Intro
While some of our friends and family might be easier to shop for than others, we hope our annual Gift Guides can help add a couple of new worthwhile ideas to the list, and maybe provide the perfect gift for someone that they didn’t know they were missing.
For this year’s gift guides, we once again started small(er) with Stocking Stuffers, then moved on to gifts that’d be perfect under the tree, and now our reviewers are offering their suggestions for those bigger gifts that you might need to hide in the garage — though we all know that what we really want is good days in the mountains spent with good company. Happy Holidays!
Solo Stove Bonfire & Cast-Iron Grill Top
MSRP:
- Stove $399 ($225 at time of writing)
- Grill Top $349 ($219 at time of writing)
Jed Doane: This fire pit from Solo Stove is a great option for backyard and car camping use. Made from stainless steel, and recently updated to feature a removable ash pan, it weighs just over 20 lbs / 10.5 kg and fits standard store-bought firewood reasonably well. One of the major benefits of the Bonfire is a marked reduction in smoke — the internal ventilation is designed to be smokeless, and while I didn’t find that to be completely true, it was a much more enjoyable experience than the average campfire, and I never had to shift my camp chair to avoid smoke. I’ve always loved the vibe of a campfire, but growing up in an era of dry summers and devastating wildfires, I’ve generally found myself too nervous to really enjoy campfires during the summer.
I found the Bonfire to be pretty portable for car camping use (it comes with a carrying case); before leaving, I’d frequently just put wood, newspaper, and emergency s’mores supplies inside of it for relatively space-efficient transport, even inside my small car. I was pleasantly surprised that the Bonfire cools down quickly after use, too, generally within an hour or so. The Bonfire also shines in the backyard, and a small stand elevates the pit off the ground to make it safe for decks and lawns, in my experience.
The separate cast-iron grill has been a great addition for park and beach hangs and backyard BBQs. The grill hub fits neatly into the fire pit for transport, and although the grill is heavy-duty and wider than the fire pit, I still found it reasonably easy to transport. I was impressed with the quality of the cast iron, which needed some seasoning initially, but is easy to cook on, clean, and maintain. Generally, I preheat the grill for 15-20 minutes over a medium flame, but I’ve also been able to cook over coals for lower heat. The hub also allows me to add wood while cooking — it does require some effort to maintain a specific heat, but not so much that I found it bothersome. Overall, the Bonfire is a splurge purchase but a great gift!
Suspension Service
MSRP: Varies
David Golay: In our Under The Tree roundup I recommended the Blackburn Honest Digital Shock Pump as a nice tool to help the mountain biker in your life keep their suspension set up properly, and while setting and maintaining air pressures goes a long way toward making the most of your suspension, it’s also important to keep it properly serviced, both for its longevity and outright performance. And what better time to get that taken care of than the winter (up here in the Northern Hemisphere, anyway), when your loved one’s bike is more likely to be put away for the season?
Not only does keeping your suspension freshened up go a long way toward keeping it in good shape for longer, but it can have major performance benefits, too. Just a basic fork lower-leg service with new bath oil and seals can make a big difference in terms of stiction and smoothness; while you’re in there, it’s also possible to do some slightly more involved work such as bushing sizing, damper tuning, and/or adding upgrades such as the Vorsprung Secus or Smashpot, depending on your loved one’s preferences and the potential shortcomings of their current setup.
There are a lot of ways to skin this proverbial cat, depending on what you’ve got in mind. Taking your favorite bike nut’s suspension into a shop or sending it to a suspension service center is certainly one option; many more basic tasks, particularly fork lower-leg services, are very viable DIY tasks with a modicum of mechanical aptitude and a few basic hand tools. Things like damper services and bushing sizing get more involved, both in terms of technical difficulty and the required tools, but for the more mechanically-minded mountain biker, gifting them some more exotic tools to work on their own suspension could be extremely cool (if any of my friends and family are listening, a vacuum bleeder for servicing rear shocks would be really cool…).
Whether you’re gifting a service of their existing suspension or the tools to do it themselves, the mountain biker in your life (and their bike) will thank you.
Black Diamond JetForce Pro 35L Avalanche Airbag Pack
MSRP: $1499.95
Drew Kelly: Despite the price tag, airbag packs are a great two-way gift: they provide an added level of safety for the user, and the giver gets a little more peace of mind as their loved one disappears into the mountains for a day. And personally, Black Diamond’s Jetforce Pro series is my favorite. Its battery-powered airbag deployment brings with it several benefits: you can test your pack before a day out in the hills and have confidence that it’s going to inflate. Conversely, with air canister packs, you had to mostly assume everything was going to work, or deal with finding a place to refill a canister after deployment. Secondly, the battery power enables you to easily travel with this pack, as opposed to bringing a suspicious-looking empty air canister through TSA and then finding a place with compressed air to fill it for you when you arrive.
