Mud season. Dealing with spring snowmelt, rain, mud, and muck is what brings the American Northeast, Southeast, and Northwest—and most places in between—together. If you live outside of an urban center and spend your time outdoors, odds are you own a pair of boots for mud season. Rubber boots are ubiquitous where I live in Bozeman, Montana. Knee-high rubber boots like the popular Xtratufs go on easy, provide sure protection from mud, snow, and water. Paired with good insulation, rubber boots can keep your feet warm through sub-zero temperatures. But knee-high rubber boots are also heavy, don’t breathe at all, and are often so clunky they’re a pain to walk in.

I wear rubber boots daily.ĚýI’m about to pull on a pair of my ($230)Ěýand traipse through gross ankle-deep snow melt while running afternoon errands around town. The Alphaburly Pros are the absolute warmest boot in my collection, but also the heaviest and clunkiest.

When my backyard isn’t socked in with feet of snow, I keep a pair of ($225) by the back door, and reach for them to chase a dog around or grab something from my truck. They’re a lot lighterĚýthan the Lacrosse boots and track a lot less mud into my kitchen, but the Xtratufs are prone to holes and tears.

I keep a set of ($150) at the cabin. Bogs are super easy to put on—perfect for when one of my dogs needs to go outside to pee at a moment’s notice. But their generous dimension also mean they don’t hold your foot securely through more active wear.

I keep a pair of fancy leather-lined Le Chameu Chasseurs around as sort of my going out rubber boots. But at $650, those aren’t exactly a practical choice, and even at that spend, forego any insulation, so are again relegated to spring and summer wear only.

No matter the weather or activity, my feet get a little damp in every one of these boots. Rubber boots are utilitarian and stout, but I have yet to find the perfect pair. Montana-based Sitka Gear is trying to change that.

Sitka, a high-tech apparel brand that’s making the leap from its hunting roots into more general outdoorswear,Ěýhas never made a shoe or boot before, but for their first foray into footwear they’re aiming to make a better muck boot. Rather than rubber construction, these new VentLite boots ($399, on-sale now) are made from a waterproof-breathable Gore-Tex membrane housed in a layered textile shell that works a lot like a modern rain jacket.

“Sitka really hangs its hat on providing a systems-based approach to technical apparel,” says Mike Ekstrom, the company’s new footwear product line manager. “And how can you have a full body system if you don’t have footwear?”

From the inside out, Ekstrom says the boot is constructed using a four-millimeter thick neoprene liner, then a layer of Primaloft Gold insulation, followed by the Gore-Tex membrane and a high-denier textile shell fabric with a DWR coating. Ekstrom says that outer fabric is similar to the one used in some of Sitka’s pants. Mapped polyurethane overlays add abrasion and penetration resistance to key areas, while low-wear areas go without the protection in order to maintain breathability.

The result? “They don’t become a bucket of sweat,” Ekstrom says.

Before joining Sitka, Ekstrom pitched for Major League Baseball teams including the Padres, Rays,Ěýand Rockies, then spent nine years managing athletic shoe lines for Nike. So it’s no surprise that his new boots “fit more like a sneaker,” says Ekstrom.

Cold water conducts heat away from your body Companies judge technical apparel by its ability to wick sweat away from the skin. Staying dry is crucial to staying warm through cold weather. As a result, Ekstrom explains that Sitka achievesĚýequivalent warmth to very heavily insulated all-rubber competitors in a lighter, slimmer boot.

Ekstrom says Sitka benchmarked the Lacrosse Alphaburly Pro 1,600G during development, which combines heavy-duty rubber construction with 1,600 grams of Thinsulate insulation. Where a single Lacrosse boot weighs 45 ounces, Sitka says the Ventilate measures just 35 ounces.

Sitka is the first company to employ Primaloft’s new 1006f insulation material in North America. Ekstrom is hesitant to quote a grams-per-square-meter figure out of concern that customers may simply compare that number to heavier alternatives, and come away with the mistaken impression that other boots will be warmer.

“What we’ve found through lab testing is [breathability] creates a more efficient way to provide warmth,” Ekstrom says.

Also unlike existing designs—which pack insulation around the foot only, leaving only your socks, long underwear, and pants to provide insulation from your ankles up—Sitka has carried its layered construction throughout the entire 18-inch height of the boot. Not only does packing more insulation add to the boot’s warmth, but Ekstrom says it also delivers a “uniform fit and feel throughout the boot.”

For traction, Sitka tapped Vibram for its latest Litebase Megagrip outsole, adding its own proprietary A-shaped lugs to the central portion of the tread. Ekstrom explains that this will be a hallmark across a growing range of footwear Sitka plans to build out in the near future.

What’s next? “We want to complete the head-to-toe systems wherever Sitka shows up,” Ekstrom says. “[VentLite] is just the starting point.”

Wes Siler grew up on a horse farm in England where it was his job to collect the manure. Rubber boots helped a lot, until the manure got inside them. Wes now writes about important topics like politics and vehicles on , where you can also talk to him about those topics and more.Ěý

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Three years ago, I was pursuing a herd of elk down a steep gully into a remote mountain valley in southwest Montana when it began to snow. The storm was unexpected and hyper-local; it often is in the mountains. It was only the middle of September, so I wore thin base layers under soft-shell pants, a thin fleece jacket, and low-top hiking boots. I opted to leave my rain gear and insulation in my truck, six miles away, to travel as fast and light as possible.

As the snow turned heavier and wetter, it soaked through my layers and into my boots, leaving me totally drenched. I really began to worry when I stopped shivering.

Hypothermia is the cause of around 1,500 deaths a year in the United States, according to a published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Hypothermia begins to occur when your body’s core temperature falls below 95 degrees, according to Chris Adams, a flight nurse for the , a nonprofit transport network that takes high-risk patients to hospitals by helicopter, working out of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Adams says he treats hypothermia virtually every time he rescues a trauma victim.

The majority of hypothermia cases happenĚýin where emergency services may be unavailable or slow to respond. And in many colder places, hypothermia is the cause of unintentional death, after vehicle accidents.

Hypothermia is particularly dangerous because its occurrence often involves the unexpected. Just like during my elk hunt.

My ATV was waiting on a trail 1,000 feet above me, at least a 30-minute hike away. My efforts to reach the vehicle partially dried my torso and legs, but my hands and feet were still totally numb by the time I climbed the gully. Riding the ATV back to my truck was a challenge. The numbness in my fingers made it hard to operate the controls, and the urgency to reach safety had to be balanced with the additional windchill created by speed.

By the time I got to my truck and clumsily climbed into the driver’s seat, a glance in the rearview mirror revealed blue lips surrounded by my ghastly pale face. I cranked the heat, turned on my seat warmer, and sat in silence for half an hour while the shivers returned and stabbing pain crept into my extremities.

According to Adams, I was probably in a stage of mild severity while hiking up the mountain, then into moderate hypothermia by the time I’d reached the truck. Preparing to survive hypothermia is an essential skill for those of us who recreate outdoors in cold weather.

How Can You Tell If You Have Hypothermia?

Luckily, hypothermia has clear indicators. “Watch for the ‘umbles—stumbles, mumbles, fumbles, and grumbles which show changes in motor coordination and levels of consciousness,” reads a white paper on hypothermia published by .

Medical professionals parse the stages of hypothermia by internal body temperature. But since you can’t get an accurate read of your body’s internal temperature with oral thermometers, according to a , you and I are better off looking at symptoms.

According to Adams, symptoms of hypothermia include:

• Feeling cold
• Loss of motor control, including both fine (operating zippers) and gross (the ability to walk)
• Impaired mental abilities impacting speech and consciousness
• The slowing of respiratory and heart rates

A mildly hypothermic person will still be shivering, but begin to lose fine motor control. A telltale sign of moderate hypothermia is when the victim stops shivering, and when walking and standing become difficult. In a severe stage of hypothermia a person mayĚýbe unable to stand or walk, and will likely lose consciousness altogether. Beyond that, the body approaches death as its heart rate slows to just a few beats per minute, breathing stops, and eventually the heart fails.

