congresspeople and senators roamed the show stumping for legislation like re-authorizing the Land and Water Conservation Fund and expanding designated wilderness areas. In 2017, Outdoor Retailer made national headlines when it decamped from Salt Lake City and moved to Denver to protest Utah’s efforts to decimate Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments.

So it was a blow to many when, after canceling the previous two in-person shows entirely, the Delta and Omicron variants whittled the August 2021 and January 2022 events to fewer than 8,000 attendees apiece. Some believed the show would never recover its previous size due to shifts in the way business is done: many factories now need orders well in advance of the event, a significant number of retailers have migrated to less expensive regional trade shows, and direct-to-consumer sales mean the show is simply no longer essential to some brands. Recognizing all of those factors, certain companies have shifted their marketing budgets away from previously lavish expenditures at Outdoor Retailer, or have stopped attending entirely. To the chagrin of many who love the energizing effects of Outdoor Retailer’s critical mass, the show’s star has undeniably dimmed.

The Next Evolution of Outdoor Retailer

It therefore made financial sense when, last month, Outdoor Retailer announced that despite its 2017 exodus, in January 2023 the show would return to Salt Lake City, where costs will be lower for both attendees and exhibitors—and the show itself. Then, a week after the announcement, Outdoor Retailer let go two of its senior management team, brand development director Larry Harrison and senior marketing director Jennifer Pelkey. Harrison said it was an additional cost-cutting move. Representatives from OR declined to comment on the reasoning behind the decision.

But those weren’t the only problems: when brands caught wind of the potential about-face, 34 of the industry’s biggest players—including Patagonia, the North Face, and REI—peremptorily announced that, on moral grounds, they would not attend Outdoor Retailer if it moved back to Utah.

“We will not support or attend a trade show event in Utah so long as its elected officials continue attacks on national monuments and public lands protections,” they wrote in a public letter distributed by the Conservation Alliance. While President Biden reversed the Trump administration’s 2017 decision to shrink both Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments, the state of Utah is currently to the Supreme Court. “Before we’d return to a trade show in Utah, we’d need a commitment that Utah wouldn’t pursue that suit,” says Corley Kenna, Patagonia’s head of communications and policy.

Furthermore, many have noted that Utah’s passage last month of makes the state anathema to an industry working to increase inclusivity. “Why would you want to tie outdoor retailers to such a trans-phobic state?” wrote one person on social media. “It is a slap in the face to the entire LGBTQ+ community.”

Outdoor Retailer and supporters of the Utah move say they aren’t ignoring the state’s unpalatable politics. “Leaving after 2017 has not brought the change we had hoped for, so we will push back, not pull back,” the company wrote in a press release. They announced plans to donate a portion of show revenue to support public lands in Utah and to bring government officials and industry stakeholders together for meetings “focused on influencing policy, assisting advocacy efforts, and directing resources into protecting natural and cultural spaces.” It’s unclear, however, how much they’ll donate and where the money will go, exactly.

Nevertheless, the upcoming Utah trade shows will almost certainly be smaller than those of the show’s pre-pandemic apex. In addition to the boycott by many of the industry’s heavyweights, the trade show’s primary model has been shifting for the last decade or more. Outdoor Retailer was originally created to show off future products to retailers who would write orders on the spot, but the factories making the gear are requiring increasingly long lead times, so orders are now being filled weeks in advance of the shows—a problem only exacerbated by the pandemic. Instead, for the manufacturing brands footing a portion of the show’s bill, Outdoor Retailer has largely become a marketing event. Even before COVID, dozens of brands like Arc’teryx and Columbia had decided the costs were no longer worthwhile and decamped. Then, says Conor Hall, director of Colorado’s Outdoor Recreation Industry Office, “COVID-19 threw lighter fluid on that smoldering model.” Some of the brands and retailers that have abandoned OR are now rendezvousing at less expensive regional trade shows and smaller national gatherings like the Big Gear Show in Park City, Utah, whose exhibitor fees are significantly lower than OR’s.

From the retailer side, national chains and online behemoths like REI and Backcountry don’t necessarily need a big show like OR to find new vendors, says Wes Allen, owner of Sunlight Sports in Cody, Wyoming. “Every brand makes a pilgrimage to REI’s headquarters in Seattle, and would give their left arm to sell their stuff with REI.” Many manufacturers, including Patagonia, Arc’teryx, and Columbia, are also growing their own direct-to-consumer businesses online in addition to operating fleets of brick-and-mortar stores. “It’s unlikely those big brands will miss Outdoor Retailer,” says Allen.

