Yesterday was one of the days that I’ll remember for a long time. A very high-stakes class presentation in my morning class (we had legislators and state employees in attendance), an intense discussion about grief and then another presentation in my afternoon class, then our department holiday party and out drinking with the crew. I’m seeing bars I didn’t last year, now that they’re all non-smoking.

As for the day itself, it was one I woke up to knowing the demands could be met, but also knowing they’d require a sustained level of focus and energy, with little room for inattention. Not unlike a long race in the woods. It all came together as well as I could’ve hoped. There’s still plenty to do, but I’m taking most of today off to let my mind cool down. Hence the first of the year’s end salvos.

Food
It hasn’t been a spectacular year for food. Missoula doesn’t have all that much, though it does have a few things that are truly outstanding. We haven’t traveled as much or as widely as we have in the past, and the variety of food reflects this.

1: Bernice’s Bakery
Our beloved local institution. Peerless scones and croissants, phenomenal cakes and muffins, and great coffee and setting. I’d rather have a great bakery down the street than in any other professional culinary establishment.

2: Homemade thin-crust pizza
Let the crust rise for 30-40 minutes, roll it thin, then pre-bake for 5-7 minutes before topping and finishing it off for another 10 minutes.
Perfection.

3: Metal’s Sports Bar Vidalia Burger
The best reason to go to Butte?
Note generous array of premium toppings, tasty mayo sauce, and fat seasoned fries. Off the TD route, but probably worth it anyway.

4: Beer in a can
New Belgian and Big Sky are leading the way. The virtues of this need no explication.

5: Bell’s Brewing
Impressively balanced, all around good beer. The grass is greener when you can’t get it in your own backyard.

Best ride(ing surface): slickrock wandering with Mike, Fred, and Chris
Mike foto.
It really is the bike equivalent of powder skiing. Which is to say, the apotheosis of the genre.

Best gear
Homemade gear was the best trend this year. Functional and satisfying, both.

1: 115mm trekking poles, cut down fiberglass nordic poles with Gossamer Gear cork grips (and BD trekking baskets)
One piece, lightweight (<1 lb per pair) trekking poles are fantastic. Light and stiff adds up over the long haul. Good grips that are slimish, provide multiple grips, a broad top, and good material (to avoid the dreaded trekking pole thumb) are even more important. The total cost of those two things as I found them cost me 30 dollars. The grips do need to be glued on for long-term durability. Any worries about the durability of the fiberglass have been dispelled this year. Initially I went without baskets, but their extra weight keeps them from getting stuck in sand and soft ground. The extra bonus of the materials is that they float, and transmit very little cold.

2: 20 oz. frameless, ballistics nylon All-Pack
This picture illustrates well the body hugging virtues of this design.
The bottom is cut to slop back, essential for scrambling. The benefit of using this feature with a ridge rest as a burrito suspension system is that the bottom bit is not filled by the pad. Stuff the tarp or sleeping bag into the bottom, and the whole circumference hugs the hips perfectly. Gives better support than one might think.
The other crucial thing is the design of the shoulder straps (see below) that hugs the entirety of my shoulders. The sum of these two things was a pack that carried 30+ pounds during the Parcour with ease and comfort (given strong shoulders). Combine that with the versatile beavertail pocket, and you have a pack that does a lot. My best handiwork to date.

3: Frame pack
2.5″ width, full fit to the triangle, velcro that holds it such that one-handed operation is easy. Padding on the tubes to keep things quiet. Simple, mandatory gear.

4: Smartwool Cuffed Beanie
Ideal wool hat. Warm but not too warm. Full coverage. Black. Simple and effective.

5: Superfeet insoles
I’ve obsessed plenty about footwear, and while the perfect shoe remains elusive, Superfeet are ideal. Good support, firms up the shoe in the right way, dries in a snap. And thus far they’re holding up well.

6: SRAM x9 drivetrain
Gripshift is awesome, the derailleur is better than Shimano. ‘Nuff said. I like short cage derailleurs for everything, too.

7: Fi’zik Gobi XM
Finding a perfect saddle is almost, maybe even more important, than finding the perfect trail shoe. For me this is it.

8: MLD Trailstar
A great design. Clean (no zipper), elegant, versatile. I’ll try to get squished by snow this winter to see how it does under load. It does shed wind very well indeed.

9/10: Snowpeak 700 mug and BPL Ti Wing stove
The mug/pot shape isn’t ideal for a low-powered stove like this, unless you fill it less than halfway. The shape is ideal for cooking on a fire, just build up coals and stuff it in along the side. Light, but also quite durable, and the lid design is quite clever. Nice handles, too.

Esbit has it’s limits. It’s weak, not very practical to use fractions of a tablet, and leaves a bit of a film on your pot. But the BPL stove makes it phenomenally light and easy to use, great for solo or duo three season cooking, or for brewing tea on dayhikes. It also gets bonus points for an elegant design.

That’s a long list of stuff. This year, more than any other, I got a sense of the ways in which gear can enable adventuring, and the ways it can obfuscate it. More on that later. Doing the rundown of trips this year will not be easy.