Reviews by User: Justin Latessa (19)

These gogs are awesome. I had to get the special edition ones and I splurged but they are worth it. The pic in my profile is of them. They work really well on bright days. In low light you are going to want to go with another pair. Its fun to see people just stare at you wondering where you parked your F-15.

After years of lugging a old Salmon boot bag around, I received this as a replacement from my brother for Christmas. I don't know how I managed before. This reduced my normal travel bags from Skibag/bootbag/duffel to Skibag/bootbag. It easily accommodates my helmet bag, pants, shell, softshell, gloves, goggles and of course, boots. The shoulder strap is very well designed, making this bag extremely comfortable to carry, even stuffed to the gills. The top zippers make it easy to open and easy to access all your things. Constructions seems to be good and leaves me with no doubt it will last for a long while (good and plentiful stitching, large zippers, thick nylon, etc). I expect to rely on this bag for a long while.

I picked up one of these figuring it was worth the 40 bucks to possibly not get the cancers. Turns out I like this better than previous bottles I've owned. Not sure about other reviewers but I've abused it fairly harshly and the cap is still in tact and it doesn't have any major dents, its 18/8 stainless. I fill it with hot water and keep it in my bag when winter camping. Works great. It also provides nice cool relief against the forehead after a night of drinking. No after tastes at all either. I left some tea in it in my car by accident for 2 weeks and it didn't get super janky. Just a hot water rinse and it was good to go. I figure this thing will last at least a decade or two.

I purchased this helmet for my woman after seeing the way her old k2 helmet fit her like a yamaka. It fits her good, looks pretty sweet, covers the back of her head nicely, and makes her feel "Like I could bust through brick walls!" Its pretty light weight, comes with a nice carry bag, and its pretty easy to remove the visor, which is held on by two side screws and comes with a pretty crappy piece of hook-and-loop fastener to stick the center on to keep it from swiveling too much, I think they could have come up with a better method but she never uses the visor anyhow. Also, no helmet clip in the back can be a pain in the ass but doesn't cause her much trouble. Goggles with rubber in the strap help a lot.

This is a good cheap rain jacket for light use. Its very packable. Is held up in moderate rain for a few hours on end without disappointing. I did notice that started to soak where my pack straps were on my shoulders. This is from the rain being rubbed into the pre-clip. If your going to go hiking in a rain-forest for a few days I would go with something else. However this is a great little jacket that can keep you dry in all but the most strenuous conditions.

These were the first pair of shades I ever took a habit to wearing, in my whole life. The optics are great. Unfortunately some assbag snatched them out of my Jeep :( I replaced them with a pair of polarized gascans I snatched off steep and cheap for the same price. The Polarized lenses are even better!

Period. It took a beating all last year. Stoop up to howling winds, torrents of rain, raked by trees, mashed on ice, no problems at all. The hood adjust system is awesome. I love this damned thing.

so I have a 64 CM dome, finding a helmet wasn't exactly easy. I rock the XXL and I left the size sticker on cause I'm proud of my huge cranium. Anyhow the helmet isn't to heavy, its warm, vent operates very easy with gloves on, chin strap is comfy, ear guard things are nice too. Overall very satisfied with it. I feel naked skiing without this thing now, and extremely less confident also.

I also don't had out 5 stars often, but these skis are 5 star worthy. Demoed these for a week on a trip to Red and Whitewater. Ended up with a drought, skiing on 2 week old snow which meant zero tree's and lots of groomers. I've never gone faster on ski's before in my life. I grew up skiing in New England, and straight line bomb groomers. These things were rock solid, just point and go. Unfortunately, I was not able to put them anything deep. The only thing I didn't really like was the slight twin tip. I keep my ski's very close I guess and the tips seem to get a bit hung up on each other at times. Prolly something I would get used to. I think I'm going to pick up a pair of the 184's, once I get some scratch saved up.

