Therm-a-Rest ProLite Series Pads

The ProLite 4 at Camp Muir
The ProLite 4 at Camp Muir

Every once in a while a piece of gear comes along that is unanimously considered to be indespensible. Kyle’s insulated sleeping pad of choice, the ProLite 4 from Therm-a-Rest (recently replaced in their line by the equally innovative ProLite Plus), is one such item. For years, Thermarest has led the market for backcountry sleeping pads, and their weight-to-warmth ratios remain unmatched by other manufacturers. Patented insulating technology and superior design prompt countless reviewers to tend toward the superlative, whether they’re calling Therm-a-Rest’s design team “impossibly ingenious,” or touting its products as pieces of “engineered masterpiece.” Regardless, the industry’s positive response to Therm-a-Rest’s lightest four-season mattress is born of both a tried and true comparison of warmth to weight ratios, and the pad’s simple, and classically user-friendly feel.

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GoLite Adrenaline 0 Degree Bag

Engineered for lightweight, breathable warmth, the GoLite Adrenaline Zero-Degree Sleeping Bag is perfect for backcountry snowtramping.

When keeping warm isn’t just a matter of comfort, it’s a matter of safety as well, having a bag that will keep you toasty and conserve your nighttime calories is essential. For Kyle, this bag has literally been a lifesaver, in whiteouts and windstorms alike.

Kyle gets toasty in the Adrenaline Zero Degree, Three Fingers Lookout TowerHow does this bag keep you so warm? Every detail from the inside out contributes to a maximum-warmth, efficient design. The fit itself is tailored to a mummy-style silhouette, producing an optimally thin layer of air for your body to heat and maintain between itself and the bag.

The bag keeps heat in with the help of mother nature’s very own high-efficiency heat retention device perfected over years of evolution– 100% natural goosedown. Go Lite pumped the bag with this literally feather-weight stuff at 800 fill, meaning it’s full to the brim of lightweight insulating material.

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JetBoil Personal Cooking System

It’s lightweight, it’s small, it’s fast… It’s the JetBoil PCS! jetboil

Simple and easy to use, JetBoil’s “Personal Cooking System” is Kyle’s go-to backcountry meal maker and hydration machine. In 2004, JetBoil blew people away with its revolutionary combination of both the stove and pot components of most backcountry cooking systems, and eliminated the demand for a number of heavier, and often more finicky stoves on the market. It’s been a few years since JetBoil revolutionized the world of backcountry cooking with this compact little scheme, but nonetheless it remains a backcountry staple.

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