What a Weakened OR Might Mean for the Industry

So, what is lost if Outdoor Retailer continues to fade? First and foremost, it’s the community building, say most attendees. “Trade shows are great for networking and trading ideas that you didn’t know you needed to trade,” says Chris Sword, CEO of RoVR Products. Those ideas run the gamut from updating style and technologies to building consensus on the moral and political issues that affect the entire outdoor community. “Where else can the CEOs of The North Face and Patagonia grab a casual beer together?” says Sword.

Speaking of community building, look too at the constellation of nonprofits that rely on the show to recruit supporters and spread their messages. Some, like , which seeks to increase inclusivity in the outdoor industry, were literally created at the trade show. “You don’t see that activism at many other trade events, if any,” says Harrison.

In addition, a weaker trade show might mean a weaker OIA, which is undeniably the industry’s most powerful agent of change in Washington. (Last year, OIA’s executive director, Lise Aangeenbrug, was invited with a handful of other business and labor leaders to sit down with President Biden and Vice President Harris at the White House.) At one time, OIA relied on show revenue from Outdoor Retailer for over 60 percent of its budget—a tenuous position that effectively tied the organization’s fate to OR’s. Recently, it’s , but a smaller Outdoor Retailer still means less opportunity for OIA-driven consensus building and possibly less fiscal might for OIA as well. Representatives from OIA declined to comment on funding issues, but in a released after OR announced its upcoming move, the group did say that it “expressed the concerns of many of [its] members regarding a move of Outdoor Retailer to Utah.”

A smaller national trade show will impact us all as outdoor consumers, too. Small brands, the kind with just a few employees and maybe a bit of seed funding, have been helping drive gear innovation for decades. Without the show, their opportunity for in-person discovery by important retailers will likely diminish. Allen describes the sensation on the Outdoor Retailer show floor when Jetboil, founded by a pair of New Hampshire cousins, debuted in 2003. Such brands made it at Outdoor Retailer “because shops can wander the show and discover dozens of them all in one place,” Allen says. “There’s no way a small brand can afford the time to attend each regional show or knock on the doors of hundreds of stores across the country.”

Nicholson echoes that sentiment from the show’s leadership team. “What makes the show relevant is the ability for retailers to discover and elevate the importance of new and younger brands,” she says. “There’s been no slowdown of brands entering the industry. Trade shows have always served as an efficient path for small companies to showcase their products and gain exposure.”

“The chance encounters you get when there’s 20,000 people in the building were critical for us,” says Kelli Jones, founder of NoSo Patches, which makes adhesive patches to help individuals repair their gear. At Outdoor Retailer in 2018, Jones happened to meet Burton’s director of global sustainability. They hit it off, and that friendship led to one of NoSo’s biggest contracts. Then, in 2021, The North Face icon Conrad Anker dropped by the tiny NoSo booth and expressed his love for the company’s mission. That led to a partnership with The North Face—a huge deal for the ten-person company.Ìę

By the same token, the show has been indispensable for independent retail businesses like Allen’s. At a big trade show, he says, “small shops can efficiently find unique products that fit their vision, or get a leg up on competitors by discovering emerging brands.” It’s how they compete with national chains and e-tailers.

As with NoSo’s Jones, Allen relies on the excitement of the show to help keep his business energized. “We retailers are motivated by helping people get excited to go outside, which spreads that conservation ethic,” says Allen. “When there’s 25,000 people at the show, there’s a powerful sense of belonging.”

Outdoor Retailer says it has plans to increase the critical mass at its Utah shows to keep the community building alive. When the company announced its return to Utah in late March, it declared it would be “reinventing OR” by hosting speakers, community events, and musical acts “beyond the walls of the convention center.” Many are hopeful the strategy works, even if the high-profile boycotters of the show follow through with their threats. “I’d love to see [the show] survive,” says Allen. “But it’s hard to imagine Outdoor Retailer succeeding without its deepest-pocketed companies.”

Perhaps, though, there’s a third option for attendees and exhibitors—a way to retain the political and cultural momentum created by Outdoor Retailer while satisfying those repelled by the state of Utah’s stances on conservation and equality. The same day OR announced it was leaving Colorado, officials in that state said they would establish their own trade event, describing it as a South by Southwest for the outdoor industry. Details are sparse, but given Colorado’s to power a significant part of its economy, a new event might quickly gain support among state organizers and lawmakers.

