I love my...

Hey Gang.

How'zbout doing a little "I love my..." poll?

What's your favorite/unreplaceable/nearest, dearest to your heart piece of gear?

I always get good alternative gear ideas talking to other folks about their stuff.

Let's have at it, shall we? I'll enter mine later.

N'E

sled (aka rump rider)

I like a lot of my gear - I guess that's what you get when you've been at it for a long time. It would probably be my Thermarest.

Others things: 7 piece pack fly rod, Koflach Degre's, Platypus Typhoon pack, visored bandanna, primus lantern and stove. (I come up with a different list everytime I do this).

....Serratus Genie daypack. It weighs less than a pound, fits a small foam pad inside that provides cushioning and can be removed to use as an insulated seat, can also be used as a stuffsack for my winter sleeping bag.

.357 S&W

Ted

I love my Mountain Hardware 35 degree sleeping bag - it only weighs in at 24 ounces!

My 18 year old stainless steel cook pot.

sock liners

Down 0 degree bag and my bivy.

My Canon S30 camera...

.357 S&W

Click to expand...

-Ted

I have to agree with Ted on this one.

Sorel Cold Mountain boots. $55, plenty warm for a day hike in any weather and almost as comfortable as my hiking boots. Better than any pac boot I've ever worn.

My TNF Apex soft shell jacket...
Light, packs down pretty small, highly wind and water resistant, warm down to ~15 degrees--AND it was pretty affordable!

Love it!

I love my ...

Beard on the trail. Any time spent in front of a mirror shaving subtracts from time that could be better spent outdoors. Life IS a zero-sum game (or at least there's no evidence that shaving adds any time to your lifespan.)

And I love my VFTT editing feature, that allows me to go back and expunge my stupid utterances.

Outodoor Research lightweight Balaclava. I carry it year round, it weighs almost nothing, takes up little space and contributes the most warmth for the weight of anything I carry.

I'm an unfaithful lover. I'll go with what is good at the time, and I won't feel guilty about it. For example, when I'm cold and hungry, I'll love my stove.. until it's finished cooking, then my affection will switch to the bowl of food (Is food itself a kind of gear?).. Then when I'm cold and tired, I love my sleeping bag... And a few weeks ago.. Oh what I wouldn't have done for a short sweet affair with an ice ax.

No, I'm an unfaithful lover.

Pete - I absolutely dig your answer....

Course back when I was dating, I was always told I was afraid of committment..... Go figure........

I love my LEKI Ultralite Air Ergo Trekking poles. This is my second winter with them and I will never leave home without them.

I Love My...

Dog.

Yeah definitely...my dog.

Up until a few weeks ago it would have been the newly owned car. This has been my first year ever in my backpacking career where I did not find myself in the back of a bus squinching my nose at the reek of an overflowing trailways bus bathroom.

But as of a few weeks ago it's the fellow VFTT'ers whom, in -30 temps worked as a team to change a flat in something under fifteen minutes. The expedition we could fund after just a weekend of harnessing that talent on <cough> "abandoned" <cough> here in Brooklyn...

My trangia stove with a decades worth of patina on it is pretty spiffy too.