“Uncontrolled shivering, slurred speech, confusion, and reduced coordination can quickly spiral into unconsciousness,” John Barklow tells şÚÁĎłÔąĎÍř. After serving as a Navy diver, Barklow trained Navy SEALs in cold weather survival techniques (including self treatment of mild to moderate hypothermia), designed clothing systems intended to reduce the odds of Special Operations Forces experiencing hypothermia, and now works as the lead designer for Bozeman, Montana-based technical clothing brand , while still teaching survival classes and seminars.

How to Prevent Hypothermia

Beyond wearing enough insulation to remain warm in a given temperature, it’s important to consider the materials you’re wearing.

The worst of those is cotton. Because cotton fibers are hollow and carry a negative electrical charge,Ěý. Cotton fabrics can hold up to 27 time their own weight in water, then refuse to dry out.

Wool is a lot better. It absorbs only 30 percent of its own weight in water, and the microscopic structure of its fibers can work to break the bonds between hydrogen and oxygen atoms, producing a tiny amount of heat.

Down, even varieties treated with hydrophobic coatings designed to repel water, loses its ability to loft (and keep you warm) when wet.

Best are synthetic fabrics and insulations like polyester and nylon, which only absorb around 0.4 to four percent of their weight in water, respectively. Because synthetic materials dry so much faster as a result, they’re a much safer option in cold, wet conditions, or when you run a risk of submersion. I’ve recently transitioned to an all-synthetic clothing system for backcountry adventures, for that reason.

In what Barklow calls the “,” he submerges participants in freezing-cold water, then instructs those students to add layers of synthetic insulation, drink water, and consume easily-digested calories. Patients huddle inside breathable rain shells designed to keep out the weather and prevent convective heat loss. The warmth generated by their bodies, held in by warm-when-wet synthetic insulation, is able to force water first away from their skin. Moisture gets drawn out through the layers of clothing, enabling their bodies to return to safe temperatures.

“With a great clothing system there’s no need to carry extra [equipment],” Barklow says.

Adams backs this up. “This is a really good idea, if you have the right clothes,” he states. “Preparation is everything.”

The nurse also says that if you begin to experience hypothermia symptoms, and you’re alone in the backcountry, you should focus on creating body heat. “You can hike up a hill really fast,” he says.

How to Treat Hypothermia

Barklow’s method also tracks with survival advice given by the , which prescribes protecting yourself or a patient from the environment, drying them out, and then warming them up using a heat source. With Barklow’s method, which requires synthetic clothing layers, you don’t need to remove any clothing, or —Ěýand you don’t need a fire.

Should you lack such a clothing system, the approach becomes a little more complicated. You’ll need shelter, dry insulation, and a heat source. In mild stages of hypothermia, you can use something as simple as a tent, a dry sleeping bag, and another person’s body heat, warm water bottle, or chemical heat packs. (Place the latter two items on the neck, arm pits, and groin where large arteries pass close to the skin). As you progress into moderate and severe cases, hypothermia will require more significant sources of heat,Ěýlike a heated structure or vehicle or a wood stove, and ultimately treatment by medical professionals.

Adams recommends paying close attention to preventing convective heat loss through contact with the cold ground, and suggests chemical heat blankets (like those sold by ) as a heat source. “I lay down a wool blanket, put a heated blanket on top of that, lay the patient down, then layer heated blankets and another wool blanket on top of that,” describes Adams. “Then we just crank the heat in the helicopter until the patient warms back up.”

Adams is careful to caution against shocking a hypothermia victim with too much heat,Ěýthough, saying you shouldn’t submerge them in a hot bath or shower. “It’s gotta be slow,” he says. “Just focus on getting the ambient temperature nice and high, and rewarming slowly.”

What about CPR? In severe stages of hypothermia, a person’s pulse may not be detectable at the wrist due to severely constricted blood vessels, and when checked at the carotid artery may be as slow as just a few beats-per-minute. Adams warns against chest compressions as a result, but says blowing warm air into an unconscious victim’s lungs may help increase their core temperature.

Barklow recommends that you don’t just leave survival skills up to chance. “You need to train in realistic conditions to ensure you and your gear perform as expected,” he says.

Ensuring your layers are a match for the conditions is something you should first try in a safe environment. “You don’t want to realize that you and your kit aren’t up to the task of saving your life after you swim a glacier-fed rapid while on a remote packraft trip in Alaska,” he says.

Adams offers one final piece of advice: don’t give up. Due to the protective effects of cold temperatures, complete recovery can be possible even in severe, prolonged hypothermia cases.

Wes Siler recently returned from a trip to Yellowknife, in northern Canada, where temperatures were as low as -38 degrees Fahrenheit. He was warm, comfortable, and safe throughout. You can ask him more detailed questions about outdoors gear and other topics on .Ěý

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Ever spend an hour hiking in the winter and find your fingers quickly lose feeling? That’s your body telling you that it’s too damn cold out, and bringing your warm blood back into your chest. Numb hands can be frustrating, and for good reason. Allowing your hands to get cold reduces dexterity and feel—which is bummer, since you need your hands for pretty much any activity you want to do outdoors in cold weather.

Donning gloves and mittens might seem like a no-brainer solution, but the wayĚýyou wear and layer your gloves makes an enormous difference in just how much you can actually warm your fingers.

A Cold Core Means Cold Hands

Blood flows from your heart to your hands through the ulnar and radial arteries. When your core gets cold, your body contracts the muscles around those arteries, . This is a simple survival mechanism—your organs are more important than your fingers, so your body prioritizes warming your core.

The good news is that by keeping the rest of your body comfortable, you can keep blood flowing to your extremities.

Your cold hands may not be due to inadequate gloves;Ěýthey can also be caused by failing to wear a warm enough jacket, hat, insulated boots, or neck protection. The most effective piece of clothing to insulate your core is a puffy vest. Even if your layering system already feels full, a vest’s armless design may enable one to fit between a mid-layer and puffy jacket, where it will meaningfully increase core warmth, and therefore comfort for your hands, too.

I made this suggestion to a friend a few years ago. We were canoeing in frigid weather, and despite both of us wearing glove liners and insulated, waterproof gloves, he couldn’t keep his hands from getting so cold that he lost his grip on the paddle. I loaned him a thin puffy vest, he layered that inside his jacket, and his comfort improved almost immediately.

To Choose a Glove, Study the Insulation

I see lots of my friends form loyalties to certain brandsĚýwithout paying much attention to the details of the actual products. But as with most other items of gear, we can use information online to define and understand the merits of individual gloves.

Those cheap,Ěýhardware store gloves everyone loves? They are often made out of very basic spun-polyester insulation, the same kind that comes in those cheap, bulky box store sleeping bags. Just like cheap sleeping bags with supposed zero-degree Fahrenheit ratings that still leave you freezing in much warmer temperatures, the insulation in low-end gloves can be bulky and inefficient.

But while cheap, synthetic gloves can leave your fingers cold, quality synthetic insulation is ideal for gloves.ĚýNot only are spun polyester fibers capable of trapping more air in less volume versus goose and duck down, but synthetics are also capable of maintaining their loft—and therefore their performance—when wet.

Your best option is to seek out Primaloft Gold insulation. Gloves made with Primaloft Gold areĚýthinner and warmer than the cheap alternatives because they’re spun out of a much tighter-woven polyester.

There is also a variety of Primaloft Gold that uses fibers partially made from Aerogel, the lightest and most insulating material known to man. Aerogel insulates even when compressed, making it particularly suited to gloves because it keeps you warmĚýwhen you’re gripping something. Primaloft Gold made with Aerogel is called CrossCore Technology.

When it comes to synthetic insulations, we can also divine its relative warmth and bulk levels by looking at the density of the material used in a particular item, expressed in grams-per-square-meter (GSM). You can look at two different pairs of gloves made using the same insulation, and compare their relative warmth and thickness by reading their GSM numbers.

Want Warmer Hands for Cheap? Start Layering.

All this talk of high-tech performance probably sounds expensive. It doesn’t need to be. By thinking about gloves as a layering system in the same way you might for the rest of your technical clothing, you can achieve a ton of performance across a wide variety of conditions—without spending a fortune.

