local gear

[gabbro]

OR is based out of here (seattle)...You see thier mitts everywhere, anyone used any of thier other stuff?

[marylou]

Sure. I have, and I'm sure lots of others here have too.

 

Can you be a little more specific?

[thelawgoddess]

gaiters!

[Kevin_Ristau]

I have the crocodile gaiters and their Modular mitts.

 

The mitts are heavy, but super warm. The moonlite pile feels like it has a built in handwarmer.

 

My wife has one of their bivvy bags and likes it a lot. It has a good bug screen that does not block the airflow too much.

[foraker]

gaiters, crampon pouch, modular mitts.

[cracked]

I've used their gaitors and I've got their Basic Bivy. Both are nice, durable, funtional. Their handwear doesn't fit me. The bivy is way better than Bibler's Big Wall, more tapered, plus the floor isn't as sticky as the bibler, it's easier to get inside. I'd redesign the head opening, but for the rest it works pretty well.

[max]

This is contrary to what most of the others above have said. I'm sure they really have had good luck with their or stuff, but I'll just put my experience out there as more data.

 

Gaitor: I find the or gaitors to be super clunky. Way overkill for most applications. I have a pair of old no-name crumby gortex gaitors with zippers in the back (I know, everyone hates these...) but I take them over the ors just by wieght alone, not to mention avoiding the frankenstein walk the ors give me. of course, CO snow isn't quite like the PNW's.

 

Mitts: hate 'em I've got the... shuksans? which are supposed to be ergo cut, but I find myself flapping at things like a walrus with them on... And relatively heavy. I guess a big thing here is application. Anything you might want to use you hands for anything besides a blunt weapon, go for something else. But I will say I had a pair of the basic mitts that (before they were stolen) held up really well cutting wood in the winter w/o getting torn up, and that's a pretty serious abrasion test.

 

I will say OR is the only company I've seen that sells a tech glove shell alone, without any liner or insulation. I'd like to get my hands on a pair of these to try and get a fine tuned system down involving complicated liner/insulation rotations (joking), but I think they might have stopped selling them alone.

 

I do like their windstopper fleece hats for the super cold. Brought a regular fleece type cap to fairbanks in Feb, but the next day bought a windstopper one cause the regular one just didn't cut it.

 

Also, their fleece gloves seem reasonable.

[Dru]

beware, the seattle sombrero - it's the perfect accessory for that shorts-and-polypro, "I'm Going On My Mounties Intermediate Course" look.

 

I like the OR water bottle parka. Cheap, keeps your tea warm when iceclimbing, you already have a nalgene, and it wont break like a thermos will. Also in the summer you can use it to put bolts, bit and wrench in while drilling a new sport route, sort of like a chalkbag for bolts

[layton]

I agree w/dru. the water bottle parka is a MUST, and the seattle sombroro is the stupidest thing ever to don a climbers head. All of their other stuff sucks ass. they must get a kickback from the Velcro corporation or something. Shit is heavy, boxy and useless. They do make a good pair of gaitors if you feel the need to protect your goretex with another layer of gortex. other wise just get a cuff to keep out the snow. They did make a spandura pant a while back that was the original softshell in my opinion, but has become outdated due to the superior fabrics.

[CascadeClimber]

Good: Old-school Windstopper fleece gloves, Windstopper balaclava, Nalgene holders (insulated and not), old style taped Gtex mitts, the little stretchy shorty gaiters, which I use over my approach tennies.

 

Okay: Crocs (should be shorter with more Cordura higher on the inside and none on the outside, strap buckle is prone to getting pulled out).

 

Notsogood: Fall Line gaiters (should be called Fall Apart gaiters- stitching is prone to crampon nicks and then they literally fall to pieces). I still haven't found anything that works better on Rando boots, though.

