Sierra Designs
Next week the second edition of The Ultimate Hiker’s Gear Guide will be officially released. If you pre-ordered a copy from me, it was shipped earlier this week. If you order one now, it will be shipped within 24 hours. If you ordered the hardcopy or Kindle edition from Amazon, it will ship or downloaded on…
This post was prompted by an email from reader Jim that started with, Jim was deliberating between the purchase of a High Route and a more traditional pyramid-shaped shelter (“mid”), and he hoped that I would shed insight on the differences. While I have discussed them in multiple places, I have not yet written a dedicated…
Last week was the semi-annual sales meeting for Sierra Designs, during which shelters, sleeping bags, backpacks, apparel and accessories were shown to our domestic and international sales representatives. Most products will release in February 2018. Sierra Designs is a 52-year-old brand, and for decades was a dominant player in multiple categories. But due to a…
My coverage of Outdoor Retailer starts at the Sierra Designs booth (naturally, since they’re paying for me to be here). For 2018 SD has largely revamped its shelter line-up. Only three current models are being carried forward — the Summer Moon, Clip Flashlight, and my High Route. The remainder will be discontinued and closed out.…
The Sierra Designs 2018 sleeping bag program includes four distinct models, each with several temperature rating options and in a male and female version: an updated Backcountry Bed and Zissou mummy, and an entirely new Nitro and Cloud, which are an ultralight mummy and “zipperless mummy,” respectively. The Backcountry Bed and Nitro will be available…
Dead-reckoning is the simplest navigation skill. It’s much easier to learn than reading a map, or operating a compass, GPS, or altimeter watch. Yet I find it to be one of the most useful and frequently used, especially when hiking on well-maintained trails where a consistent physical effort yields consistent results. Such trails include well-known long-distance footpaths…
For eight consecutive nights in July, I slept in the Sierra Designs Cloud, which is new for spring 2018 and which may establish a new sleeping bag category. SD describes it as a “zipperless mummy,” but it takes just as many design cues from top bags and quilts. Review: Sierra Designs Cloud Sleeping Bag I…
The most interesting new shelter from Sierra Designs in its spring 2018 lineup is the High Side. I previewed it in my summer Outdoor Retailer coverage, and recently used it on two 5-day/4-night backpacking trips in Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Park in the Sierra-Nevada. Testing conditions were varied. We camped in forest, at treeline, and in…
The Sierra Designs spring 2018 line-up has two themes: (1) back to basics, and (2) better pricing. Innovation is not entirely lacking, evidenced by the “zipperless mummy” Cloud series (my review) and the High Side Tent (my review), but the “better and different” mantra was no longer a requirement of new products. Review: Sierra Designs…
When shopping for a sleeping bag, insulated jacket, or insulated pants, you will have a choice of insulations: Down, which is a commodity product measured by fill power, e.g. 800-fill; or, Synthetic, which is normally made of interwoven plastic fibers and which may be marketed as Primaloft, Climashield, or a proprietary version like TNF Thermoball.…