Every year our editors test the latest backpacking gear essentials to find their favorites, displayed in our Editors’ Choice gear awards.
For five months, we crisscrossed continents, climates, and comfort zones to put the newest outdoor products to the ultimate hiker’s test. A final, weeklong gauntlet in the Pyrenees Mountains, in Spain’s Catalonia region, was the finishing touch: By its end, we had elected these 12 winners of this year’s Editors’ Choice Awards.
We've been giving out Editors' Choice Awards for 25 years—and these 11 products have stood the test of time.
Our top picks for fall and winter camping and adventuring.
A lightweight backpack, custom-molded boots, and the best lip balm we've ever tried: meet our favorite gear of the season.
How do you separate good gear from great gear? Six months of backpacking around the globe will do it. Our testers hiked, camped, climbed, and paddled in heat, cold, rain, snow, and wind to winnow hundreds of promising products down to a few dozen finalists.
After months and miles of testing, we found 12 products that set new benchmarks for performance, innovation, and value. From tents with wide-open views to the comfiest sleeping pad we've ever used, here's the best gear you'll find this year.
Trail beta gets a community-oriented app.
Say goodbye to the tent-bound blues.
Practice makes perfect with this full-featured avalanche pack.
This responsive insulation works hard because you do.
This jacket has all the warmth of a puffy, but none of the puff.
Make room for new skins. But not much room.
The gold standard of touring boots gets lighter and stiffer.
These skis won’t weigh you down or jostle you around.
Upgrade every meal with this ultralight and ultratasty guac.
Wool is the latest and maybe final solution to a timeless problem.
This sock is the foundation of comfort on long-haul ski tours.
When you want an extra pack but don’t want to carry an extra pack, take this featherlight bag.
The most livable group tent out there gets better.