The first conversation I ever had with Bob from Iverson Snowshoes, it seemed like he was revealing the secrets of an ancient art to me. He explained in detail the weight distribution formula that he had devised by studying snowshoe … Continue reading
It was an eerie, soul piercing howl that had a strangely cheerful melody to it. I figured the wolf was lonesome, shunned from his pack or injured, but his song seemed to agree with me. It lifted my spirit, knowing … Continue reading
Long ago, an Inuit man told me the secret of staying warm in the arctic: “First, eat lots of muktuk (raw whale blubber) and second, wear soft, clean, lightweight clothing.” The old timer covered his body with soft caribou calf skins and beaver furs during the coldest days of winter, but I am certain if he was introduced to Mountain Hardwear’s Men’s Monkey Man Lite Fleece Jacket he would have set aside the fur clothing.
There’s nothing better than kicking off your boots at the end of the day and wrapping your fingers around a hot cup of java while relaxing in front of a warm fire with your feet comfortably cocooned in a layer of goose down-filled booties. Luxuries are few and far between on winter expeditions in the arctic, but the Mountain Hardwear Sub Zero Down Booties are definitely a necessary indulgence.
Rather than going into details and specs of the Mountain Hardwear Windstopper Pants right away, let’s first talk about the harsh environment that I dragged them through on a 100 day solo dog sledding expedition in Alaska’s arctic, and judge for yourself if they live up to Mountain Hardware’s high quality standards.
“You want a pair of what?” Bob questioned me on the phone.
“One pair of six-foot by 10-inch snowshoes, I just have a gut feeling I’ll need them this year,” I explained. And honestly, if it weren’t for those six-foot shoes from Iverson Snowshoe Company, the 2011 expedition would’ve been a real pain.
“When are the trails going to be groomed up there?” the gentleman on the phone asked for the second time.
“They aren’t,” I replied again.
“Are you sure they aren’t groomed at all?” he second guessed me.
“I’m sorry sir,” I chuckled, “but there’s no such thing as a trail here.”
Every once in a while I see dramatic photos of the Brooks Range Mountains layered with a plush carpet of snow in a magazine or book. Heck, even some of my own photos resemble a dog musher’s paradise. Just by looking at the photos, one might get the impression that a dog team could cruise effortlessly down the wide valleys and rolling hills. But I know from firsthand experience that those romanticized images were taken in the springtime, probably in March and April when the sun and wind had worked the snow smooth and hard. During the real winter (November through February) the snow conditions in the Brooks Range are incredibly variable. It’s not uncommon for the snow to be waist deep in one valley and ankle high in another.
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