“There should be the leadership piece and the creative piece,” says Colorado’s Hall. “Given the upheaval in our society, it’s more important than ever to nurture connections within our community.”

The post What Outdoor Retailer’s Move Back to Utah Means for the Industry appeared first on șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű Online.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Outdoor Retailer was our industry’s indispensable event. Twice annually, more than 20,000 people crowded into the trade show, wandering a vast grid of booths that displayed companies’ top-secret coming attractions—racks of impossibly light down parkas, cases of glittering climbing hardware, and gadgets like stoves that charge a smartphone with a twig fire. The national media reported breathlessly on next year’s gear and shop owners and employees rubbed elbows with outdoor celebrities like Alex Honnold and Bear Grylls and partied at corporate shindigs featuring bands like Parliament Funkadelic and Macklemore.

Beyond the gear bacchanal, Outdoor Retailer was instrumental in growing the industry’s conscience. Dozens of conservation and equity nonprofits rallied support at the show, and the Outdoor Industry Association (OIA), which has been the show’s title sponsor for over 25 years, grew from a trade-issues lobbying group into a more forceful advocate for public lands protection and social equity. Congresspeople and senators roamed the show stumping for legislation like re-authorizing the Land and Water Conservation Fund and expanding designated wilderness areas. In 2017, Outdoor Retailer made national headlines when it decamped from Salt Lake City and moved to Denver to protest Utah’s efforts to decimate Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments.

So it was a blow to many when, after canceling the previous two in-person shows entirely, the Delta and Omicron variants whittled the August 2021 and January 2022 events to fewer than 8,000 attendees apiece. Some believed the show would never recover its previous size due to shifts in the way business is done: many factories now need orders well in advance of the event, a significant number of retailers have migrated to less expensive regional trade shows, and direct-to-consumer sales mean the show is simply no longer essential to some brands. Recognizing all of those factors, certain companies have shifted their marketing budgets away from previously lavish expenditures at Outdoor Retailer, or have stopped attending entirely. To the chagrin of many who love the energizing effects of Outdoor Retailer’s critical mass, the show’s star has undeniably dimmed.

The Next Evolution of Outdoor Retailer

It therefore made financial sense when, last month, Outdoor Retailer announced that despite its 2017 exodus, in January 2023 the show would return to Salt Lake City, where costs will be lower for both attendees and exhibitors—and the show itself. Then, a week after the announcement, Outdoor Retailer let go two of its senior management team, brand development director Larry Harrison and senior marketing director Jennifer Pelkey. Harrison said it was an additional cost-cutting move. Representatives from OR declined to comment on the reasoning behind the decision.

But those weren’t the only problems: when brands caught wind of the potential about-face, 34 of the industry’s biggest players—including Patagonia, the North Face, and REI—peremptorily announced that, on moral grounds, they would not attend Outdoor Retailer if it moved back to Utah.

“We will not support or attend a trade show event in Utah so long as its elected officials continue attacks on national monuments and public lands protections,” they wrote in a public letter distributed by the Conservation Alliance. While President Biden reversed the Trump administration’s 2017 decision to shrink both Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments, the state of Utah is currently to the Supreme Court. “Before we’d return to a trade show in Utah, we’d need a commitment that Utah wouldn’t pursue that suit,” said Corley Kenna, Patagonia’s head of communications and policy.

Furthermore, many have noted that Utah’s passage last month of makes the state anathema to an industry working to increase inclusivity. “Why would you want to tie outdoor retailers to such a trans-phobic state?” wrote one person on social media. “It is a slap in the face to the entire LGBTQ+ community.”

Outdoor Retailer and supporters of the Utah move said they aren’t ignoring the state’s unpalatable politics. “Leaving after 2017 has not brought the change we had hoped for, so we will push back, not pull back,” the company wrote in a press release. They announced plans to donate a portion of show revenue to support public lands in Utah and to bring government officials and industry stakeholders together for meetings “focused on influencing policy, assisting advocacy efforts, and directing resources into protecting natural and cultural spaces.” It’s unclear, however, how much they’ll donate and where the money will go, exactly.