The most useful pair of gloves in my arsenal is probably . At $50, a pair of Packaways is made from 60 GSM Primaloft Gold with CrossCore Technology housed in an ultralight polyester shell with fake leather reinforcements on the palm. That amount of insulation and the shell material makes the Packaway Gloves feel similar to a lightweight puffy jacket.

On their own, they’re perfect for everything from summer trips in the high alpine to dog walks in mild winter weather. But layering the L.L.ĚýBean gloves delivers comfort even through extreme conditions. Here’s my glove layering system.

I begin with a base layer, just like long underwear when I’m dressing to go outside. I wear a $45 set of . The Hestras come with a nice bonus: touch-screen compatibility. The little capacitive touch screen pads may not allow you toĚýfire off long text messages at your usual speed, but they can provide the ability to pinch and swipe a map or take a picture.

How much additional warmth can a liner add? Hestra—a high quality glove maker from Sweden—pegs the number at up to 20 percent. You will feel a difference. To accommodate a liner, size up your main insulating glove by one.

Liner gloves aren’t very effective against wind, precipitation, impacts, abrasion, or lacerations. I fall down while skiing often, so I wear a set of ($150) as an outer shell over a liner and Primaloft midlayer glove. I then add a significant application of leather conditioner and waterproofing to the Uphill Skier gloves. Replacing Vermont’s removable lightweight merino insulation with the Primalofts and liners adds plenty of downhill to the Uphills, which keep the weather and snow from my crashes on the outside. How much additional warmth can a shell glove add to a system? Hestra says that a liner and shell together can add up to 50 percent more warmth to your primary glove.

You don’t necessarily need to use the same (fairly pricey) liners and shells I do. Liner gloves are available at your local big box store for very low prices. If you don’t like a leather shell glove, you’ll find that ones made from synthetic materials and waterproof membranes will actually deliver more performance at lower prices, at the expense of durability.

And you can apply this approach to any midweight glove already in your arsenal. If, for example, you bought those 50 GSM Primaloft Gold with CrossCore Technology Beyond Guide Gloves ($135) I wrote about two years ago and still wear regularly, then adding a liner and outer shell can reap the same performance increases.

Are Heated Gloves Worth the Money?

That depends. But it’s certain that a heat source dramatically increases the warmth of your gloves.

The traditional way to add heat to a glove isĚýto shove a chemical heat pack down the back of your gloves, so it rests on the back of your hand where the blood vessels running to your fingers pass close to your skin. Ěýover a liner glove can prevent the packs from feeling too hot.

I have a pair of that I pull out of my gear closet for really nasty activities like ice fishing without a shelter, or for the coldest of days on the ski hill. But electrically heated gloves aren’t perfect. My Prevail mittens cost $340, an arm and a leg for a pair of gloves.

What I paid for is quality and reliability. While the battery packs used in my gloves are pretty much a replaceable commodity these days, the wiring that generates the heat is not. More expensive options typically spread their heating wires over larger areas of the glove (in useful places like the fingers), and make them out of stronger materials that are less likely to fail due to fraying and bending.

Expect to replace your battery packs at least once every two years. Storing batteries charged can help ensure they last that long. But my Outdoor ResearchĚýgloves have held up in like-new condition since 2016.

The final thing I look for inĚýa pair of gloves: reliability. I don’t bother dragging heated gloves into the backcountry, or on any adventures where a failure might put my fingers at risk. With your hands and fingers so exposed to the cold, and so easily damaged by it, you want gloves that will continue to work if submerged in freezing cold water, after crashing through a snow drift, and even in the event of a badly timed ice axe or ski pole swing. Classic materials like wool and leather are capable of withstanding that kind of abuse, and will keep you warm when paired with high-performance synthetic insulation.

Wes Siler spends more time in gloves each winter than your average skier, and he barely hits the slopes. You can find him splitting wood and working on his trucks outside his Bozeman, Montana, home.

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It’s less than a week until Christmas. If you’re anything like me—a childlike adult living kid-free—that means you might have just enough time toĚýget a gift to your nieces, nephews, and friends’ offspring sometime before January.

Two years ago, I wrote a piece explaining my program of purchasingĚýchildren the most dangerous, parent-annoying knives, motorcycles, and archery gear possible. But since then, I’ve had something of an epiphany: If I don’t cause lost fingers, bloody noses, or extensive damage to homes and vehicles, those parents will actually let me spend time with their kids. And that can be fun, especially if those kids are set up to enjoy the same activities you do.

Through experience with my own nephew Roscoe, who I’m pretty sure is about 12Ěýand lives in rural France, plus a varied assortment of other kids with parents I like, here’s how I go about setting them up for success outdoors.

1. Determine the Kid’s Current Age

Children often change ages at irregular, unpredictable moments. And, in some circumstances, they may even grow and change clothing sizes. Determining where those numbers currently lie is the key to successfully buying the right gifts.

When in doubt (read: is all the time), you can ask the parents or grandparents for their kiddo’s ages and sizes. If questions like “How old is Penelope again?” will ignite a contentious conversation over the irregularity of your visits, then you can simply look inside their jackets or shoes, which may be hanging in a mudroom. Last year’s receipts, likely buried somewhere in your spam folder, are also a good source of clues.

Not all items are appropriate for all ages. For example, a pocket knife that may be a good choiceĚýfor a nine-year old could seem lame to a 13-year old. And, buying clothing in a larger size than currently fits the child in question may allow them to enjoy that item for longer.

Last year, I flewĚýto France to visit my family. And rather than stab in the dark at my nephew’s current sizes or interests, I simply borrowed him one day, and took him to an outdoors store for a shopping spree. There, he was able to make his own mistakes purchasing clothing, absolving me from my sister’s judgement. I did make sure to buy him a new pocket knife on the way out the door,Ěýthough. The biggest, scariest looking one seemed like an appropriate choice.

2. Decide Which Interests You Want a Child to Develop

Hanging out with kids can be pretty boring if they don’t enjoy the same activities you do, or if they’re bad at them. So equipping kids with theĚýskills necessary to keep up can make it way cooler to spend time with them.

When he was ten, I took my friend’s kid Russell on his first camping trip. Wildlife watching is one of my favorite activities and I want Russell to be able to enjoy it too. So, I got him a ($195). Not only are monoculars more affordable than binoculars, but they’re also more robust, lighter, and easier to use.

Kids will be bad at your favorite hobbies before you bully them into getting good, so it’s a good idea to reduce their potential points of failure and barriers to enjoyment. Not only can Russell now enjoy watching the coyotes, rabbits, and hawks in his backyard, but when I eventually put him in front of a wolf or grizzly bear, he’ll know how to operate his scope and won’t need to ask annoying questions.

3. Buy a Toy You’ll Enjoy, Too

Often, social obligations dictate that your relationship with a niece, nephew, or friend’s kid doesn’t stop with the act of giving a gift. You may be expected to help the human child assemble, learn to use, or practice with whatever you bought them. Choosing something that you will enjoy playing with,Ěýtoo,Ěýis a great way to avoid boredom or worse: having your expansive knowledge of how all things work called into question.

This year, I got Roscoe a model truck from ($89), a new toy brand based in Bozeman, Montana, that uses advanced CNC automation and 3D printing techniques to make high-performance gravity vehicles. Not only does the box say “12+” on it, which I’m pretty sure aligns with my nephew’s current age, it has 273 parts to assemble. That sounds like enough time to drink at least two beers, and after we complete the truck we’ll be able to send the thing off sweet jumps while I explain how suspension works. Since I enjoy both beer and suspension lectures, I’m setting myself up for the most enjoyable afternoon possible. And he may also get something out of our day.

4. When in Doubt, Try an Activity

After that shopping spree last year, I took Roscoe to a climbing gym in a nearby town. Not only did this require no gift wrapping, planning, or shipping, but it also gave me the chance to be better at something than a small child. It turns out that your nieces and nephews actually like hanging out with their uncles and aunts, and spending time with the little ones can be fun for you, too.

