Introduction to Thom's Gear

This blog was inspired by Jan Baracz (www.baracz.com) a very talented artist with a sense of humor about many things, not least of which is my ongoing obsession with gear. I remember very clearly a time when I was in my early teens, in the middle of a two week backcountry hiking trip, the wind changed and I heard a conversation about me being conducted in low voices by my companions. I had spread my equipment out to dry and sort it and was modifying, sorting and just generally obsessing. I can't remember the exact commentary, but I think something like 'he's always been like this...' came up at one point. That same trip (to Glacier National Park in Washington State) had started with a group vote about crampons and ice axes. We were going a long ways, and the team was divided on whether or not to bring these: with the right conditions we could have made the summit with only the leader chopping the occasional step, saving the individual members of the group a pound or few over the course of two weeks. The nays had it, we left the gear, and failed to summit, in part due to the extra time the lack of the proper gear. There are plenty of times when less is in fact more too. This blog is all about what we bring to where, why we bring it, and what seems to work best. It's a highly personal examination of the obsession of many an enthusiast: gear.