Nevertheless, the upcoming Utah trade shows will almost certainly be smaller than those of the show’s pre-pandemic apex. In addition to the boycott by many of the industry’s heavyweights, the trade show’s primary model has been shifting for the last decade or more. Outdoor Retailer was originally created to show off future products to retailers who would write orders on the spot, but the factories making the gear are requiring increasingly long lead times, so orders are now being filled weeks in advance of the shows—a problem only exacerbated by the pandemic. Instead, for the manufacturing brands footing a portion of the show’s bill, Outdoor Retailer has largely become a marketing event. Even before COVID, dozens of brands like Arc’teryx and Columbia had decided the costs were no longer worthwhile and decamped. Then, says Conor Hall, director of Colorado’s Outdoor Recreation Industry Office, “COVID-19 threw lighter fluid on that smoldering model.” Some of the brands and retailers that have abandoned OR are now rendezvousing at less expensive regional trade shows and smaller national gatherings like the Big Gear Show in Park City, Utah, whose exhibitor fees are significantly lower than OR’s.

From the retailer side, national chains and online behemoths like REI and Backcountry don’t necessarily need a big show like OR to find new vendors, said Wes Allen, owner of Sunlight Sports in Cody, Wyoming. “Every brand makes a pilgrimage to REI’s headquarters in Seattle, and would give their left arm to sell their stuff with REI.” Many manufacturers, including Patagonia, Arc’teryx, and Columbia, are also growing their own direct-to-consumer businesses online in addition to operating fleets of brick-and-mortar stores. “It’s unlikely those big brands will miss Outdoor Retailer,” said Allen.

What a Weakened OR Might Mean for the Industry

So, what is lost if Outdoor Retailer continues to fade? First and foremost, it’s the community building, say most attendees. “Trade shows are great for networking and trading ideas that you didn’t know you needed to trade,” said Chris Sword, CEO of RoVR Products. Those ideas run the gamut from updating style and technologies to building consensus on the moral and political issues that affect the entire outdoor community. “Where else can the CEOs of The North Face and Patagonia grab a casual beer together?” said Sword.

Speaking of community building, look too at the constellation of nonprofits that rely on the show to recruit supporters and spread their messages. Some, like , which seeks to increase inclusivity in the outdoor industry, were literally created at the trade show. “You don’t see that activism at many other trade events, if any,” said Harrison.

In addition, a weaker trade show might mean a weaker OIA, which is undeniably the industry’s most powerful agent of change in Washington. (Last year, OIA’s executive director, Lise Aangeenbrug, was invited with a handful of other business and labor leaders to sit down with President Biden and Vice President Harris at the White House.) At one time, OIA relied on show revenue from Outdoor Retailer for over 60 percent of its budget—a tenuous position that effectively tied the organization’s fate to OR’s. Recently, it’s , but a smaller Outdoor Retailer still means less opportunity for OIA-driven consensus building and possibly less fiscal might for OIA as well. Representatives from OIA declined to comment on funding issues, but in a released after OR announced its upcoming move, the group did say that it “expressed the concerns of many of [its] members regarding a move of Outdoor Retailer to Utah.”

A smaller national trade show will impact us all as outdoor consumers, too. Small brands, the kind with just a few employees and maybe a bit of seed funding, have been helping drive gear innovation for decades. Without the show, their opportunity for in-person discovery by important retailers will likely diminish. Allen described the sensation on the Outdoor Retailer show floor when Jetboil, founded by a pair of New Hampshire cousins, debuted in 2003. Such brands made it at Outdoor Retailer “because shops can wander the show and discover dozens of them all in one place,” Allen said. “There’s no way a small brand can afford the time to attend each regional show or knock on the doors of hundreds of stores across the country.”

Nicholson echoed that sentiment from the show’s leadership team. “What makes the show relevant is the ability for retailers to discover and elevate the importance of new and younger brands,” she said. “There’s been no slowdown of brands entering the industry. Trade shows have always served as an efficient path for small companies to showcase their products and gain exposure.”

“The chance encounters you get when there’s 20,000 people in the building were critical for us,” said Kelli Jones, founder of NoSo Patches, which makes adhesive patches to help individuals repair their gear. At Outdoor Retailer in 2018, Jones happened to meet Burton’s director of global sustainability. They hit it off, and that friendship led to one of NoSo’s biggest contracts. Then, in 2021, The North Face icon Conrad Anker dropped by the tiny NoSo booth and expressed his love for the company’s mission. That led to a partnership with The North Face—a huge deal for the ten-person company.Ìę

By the same token, the show has been indispensable for independent retail businesses like Allen’s. At a big trade show, he said, “small shops can efficiently find unique products that fit their vision, or get a leg up on competitors by discovering emerging brands.” It’s how they compete with national chains and e-tailers.