"Bullet Proof Boxers" is what my ex-girlfriend used to refer to them as. I picked these up because I was losing valuable heat through my ass when sitting on the lift with just my shell and icebreaker 200 weight bottoms. They did the trick. My ass stays warm, they wick quite well, and they can hang with the ice breakers on the stink factor. 5 straight days skiing in the Kootenay's without a wash and not a trace of funk. I only wish I went with the calf length version as my knees get chilled when the temp drop.

Picked this up on SAC or TD (I forget which) for like 45 bucks or something. It was worth it as my current High Sierra bag wasn't big enough and had me carrying 3 friggen bags. Pros: Cinch straps, padding is plentiful, good system to separate multiple ski's or boards, zippers are good. Cons: Wheels could be bigger, no handle on the side or shoulder strap so you HAVE to wheel the damned thing.

Purchased these with a H.I Yellow and they are by far the best lens I've ever used in brutal flat light conditions. I've used Orange, Rose, Permission, but none ad up to the clarity of the lens. They fit my Giro pretty well, not too much gap (a bit on the sides, see pic) and the strap works well. The Airflow is superb but can at times be a bit too much. On a few bombed runs on a arctic day my eyes were actually tearing inside the goggles from the frigid air circulating around my eye-balls. That said I'll still keep these in my pack for the foreseeable future. For $48.75 on Tramdock, you can't go wrong.

I have thick hands which tend to overheat rather than get cold so I grabbed these of steepAndCheap. I keep a super warm pair in my backpack just in case usually. These gloves are tactile enough that I didn't have to take them off when pull out a trail map, zipping up/down my soft shell or hard shell, unzipping the nozzle from my hydration pack strap, undoing my helmet, and tightening my ski boots. The only time I took them off was to take an impromptu whiz in the woods, but I'm not sure I even needed too than. I snow-shielded the palms for good measure, so I'm not sure how they would repel water without it. Its a standard step for any glove as far as I'm concerned.

This past weekend made it out to Brighton for an early powder day and it was friggen cold. Broke out the stuff sack (which is about the size of a beer can when squished) out of my pack and didn't so much as cringe the rest of the day. Its so friggen handy to have in your pack. You never realize its there since its so light, its super small, and its great at warming your core. I'd give it 5 stars if I didn't feel like people were snickering at me when I put it on. It does look a bit funky, but under a soft-shell... who cares.

I bought these off SteepAndCheap when some douche stole my normal gascans out of my jeep. I was blown away by the quality of the optics. In bright conditions there visuals are crisp and clean, no distortion and no degradation. I have a huge head (64cm) and they fit me good. A bit snug at first but either they broke in a bit or I stopped noticing. I'll be buying these again when I inevitably hose the lenses.

Wore this for ski trips for 2 years. Does the job well. People say it runs small, but its a base layer, it has to be tight so it wicks properly. Ziper on the chest is nice so you can vent your core easily. One complaint is that after 2 years it did start to fray on the chest where my suspenders are. I don't think this has any impact on the performance however.

Rocked a pair of these for 2 years and didn't have many complaints. You want them to be tight so go small on them so they wick well. They get the job done.

After cutting the leggs of my base layers for years, someone finally made bottoms for me! These blow my cap3's away. Hands down. They keep you warm, wick well, and won't have everyone in the cabin wondering what animal died in your room after multiple days of hard use. The short length is perfect for skiing. No more trying to get a perfectly flattened base layer under, or over your sock so your ski boot doesn't force a foot amputation. No more huge bunch of fabric at the top of your boot.

Few things I didn't really like; I found the chest strap didn't tighten down as much as I would like. I'm pretty thick in the chest also. Also, when having the chest strap tightened to max there is a long piece of slack that just flails around. This slack has whipped me in the face a bunch of times while bombing a run. Wish it had some way to secure the slack like the other straps. The ski holder works pretty good also, but I haven't used it for any extensive climbs. The dakine hydration system works well in it, no complaints there. This bag is useful for an extra set of gogs, some grub, water, and a good amount of room for other crap. I have stuffed 3 softshells into it also , so it has a good amount of room in it.