I could go on about the Black Diamond’s Jetforce Pro‘s air-pocket-forming automatic deflation, the ability to trigger multiple deployments on a single charge, and its bluetooth connectivity for firmware updates… needless to say, there are many benefits to a battery-powered pack.
I also like that this pack is modular, which means with a zip-on panel (sold separately) you can tailor the size of the pack to the needs of your tour, thus making the pack carry better. And with a redesigned layout in an effort to make this pack sit more ergonomically, the Jetforce Pro series seems to have it all. And yes, the price tag is huge, but keep in mind: packs can last a very long time. I’ve used my canister airbag for six years and it still works just as well as when I bought it.
Luke Koppa: I’ll second Drew’s recommendation of an airbag as a splurge gift for the backcountry skier or snowboarder in your life, and add another recommendation: BCA’s Float E2 series. We went deep into the details with BCA co-founder Bruce Edgerly, and you should definitely check out that video for the whole story. But in short, the Float E2 bags use Alpride’s E2 supercapacitor system, which functions similarly to an electric system, but is considerably lighter. We recently started testing the production version of the Float E2-35 and have been really impressed so far — in addition to the benefits of a non-canister system (easy practice deployments, travel, etc.), the pack itself is very thoughtfully designed with sensible pocket placements for easy access of all the necessary gear. At $1,299, it certainly isn’t cheap, but it is very good.
Air Compressor
MSRP: Varies
David: It’s certainly possible to seat tubeless bike tires without an air compressor, but having one makes the job so much easier and less of a headache. And they’ve got a ton of uses beyond just inflating tires, from running air tools to cleaning parts, and more. There are a ton of options out there, depending on your giftee’s needs, but fear not, I’ve got two specific recommendations for somewhat different applications.
For a typical home shop use, I’ve been a big fan of the Californa Air Tools 8010 (MSRP: $235). (I’ve actually got the older 5.5-gallon version, but the 8010 has replaced it, and it appears to be extremely similar). The biggest selling point for me is just how quiet the CAT Ultra-Quiet series is. I primarily use mine in a fairly small, enclosed shop where noise echoes badly and a lot of basic compressors would be brutally loud. It still makes some noise, for sure (a claimed 60 decibels), but it’s fine to stand next to in a small enclosed space; I can’t say the same for many similar options that I’ve used.
It’s also easy to move when I need to, with a convenient handle and wheels, and has worked well for five+ years of fairly regular use now. In addition to inflating car and bike tires, I’ve used it for running some smaller air tools, doing things like installing and removing slip-on grips, blowing gunk off stuff that I’m working on, and so on — once you’ve got a compressor, you’ll find an ever-expanding list of ways to use it.
I’ve also been using the Viair TLC Pro (MSRP: $450) for a portable option in my truck, and it’s super nice if you’re after something that can easily seat tubeless bike tires, inflate larger truck tires quickly, and more. The TLC Pro is designed to run off your car or truck’s electrical system, and includes connectors to both hard mount to the battery terminals and alligator clips for a more temporary installation; both sets include a quick disconnect with a built-in cover.
The TLC Pro is admittedly much more expensive than some more basic car tire inflators out there, but it’s also much higher quality than those basic options, and (crucially, for my purposes) includes a small reservoir with enough volume to easily seat tubeless mountain bike tires. And for the $450 MSRP you also get all the accessories you need to use the TLC Pro, including a beefy, well-made hose, a high-quality inflator with a gauge and swappable Presta and Schrader heads, a blow gun, the aforementioned connectors, and a nice carrying case for all of it.
I’ve mounted the battery terminal leads permanently in my truck and just pop the hood and connect the compressor as needed. I’d be happy to use the TLC Pro for all of my tire mounting needs if I didn’t also have a compressor in my shop, but being able to have compressed air for seating tires, cleaning my bike off, and more while on the road, during race weekends, and so on has been great. And unlike most cheaper kits, the inflator and accessories that come with the TLC Pro are genuinely high quality and a pleasure to use. It’s not cheap, but it’s really nice. Viair also makes less-expensive versions, the TLC Lite and TLC Plus, both of which are also meant for bike use but deliver less air volume at lower pressures. Their larger versions (the TLC Boost and TLC Boost XL), which I haven’t tried, are designed for more permanent in-vehicle mounting and come with larger air tanks for delivering more air volume more quickly.
Yakima StageTwo Tray Hitch Bike Rack
MSRP: $849
Dylan Wood: I thought I liked my roof rack on my Subaru hatchback until I got Yakima’s StageTwo Tray Hitch Bike Rack and put it on my partner’s SUV. If someone in your life has been shoving their bike into the back of their car to get to the trailhead, I bet a hitch-mounted tray bike rack would be a much-appreciated gift. Plus, I still see plenty of cars out there with older bike racks that hang a bike by its frame, as well as plenty of disintegrating roof racks, such as the one on my car. Sure, an old bike rack is better than no bike rack, but once you get a quality hitch-mounted tray rack, you’ll wonder why you spent so long without one.