As with NoSo’s Jones, Allen relies on the excitement of the show to help keep his business energized. “We retailers are motivated by helping people get excited to go outside, which spreads that conservation ethic,” said Allen. “When there’s 25,000 people at the show, there’s a powerful sense of belonging.”

Outdoor Retailer says it has plans to increase the critical mass at its Utah shows to keep the community building alive. When the company announced its return to Utah in late March, it declared it would be “reinventing OR” by hosting speakers, community events, and musical acts “beyond the walls of the convention center.” Many are hopeful the strategy works, even if the high-profile boycotters of the show follow through with their threats. “I’d love to see [the show] survive,” said Allen. “But it’s hard to imagine Outdoor Retailer succeeding without its deepest-pocketed companies.”

Perhaps, though, there’s a third option for attendees and exhibitors—a way to retain the political and cultural momentum created by Outdoor Retailer while satisfying those repelled by the state of Utah’s stances on conservation and equality. The same day OR announced it was leaving Colorado, officials in that state said they would establish their own trade event, describing it as a South by Southwest for the outdoor industry. Details are sparse, but given Colorado’s to power a significant part of its economy, a new event might quickly gain support among state organizers and lawmakers.

“There should be the leadership piece and the creative piece,” said Colorado’s Hall. “Given the upheaval in our society, it’s more important than ever to nurture connections within our community.”

The post What Outdoor Retailer’s Move Back to Utah Means for the Industry appeared first on șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű Online.

We’ve all been there: shivering because our jacket isn’t warm enough, or sweating buckets because it’s too thick. Well, there’s good news—puffies just continue to get better. They’re toastier on one end of the spectrum and more breathable, but still cozy, on the other. These are a collection of our top picks from this winter season that will serve you well for years to come.

Aether Launch ($425)

A true trail-to-town crossover, the Launch (and women’s Senna, $375) fuses technical materials with urban design. The bomber jacket’s fit is as stylish as it is effective at sealing in heat at the cuffs and hem. Meanwhile, interior seams with elastic binding and a 16 percent spandex blend in the shell allow for superior stretch when adjusting snowshoe straps and planting ski poles. The 800-fill goose down makes this garment warmer than you’d expect given the low-bulk silhouette. (ČѱđČÔ’s XS–XXL, 1.2 lbs; women’s XS–XL, 1 lb)

Columbia Bulo Point II Omni-Heat Infinity Down ($250)

Cloudlike baffles stuffed with 700-fill goose down conform to your chest like a gentle hug, while supple reflective gold lining amplifies your body’s natural heat. Flurries bead on the DWR-treated shell­—made of recycled polyester in the hood and shoulders, and nylon elsewhere—to keep you dry on chairlift rides. It breathes capably enough, but without vents it’s better for the parking lot at the end of the day. (ČѱđČÔ’s S–XXL, 1.6 lbs; women’s XS–XXL, 1.6 lbs)

FjÀllrÀven Visby 3-in-1 ($550)

Named for a coastal Swedish city notorious for its fickle weather, the Visby is designed for maximum versatility. It pairs a waterproof-breathable hip-length shell with a zip-out synthetic-insulated midlayer that can be worn alone when the weather breaks. FjĂ€llrĂ€ven boosts its sustainability cred by cutting the coat entirely from recycled materials. (ČѱđČÔ’s XS–XXL, 2.8 lbs; women’s XXS–XL, 2.8 lbs)

Patagonia Downdrift ($299)

Heritage styling isn’t the only thing the Downdrift brings back. It’s insulated with 600-fill down that’s recycled from bedding, and the shell material is made from nylon nets salvaged from South American fishermen. The exterior isn’t only durable but also protected by a PFC-free DWR coating, which makes the Downdrift equally at home on job sites, chairlifts, and city streets. (ČѱđČÔ’s XS–XXL, 2.3 lbs; women’s XS–XXL, 1.8 lbs)

Marmot WarmCube Novus Hoody ($250)

