What’s better than owning a piece of history? Owning a piece of history with 22-karat gold inlay. This December, TREK is offering Lance Armstrong’s gold-trimmed, carbon-fiber LIVESTRONG MADONE SL in a limited production run of 600 bikes. The price includes an autographed poster of the Man riding the original model into Paris this past July. $10,000; 800-313-8735,
Holiday Gift Guide
for gift ideas (both to give and receive), all-season swag selected by the Gear Guy, and more.Steel
(A) G3’s BONESAW will carve out an avalanche test pit in a jiff—and handily slice up blocks of the white stuff for the neighborhood igloo party. $39; 866-924-9048, (B) Empty your kitchen-gadget drawer into the trash; all you need is the VICTORINOX SWISSTOOL SPIRIT. $70; 800-442-2706, (C) Liberate your wrist: The ORIS ARTELIER POCKET WATCH vanishes discreetly into its leather belt case. $825; 914-347-6747, (D) BAKODA’s HOLY SMOKES snowboard multitool can help you make quick slopeside adjustments to bindings and, um, your attitude. $14; 206-762-2955, (E) Mix up some holiday cheer with OXO’s sleek and modern—yet bargain-priced—COCKTAIL SHAKER. $25; 800-545-4411, (F) No self-respecting gent should venture out into the cold without some liquid warmth. Tote yours in SWAROVSKI’s svelte leather-and-stainless SALUTE 101 flask. $277; 800-426-3089, (G) Is it time to really make an entrance? Crash the party Batman style, swinging from CMI-GEAR’s GRAPPLING HOOK. $104; 800-247-5901, (H) At seven foot five from wheel to wheel, the SHIZZLE, from SHIZZLE BIKES, is a boardwalk Cadillac. $400; 877-744-9953,
Wood
(A) With white ash frames and rawhide webbing, the MICHIGAN TRAPPERS, from IVERSON SNOWSHOE, are about as old-school as pow rackets can get. $140; 906-452-6370, (B) Rule the hills atop the ULTIMATE FLYER, a steerable snow rocket from MOUNTAIN BOY SLEDWORKS. $130; 970-799-2571, (C) The VIPER, from BENDING BRANCHES, offers canoeists a blade of basswood and willow with a double-bent shaft. $150; 866-755-3405,
(D) Rule the pipe and the park on the RIDE KINK—a minimalist twin-tip snowboard crafted to be ultraresponsive. $360; 800-757-5806, (E) Up the stakes in your snowball war with the hand-whittled JACK SPADE SLINGSHOT, sure to be the undoing of your opponents. $50; 212-625-1820, (F) You’d have to drop trou to draw attention away from your retro BOGNER bamboo CARVING SKIS; matching poles with leather baskets round out this sixties-movie-star setup. $3,000; 303-913-1981,
Leather
2004 Holiday Gift Guide
(A) ANDREW MARC’s lambskin BAROMETER jacket is sharp and smart. The Schoeller lining regulates your temperature, soft-shell style. $775; 888-424-6272, (B) The VAJA I-VOLUTION IVOD REMIXED is simply the most stylish case you can buy for your iPod 4G Remixed, and it’s offered in 66 color combos. $70–$145; (C) Don’t let the retro-futuristic aesthetic trip you up: OVO’s BI-ATCH is one high-performance ski-and-board helmet, with removable ear inserts and adjustable pads. $100; 877-686-8725, (D) Call NIKE ACG’s AIR ROACH ROCK an approach shoe incognito. The sartorial design cloaks an air-suspension midsole and sticky-rubber outsole. $80; 800-806-6453, (E) Built with brass hardware and durable Vachetta Italian leather, the COLE HAAN SQUARE DUFFEL carry-on restores dignity to 21st-century travel. $595; 800-201-8001, (F) ANON’s FIGMENT pimps up an already super-bomber goggle with leather trim. $70–$100; 800-881-3138,
Plastic
2004 Holiday Gift Guide
(A) PATAGONIA’s ultrawarm CLASSIC RETRO CARDIGAN is made mostly from reincarnated soda bottles. $169; 800-638-6464, (B) Hard plastic on the sides of the TUSA TRI-EX FINS gives divers Aquaman power. $89; 562-498-3708, (C) A BROKE DOWN MELODY, from surf-DVD makers Moonshine Conspiracy, offers action from Kelly Slater. $30; 805-648-6633, (D) FOX’s 911 KNEE/SHIN GUARDS will help keep your tibias intact during those dicey mountain-bike descents. $60; 888-772-2242, (E) Juggling seven things in the dark? Throw a beam on each with GERBER’s LED INFERNO FLEXI-LIGHT. $57; 800-950-6161, (F) The GARMONT ADRENALIN AT boot is stiff on the blacks yet forgiving on climbs. $629; 800-943-4453, (G) Take to the creeks in the WAVESPORT ZG, an advanced boat offering plenty of bounce. $999; 800-311-7245,