 

YMMV

 

-L

[mike_m]

Got the Expedition Croc's, and been pleased with them; the Pro(?) curved mitts with double liners, warm but clunky, good for Denali & not much else; and the Quadratic one-piece undersuit, which is just about my favorite garment. Used it on Foraker last year, overnight Rainier trips, ice climbing--fits well, warm, good zippers, doesn't get too funky. Just gotta get the hang of releiving yourself thru all the layers

[thelawgoddess]

Gaitor: I find the or gaitors to be super clunky. Way overkill for most applications.

i use the less-"clunky" rocky mountain gaiters. definitely not overkill and work great ... except for the snap is broken on one, but that doesn't seem to matter really.

[eternalX]

I have the mitts (the MT Baker?) and the less clunky gaiters (Flex-tex, long) and I have to say I've not been super happy with either of them. They aren't bad, but it's not gear that I'm constantly impressed with, especially for the price. This stuff isn't cheap.

 

I use the mitts for climbing and snowboarding. The biggest plus is that the combination of fleece inner mitt and waterproof outer shell keeps my hands warm. But, soon after I started using the mittens, the sew-back loop on both of the upper straps came undone, meaning that the strap continually comes out of the little buckle. It's a pain having to feed the strap thorugh the buckle every time I put the gloves on. Especially since you have to do it with the mittens on. I'm also seeing that the shell is separating at the seams and in some other places. I've heard you can take them back, but I've yet to try that.

 

The gaiters use a thin cord (kinda like the laces you'd find on loafers. I think. I haven't owned loafers since I was 12 and my mom made me wear them to church) to wrap around the boot, followed by an initial snap and then velcro all the way up. At the top is a 1" wide strap that runs around the top of your calf to keep the gaiters high on your leg.

 

It's almost impossible to snap together that snap in the morning after your boots and gaiters have been freezing in the vestibule all night. I'm not sure what you'd replace the snap with though. I've also noticed that the velcro seems to come apart as the day goes on. Additionally, I've never been able to tighten the top strap enough so that the gaiters stay up just under my knees throughout the day. In fact, I've never had much luck getting that strap to even stay closed. It tends to undo itself after a few minutes of walking. POOR DESIGN. I'd be interested in the zipper backed ones and a better strap system at the top. Amazingly enough, that thin cord around the boot has never broken or come undone. Good thing too because it would suck to have to tie it in the cold. I don't think I've ever untied it since the first time I put them on.

[Plinko]

I've got a couple pair of the Mt. Baker Modular Mitts and have been real happy with the current version. The previous version used velcro for the wrist and gauntlet closures, and all of us here in the PNW know velcro sucks ass and gets all snow clogged and completly looses it's ability to stay secured, so you'd have flapping straps all day long. Eventually I reworked the glove and sewed on my own straps and buckles and cut off all the velcro and I wrote a scathing e-mail to O.R. about that paticular aspect of the design...and wouldn't you know it, they changed the design the following season (probably had nothing to do with my comments, but let me just pretend it did ). All the other gloves and mitts in their line up use Velcro still, but the Mt. Baker Mitt is where it's at, and uses ladder-lock buckles. They've outlasted any other gloves I've owned by atleast a factor of 10. I also use O.R. insulated water bottle parkas, and a couple pair of their gaiters, one made from stretch Schöeller material, and also a pair of H.D. Crocs. As mentioned, the 1000 denier nylon could go up higher on the instep side, but other than that, they've been bomber.

Other local gear includes Feathered Friends Volant jacket, and Rock Wren sleeping bag. Montrail is local, and I've got a pair of Morrains, a pair of Diablos and a pair of Vitesses. Does REI junk count as "local"? Nah, didn't think so...

[2morehours]

Ron Gregg owned OR before he died in an avalanche last year. Not the flashiest gear, but the guy had his heart in mountaineering and engineered stuff that worked and was made here in the USA. After Ron's death, Dan Nordstrom (of Nordstroms) bought OR and is apparantly after a bigger slice of the pie that is the outdoor market. Talking with CS, this means offshore production and redesign. I'd say the hardcore user will be less focus than the REI crowd, but who knows. I do know that they will take back, replace or repair anything for any reason by way of policy. anyways....

[lancegranite]

Word to the Mt. Baker mitts!

Mine are from the first production run and they still rock.

I replaced the liners with fingered glove liners for maximum dexterity.