I’ve been really enjoying the StageTwo bike rack for several reasons. First, it’s very easy to use. Even with a heavy Enduro bike, it’s easy to throw a bike on this relatively low rack, and the large front wheel wells make it easy to just toss it in there without needing to try too hard. The arms that secure the front wheels swing up and lock down with ease, and the sliding trays that hold the rear wheels in place are also quite easy to move around and secure the rear wheel with. The StageTwo bike rack fits a very wide variety of bikes; from 20” to 29” wheels, and up to 70 pounds each. Whether you have a road, mountain, or BMX bike, they all fit.
The StageTwo has a majority metal construction, feels super solid when secured in a hitch, and looks really nice mounted on a car. It also has some special features that help justify its price tag. It can pivot up when not in use and down to provide clearance for the rear trunk when loaded with bikes. The two trays are also staggered to provide better clearance between two bikes and to provide more clearance from the ground for steep driveways and off-road situations. Installation is very easy and tool-free (though you do need a tool to build it, which is included), and the rack locks onto your hitch. Plus, it features a lock for each bike on the rack, and although these aren’t super high-security locks, it sure is better than nothing (a lock mostly serves as a deterrent) and the StageTwo does have an anchor point for a more substantial bike lock if you want to go that route. The StageTwo has held onto my bike and my partner’s bike very well, even in off-roading situations, and it hasn’t contributed to any wear and tear on either of them so far.
If you know someone who doesn’t have a modern or easy-to-use bike rack on their car, they could definitely benefit from finding a StageTwo in their garage with their name on it this holiday season.
NordicTrack Commercial X22i Incline Treadmill
MSRP: $2,999
Matt Mitchell: I’ll be the first to acknowledge that the winters I come up against in the Bay Area are in name only, by most standards. One of the reasons this region is considered a trail running Mecca is precisely for that reason — year-round access to singletrack in conditions that steer clear of either end of the thermometer. From late November through February, even the gentlest threat of snow in the forecast will garner the same media attention as the second coming (people really lose their minds for that stuff down here). While living in such a temperate climate for most of my life has been quite a privilege, it has also made me undeniably soft toward any form of exercise in inclement weather. Instead of hardening against the elements as I’ve aged, trudging through soupy miles in blinding fog for the sake of my fitness, my approach as of late has been to outsmart them.
My next-door neighbor (and sometimes training partner) recently splurged on a NordicTrack X22i Incline Treadmill and, like a Kramer, I’ve been exploding through his garage door to use it whenever I’ve deemed the outdoor temp / dew point unacceptable. Now, at $3,500 the X22i is a very big spend, but this machine’s far from the kind of clunky “dreadmills” you’ll find at your local community center gym. With a 22 in / 55.8 cm touch screen display for NordicTrack’s built-in “iFit” workout program, 40% incline control, 6% decline control, and a max speed of 12 mph, the X22i captures some of the experience I imagine you’d get from taking a luxury superyacht into international waters, i.e., gluttonous, but enjoyable nonetheless.
While I tend to favor dreaming up my own workouts-from-hell, one of the X22i’s main highlights is the iFit software that comes with the treadmill (though the service does require a separate subscription). Similar to popular indoor cycling brands, iFit offers access to studio workouts with their roster of elite trainers, virtual runs in places around the world, and even cross-training options like HIIT classes and yoga. The few times I did surrender to a (virtual) run through New Zealand with Tommy Rivs, I was pretty blown away by how efficiently the X22i auto-adjusted its incline to match the terrain presented on screen. No matter how practical, stationary exercise equipment can feel insuperably boring, something that I think the folks over at NordicTrack clearly have sympathy for. The X22i is not only technically quite the achievement, with its incline / decline features and smooth motor, but it goes out of its way to keep you entertained, too. An unreliable treadmill is worse than no treadmill at all, so if you know someone who’s been extra good this year and is staunchly committed to running year-round in places where that’s less sustainable than in the Bay Area, consider checking out the X22i from NordicTrack.
The Ultimate Ski Vacation:
BLISTER SUMMIT 2023
MSRP: varies
Kristin Sinnott: As much as I like to unwrap gifts, my favorite presents are actually experiences. Whether it’s a weekend getaway, a staycation, or a month on another continent, I love creating new memories, especially if I get to share those memories with others. One of my most memorable vacations was a ski trip with my husband, brother, and a bunch of friends. Being able to share lines in the backcountry and inbounds, reminisce over happy hour, and spend time with people that shared my enthusiasm for skiing made the trip extremely fun.