Wes Siler is so notorious for not having kids that his vasectomy was discussed in Glenn Beck’s most recent book. He treats his three big rescue dogs like his own children. You can ask Wes for help with your outdoor adventures, gear, and travel .

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Have you ever bundled yourself up in the early winter, trudged outside to shovel your walk or clear off your car from the first storm of the season, and found yourself soaking wet? Your waterproof-breathable shells, sleeping bags, gloves, boots, insulation,Ěýand soft shells all need regular cleaning and maintenance to keep protecting you from cold, wet conditions. Retreating your gear may sound intimidating, but it’s actually really easy to do and will extend the life of your expensive equipment. Let me walk you through the process of maintaining your gear, item by item.

How to Clean and Re-Waterproof Technical Shells

Think of your rain jacket or ski shell like a sandwich. The face fabric, or the outermost layer,Ěýis like the bread. It’s coated with a durable water repellent (DWR) treatment that helps bead water and stop it from penetrating the outer layer. The waterproof-breathable layer is the good stuff: the veggies, meats, and condiments in the middle.

The waterproof-breathableĚýmembrane features tiny pores that keep water out and let your sweat evaporate from within at the same time, keeping you dry. The DWR and membrane work together to form an effective barrier against the elements, so long as you don’t let them wear out. Dirt, oil, smoke, and other contaminants can clog the pores and prevent the material from breathing. Overtime, the DWR coatings on those face fabrics can wear off. When they do, precipitation and sweat will saturate the fabric.

Soft shells—wind-and water-resistant garments that go without the aid of a membrane—rely entirely on that DWR to protect you from precipitation. Allowing it to wear off, or become compromised by dirt, smoke, sweatĚýor other contaminants will eliminate a soft shell’s ability to shed weather.

You should be cleaning and reapplying DWR to your technical shells regularly.

“The best rule of thumb is, if your jacket or item looks dirty or is no longer repelling water, clean it,” explains Heidi Dale Allen, the vice president of marketing for Nikwax, which makes a variety of detergents and treatments for all varieties of outdoor gear. “If after cleaning, the item is still not repelling water, it is time to re-waterproof.”

Allen says you can also test your technical shells for function. Simply run them under a tap, and if the water soaks into the material rather than beading up and running off, then it’s time to clean and take care of them. You may also notice a lack of water beading while wearing your gear outdoors.

The first step is to take note of any item’s unique care instructions. The care label sewn into any piece of clothing will tell you if it needs to be be hand or machine washed, what temperature water to use, and if you should hang or tumble dry it. Depending on the fabrics and technologies used in each garment, the instructions will vay—even for articles made by a single brand.

Should I Be Afraid of Damaging My Garments in the Laundry?

“If you follow the care instructions from the brand and use the proper types of cleaners and waterproofers, then you absolutely will not ruin it,” reassures Allen.

But she does caution that you can only reapply DWR to clean shells, saying, “You wouldn’t wax a dirty car, so do not try to waterproof a dirty piece of gear.”

Once you’ve assessed each item’s care instructions, you can then wash them using a detergent designed specifically for technical apparel.

Don’t use a regular household detergent. These can leave behind residues that attract moisture and clog porous membranes, ruining the item’s ability to keep you dry. Allen recommends Nikwax Tech Wash. I’ve been using this detergent for years; I can tell you it works. Tech Wash does not contain UV brighteners, so you can safely apply it to hunting gear without turning yourself into something animals will perceive as an illuminated billboard.

Once clean, you can choose to reapply a DWR coating. Allen says to do this if the item has lost the ability to bead water, or once every three to fiveĚýwash cycles.

Nikwax uses a DWR that’s free from harmful PFAs. Because it’s water-based, it needs to be applied while the garment is wet. If machine washing, simply add a treatment like to the detergent dispenser, and start a new cycle. If you’re hand washing, hang up or spread out the still-wet item, and evenly coat it in a spray-on waterproof treatment like . Then hang or machine dry according to the care instructions. Unlike older treatments that use PFAs, these detergents don’t require heat to activate the coating.

To address a stubborn stain, simply add a small amount of the appropriate detergent on the dirty spot and scrub it with a soft-bristled brush or an old toothbrush.

You can clean and re-waterproof synthetic jackets and sleeping bags the same way.

How To Clean And Re-Waterproof Down Insulation And Sleeping Bags

The reason so many outdoorspeople love down is for its ability to create a ton of heat-trapping loft while being light and efficient to pack. Sweat, body oils, smoke, and dirt can cling to down clusters, reducing that loft. Today, most down insulation is treated with a DWR to enable it to dry faster. DWR increases the insulation’s reliability and safety in extreme conditions, because wet down won’t loft. But DWR can wear off down just like it does on a shell fabric.

“We like to say that cleaning and waterproofing at least once a season is a best practice,” says Allen.

Caring for down insulation is similar to maintaining a technical shell, but you need to use a detergent that won’t strip away down’s natural oils. I use for an initial wash cycle. Then, I’ll reapply DWR to both the down and its shell fabric using . Just add Down Proof to the detergent dispenser for the second cycle.

Note that you shouldn’t wash down items in a top-loading machine fitted with an agitator. The central column can tear the fragile face fabrics used on ultralight down items and can even break apart the down clusters themselves. If you have one, consult its instructions to see if the agitator can be removed, or plan on visiting a laundromat.

The tricky thing with down isn’t washing or treating it, it’s drying. Down clumps when soaked, becoming time consuming to fully dry (which you absolutely must do before storing it). AnyĚýclumps need be fully broken up to evenly distribute the down.

Consult the care label before proceeding, but most down garments and bags can be tumble dried on low heat. Adding dryer balls or tennis balls to the dryer will gently break up the clumps and distribute the clusters. Plan on running down items through several dryer cycles until they are totally dry.

How to Clean and Re-Waterproof Gloves and Boots

Gloves and boots are often made from a mix of materials, including various types of natural and synthetic leathers, shell fabrics, and waterproof-breathable membranes. They’re a challenge to clean and care for, which can be frustrating, because gloves and boots are often exposed to mud, snot, salt, and other contaminants much more frequently than other items.

Allen recommends to start by keeping gloves and boots clean. Caked on mud and dirt can draw moisture out of leather and abrade fabrics. can help; it preserves DWR coatings and won’tĚýharm leather or synthetic fabrics. Nikwax also makes a product called , which applies a DWR to both types of material with an easy spray-on application.

For all or mostly-leather items, Allen recommends applying a leather conditioner if the material looks dry, then a waterproofing wax as is necessary.

For suede or rough-out leather footwear, I also swear by spray. Now I tromp through puddles and snow without worrying about your my suede shoes’ appearance and texture. To apply that, I just start by brushing boots clean, then saturating them with the spray. The suede boots I’ve protected with Suede Proof are many years old and have experienced the worst of winter weather in big cities, but still look like new.

Wes Siler has relied on technical clothing to keep him warm and dry through winter camping trips across places like Siberia, Iceland, Sweden, and near his home in Montana. He purchases only front-loading washing machines for the express purpose of washing his sleeping bags. You can ask Wes questions about his work on .Ěý

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“Dammit Wes,” a friend of mine shouted after I handed him my Swarovski binoculars for the first time. On my recommendation, he’d just splashed out $1,200 on some from another brand, and was so happy with them that he couldn’t believe mine would be noticeably better. But they were.

The phrase “the best” gets overused in gear reviews, but that’s exactly what these are: the best binoculars ever made. They’d better be, since they cost $2,999.

The Best Binoculars Ever Made Have a Price Tag to Match

NL Pure 10×42

How can Swarovski possibly justify that price for a piece of equipment that can costĚýas little as $70? There are a bunch of jargony technical reasons, but let’s start with the emotional one that’s most important to me: I love animals. The time, travel, and equipment it takes to spot, hunt, and admire wildlife accounts for a huge amount of my spending each year. I dedicate large parts of my time to slogging up and down mountains, paddling rivers, waking up before dawn, and going to bed wet, sore, and exhausted just for the opportunity of a fleeting glimpse of fauna in the wild. These Swarovski binoculars help me make the most of each sighting.

