More gear? Yes... more.

So yes, I know I promised a post about the route I'm taking to the summit of Mt Kilimanjaro, but first I have to say a few words about a stellar deal I found in the gear department. Not too long ago, I bought quite the pile of Patagonia gear down in Ventura at their flagship store. They were having a big sale, but since then I've been crawling the web for even deeper discounts on my favorite items because the grad student life isn't exactly a lucrative one. With giant search strings to find specific items, I came across gearsamples.com. Wow!! Most items are 50% off and they primarily carry Arc'Teryx, Icebreaker, Patagonia, prAna, Timbuck2, and Chaco.











So what's a gear sample? These are the pieces that the sales representatives take to the stores. The good folks at gearsamples.com acquire these pieces and then sell them on their website at prices that beat out every other gear vendor I've found.

Now before you go rushing over there, I might just break your heart with the following information: sizes are definitely limited. This is a function of the way things work in the retail clothing industry. Samples are typically made in only one size for women and only one size for men.






In the case of Patagonia, that size is 8 or medium for women, and medium for men. With Icebreaker, you can get size small for women and size large for men. There really is something for everyone.

If you've never heard of Chaco brand shoes, they are pretty amazing. They come with built in insoles that remind me of superfeet. Unfortunately the sample size is way too small for me. If you know any gals that wear a size 7, or guys that wear a size 10, gearsamples.com has you covered!

I placed an order on Thursday night and everything arrived today - only 4 days later. It helps that they're based on the west coast somewhere, but speed also comes with good ol' USPS Priority Mail. While everyone around here seems to love the big brown UPS truck, I've found them to be slow as molasses.

When I tore into my package, I found the pieces inside exactly as they were listed on the website. They're brand new without tags, and they're absolutely not irregulars. At the bottom of the receipt that came in the package I found a little hand written thank you note from the owners. Three cheers for gearsamples.com!