Come one and come all for the center ring of what is definitely not a circus. In this episode, we get a front-row seat for a chat between two friends who have a problem—a gear problem. But it’s the good kind of problem where two individuals develop a way of conversing about what they like and don’t like regarding gear. In other words, our Gear Editor, Gavin Hess, and go-to tester/reviewer, Slator Aplin, discuss the finer points of the highly developed language they use to ponder some of the backcountry goods we’ll be on this winter.

As Gavin and Slator build out the assortment of skis, boots, and bindings to review this year, they zero in on some of the early season arrivals we’ve already posted first looks about. Gavin and Slator discuss skis, boots, and an interesting set of bindings from Slatnar. (Oh my!)

You can find us at the-high-route.com: Yeah, there are two hyphens for redundancy, which is a good policy in the mountains. And according to Barry Wicks, don't-fear-the-hyphens®.

The theme music for The High Route Podcast comes from Storms in the Hill Country and the album The Self Transforming (Thank you, Jens Langsjoen). You can find a link to the album here—there are so many good songs on this album. And if you think you've spotted a UFO in the past or visited the 7th dimension, "Beautiful Alien" is a good tune to begin with.