Reviews by User: Steve Brain (23)

Very happy with these gloves. The liners are nice because they're softshell, so just used them for skinning up whilst it was snowing. Kept my hands drier than the normal fleece type liners. The shells are designed really well to make it easy to tighten / loosen the draw strings.

Bought a pair and I think they're great. They're soft enough to turn in tight spots but plenty stable at speed. I found them pretty adaptable to all conditions when skiing Whistler and hitting the groomers is the way out at the bottom. I ski around 35-40 days per year, so was a little daunted by the 195cm pro-ski models of some of the fat skis. These in the 190cm length were a good choice - I found them a great upgrade from my Dynastar 8800's.

I bought these at the start of last season. They allow great peripheral vision and rarely get fogged up when used with a helmet. The one downside is that they scratch very easily, partly because the lens is the first thing that touch ski edges in lift lines, etc. After waiting & searching for a long time, I was able to buy two replacement lenses online as I love these goggles.

Bought one of these because it fitted my short term need (device for glacier travel/crevasse rescue). As soon as I started a mountaineering course I realized I needed an XP for rappelling. The folks are correct who ask why limit yourself?

I love these boots - great flex and plenty stiff enough. I'm 6ft 200lbs,I am a borderline advanced/expert skiier, and ski around 35 days per year. To be honest I was concerned these might be too stiff, but I'm really pleased with my choice. Can certainly flex the boot fine, even on 15F days. Make my backcountry boots (Garmont Axom) seem puny in comparison. One disclosure, I bought mine from Surefoot with their customer liners - I have narrow feet and the fit is excellent.

Prefer the spaghetti or lasanga. This one got half eaten, despite being starving hungry and cold.

I really didn't want to buy these skis. It seems like everyone has them around here. But, when it came to a good balance for up and down in the Pacific Northwest, these seemed like the perfect choice. They're light enough for multi-day tours, stiff enough to ski crud, wide enough for powder. The new design with the notch in the tail is perfect for keeping skins in place. Love them.

This mat is comfortable and warm. The pump system is really fiddly, but works. I had a synmat (also exped) previously, which is also good. On balance once I'd worked out the pump system, I prefer the downmat.

The first backcountry (non car camping) experience of my life was 12F conditions on a ski tour. I was very glad to have this sleeping bag. No need for any additional clothing. Only fault is you need to get out of it in the morning.

This is one of my favorite packs, without considering the avalung. The lid pockets work well, the front pocket is great for shovel, probe & skins, and the side entrance to the main compartment allows easy access to your lunch or puffy without undoing the lid. Having the avalung integrated means there is no excuse for not having it ready in sketchy conditions.

Happy to eat all the way to the bottom of the packet. That's a good review for dehydrated food.. One of my favorites (along with the lasange).

Used it down to 15F on Mount Baker. If you keep the gas cylinder off the snow then it works fine. Warmed the cylinder up in our sleeping bags when they got too cold. It's a great compact convenient setup - certainly prefer it to the fiddle of white gas stoves. One tip is to build your own hanging kit by using a large hose clamp from a hardware store to wrap around the pot, and then build a hanging kit from perlon. We hung it in the tent (with the door open for ventilation) and that worked great in the colder temperatures. Best feature is the ease of lying in your bag in the morning and quickly making a cup of tea/coffee without having to leave the tent.

No fault of the glue, but re-sticking skins is a real pain. Be careful not to get anything near your skins (dirt, paper, etc) when doing so. Worth trying, but don't assume it'll go well.

These are a good ski touring pant. Breathe well, venting is good, fit is good (I'm 200lbs / 6 feet).

Found these warmer than gloves, with more dexterity. My index finger did get cold, as that's no different to a regular glove, but my other fingers remained warm. The dexterity is helped by each finger being separated within the inner glove.

Searched for good waterproof warm mittens for my kids. My 6 year old daughter skied in 10F temperatures this last winter (with glove liners and hand warmers). These are great - warm, waterproof. Unlike other kid's gloves they're something I'd wear if they were a fair bit bigger!

Remained waterproof through snow, water and all the other crap the Pacific Northwest throws at us. Lightweight also. I have narrow feet and like a snug fit. These fit the bill well.

I love these bindings. I got to demo them on Mount Baker under strange circumstances. I climbed 1,000 ft with one boot in my fritschi freerides on a big fat ski, and the other boot attached to a dynafit binding on a true AT ski. It was amazing to compare the two, especially in the field. The difference in weight with each stride was absolutely amazing. Thumbs up to the guide who switched a ski with me. I have the previous year (yellow) version of these bindings and they're mostly bomber. The one problem is that the brakes sometimes lock up when you clip out of the binding in a fall. On two occasions I fell, my ski released, and it went rocketing 100s of feet down the hill. Strongly consider using straps if you ski with these bindings.

This is the 3rd pair of these pants we've bought for our kids. The silvercloud color works well, given we have a boy & a girl. The pants seem to keep them dry and warm - no complaints there. Good quality - they've lasted multiple seasons being handed down from one to the other. Also the stitching is easily removed to make the pant legs longer, without requiring any addition sewing. All in all - great pants.

First pair I received had a hole in the liner. These were quickly replaced but after 7 days skiing a hole appeared in the liner where the stitching split and the cuff draw-string tightener disconnected from the shell. Shame because these were nice gloves, but unacceptable quality.

Wick away moisture on big trips. Stay comfortable and dry. What else do you want?

First pair I ordered arrived with a hole in the inner glove where the stiching had come apart. Second pair I ordered were good and used them for 7 days, but the inner glove stiching started to come apart in a similar way to the first pair. Also the cuff tightener string disconnected from the main part of the glove, making it very hard to pull the cuff tight. The gloves were great, while they lasted. Also Backcountry.com processed the return and refund very efficiently. Would definitely buy from Backcountry again, but gave up disappointed on these gloves.

First pair I received had a hole in the liner. Backcountry.com quickly sent me a replacement pair, but after 8 days of skiing a hole has appeared in the removable liner, where the stiching has split (similar to fault in first pair) and also the draw-string fastener has come detached from the glove. Sending them back - glad I bought them here as the return handling has been good. Disappointed in the gloves though - they were warm and useful, but need to last.