Preparing for Canada: Gear Check - the "Freedom Skirt"

As we gear up for hiking in the Canadian mountains, I thought it may be of some use to fellow hikers and wanderers of the world, to read about some of the gear and equipment that I found useful over the years and taking with me when we land in Calgary and start two intense weeks of tramping over tough terrain. In the previous entry, I touched on some items relating to footwear. Today, it is about the "freedom skirt."

A couple years ago I switched to wearing kilts exclusively while hiking, and wearing "leggings" underneath. If there is one change that I've made in my gear selection over the years, this one without question has had the most positive effect. No more pants. No more shorts. No more restriction. Total freedom of movement. That's what the kilt gives, fellow men -- freedom.

It is amazing the number of people that will comment and ask questions when they see a man wearing a kilt for no other purpose than to be free. It isn't about St. Patty's and fitting into a one-day celebration culture. When you wear the kilt as a normal piece of attire, you are in fact going against cultural norms. But you don't wear the kilt while hiking to fulfill some desire to be a rebel. It's about being comfortable - period.

When men see the kilt in action on the mountainside, you can see it in their eyes, a lightbulb has gone off. Their wheels are turning, setting in motion the inevitable decision that one day they too will don the "kilt." Sure, there is the occasional, "nice skirt man." But even these men, in jest, reveal their envy and desire.

Men must wear kilts. It goes back to the ancient days maybe, when we were tackling wooly mammoths with our bare hands, wearing nothing but skirts made from wooly mammoths we caught with our bare hands, I don't know. But I know that when you put on a kilt, and go about your adventuring, you understand that man and kilt are meant to be. When I made the switch, it wasn't because I had seen another hiker braving in his new world of freedom. No, in fact I can say I've never seen another man hiking in a kilt, sad to say. I never even bothered to research whether there are in fact other men around the world hiking in kilts (and now I know that there are many). It was simply, I acquired a kilt out of curiosity at, yes you know it, a St. Patty's festival, and literally the next hike, I decided I would use the kilt in replace of shorts or pants. That's the power of the kilt. It just makes sense. You put it on, move around, and then the computer in your head does its deductions, and outputs the answer, "yes, next time I am wearing the kilt." And then you do. And so I did.

Most of my kilt wearing hikes involved the use of a "traditional kilt," because that's all I had at the time. Traditional kilts look cool, but have the disadvantage of being a bit heavier than necessary, and in the summer months, warmer than necessary. Even accounting for this, however, the traditional kilt was better than wearing shorts or pants. In the past year I discovered that Mountain Hardware designed a version of the kilt made specifically for hikers, called the "Elkommando." The Elkommando is lighter than the traditional kilt, more breathable, dries faster, and has useful side pockets. The Elkommando is an awesome product. I will be taking two pairs with me to Canada. I applaud Mountain Hardware for having the balls - and displaying them to the world, literally - in making the decision to manufacture this product. Right now, it's one of a kind. Hopefully, other hiking manufacturers will take notice and come out with their own version of the "freedom skirt."

Under the kilt, I wear "leggings," even in the warm summer months. I use Under Armour ColdGear leggings, for instance, and I find that even in the summer months, I am kept at a comfortable temperature. And in the fall and winter months, leggings with a little more substance to them like ColdGear, provide ample warmth.

Most leggings don't have the support to keep the family jewels in place, so, while you can just go with leggings underneath and let your balls dangle and jangle, I find that wearing Calvin Klein hip briefs or Under Armour boxer briefs, under leggings is the best way to protect your balls over a long hike. It is important that whatever underwear you go with that the material is NOT made of cotton. It needs to be made of materials that dry quickly.

In the next blog entry, I will comment on what I am bringing to protect my upper body from the elements.

Preparing for Two Weeks of Trekking in the Canadian Mountains: Gear Check - Footwear

Well, it's countdown time. We're roughly 30 days away from arriving in Calgary, where we begin our two week adventure in Canada, 11 full days of which will be hiking alpine regions. We will average 13 miles a day, trekking in some of the most beautiful terrain on Earth. I will dig deeper into our itinerary in another blog entry. First, I will say a few comments on the gear we will be bringing, beginning the discussion on footwear.

But before turning to footwear, I should say something about training. It doesn't matter what gear you bring to the mountains, if your body and mind aren't prepared, the best equipment in the world is no better than what you can find at your local garage sale. Ideally, you want to be in peak physical condition to tackle the itinerary that I've fashioned over 11 intense days of hiking the Canadian Rockies and Canadian Coastal Mountain Range. I am not in peak physical condition -- I enjoy beer and pizza too much for that to be. But here's what I've done to prepare for this trip: 1) averaged 10,000 pushups per month this year, and 2) miles and miles and miles and miles of cardio. There are many different ways to get in your cardio miles, from biking to swimming to cross-training to hiking to trail running to just get-your-ass-out-the-door-and-hit-the-pavement-with-your-feet-over-10,000-times, otherwise called running. As much as I hate every step of it, I find the latter the best way to train for endurance. The minimum cardio mileage per week to prepare for a trip of this nature is 25 miles. You should regularly be hitting 50 miles or more of cardio per week.

As for the mental state, hard physical training has the added benefit of preparing the mind. So, simply working your butt off will help you to be more mentally prepared for the type of endurance trip we are doing. But the best preparation for the mind, however, is actually getting out into the mountains, frequently, and doing some hiking and backcountry camping. Do it enough times and you will quickly experience the full range of nature's fury - sooner when pitching the tent at a peak as we do. There's nothing fun about being sand blasted by extreme winds or nearly flooded by heavy rain or becoming the human-form of a popsicle when the temperature drops below freezing. But, when you go through those experiences, you learn a great deal about yourself, and you begin to understand that you can go through a significant amount of adversity, and come out the other end of it, mentally strong.

Now, turning to footwear. Let's start first with perhaps the most important piece of equipment to a hiker -- boots. A good boot will make for a great hike; a bad boot will have you cursing up one side of the mountain, and down the other. Each person's foot is different, so ultimately it's hard to say, buy this one, or buy that one. But for my money, there's no other boot better than Asolo. Like many manufacturers in this area of the market, Asolo makes a wide range of boots, customized for a variety of terrains. Here is what I need for my hikes: lightweight, breathable, waterproof, stability, durability, and comfort. Over the years, I've put countless hard miles on my Asolo Fugitive GTX boots, and these babies are still ready for more years of mountain fun. Go with Asolo.

Maybe the next most important piece of gear for hikers - socks. Bring lots of socks, lots of high quality socks. I like Smartwool and Darn Tough for the outer layer. Yes, I said, outer layer, because you will also want to have an inner layer or "liner" sock. For my liner needs, I've turned to Injinji "toe" socks. Their toe socks provide a comfortable layer of moisture wicking material to help protect your toes, and ultimately your feet over a long day of trekking.

At the end of a long day of hiking, while resting at camp, you will want to have some sandals to slip into. Chaco makes the best hiker-oriented sandal out there in my opinion. And while I have two pairs of chacos (one that is strapped and especially suited for river crossings, and one pair to lounge around in), the one pair of sandals that I will be bringing for the backcountry portions of our trip where weight is the prime factor, are cheap $5 sandals you can find at your local beach store. Chacos are built like tanks, and are therefore too heavy to be toting around on a multi-day trek in the backcountry. For these excursions, cheap beach sandals that weigh next to nothing are the best way to go.

In the next blog entry I will comment on clothing for the lower body. For the men, I will clue you in now that the best way to hike is in a "skirt." More later.