Titanium
2004 Holiday Gift Guide
(A) Brew a great mug of joe with SNOW PEAK’s FRENCH CAFÉ PRESS. $50; 503-697-3330, (B) “No, I’m sorry, you can’t borrow my pen. It’s a MARLEN 20TH ANNIVERSARY HTF, handcrafted from fiberglass, titanium, and gold.” $975; 866-726-8736, (C) The metal inside MARKER’s TITANIUM 13.0 PISTON CONTROL TURBO SKI BINDING keeps these click-ins light. $425; 800-453-3862, (D) DUTCHGUARD’s TITANIUM CROWBAR is one cool wrecking tool. $60; 800-821-5157, (E) TAG HEUER’s hinge-free REFLEX sunglasses are Riviera-ready. $230–$285; 800-345-3733, (F) Both the frame and spools of L.H. DESIGN’s SILVER SHADOW TITANIUM REEL are machined from a single piece of titanium bar stock. $1,800; 866-223-8300, (G) Blast ’em straight and true down the fairway with CALLAWAY’s BIG BERTAH II 415 DRIVER, an update of a club first issued in 1991. $500; 800-588-9836,
Wool
2004 Holiday Gift Guide
(A) The extended tail on REI’s new NORDIC TRAIL WOOLY sweater helps keep your backside toastier. $89; 800-426-4840, (B) Even your digits deserve merino: Sheathe them with IBEX GLOVE LINERS before hitting the slopes. $25; 800-773-9647, (C) It wicks! It warms! PATAGONIA’s AXUWOOL CREW heats the skin with merino and faces down the elements with Capilene. $80; 800-638-6464, (D) New Zealand’s alpine ungulates contribute their very best fuzz for the urban-cool ICEBREAKER ROCK ZIP. $119; 866-363-7466, (E) Go loud and proud in WOOLRICH’s red-and-black-plaid MALONE PANTS. $99; 800-966-5372, (F) The wool-blend TONIC, from Hood River–based ski-lid newcomer PISTIL DESIGNS, packs lively hues and a microfleece liner. $22; 541-387-3306, (G) L.L. BEAN’s COMMANDO SWEATER has ruled the ice-fishing scene for 30 years—and will doubtless dominate winter for decades to come. $49; 800-441-5713,
Silicon
(A) With rubberized corners and shockproof innards, GOVIDEO’s OFF-ROAD DVD player can handle even Texas-scale turbulence. $250; 800-736-7679, (B) OAKLEY’s THUMP elegantly tucks a 256MB digital music player—holding about four hours’ worth of tunes—into a pair of sport-ready shades. $495; 800-431-1439, (C) BUSHNELL’s NIGHTHAWK takes the clunk factor out of night-vision gear with 14 infrared diodes coupled with a swiveling LCD view screen. $200; 800-423-3537,
(D) MOTOROLA’s globe-roaming RAZR V3 cell phone offers the slender profile of a credit card, plus a nickel-plated, chemically etched keypad. $350; 866-289-6686, (E) The OLYMPUS STYLUS VERVE is the iMac of digicams—choose red, orange, blue, silver, titanium, or basic black. $350; 888-553-4448, (F) Uplink to Elvis—or just his dedicated satellite-radio station—with the XACT XTR1 STREAM JOCKEY receiver. Requires $50 docking station and antenna. $100; 866-466-9228, (G) The all-in-one PDA comes of age in the HEWLETT-PACKARD IPAQ POCKET PC H6315, which combines digital camera, cell phone, and Web browser—then drops it all neatly in your shirt pocket. $600; 888-999-4747, (H) Get your fix on the grid in seconds via GARMIN’s ETREX LEGEND C, a handheld, high-res, full-color GPS genie. $375; 800-800-1020,
Carbon
2004 Holiday Gift Guide
(A) Grab AT’s XCEPTION SL 25.6-ounce touring paddle and churn water fatigue-free for days. $400; 877-766-4757, (B) Keep your head in the game—and off the rocks—with the SWEET ROOSTER, a carbon-fiber-reinforced whitewater lid. $260; (C) DB brings us the SURREAL skis, boards that sandwich carbon fiber and Kevlar. $880; (D) Tour up and tear down with a pair of adjustable CARBON FIBER FLICKLOCK POLES from BLACK DIAMOND. $90; 801-278-5552, (E) Taunt the peloton with CARNAC’s gorgeous M5 CARBON roadie shoes, which weave microfiber and carbon and weigh ten measly ounces apiece. $360; 800-654-8052, (F) NRS CREEK GLOVES will save your knuckles and give Krazy Glue grip. $75; 800-635-5202,