The optical quality of the lenses—glass that is free of distortion andĚýtransmits light equally across its entire surface. The Swarovski family, which also owns both a luxury crystal company and one that specializes in precision machine tools, has all the infrastructure in place to make high-quality glass. Swarovski treats the glass with coatings that protect it and amplify its performance in low light. Swarovski’s coatings eliminate reflection, directing as much light through the glass as possible. The protective layer prevents scratches and repels water and dirt, keeping the lenses clean.ĚýThen, on the prism (which corrects the image orientation from upside down to right side up), there’s a phase coating which ensures light passing through the Swarovski binoculars is directed perfectly toward your eye.

I’m particularly impressed by the NL Pure 10×42’s eyepiece lenses, which are designed to flatten the image reaching your eyes. Many lenses create a rolling ballĚýeffect, where objects appear larger in the center of the lens than they do near the edges. Not only does that effect distort the image, but it can create sort of a fun-house mirror sensation, causing dizziness and nausea over long periods of viewing. But the NL Pures display a perfectly flat field of view.

Then there’s the matter of what you can see through the lenses. As magnification increases, your field of view typically decreases. The purpose of binoculars is often simplified into image magnification. The “10” in the name NL Pure 10×42 represents how much magnification they provide. But even at ten-times magnification, these NL Pures display as broad a swath of the landscape as older eight-times Swarovski designs. Flying birds stay in the frame longer than on conventional ten-times magnified binoculars, making them easier to track. That field of view is so broad that you can often lose sight of it beyond your peripheral vision, so looking through the Swarovski binoculars doesn’t feel like looking through a toilet-paper tube.

The “42” in the name refers to the size of the objective lenses—the ones farthest away from your eyes. The more magnification an optic has, the less light reaches your eyes through it. However, the larger an objective lens is the more light reaches your eye. More light allowance into the binoculars improves the details you can see and the enhances the color resolution.

Every set of binoculars is a compromise between magnification, objective size, and overall size and weight. 10x42s are the ideal compromise for travel-size binoculars. You get plenty of magnification and light gathering, in a package that’s reasonably compact and lightweight.

Plus, these binoculars are incredibly svelte. Not only do the Swarovski NL Pures weigh less than 30 ounces, but the typical double bridge design of roof-prism binoculars has been replaced by a unified bridge. Their ergonomic shape—the tubes flatten into ovals halfway along, right where your hands want to grip the body—positions the focus wheel directly under your index finger. Typical of Swarovskis, a thick rubber armor adorns the entire body, offering a sure grip even in wet conditions or while wearing gloves.

That shape, the iconic Swarovski green, and the Northern Goshawk logo sets the NL Pures apart, visually, from lesser binoculars. And, I won’t lie, that’s also part of the appeal. Soon after I brought this pair home, my wife asked me why I wouldn’t put them down. “This is my Rolex,” I explained. Carrying these, in my mind, signals that I’m someone who takes wildlife seriously and is dedicated to enjoying time with the creatures of the forest. But unlike a fancy watch, these binoculars actually do something my phone can’t.

Unlike the larger, heavier, $5,330, animal-identifying, artificial intelligence-equipped Swarovski AX Visios, or other models equipped with laser rangefinders, these NL Pures are a simple, robust, purely mechanical device. There’s really nothing that can go wrong with them. In the two years I’ve had them, I’ve dropped them in the mud, banged them on trees and rocks, and dragged them everywhere from coastal Alaska to rural France to beaches in Baja, Mexico. In that time the only maintenance I’ve had to do was occasionally wipe the lenses with a cloth.

What’s it like to look through them? The crazy thing here is I can’t show you. No monitor, television, or printer in the world is capable of producing as crystal clear an image as is achieved by looking through this pair of Swarovski NL Pure binoculars. And no words describing how it feels like you’re standing ten times closer to whatever you’re looking at will ever do the experience justice. You just need to try a pair for yourself. But be warned: like my buddy found out, picking up a pair of Swarovskis will forever ruin your perception of all other binoculars.

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Winter adventures are a headache. It’s nearly impossible to stay warm and dry when you’re shifting between moving quickly with a heavy pack and then taking a rest beside a snowy trail. Down puffy jackets can be too warm when I’m on the go, and breathable midlayers aren’t warm enough when I stop. But after many years of searching, I’ve finally found one do-it-all layer, built with a revelatory new technology that checks all my boxes.

By combining the warmth of a midweight puffy with stellar breathability, this new heavyweight midlayer from Bozeman, Montana-based technical apparel maker Sitka does it all. Sitka developed a single upper body insulation piece that will keep you comfortable not just in very cold weather, but also while sitting inside a heated vehicle or building: the .

I’m wearing this miracle layer as I write on an airplane flying from Bozeman to Midland, Texas. When I left home this morning it was dumping snow, and 13 degrees Fahrenheit outside. It’s probably 70 degrees or so on this plane. When I land in Texas, it will be 50. And when I wake up tomorrow morning, somewhere out by Fluvanna, Texas,Ěý it’ll be 32. I’m wearing the Sitka Ambient 200 jacket over a light merino wool T-shirt. I won’t need to add or subtract a layer to remain comfortable throughout the duration of this trip, no matter if I’m hiking through the pre-dawn desert, riding around in a pickup truck, or sitting in a deer stand.

The Perfect Winter Jacket

Ambient 200

How does the Ambient 200 manage to provide insulation when you need it, and breathability when you don’t? It’s built with Primaloft Active. I’ve written about the material before. In short, its synthetic, recycled-polyester fibers mimic the structure of animal fur with an open, fuzzy construction. The loft created by that fur-like material traps a ton of warm air when you’re holding still. But as you increase the pressure inside that next-to-skin environment when your body moves and heats up, there is virtually no resistance as the warmth is pushed away from your body. That “fur” is housed inside a very light nylon face fabric that resists wind and precipitation without restricting breathability.

What makes this jacket different is that it’s much heavier than Sitka’s previous offerings, which have weighed anywhere from 75 to 150 grams-per-square-meter (GSM). The 75 weight is about as warm as a normal fleece jacket. The 150 GSM jacket is as warm as an ultralight puffy (and notable in its own right for that performance). This 200-GSM puffy? It’s as warm as the thickest insulated jacket you’d ever want to layer under a shell—but appropriate to wear in a huge variety of conditions.

Sitka is the only clothing maker serving the American market that currently uses Primaloft Active. The brand’s designer, John Barklow, was the guy who commissioned the creation of the Polartec Alpha back in the early aughts when he was designing clothing systems forĚýSpecial Operations Forces fighting the global war on terror. Twenty years later, very few consumer-facing brands have adopted Polartec Alpha, and Barklow has already moved the fabric technology game even further.

Primaloft Active maintains equivalent breathability to Polartec Alpha, a fabric light enough to barely be noticed, across a heavier range of fabric weights and insulation levels. So, in the Ambient 200, I get as much breathability as a lighter Alpha piece, with more than double the potential for warmth.

Planning to drive anywhere in sub-freezing weather this winter? Go ahead and crank your car’s heat up to 72, turn on your seat heater, and you’ll be totally comfortable wearing this thing over a light base layer. But when you step out to fill up with gas in 10–degree temperatures, you’ll remain comfortable.

Going skiing at a resort? I don’t know about you, but I need to carry a day pack that’s awkward and uncomfortable to wear on the lift. That way, I have a place to stick my puffy jacket when I get too warm.ĚýWith the Ambient 200, I won’t have to change layers on the mountain at all.

I can wear the Ambient 200 in and outdoors at home as I walk the dogs, chop firewood, shovel, and come back inside.

Primaloft Active wicks moisture outwards with incredible efficiency, thanks to the raw fibers of polyester. Polyester fibers can’t absorb water and have a small surface area (the end of the thread) where it touches your body or base layer. Thanks to the larger surface area along the length of that thread, surface tension draws moisture outwards and spreads it out so that water can evaporate. Primaloft Active works with your technical base layers to keep you dry.

A very light 20-denier nylon ripstop shell enables Sitka’s Ambient range to shed a little wind or precipitation without adding any additional bulk or restricting breathability when worn under a shell. A wind-resistant shell (like a rain or ski jacket), adds at least 10 degrees Fahrenheit of additional comfort.