The Novus Hoody is the indispensable layer: a fantastic wet-weather insulator when paired with a hard shell, and a stand-alone soft shell for the skin track. Cube-shaped baffles of synthetic insulation along the back help trap warm air against the body, augmenting an already impressive warmth-to-weight ratio. The 20-denier ripstop nylon shell can take a thrashing, but it’s stretchy and breathable enough for the most rigorous climbs. (ČѱđČÔ’s S–XXL, 1.3 lbs; women’s XS–XL, 1.2 lbs)

Ortovox Swisswool Zinal ($370)

Stuffed with fleece made from the wool of Swiss mountain sheep, the Zinal is an eco-friendly alternative to puffers filled with petroleum-based insulation. We liked the wool’s natural odor-fighting properties, but we really loved this exceptionally warm and supple parka when the temperature dropped to single digits. Details like a buttery-soft merino-wool chin guard and adjustable cuffs make it comfy, and giant chest pockets are positioned well above your pack’s waist belt—and double as vents when you warm up. (ČѱđČÔ’s S–XXL, 1.4 lbs; women’s XS–XL, 1.3 lbs)

NorrĂžna Trollveggen Superlight Down 850 ($349)

Here’s the truly featherweight down puffy you’ll wear year-round: it’s wispy enough for climbers, skiers, and hikers who insist on the lightest loads. Credit the filmy-thin, seven-denier recycled nylon, which allows maximum loft in the 850-fill down by limiting compression. Those baffles make the Trollveggen shockingly warm, given the scant weight and pack size (it scrunches into its own pocket). (ČѱđČÔ’s S–XL, 7 oz; women’s XS–L, 6 oz)

Daehlie Winter Run 2.0 ($170)

This aerobic insulator is the mullet of puffy jackets, combining baffles of ultralight synthetic insulation up front and laser-cut perforated ventilation in the back. The result is an excellent piece for high-output running, nordic skiing, and fat biking. Four-way-stretch polyester won’t hold you back, no matter how ungainly your form. One zippered lumbar pocket keeps a phone or fuel secure. (ČѱđČÔ’s S–XXL, 11 oz; women’s XS–XL, 9 oz)

The post Insulated Jackets for Every Type of Weather appeared first on șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű Online.

What kind of backpack do you get when price imposes no limit? That was the concept Osprey set out to fulfill with its new , which launched this week. “I wanted to showcase all that we could do,” says Mike Pfotenhauer, Osprey’s founder and lead designer.

The first thing you notice is the price tag: the men’s and women’s Antigravity 64 and Airscape 68 retail for $700. No matter how well engineered a pack is or how much you pay for it, it’ll still make your legs ache when you cram it full and lug it up the trail. That said, I tested out the Antigravity 64 on a four-day traverse of the Teton Crest Trail in Wyoming last summer and can attest that it is by far the sweetest pack I’ve carried in 30 years of backpacking. (I never got a crack at the Airscape, which is designed with more rigid suspension for heavier loads, but shares many of the Antigravity’s innovations.)

The second thing you notice is the 3D-printed lumbar pad, which was the genesis of the UNLTD line. It was developed with Silicon Valley firm Carbon. Carbon prints products for the automotive and dental industries (headrests and individualized dentures, respectively) and has ventured into the outdoor space in recent years with and , both featuring the same distinct polyurethane (PU) latticework the Osprey lumbar pads are made from. The PU strands are remarkably elastic—they can be elongated 250 percent before they break, which gives the lumbar pads a springy, dynamic feel.

The 3D-printing process allows Carbon to make shapes that are impossible to achieve with injection molding—and with remarkable speed. In just over a year, the company made close to 100 different permutations of the design, all with far less waste than injection molding.

Carbon can also tune the compressibility within the object by changing the density of the lattice in different areas. The lumbar pad is more compressible toward the top (for comfort) and firmer toward the bottom (for better load bearing), all of which gives the pad the cushioned, supported feel while maintaining remarkable breathability, thanks to its weblike structure. My shirt never wetted out as I chugged up the trail in temps as high as 80 degrees.

Despite that high-tech basis, the UNLTD Antigravity 64 is still essentially an upgrade to Osprey’s cult classic Atmos and women’s Aura. Those packs both feature almost seamless mesh that extends from the back panel across the hipbelt, creating remarkable ventilation and an exceptionally snug yet frictionless fit. It works great until loads reach more than 40 pounds, at which point both packs struggle to keep their loads stable due to the extensive trampoline design. Carrying an overloaded Atmos is a bit like riding in a car that needs its shocks replaced—it’s excessively bouncy.

