i totally love getting new climbing gear, especially when it’s sponsored by generous peeps. =D

imagine my anticipation after a long, hot day of technical training at yishun safra, when panda, peh gee and i trooped off to camper’s corner at capitol building to collect our sponsored marmot gear that had just arrived!

xavier, the chap at campers who handles our gear orders (and who lihui thought was cute, hur hur) had very thoughtfully packed everything into individual marmot backpacks and gave them to us like christmas presents. so yes, imagine our glee when the three of us started taking everything out to try on and coo over. i can’t say this enough, but i totally love new gear! and marmot is great! both the brand and the animal. incidentally, we came across wild marmots while climbing in xinjiang and they’re really hardy, cute and fuzzy looking, but dangerously feisty when they’re captured (trust me, we know).

pictures!

trying on gear at the back of campers. panda attempting the wide-eyed innocent jap anime look.

gloves! these are probably the best pair of gloves i’ve had so far. waterproof gore tex on the outside, with super warm primaloft on the inside and a really nice rubber-feel palm to make handling hardware easier!

really pretty driclime vest! lightweight and great for layering… oops… toes.

and did i mention how simple but nifty marmot’s mountain symbol logo is…

driclime windshirt! another great layering piece and it’s such a nice shade of green to boot. =)

plus, there’s also a matching green cap! we’ll look like woodland elves…

oracle gore tex pants! finally, outer shell pants that bloody fit la. no more wearing ill-fitting men’s pants! suspenders are great for when we all start getting skeletal and the waistband starts to drops lower. haha

this jacket had me squealing in veritable joy. it’s a pro shell jacket!!! so it may not mean much to most ppl, but this is the absolute latest in improvements to gore tex fabric. waterproof, breathable, sturdy and yet totally light! panda and i were completely elated, cuz now we actually *own* our own outershell jacket! previously, we used to borrow the huge men’s sized jackets from the nus mir store cuz outershell jackets cost a bomb to buy. after climbing for years with loaned jackets, panda and i finally own one! yippeeeee

marmot day pack! the size is great for those one or two-day acclimatization climbs and i like how streamlined it is and that there are no superfluous external pockets, loops and zippers that tend to annoy the hell out of me. minimalism is key to having less headaches. and snags.

marmot (www.marmot.com) rocks and the peeps at campers (www.camperscorner.com.sg) are great for getting us the deal. =)
in other happy news…
also received our sponsored buff (www.buff.es) headwear! check it out, it’s this really cool brand of technical fabric that’s wearable in a ton of different ways and oh so warm. not to mention the quirky designs…

fuzzy red fur with completely frivolous flowers!

the bank robber look. flowers notwithstanding.

panda is completely jealous of my great taste at selecting from the kukuxumusu range! i love the inane blur baa-baa look of the cartoon sheep. my kukuxumusu notebooks kept me amused during my uni days.

check out the silly looking sheep! the sheep are actually demo-ing the many ways to tie the headwear! talk about being self-referential. i personally wouldn’t recommend the suicidal “blindfold” though…

and here’s to looking frivolous but happy on the climb. =)
and…
PEEKABOO!

ok i couldn’t resist. the backing on this buff piece made for a hilarious photo op.

only 10 days left till cho oyu!

whooppeeeee!