Flylow Lab Coat wins Elevation Outdoors Peak Gear Award

Elevation Outdoors magazine has just introduced their first annual Peak Gear Awards. "There are plenty of 'Gear of the Year' awards out there, so we decided to do it a little bit differently," says Elevation Outdoors editor Doug Schnitzspahn. "We simply asked our top contributors who, we are proud to admit, spend far more time hiking, climbing, biking, skiing, paddling and generally getting out than they do working what was the best gear you used over the past year? What gear can t you live without? What gear changed your life?" One of the winners? Flylow's new Lab Coat, made with Polartec Neoshell. Here's what they had to say about why the coat won.

Flylow Lab Coat - $500; flylowgear.com

This Polartec NeoShell piece from Colorado brand Flylow combines top-of-the-line performance with local cred. That NeoShell membrane moves sweat and shucks off precipitation and big pit zips open things up when the membrane gets overmatched.

Why It Won: Simple. It worked. The jacket did its job of breathing and staying waterproof on big days up in the Colorado peaks, both in the wild and on the lift. Plus, it s not overdesigned. $500 is a lot to drop on a jacket, but you will feel good about that purchase for several years into the future here. Where We Took It: Early season hike-and-ski missions up Arapahoe Basin and Peak One, Indian Peaks ski mountaineering, Berthoud Pass, Eldora, Loveland, Monarch Pass.