Thankskiing

Aliza hiking up the Palmer Snowfield with Mt. Jefferson in the background

I’m thankful for a lot of things in my life, not the least is the fact that I get to go skiing pretty regularly. It’s easy to forget what a privilege it is to ski. Most people don’t ski. Even fewer have the skills, time, and experience to ski the backcountry. Those of us that do ski the backcountry are pretty damn lucky, and sometimes it’s good to be reminded of that.

I’m also pretty lucky that I’ve grown up in a family that not only encouraged my backcountry pursuits, but they have regularly been a part of them. 

Gear Review: CiloGear 30z Field Review

This is an update to my previous review of the CiloGear 30z (see here) 

If you grew up playing with legos, tinkertoys, or k’nex, this is probably the pack for you. One could spend hours tinkering to arrange the perfect strap system on the pack. That said, the 30z is a simple pack, and it takes about two minutes to set up the pack with standard compression straps.

So far, I’ve carried my CiloGear 30z on Mt. Washington and Mt. Shasta. Total, I’ve had the pack on my back for around 20 hours, and I think I have a pretty good sense of the pack’s capabilites. On Mt. Washington a few weeks ago,  we had skis, boots, and all our mountaineering gear in and on our packs, which probably totaled out to close to 30 lbs. Before that, I brought the pack up Mt. Shasta to 12,300 feet. 

Gear Review: CiloGear 30z Ski Pack

I gotta’ have a pack that works. There’s nothing worse than a pack that doesn’t fit well (except maybe boots that don’t fit well) or a pack that doesn’t carry what you need it to carry. In my experience, a ski mountaineering pack must be able to carry all sorts of weirdly shaped crap: skis, crampons, helmets, shovels, probes…this list goes on. I have been on a quest in search of the perfect mountaineering pack, and I’m hoping I’ve found it in my new Cilogear 30z ski pack. This review provides my initial impressions of the pack. I’ll update it after my trip to Mt. Shasta this weekend.

Cilogear is a Portland based pack company that departs from the standard "made in china" manufacturing and distribution. All Cilogear packs are manufactured in their shop in Portland, and most packs are made on order. The packs are not custom, they just don’t keep much of an inventory. Typically it takes about three weeks for them to fill orders when they’re busy, so if you’re in the market for a Cilogear pack, order it well before your next trip.

The website is www.cilogear.com