The UNLTD Antigravity solves that load stability issue while maintaining the Atmos’ ventilation and snug fit in a couple ways. The first is that lumbar pad, which is less elastic than the Atmos’ tensioned mesh panel. The second is an upgraded stainless steel and aluminum frame underneath the tensioned back panel and hipbelt mesh. I didn’t set off on a three-night backpacking trip with a 40-pound load, but to test the limits of the pack for a handful of miles, I filled it up with all the food and water I could borrow from trip mates, getting to about 45 pounds altogether.Ìę The pack stayed plenty stable even as I trundled around the Hurricane Pass switchbacks.

The other big innovation in both the UNLTD Antigravity 64 and Airscape 68 is the pack strap auto-lift system. Rather than having both a lower tensioning strap and a lift strap above the shoulders, the UNLTD models feature a continuous system that both lifts and tightens the harness with one pull of the lower strap. I found that this apparatus continually adjusted itself on the trail to ensure a close, equalized fit around my shoulders, reducing painful pressure points. Together with the continuous mesh of the hip panels, the Antigravity 64 was the best-fitting pack I’ve worn. That, along with the fantastic ventilation, made it a revelation to carry.

Other unique features in the Antigravity include raised polyurethane printing on the hipbelt exterior to reduce abrasion at that known wear point; a built-in sleeping bag compression sleeve; lighter and more durable fabrics, like molecular-weight polyethelene; and a pair of plastic bumpers that protrude from the base of the pack, providing better stability and helping reduce wear and tear when the pack is standing upright on the ground.

I also loved the pack’s proprietary clamshell main compartment opening—a steel wire runs across the top of the body, providing a lightweight structure that helps maintain the opening for loading and unloading while also making it easier to operate the waterproof zipper. It also helps apply uniform pressure across the load when the upper side compressors are adjusted.

All these innovations and bells and whistles do add up to a heavier weight and cost. The UNLTD Airscape 64 weighs 5.44 pounds—roughly a pound more than many 65-liter packs. To shed a little weight, you can always jettison the eight-ounce 7.5-liter top lid, though it does double as a fanny pack for summit pushes.

Overall, the Antigravity was clearly superior to other packs I’ve used—easier to load, easier to carry, and more comfortable. Much like driving the deluxe model of a vehicle, using the top-of-the-line pack was more fun but came at a cost.

The post The Osprey UNLTD Antigravity 64 Is Osprey’s Most Technical Backpacking Pack Yet appeared first on șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű Online.

In September 2019, Himalayan guide Garrett Madison called off a summit attempt on Mount Everest, telling clients that an ice block hanging over the route made it too dangerous. The following March, one of the clients on the expedition, Zac Bookman, sued Madison for $100,000 for breach of contract and fraud. In response, Madison filed a countersuit seeking a declaratory judgment absolving Madison of harm, stating that Bookman wasn’t entitled to a refund because he signed a waiver acknowledging that reaching the summit is not guaranteed due to unpredictable conditions. After more than a year of legal wrangling, the pair settled their dispute last week in a Seattle court with Bookman agreeing through a stipulated judgement that he is not entitled to a refund for the trip.

The signed agreement “Madison Mountaineering and Mr. Madison are the ‘prevailing parties’ and the ‘successful parties’” and stated that “the fear of lawsuits and the financial repercussions from lawsuits can lead to injuries, illnesses, and fatalities for clients, guides, Sherpa, and other mountain professionals.”

The lawsuits made headlines because of the eyebrow-raising prospect of a service dispute between a mountaineering guide and a wealthy client in one of the most exclusive and dangerous locations on earth. The judgment is being hailed in guiding and outdoor-adventure circles. “The real fear within the industry would be that we would get sued every time we made a decision that a client did not like,” says Guy Cotter, CEO of New Zealand–based șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű Consultants. “The typical client on Everest has always included business leaders of industry and high rollers, some of whom decide that it is they who should be dictating decisions on the mountain.”

Madison, who has guided more than 70 clients to the summit of Everest, believed that the threat of a lawsuit over a judgment call for safety was beyond the pale. “I feel like it’s a big win for myself and my company and for the mountain-guiding industry as a whole,” says Madison. “Expedition leaders should be able to make whatever decision they think is best and safest even if that results in the client not summiting and the clients are unhappy with that.”

