Highgear: Altitech 2 Altimeter

Ever since seeing my buddy Dave's cool Suunto Altimeter watch last January, I had been lusting over an Altimeter. Finally one morning last September, I was in the middle of my morning space out ritual checking out what was new on Steep and Cheap and my wait came to an end. I exercised my inner backcountry dork and purchased a Highgear Altitech 2 Altimeter for the low low price of $64.81. (Regular Price $140). Due to the low snowfall this winter, it wasn't until the last month that I've really been able to test it out.

Basic Design: Before I finally tried it out, I was a bit hesitant about the clip on design. But I found this to be rock solid. I've been clipping it to the chest strap on my backpack and have had no issues with it coming off. Plus, its far easier to look at than a standard watch.

Altimeter: I did an initial calibration of the altitude (in October) at sea level in San Diego and haven't calibrated it since. In general, the altitude readings have been consistent with those on road signs (Sequoia) and what locals were reading (Jackson). The accumulated altitude tracks vertical both ascending and descending. While I wish you could set it to just track altitude ascended, this isn't a big issue. In Jackson, we did have a small storm roll in one day. The barometric pressure did have an affect on our base elevation, changing it by 300'.

Barometer: Like I said, there was a small storm that rolled in. We did see the barometer drop. However, it wasn't big enough to really be an adequate test. Once I see how it performs in a real storm, I'll update this section.

Thermometer: Like many watch based thermometers, the accuracy of the thermometer is questionable and is definitely heavily influenced by your body temperature. Last weekend, at 10,100 ft, the thermometer read 79F while on my chest strap. However after 20 minutes with the backpack laying on the snow, it had steaded out at47F.

Compass: It tracks well with my standard compass. However, in cold weather (20F was the coldest I've used it in), the entire Altimeter functions very slowly. By this I mean that there is a significant lag when shifting functions and scrolling displays do not show up clearly. This results in making the compass almost useless. So I intend to still bring a regular compass with me on my trips.

Overall, its a solid product. I bought it mostly for the Altimeter function and that functions excellently. Also, even if you just want to use it for the watch function, its much more convenient to look at while clipped to your backpack than it is to look under your glove at a standard watch.

Gear Review: REI Double Diamond Ski Pack

This is almost a great little ski pack. At 2000 cubic inches, it is biggest enough to take out on most daytours. I was able to carry food, avy equipment, a fleece, hat/gloves, water, skins and a basic first aid kit. With all of those, the pack is completly full. Personally, I prefer to have some extra space in case I need to bring extra clothing or water along. If you haven't noticed it from my other posts, I like to be prepared for any situation that might arise. So when I get another daypack, I plan on getting something slightly larger.
The pack fits great and is very comfortable to wear, both while skiing up and down the mountain. It has an external shovel blade pocket and attachments to hold your shovel handle and/or an ice axe. My favorite feature was the back panel zipper. It was so convenient that I almost never loaded the pack from the top. The pack also comes with a 2 L Nalgene Hydration pack that is integrated into the right shoulder strap.
As good as the pack was, there were several quality issues that were highly disappointing. First, the hose on the Nalgene pack has a fitting which disconnects (by pressing a button) from the bladder. When the pack was full, the hose would disconnect from the bladder about 25% of the time. As you would expect, I found this extremely annoying when to get a drink, I had to stop skiing, take off the pack, open it up and reconnect the hose to the bladder. Next, 2 weeks ago, the connection between the bladder and the hose started leaking and I lost all of my water at the very beginning of a ski tour. REI ended up replacing the Nalgene hydration pack with a Camelback bladder that seems to be better built. (So far, no leakage!) Finally, at the beginning of my tour this past Sunday, one of the connectors for my chest strap ripped off the pack. If you've ever seen me, you know its not because I was overflexing my pythons!

Overall, I can not recommend this pack. For day tours where you are not taking a lot of gear with you, it is a great pack. However, I expected more from REI in terms of quality. You do not want a pack that is going to fall apart on you in the backcountry.

Note: I just returned the pack to REI. True to their reputation, there customer service was excellent and they gave me a full refund when I couldn't find another pack in the store to replace it with. They even let me keep the Camelback hydration bladder/hose.