The downside to a trip like that is it’s not easy to plan, and since becoming a parent, I’ve found it’s even harder to organize and find the time to go. The closest thing I’ve experienced to that trip is the Blister Summit. And yes, as the Blister Summit Director I am extremely biased, but I would argue that as the director, I’m so busy that if I was having that much fun, the attendees were enjoying it even more. Regardless, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the past two Summits and am looking forward to our upcoming one this February! When I try to explain the welcome reception, I tell people it’s like a wedding reception. Everyone is happy and ready for a great event, and of course, an open bar (courtesy of our sponsors) doesn’t hurt the atmosphere either. Attendees mingle with professional athletes, brand representatives, product designers, and Blister reviewers. You can feel the excitement for the coming days building the more people talk.
And that’s just the first night — before anyone has even gotten on snow! From group meet-ups to skiing groomers, steeps, or if we’re lucky — powder! — people are chatting about their home ski hills, the gear they are testing, and everything else. By the time apres rolls around, everyone feels more like a friend and people are swapping stories about their day. With some appetizers, drinks, and panel sessions set for the evening, everyone settles in for a fun night. And then repeat that for three more days!
Seriously, even though I have about 50 Summit-related things to do right now and I know I’ll be running around like crazy during the event, I’m still really excited to “attend” it in just a couple of months!
Our Blister Summit is an event you can attend solo or with a group of friends; however you choose to plan your trip, we know you’ll create great memories, and you’ll leave with a deeper appreciation of the snowsports world. If you have questions about the Summit, please reach out!
Uplift (Adjustable) Standing Desk (V2 Frame)
MSRP: $599+
Jonathan Ellsworth: I’m still waiting to try out Taiga’s electric snowmobiles, so till that day comes, I’m going to stick with the same “garage” gifts that I recommended last year, because I’ve only become more sold on these things.
Last year I wrote that I use this adjustable standing desk, “every single day (for too many hours of the day). And I’m never going back to working at a fixed, seated desk.”
This is still very much true. In fact, I’ve traveled a lot in 2022, and one of the things I realized is that one of my least favorite things about traveling now is that, on the road, I’m never working from a standing desk.
Last year, I also wrote, “of all the gifts I mentioned in this guide so far, if I had to stop using all of them except one… I’d probably choose to keep [this particular] standing desk.”
Still true.
To back up for a sec: over the past several years, I’ve been inundated with ads about standing desks (I imagine you’ve seen your fair share, too), and I was intrigued by the claim you’ve likely heard by now, that “sitting is the new cigarettes.”
That’s one eyebrow-raising claim, and I wanted to see whether, if I got a standing desk (1) I’d actually use it, and (2) if I thought it made any sort of difference. But I never got around to getting one … until I broke 4 ribs in May 2021 in a mountain bike crash. And then, all of a sudden, the only position that wasn’t excruciating was … standing up. So I spent about 20 hours over the next couple of days doing a hardcore deep dive into the research around sitting / standing and the various standing desks… and I settled on Uplift, and I bought one.
And for me, it was an instant game changer.
Now I know several people who’ve tried some sort of standing desk, and didn’t love it. But that’s where I think it is critical to have an adjustable desk, where you can repeatedly adjust your position throughout the work day (and work night, as is all-too-often still the case for me).
One of my favorite things is Uplift’s philosophy: rather than be dogmatic about the horrific! effects! of sitting! (which does certainly seem rather alarmist), their position on the matter is one that I absolutely agree with, that “the best position is your next position.” I.e., there is no single ideal position, the key is to switch up your position. Don’t only stand or only sit, etc.
And this adjustable desk allows you to quickly and quietly make micro adjustments or macro adjustments (i.e, going from sitting to standing) so that it encourages frequent switching of positions.
Bottom line: if someone you knows finds themself working or studying at a desk for more than a few hours at a time, I think this is a fantastic investment, and would make for a terrific gift.
But I’d recommend letting the person you’re gifting this to customize the desk, since there are a ton of options to let them dial in this thing to their liking. And since this is an extremely well-built and solid product, I expect to be using mine for the next decade or two or three.
Leonard Poly Scoop Shovel with Extended D-Grip Handle
MSRP: $74.06
Jonathan Ellsworth: Having broken several shovels while battling the ice and snow in my driveway, I went in search for something better, and settled on this orange beast. If anyone has ever broken one of these things, I want to hear about it, because under anything resembling normal use … it literally seems impossible to me.
It features a one-piece molded design that “eliminates” stress points, and the poly material is said to “never rust, rot, or break” — which is backed up by a lifetime warranty.
I very much believe in paying more for something that will last, and I think I’ve found my shovel — unless it accidentally goes missing again like it did last year at the Blister Summit when I brought it over to help clear away snow from the massive storm we had.
Once I was reunited with my beloved shovel, I wrote my initials on thing — just like some 6-year-old does to their favorite lunch box.