Bookman had not responded to șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű’s multiple requests for comment.

During the September 2019 Everest season, several climbing parties, besides Madison’s commercial expedition, were halted by the massive ice block, which was hanging nearly 3,000 feet above the route. The serac was estimated to be the size of a 15-story building, even larger than a similar ice block that had collapsed onto the same area in April 2014, killing 16 Sherpas working on the Khumbu Icefall between Base Camp and Camp I.

Among those who also called off their summit attempts were ultrarunner and mountaineer Kilian Jornet and Andrzej Bargiel, a Polish ski mountaineer who earlier that year made the first ski descent of K2 and hoped to pull off a similar feat on Everest. Two of Madison’s clients headed home, while a third accepted a consolation expedition to climb nearby 22,349-foot Ama Dablam. Bookman, however, declined the offer of a different summit attempt that fall and of a spot on an Everest expedition in a subsequent season. He and Madison remained in camp to see if the serac would fall and clear the way for a summit push. After eight days, Bookman flew home on the condition that Madison would remain in camp to see if the danger would resolve. No one made it to the summit of Everest in the fall of 2019, and Ìęsometime between October 2019 and November 2020.

In March 2020, Bookman sued Madison in California seeking $100,000 for breach of contract, alleging Madison had orally promised him a refund for the trip. He also claimed that Madison had deliberately scuttled the expedition because one of his other clients had been physically unfit, which sapped Madison’s incentive to push for the summit. Bookman’s lawsuit never mentioned the serac. Bookman told șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű last year that this was because the ice blockÌę“was a red herring.” He continued, “There are hanging seracs all over the west wall of Everest. It’s like saying we can’t walk through the forest until that particular tree falls down.”

Madison denies ever offering him a refund and in August 2020 filed the countersuit in Seattle. This month’s agreement settles that countersuit. Bookman’s California suit was thrown out in September 2020 on the grounds that it should have been filed in Washington State, where Madison Mountaineering is incorporated. He never refiled the suit in Washington.

In addition to stating that Bookman had “assumed weather, safety, and other risks” on the expedition and wasn’t entitled to a refund, Bookman also agreed in the stipulated judgement that his previous attorney “should not have used the phrase ‘the expert Sherpas and ice fall doctors were clearly lazy and inefficient,’” which appeared in a January 21, 2020, letter demanding a refund. Madison told șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű in October 2020 that the members of the Sherpa team he hired had 100 Everest summits between them and that “these are my friends. The allegation that any of them are lazy is offensive.”

“This certainly appears to be a favorable outcome for Mr. Madison and the guiding industry,” says Leah Corrigan, an attorney who represents outdoor-industry clients. Attorney James Moss, author of , says he knows of two other legal disputes involving clients seeking refunds from Everest guides. Neither was successful. “If the guide’s contract is well written, it will stipulate that the guide has the right to cancel the trip due to unsafe conditions,” he says. What’s remarkable about this order, Moss says, is that it was “written not for the court, but as a press release. It’s meant to dissuade other similar lawsuits.”

Madison says he had no choice but to fight Bookman’s lawsuit because forking over $100,000 would have bankrupted him. Seven Summits guiding garners notoriously thin margins due to the high cost of permits, base-camp equipment, and Sherpas and other personnel. (Madison is currently from a client on a K2 expedition in the summer of 2019 that claims Madison charged him unnecessary additional fees and then prematurely called off a summit attempt.)

Madison and his legal team also says they felt bound to stand up for the Sherpa and guide communities. “Our team was particularly concerned about the consequences this sort of lawsuit might have for Sherpa,” said Doug Grady, Madison’s lawyer, in a released statement. Grady’s firm, Baker and Hostetler, took on the case pro bono (as well as the lawsuit from the K2 client). “They bear most of the climbing burden and often take the biggest risks,” he continued. “It is one thing for Sherpa to knowingly take those risks as paid mountain professionals, it is quite another for the American legal system to create unhealthy pressures that make their jobs even more dangerous.”

Grady also mentioned tentative plans to design an arbitration procedure for guides and clients that will avoid lawsuits by working out disagreements. “Absolutely no one should be thinking about lawsuits when looking up at the Western Cwm from Everest Base Camp,” Grady said.

The post An Everest Guide Just Won a Legal Battle over a Canceled Summit Attempt appeared first on șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű Online.