Eli Bernstein

For over a decade, BACKPACKER has sent a team of expert gear testers to a far-flung wintery zone for an intense week of ski touring, camping, and debate to bring you the season’s best products with our annual Editors’ Choice Awards.  “It’s always challenging,” said Gear editor ...read more

According to the staff at Backpacker Magazine, gear testing is the best job in the world. “We are lucky people, and we take it seriously,” says Editorial Director Shannon Davis. “Our test team of more than 140 field scouts and staffers put in thousands of bag nights and even more ...read more

“Just a little snow.” That’s the phrase that kept playing in my head as we wound our way through Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici National Park in Catalonia, Spain. Everything—the granite peaks towering above us; the shores of an alpine lake; my boots—was ...read more