Best gear of 2009, Part 2

• Posted on January 7, 2010 at 1:44 PM
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Walking Colonel Foster's knife edge in Garmont's Vetta Lite boots, one of my top picks for 2009. Photo by Sean Kerrigan.

Here are the rest of the my top 10 picks for best gear of 2009. See the first five here.

GSI Vortex Blender: This party favourite can whip up a blender drink anywhere, any time, with a little elbow grease. crank the arm a few times and the blades rip and mix everything from basecamp smoothies to party time mojitos. Made of BPA-free plastic, it collapses into pieces for easy storage and cleaning. It clamps to a table quickly and easily. Two gears help chug through thick ice and then blend into fine shards. It makes a mess but that's part of the fun.

Canon Powershot G10 : A good sign that a product is great is when I'll spend cash on it. I can try just about anything I want for free, but when it came to a camera I wanted my own and this is the one I chose. I wanted the closest thing to a SLR, full manual camera, without the replaceable lenses. This is it. It's fairly compact, has a good zoom (28 to 135), descent manual controls help me get creative and it's got a good selection of pre-set scene modes. You can even manual focus. There's still a bit of shutter lag, but that's unavoidable in this category and can be bypassed by putting it on continuous shooting mode. I'm super happy with this purchase.

Garmont Vetta Lite: I gave these hybrid boots a Top Gear nod in explore's May gear guide for their versatility and overall great design. With several other mountain trips on them I stand behind my opinion. They're great boots for scrambling, backpacking and light mountaineering. I wore them for the summit traverse of Mount Colonel Foster and for a fun day up Mount Arrowsmith. They exceeded my expectations on both trips. I've heard similar rave reviews from others.

Arc'Teryx Squamish Pullover: I've used the odd wind shell, but was never a big fan of the genre until last winter. I stashed an Arc'Teryx one on a ski touring trip and used it almost every day. The weather was snow-showery but close to zero and the lightweight shell was the perfect layer to cut the wind and snow, but not hold in heat. It weighs next to nothing (about 3 ounces) and is easily layered over at a rest stop or for a run down. I've since stashed it in my pack almost every time I leave the house. Most of the time I forget it's there, but it's always dependable when I need it. A light water repellent coating keeps the moisture at bay. I'm loving the newer Squamish style with a hood for added protection.

Columbia Powers Vertical shirt: I'm messy. On average it takes me less than 10 minutes to get my clothes dirty, so this long sleeve, button down shirt is perfect. On first show it looks like a classic casual button up shirt. But the fabric is treated with Columbia's water repellent treatment. Stand in a rain shower and all of a sudden your casual shirt is also almost water proof. It's a great travel shirt and perfect for people like me. The waterproof element is like a stain shield.