Gear Review: Hillsound Trail Crampon Pro

Trail Crampon Pro and Carrying Sack

The Hillsound Trail Crampon Pro is a lightweight ten-point, non-technical crampon designed to be used on glaciers and icy trails. The Trail Crampon Pro can be used with a wide range of footwear and aren’t limited to mountaineering boots or other rigid footwear. The Trail Crampon Pros come with the adjustable crampons, a carrying case for the crampons, an Allen wrench for adjusting the size of the crampons and a one-year guarantee against defects in the material and workmanship.

Gear Review: Talus ColdAvenger Pro Facemask

Talus ColdAvenger

Anyone who spends substantial amount of time in the winter backcountry will usually tell you that’s it is better to stay warm than try to re-warm. One way to help stay warm is to reduce the amount of exposure to cold air. The Talus ColdAvenger was designed to protect your face, neck and ears from cold temperatures.

Gear Review: Chaos Combo Skully

Chaos's Combo Skully

Bridge seasons can be difficult times to hike and backpack as the weather can be more erratic. Heat loss through the head can be pretty significant especially when the wind is up even a little. My ears tend to get pretty cold, but having cold wind whistling through my ears causes them to hurt even more. Hence I was really happy to discover Chaos''s Combo Skully.

Gear Review: MSR Lightning Axis Snowshoes

MSR Lightning Axis Snowshoes with Modular Flotation

It is snowshoeing season here and while I like snow, I hate my old snowshoes. I needed snowshoes that worked with my natural gait, offered more than just forward traction and was easier on the body going uphill. MSR’s Lightning Axis fits my requirements and a lot more. They adjust to my natural gait so I’m not tripping over the snowshoes with each step. They offer superb traction and gripping no matter what angle the trail slopes.

Toe Crampon Detail

MSR’s Lightning Axis is one of MSR’s latest snowshoe designs. The Lightning Axis are similar to their Ascent line in many ways. The Lightning Axis features a 360 degree All-Terrain traction frame made from aerospace-grade aluminum. There are two cross bars featuring additional traction across the foot and a crampon located on the toe pivot. The binding sits on a pin pivot and features the new Axis technology. Axis allows the entire binding to be rotated either right or left to match with a natural gait allowing the snowshoes to track straight even if the foot doesn’t. It can rotate a maximum total of 22 degrees which translates to seven slots for the pin to fit into. The deck material is a flexible material with multiple attachment points to the frame.