When it is cold and raw, like it is now in Jackson Hole, I reach for my wool. The new Merino wool is not uncomfortable and scratchy like its predecessor. This is not the wool sweater your mother used to throw on you. The new wool is luxuriously comfortable, warm and best of all for the active set, doesn’t smell worse than if you rolled around in the dogs mess, like most synthetic long underwear, after sweating in it.
The thing I like about I/O Bio is the styling of the pieces. They are made to function for high intensity activities like running, biking, climbing, skiing and snowboarding, but they also look good worn on their own. So you can be just off a backcountry skiing or snowboarding run on Teton Pass, peel off your soft shell jacket and head straight into work with nary a nostril flared nor eyebrow raised.
Last winer Darrel Miller and I partnered for a climb and descent of he Teton Classic West Hourglass Couloir. The WHC rises above Garnet Canyon at a lovely steep angle on a north aspect for around 2,000 plus feet.