Venting heat when you’re moving, wicking moisture away from your skin, providing a truly significant level of insulation when you need it turns the Sitka Ambient 200 into a multitool for cold weather comfort. If you see me skiing, hiking, driving, chopping wood, or working outdoors this winter, I’ll be wearing the Ambient 200.

Wes Siler is your guide to leading a more exciting life in the great outdoors. AsĚýşÚÁĎłÔąĎÍř’sĚýoutdoor lifestyle columnist, he writes about the intersections of science, news, politics, gear, vehicles and travel, empowering readers to better understand the world they’re recreating in. Wes lives in the mountains with his wife, Virginia McQueen, and their three rescue dogs.

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For the last decade, I’ve been brining my Thanksgiving turkeys in champagne. The technique has produced delicious, consistent results from campsites in Big Sur, California, and Baja, Mexico—and in everything from frying oil to pellet grills to standard home ovens. To prove champagne’s efficacy in producing a juicy, tender bird, I tested a champagne brine against a typical water-based one.

Last weekend, I drove over to our local supermarket in Bozeman, Montana, and picked up two of their cheapest $2.99-a-pound turkeys, as close in weight to each other as I could find. I wanted to design this experiment I wanted to design this experiment in a way that controlled for as many variables as possible and set up a worst-case scenario, in which the brine would be the only flavor factor in the roasted turkey.

Turkey is a difficult bird to cook. Not only are turkeys large—each of the birds I bought was 14 pounds—but they also contain both light and dark meat. Tender, more exposed meat in the breast will cook faster than the tougher, tucked-away meat in the legs and thighs, which creates a significant risk of overcooking the white meat while you wait for the dark stuff to come up to temperature. That dries out the breasts and results in the chewy, flavorless bites of turkey we’ve all come to associate with Thanksgiving.

Why Brine a Turkey?

Salt breaks down the proteins in meat, making the textureĚýmore tender. At the same time, a brine can help infuse a bird with flavor, and adding liquids can help keep it moist while cooking.

There areĚýtwo main methods of brining a turkey: wet and dry.

A dry brine involves rubbing the outside and cavity of a turkey with kosher salt, dried herbs, and spices. ItĚýdraws moisture out of the meat, where it mixes with the salt, which is then transported back into the meat as the moisture is reabsorbed from the surface. Dry brining. produces a crispy skin and takes less effort than a wet brine, but it also struggles to fully infuse all parts of a big turkey with moisture and flavor.

To make a wet brine, dissolve kosher salt in boiling water, along with fresh aromatics like fruit peels, garlic, and herbs. You then submerge the turkey in the liquid at room temperature, and and place it in the refrigerator or outdoors if it’s cold enough for anywhere from 12 to 24 hours. This bath permeates all parts of the meat with salt, breaking down those proteins and infusing flavor throughout the turkey. Pat the bird dry and let it drain, then roast. Don’t worry: lots of this liquid remains present during the cook, adding steam and the additional moisture and flavor it brings to an otherwise dry oven or grill.

How Does Champagne Affect a Turkey?

Brining a turkey in champagneĚýdoes three things. Alcohol helps tenderize meat by breaking down collagen. Champagne’s mild fruit flavors also infuse the meat, pairing well with turkey itself along with the herbs, vegetables, and stuffing you use for seasoning and sides. Plus, the champagneĚýhelps create flavorful drippings you can use to make a better gravy. Finally, champagne is acidic. That acid is yet another tenderizer that leads to a flavorful roast turkey.

There’s no reason to use anything other than the cheapest champagne you can find. The less subtle flavors and greater acidity will actually work better than the nice stuff. I used AndrĂ©ĚýBrut simply because, at $7.39 a bottle, it was the most affordable stuff on the shelves at my grocery store. AndrĂ© comes from California and not the champagne region of France and cannot technically be called champagne, it does the job just fine.

How Do You Wet Brine a Turkey?

First, make sure you don’t buy a pre-brined turkey. This should be prominently labeled on the packaging, or is something you should ask your butcher about if you’re buying a bird straight from a meat counter. The words, “kosher,” “enhanced,” or self-basting,” can also be understood to mean pre-brined.

You can find pre-made brining kits for turkeys which contain measured portions of salts, spices, and herbs that you just add to boiling water. But fresh ingredients are always going to taste better, and making your own brine allows you to to tailor it to your own unique tastes.

The most important step is dissolving salt in water. To do that, you just need to start with a ratio of four parts of water to one part kosher salt. This will give us a base brine to which we can add our champagne or water later. Bring that water to a boil, pour in the salt, let it return to a boil, then turn the heat off and let the solution cool to room temperature. You don’t want to submerge a bird in hot water; doing so can lead to bacteria growth.

For this taste test, I kept the brine simple. To that base brine, I just added orange and lemon peels, garlic cloves, peppercorns, and some chopped-up sage and bay leafs. Once that’d cooled, I placed the turkeys in a brining bag, rested them in their foil roasting trays to support the weight and catch any leaks, then poured additional water on one turkey and champagne over the other until each was fully submerged. When you add enough water (or champagne) to fully submerge the turkeys and further dilute your brine, you should end with a salt-to-water ratio of around 1:16.

The only variable here is that one turkey was submerged in brine and water, and the other was submerged in brine and champagne. It took five bottles of champagne to fully submerge one of the turkeys. I simply put the other bird under a cold kitchen sink tap in its brining bag, and didn’t measure how much water it took to fully cover it.

You can (and should!) add more stuff to your brine. Ingredients from Worcestershire sauce to chicken broth, herbs, and spices are all common, and will all add flavor to your end result. Again, I tried to keep this cook as simple as possible so nothing else was working to mask the effect of the different liquids.

What Cooking Methods Work with a Champagne Brine?

The answer to that is simple: Every method I’ve tried works well with a champagne brine. When I prepare a turkey in camp, I prefer to use a propane-fueled fryer, simply because it’s the easiest thing to transport and use outdoors. If you’re frying, just take extra care to fully dry the bird, inside and out, before sticking it in the hot oil. The wet brine should help ensure the turkey is defrosted, and can be transported to a campsite or patio in a small cooler or lidded five-gallon bucket.

At home, I prefer to use a pellet grill due to the controlled level of moisture present in quality wood pellets. But I’ve also cooked champagne-brined turkey on my Big Green Egg using lump charcoal with excellent results.

For this cook, with the goal of testing champagne’s effectiveness in the worst possible circumstances, I simply used the ovens in my kitchen. I pre-heated both ovens to 350 degreesĚýFahrenheitĚý(without any convection), filled the cavities with wedges of the leftover fruit, brushed a stick of melted butter over the top of each, and baked them until done.

Prior to 2008, the USDA recommended cooking turkeys until a thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh reached 180 degrees Fahrenheit. But that recommendation was updated in 2008 to 165 degrees. That lower temperature should result in a moister bird, but I cooked both turkeys through to 180 degrees to account for a worst-case scenario.

The mad scientist in me was pleased when the probes in both birds registered 180 degrees at the exact same time. That meant both ovens were heating consistently with each other,Ěýan indication that I’d managed to remove one more variable from the result.

Can a Champagne Brine Really Produce a Juicier Bird?

I pulled the turkeys out of the oven, and rested them on my stove top for 15 minutes before carving. One difference was immediately apparent: the skin on the water-brined bird was noticeably crisper, and more deeply browned. My theory there is that the champagne broke down the skin on its bird that much more. While irrelevant toĚýflavor, this did represent less than ideal presentation. If oven cooking a champagne-brined bird, it may be a good idea to add some honey to the melted butter before you brush it on the bird, which should help its skin crisp up and look a little darker.

But that one downside disappeared as soon as I sliced into the breasts. There, the water-brined bird displayed noticeably more separation between muscle fibersĚýand was visibly less juicy. Biting into that water-brined bird took more effort, and the bite contained less flavor.

In contrast, the champagne-brined turkey was visibly juicy, with no separation between muscle fibers. The bite was tender, and was noticeably moreĚýflavorful.

