In Praise of Catalogs

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Photo by: Garrett Grove

Ahh, catalog time. We don't know about you, but around this time of year we get a catalog fixation. All that new gear, all those pages of shiny photographs arriving in the mailbox—catalogs are one of the many crutches we rely upon to get us from this time of year (Indian summer, light fleece) to that time of year (powder Tuesdays, the full puffy). Sure, it's a bit embarrassing riding the bus and "reading" a Patagonia catalog, but with each page turn we're making big plans, envisioning new adventures, promising to push ourselves farther this year—and all because of those new die-cut laser-stitched Teflon-reinforced technical stretch pants we're gonna order. What piece of gear are you obsessing over this year? Are you planning on coming late to the softshell party? Are you finally going to ditch that rather fragrant old base layer for something new and technical —or something new and traditional, like a merino wool crew? Or are you going to invest in some extra baffling, like a windproof vest? Log in and let us know below. Please—we need a new fix.

Patagonia Catalogue

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