This jacket is frickin awesome.  Ever had to wear a shell cause it was windy/snow was falling/very cold etc. but you didn't want to because you knew you would sweat?  This thing breathes like a shirt does, cuts the wind, and snow falls right off.  Anything short of pouring rain I would bring this.  It weighs 4oz and fits in your pocket.  If I had this in Canada on the silverhorn I would have brought this only, nothing else.  If I had this on the Presidential traverse I would have brought this with a paclite in my pack as a backup.  I would have worn this 90% of the time on presi instead of sweating it up in my 3-layer shell.  It is a very supple thin fabric, not stiff like a shell, it's more like a shirt than anything else.

 Paclite shell 11oz + Houdini 4 oz = 15oz

Gore-Tex XCR shell = 22oz

Since I started climbing, I've heard a lot about lifetimes of ropes and other climbing gear. "Retire all slings after 3-5 years." "Ropes every 5 years." "Don't use booty gear from the crags." I personally think that last one was just the bastards trying to snag my booty gear.

But of course some friends are still climbing with 15 year old ropes ("only toprope") and using booty biners from all over. It is cool to see a Black Diamond site devoted to experiments to determine the effect that age, sun, and other factors have on gear.

• Spectra vs. nylon slings and how it wears:

  "A guy here at work had two quickdraws sitting in the back of his open pickup truck for over 6 years. They have seen sun, snow, rain, heat, cold, etc, etc.. Fortunately for me, one was spectra, one was nylon. Ah ha....

  Remember, when new, the rating for a sling is 22kN. Also remember that typical falls in the field are in the 2kN (sporto soft catch) to 5kN (harsh, kidney-wrenching) range.