While the dark meat in both birds was similar in appearance, the tenderness and flavor was again far superior on the champagne-brined turkey.

I ended up throwing out the water-brined turkey, but carved and saved the champagne-brined one. I’ll make a turkey sandwich for lunch after finishing this article. Even with such a basic cooking method, in which no additional flavoring from herbs or spices was added, the champagne brine produced a turkey I’d be happy serving to dinner guests. Its level of tenderness was as good as I expect from better equipment and more elaborate recipes, and its nice, but somewhat bland flavor could have been masked with a good gravy.

Can You Serve a Champagne-Brined Turkey to Children?

As with other cooking methods that include wine, beer, cider, or liquor, the alcohol cooks off with temperature and time. There should be no alcohol content remaining in the final dish.

Can You Taste the Champagne?

Flavor-wise, there were some faint notes of fruitiness in the meat of the champagne-brined turkey that weren’t present in the water-brined one. But that could be explained as much by the champagne better transporting the flavor of the orange and lemon peels into the juicier meat as it could by anything remaining of the booze. I certainly couldn’t detect any strong flavor of champagne or alcohol.

By spending $37 on champagne, I meaningfully increased the quality of my Thanksgiving turkey—without relying on my preferred cooking methods or added seasoning. Consider a champagne brine as an additional step to your favorite recipe. Paired with a superior cooking method like grilling or frying, a champagne-brine can help elevate your results to new levels.

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Sometimes it feels like the outdoorsperson in your life is surrounded by a mass of tools, widgets, flannels, and doo-dads. When the holidays come around and it’s time to hunt for a gift for that scruffy loved one, finding something they don’t already own is impossible. Your last brilliant idea appeared on their desk last week, the next one they just bought; it’s coming via FedEx tomorrow. At last, you’re about to give up, exasperated.

But luckily you came here. I’m that demanding outdoorsman, the one who has already purchasedĚýall of my favorite toys. Fear not though, my wishlist is long and I always have a few special items saved for the giving season. I made this gift guide for you—and your maddening outdoorsperson. Here are the items I’d be delighted to find under the tree I’ll cut down myself.

A Really Nice Duffel Bag

Bubba Goose Large Duffel Bag

A few years ago, veteran product designer Delian Scudder discovered a treasure trove of deadstock kevlar-reinforced nylon laminate fabric originally meant for high-end sailcloth. He bought a stack and set about hand-stitching duffel bags, totes, and pouches from it. Scudder’s bags are as light, strong, and distinct as they come. And, for such transparently high–quality bags that look as good in an airport lounge as they do in a gym or truck, they’re surprisingly affordable. The large Bubba Goose Duffle—the brand is named after Scudder’s bull dog—is $180 andĚýdrew envious looks when I used it as my carry-on for a week-long trip to Paris last June.

The Best Multitool

Leatherman Arc Multitool

Tim Leatherman invented the multitool in the early eighties, and the company he still runs continues to make the most innovative, highest quality tools in its Portland, Oregon, factory. But if you’ve ever used one, you’re not going to expect the slick execution the company achieved with its latest design: the Leatherman Arc. Based around the one-handed opening Free P4, the Arc ups material quality with its black steel chassis and the inclusion of a MagnaCut knife blade. MagnaCut is the latest, greatest supersteel that’s been dominating the high-end knife world of late thanks to its ideal blend of edge retention, ease of sharpening, and resistance to chipping. Anyone who likes knives or works with their hands will see the Arc as a major upgrade.

Warm Hands

Beyond Guide Glove

Leather gloves give you much better grip, dexterity, and abrasion resistance than synthetic alternatives. Leather gloves soften over time and can be waterproofed again and again, allowing them to develop a patina and stay in use for years. I’ve been wearing these Guide Gloves since 2021 where I liveĚýin Montana for skiing and chopping wood at the cabin. They’ve kept my hands warm through sub-zero temperatures thanks to 50 grams of Primaloft Gold insulation with Cross Core technology, the warmest synthetic insulation for its thickness out there—one that continues to insulate when compressed thanks to air-trapping Aerogel embedded into its fibers.

A Classy Knife

GiantMouse GMF4

Designed in Denmark and made in Italy, the GiantMouse GMF4 feels like something you’d find in the MoMA gift shop. Don’t let the design fool you: this knife works as hard outdoors as its 5.6-inch blade and full-tang design suggest it will. The red canvas micarta handle is contoured to provide a comfortable, slip-free grip. The GMF4 is the perfect size for a belt knife—big enough to split firewood but not so large thatĚýit’s awkward to carry.

Cozy Feet

The North Face Thermoball Traction Bootie

At the end of a long day on the slopes or the trail or at the worksite the outdoorsperson in your life is going to want to take their boots off. Even if they’re hanging out around a campfire, sleeping outdoors, or chasing the après scene, they’re still going to need to negotiate slippery, wet surfaces in chilly weather. The North Face’s Thermoball Traction Booties are easy to slip on, very warm, and provide a surefooted step on surfaces like slick roots or icy stairs. And, at 8.5 ounces per-bootie, they’re light and compressible enough to bring along in a day pack. Available in a range of fun colors, I take mine everywhere from elk camp to the ski lodge.

A Genuinely Warm Blanket

Aeronaut Hoverquilt

Most puffy throw blankets sacrifice warmth and quality in pursuit of a low price point. The Hoverquilt is constructed like a high quality 15-degree sleeping bag. It’s complete with box-baffle construction, 700-fill Reliable Down Standard-certified down, and a full perimeter draft tube, ensuring excellent performance in harsh outdoor settings. Whether it’s for summer camping trips, a chilly lodge, emergency winter backup in a car or truck, or just draped over the back of a couch, the Hoverquilt brings tangible warmth to any environment.

Long Distance Nighttime Vision

Olight Baton Turbo

Most flashlights and headlamps prioritize a wide beam of light that works to illuminate a broad area but struggles to reach even 100 yards in distance. Not this little Olight Baton Turbo, which fits in the palm of your hand but features a tight spot beam that throws light 550 yards into the darkness. The Baton Turbo’s performance makes it uniquely useful for nighttime security, where it can illuminate wildlife or intruders before they become an immediate threat. NighttimeĚýwalks in grizzly country have never felt as safe.

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Two weeks ago a buddy and I went on an overnight hunting trip in the Montana wilderness. While we were searching for elk, we spotted the aurora borealis. That, and a whole heap of early-season snow. Luckily, we came prepared. We eschewed latest ultralight technical fabrics and relied upon a century-old technology. I’m talking about a cotton canvas tent.

The best cold weather technical clothing prioritizes one performance metric above all others: breathability. Moving moisture away from your body keeps you comfortable and allows insulation to do its job. So why isn’t it common for us to ask the same of our tents? That’s the idea behind cotton canvas, a classic tent material that’s making a comeback.

If you’ve ever spent a sleepless night shivering in a cold, damp plastic tent, you’ll understand the problem. While silicon-coated nylon and other ultralight materials used by most major outdoor brands deliver extraordinary packability and value, their entirely-waterproof nature tends to keep any moisture that gets inside, well, inside. And that’s not just a problem when it’s raining. Human bodies produce about of moisture in an average night.

Canvas Tents Work as a System with Stoves

Your base layers and waterproof-breathable hardshells don’t evacuate moisture on their own. Your clothing relies on heat produced by your body to create a pressure differential with the outside environment to force moisture outwards. Canvas tents work the same way. It’s important to think of them as part of a system.

The material itself makes this pairing possible. Cotton canvas is naturally heat– and flame–Ěýresistant (note that I didn’t say “proof!”), so with a reasonable amount of care, it’s safe to house a wood-burning stove inside a canvas tent. —a family-owned tentmaker based in Wisconsin—recommends keeping the stove at least 20 inches from the fabric tent body. Should you use a floor, camp on a sensitive surface, or set your floorless tent on a frozen lake to use as an ice fishing shelter (something I plan to do this winter), then a heat-reflective, spark-proof mat can protect the groundĚýfrom heat and embers.

Tents designed to work with stoves will also feature chimney jacks, made from flame- and heat-proof materials like silicone. These allow the stove’s chimney to passĚýthrough the tent without damaging the fabric.

Get a fire going inside a stove, and the chimney will pull smoke away from the tentĚýwhile the stove’s metal body radiates heat. Just like a radiator you’ll find in an older building, that heat is entirely dry. In cool to cold weather, the warm air created by the stove forces moisture through the canvas, creating an exceptionally dry environment inside the tent.

If you’re picturing a sauna-like experience here you’re not wrong. Snowtrekker actually makes a dedicated version of their tent designed to work as a portable sauna. But while camping, you don’t need to keep the fire burning that hot.

Cotton’s Unique Properties Help Keep Things Dry

Worn on your body, untreated cotton has deservedly earned it’s “cotton kills” reputation.ĚýCotton fibers are hollow inside, and carry a slight negative charge. Water molecules carry a slight positive charge. That means cotton can absorb up to , then become really difficult to dry out. And, next to your skin, soaked cotton will keep you wet, potentially leading to hypothermia.

Move that fabric away from your skin to the tent bodyĚýand cotton’s propensity to soak up moisture can actually help keep you dry. Canvas weaves leave gaps between the individual fibers. This is great for breathability, but can let heavy rain through. But cotton swells when it soaks up all that moisture, so cotton canvas’ water resistance actually improves as it gets wetter.

Canvas Is Strong, Repairable, and Durable

While nylon is stronger than cotton, that comparison is only for fabrics of equivalent weights. Most silicon-coated nylon tents measure between . A single strand of silk is one Denier. Most cotton canvas tent fabrics are measured in ounces per square yard rather than Denier, but the stuff used for tents typically work out around 900 Denier. That’s to say these things are thick, burly, and yes, heavy.

And while that weight means a canvas tent is never going to compare to a SilNylon alternative for backpacking, the upside is we’re talking about a very strong fabric.

Fabric strength is especially important for canvas tents because they’re designed to be lived in rather than only slept in, and must be much larger as a result. Inside a canvas tent, in bad weather, you’re going to want room to stand up, dry clothing, cook, and hang out. Plus you’ve got to leave room for a stove—and that 20-inch safety gap around it. Paired with a strong aluminum or steel pole structure, the heavy canvas fabric creates a resilient structure that can withstand weather in a way thatĚýthe flexible poles and thin fabrics of backpacking tents could never achieve.

Cotton canvas has other benefits. First, you can patch it. Holes can happen, especially during transportation. But with cotton, you’re never further away from repair than a few minutes with a needle and thread, or .

While exposure to sunlight, weather, and general wear-and-tear can shorten the lifetime of nylon tents to a few years, quality cotton canvas tents should last one orĚýtwo decades when cared for properly. Longevity isĚýgood, considering cotton-canvas tentsĚýrequire a significant upfront investment.

I own two canvas tents because each can perform a unique job.

The Portable Option

(from $2,500)

I’m six-foot-two and 200 pounds, my buddy Connor is six-foot-eight and 260 pounds. I wanted a tent large enough for two big guys like us to comfortably stand up inside, sleep on cots, hang clothing to dry, cook, and hang out during late season hunts. And I wanted that tent, along with its stove, to pack down small enough that it could be carried into the backcountry on a single quad bike, in a single trip.

I also wanted a tent that could easily be towed on a plastic sled by a single person on snowshoes or skis for winter camping trips in and around Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks—all the while accommodating two couples on ground pads.

Those are wildly divergent, somewhat conflicting requirements. Most canvas wall tents this large require transport by truck or pack mule. But Snowtrekker has two major technical advantages—along with some unique design details—that boost their tents’ portability.

Snowtrekker uses a proprietary cotton canvas that measures out at a very-strong seven ounces, but is much thinner than the fabrics used for most other canvas tents. That helps the tent body pack up small, something aided by the steeply-sloped roof, short side walls, and floorless design. It’s an efficient design that uses the least amount of fabric possible to cover such a large internal area.

Duane and Margot Lottigs, the couple who founded the company, also worked with Easton Aluminum to develop a unique pole frame that pairs a narrow wedge with wide guylines to maximize space with minimal material. Other clever design touches are everywhere, from plastic guyline clips made from a material that won’t crack even in temperatures as low as negative 60 Fahrenheit,Ěýto wraparound snowflaps that enable you to set the tent up without stakes in deep snow.

The tentĚýmeasures 13-by-13 feet at its footprint and 9 feet, 7 inches at its ridge pole, but weighs just 37.5 pounds (without the stove), and packs into a 13-gallon plastic tote.

Connor and IĚýset up this tent during truly awful conditions: unbelievably heavy, wet snow combined with 50 mile-per-hourĚýwinds, the MegaCrew never felt anything but secure. Snow did accumulate on the tent’s roof and cause notable sagging, and the fire burned out when we were out chasing elk around. Just a few whacks with pine boughs righted the tentĚýto its original shape once we returned to camp.

Something Semi-Permanent

($1,500)

Last summer, Connor and his wife bought a 40-acre property a few hours north of our homes in Bozeman, Montana with plans to build a yurt with help from their friends. But when his wife got pregnant, we went looking for a structure that’d be easy to put up but still but was still comfortable and reliable, even in Montana’s often extreme winter conditions. This bell tent was the answer.

The unique thing about bell tents is their shape. Instead of a frame, there’s only a single central pole, which is then staked out in all directions, kind of like a circus tent. The resulting cone shape is exceptionally stable in wind, no matter which direction it blows from. Since all loads travel straight down through that vertical steel pole, the tent also resists heavy snow. WhiteDuck adds a short section of vertical wall beneath that cone, which is full of zippered windows backed by bug mesh, or which can be entirely rolled up out of the way. The canvas is aĚýthick, strong 11-ounce cotton.

WhiteDuck also features a zip-in PVC bathtub floor. We planned to install the tent on a deck, which provides a stable, level platform, and also a structure with which to securely anchor such a large tent. Wind would blow through the gaps between the boards with a floorless design, but WhiteDuck’s burly PVC entirely blocks it, keeping the interior cozy.

With a 16.5-foot diameter, and 9-foot, 8-inch peak height, there’s room insideĚýfor a full-size Exped MegaMat Duo sleeping pad resting on a folding metal bed frame, plus the wood stove, camp chairs, and plenty of outdoors gear. It’s positively luxurious for a couple, but gets tight in there if we add another single-person cot. I camped in it alone through most of archery season this fall, and felt like I was sleeping in a palace.

And while far from packable at about 120 pounds (it took two of us to carry the box it came in ten feet from the truck to the deck), the level of strength and quality of the AvalonĚýis reassuring. So far it’s withstood a 60 mile-per-hourĚýwindstorm without even a single guyline loosening.

A Versatile Stove

(from $380)

I originally bought one of these for the Snowtrekker and have found it so indispensable that IĚýbought a second for the WhiteDuck. I wanted to retain the ability to drag the Snowtrekker places, even while the other tent is set up on Connor’s property.

Made from 22-gauge steel that strikes a compromise between durability and weight, and measuring 22 inches long inside, the Alaskan Deluxe is large enough to fit pieces of commercial firewood without further chopping or cutting. It can hold three or four logsĚýat once, which, when paired with the right damper settings, can deliver all-night fires. It weighs 18 pounds.

One of the best things about having a wood-burning stove in your tent that you can cook meals or heat up drinks without using an additional camping burner. Bacon and eggs fry right up in a pan set on top, while a side-mounted 1.9-gallon tank keeps water just below boiling for easy tea or hot cocoa preparation. All of those parts, plus the chimney sections, pack inside the stove for transportation.

But a cotton canvas tent and a metal woodstove is a lot of weight, space, and money. Is it worth it? When I don’t take it camping, winter temperatures tend to make me rush through dinner in order to get inside my sleeping bag as soon as possible. With this setup, I’m lounging and taking my time to change clothes and cook. In the mornings I’m putting on warm clothes that have dried out overnight, enjoying a relaxed cup of coffee, and then hitting the trail more rested and ready to go than I am through most of the summer. It’s an experience that approaches the comforts of home, way out in the mountains.

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