No matter how much gear we collect, no matter how experienced we are, there always seems to be a reason to accumulate more. Some people call it an addiction, an obsession, and others call it wasting money. I call it part necessity, part keeping up, and part, well, yeah it’s an addiction.

2009 was a year of upgrades for me, replacing some of my fleet of aging or obsolete backpacking equipment with the latest and greatest. That said, there is still quite a lot of overlap with my 2008 list. A good piece of equipment is going to last for more than a year, and regardless of my gear addiction, there are several items that will require quite a disruption to be displaced from my Top Ten list. I’ve also included a few honorable mentions – items that are new enough that I’d like some more time to evaluate, though early results are promising.

So, in no particular order, here is my Top 10 Gear of 2009 list

10. Icebreaker Wool

I’ve become a huge fan of wool in place of synthetic materials when it comes to base- and mid-layers. It is durable, dries quickly and breathes well, and best of all, does a wonderful job of repelling that funky trail stink. In fact, after a week on the trail the wool I’ve been wearing doesn’t smell at all – those cartoonish green lines you see coming from me are all, well, me. I’ve accumulated quite a stockpile of wool in a variety of thicknesses and styles, but my Icebreaker pieces are by far the favorites. I can wear their layers next to skin – the first brand of wool I’ve tried that doesn’t itch – and the durability is fantastic. The downside of Icebreaker is the hefty price tag, but I’ve found a lot of deals by buying sample pieces at the Outdoor Retailer show, monitoring Steep and Cheap, and digging through clearance racks.

9. Fitbit

The Fitbit isn’t specifically a piece of backpacking  gear, but I feel compelled to mention it since it’s been a core part of my fitness strategy for the past few months. The Fitbit is like a pedometer on steroids – it tracks steps, calories, mileage, and even sleep patterns. It syncs wirelessly and all of the data is visible in a nice interface on the Fitbit website. I can also track things like my weight, calorie and water intake, and set goals if I wish. In addition to all of my other outdoor activities I run quite a lot to maintain fitness, and as a numbers and data nerd it is very motivating for me to see this information.

8. Everytrail.com

Okay, Everytrail isn’t technically a physical piece of gear that lives in my pack, but it’s become a wonderful tool for sharing and visualizing the GPS data that I collect on my hikes. You may notice an embedded map on many of my trip reports, and that functionality is provided by Everytrail. As mentioned in the prior paragraph, I am a data nerd. I love to analyze the details of my tracks post hike – the speed, the elevation gain, the deviation from the mapped trail, etc. On Everytrail, I can share and compare my tracks with other hikers, and I can search and download tracks from other people. If you’re as much as a GPS and map data nerd as me, I suggest checking it out.

7. Socks: Darn Tough Vermont and Injinji (tie)

If my feet aren’t happy, I’m not happy. Last year I featured my favorite shoe, but a redesign of it has turned 2009 into the year of footwear experiments. However, there are two gloriously consistent products I regularly use that make my feet very happy: Darn Tough Vermont and Injinji socks. Injinjis are those silly looking toe socks that solve a common problem: between toe blisters. My toes are kinda crooked and these socks are the best solution I’ve found to preventing the annoying rubbing that inevitably causes blisters, no matter how well I’ve trimmed the toe nails.

The Darn Toughs are a typical merino wool style hiking sock, but I’ve never had a sock last for as long as my Darn Toughs. I hiked for almost 3 weeks in the same pair a few summers ago, and I still can use them. Most hiking socks would have worn thin, developed holes, or gotten so messed up they would have been tossed a week into the three, let alone survived for hundreds of more miles. It isn’t just that pair of Darn Toughs – I have a couple of other pairs that just refuse to deteriorate. Hiking socks can be expensive, and it’s great to find some that rarely need replacing.

6. MontBell UL SS Down Hugger #1 (sleeping bag)

Making its appearance for the second year in a row is my favorite sleeping bag, the MontBell UL SS Down Hugger. These bags are available in 9 different weights that have a comfort range from -20 to 50 F. The #1 is rated to approximately 15 degrees F and weighs in at 2 lbs. As a cold sleeper, this is the perfect cozy summer Sierra bag for me. Warmer sleepers may prefer a #2 (25 degree rated) or #3 (30 degree rated) for those near-freezing Sierra nights. I love the stretch design – it compresses just enough to shut down that interior dead air space so that I don’t spend an hour heating up the bag when I crawl into it at night.  I’ve used this bag for three seasons now and it still lofts like new. The shell material, though it feels delicate, has held up beautifully and I can’t remember ever losing a feather. These bags are on the pricey end of the range, but this is a piece of gear I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend to anyone – trust me, the quality of this bag is worth the cash.

5. Montbell Ex Light Down Jacket and Vest

Another item making its reappearance from the 2008 list, this time joined by its little sister, the vest. The Montbell Ex Light Down Jacket is a great ‘insurance’ layer for backpacking. There is always a cold morning or two where the fleece is not enough, and for those mornings this jacket is perfect. Weighing in at only 4.7 oz for the jacket and 3.1 oz for the vest, it’s trivial weight for the benefit and one or the other is along on every trip. Like the sleeping bag, the workmanship, material, and quality of these Montbell products is top-notch.

4. Tarptent Rainbow

Yes, another one from 2008. I’m pretty much just going to repeat what I said last year, not because I’m lazy, but because it’s still true and it will likely have a place on this list for many years. Everyone who has hiked with me knows my love for Henry Shires Tarptents.  I have now spent three seasons in my Rainbow (single) and last year bought the Double Rainbow to replace my old Cloudburst (for the two of us). The Rainbows are fast to pitch, incredibly spacious, and weigh in at just over 2 lbs. Not only that, but they have a free standing option and are fully enclosed to keep out  the skeeters. I have  found the Rainbow to be just about the perfect shelter for summer in the Sierra. Although I look forward to the interesting shelters that Henry Shires will come up with in the future, I doubt I’ll be replacing the Rainbows any time soon.

3. Packit Gourmet Foods

I discovered Packit Gourmet sometime last spring and put in an order for my summer food supply after reading some very positive reviews of their meals. Last year’s list included Enertia Trailfoods which I still do like, but I found myself getting a bit burned out on their stuff even though I still enjoy it far more than other backpacking food. Packit Gourmet offered some variety and interesting options that I hadn’t seen before so I eagerly tried it out, ordering several different types of meals. The first thing I tried was their Austintacious Tortilla Soup, and it was so good upon arriving home from that trip I immediately ordered more. I’ve gone through many other of their offerings and I have yet to find something that isn’t yummy. I can’t believe I’d say this about any kind of backpacking food, but I swear I could eat their meals at home for regular dinner and be perfectly happy and satisfied.

2. Bearikade

I wrote about bear canisters earlier this year. In that entry I compared the features of the different options in the bear cansiter world so if you’d like details, there they are. The Bearikade is expensive, but I regularly hike in terrain that requires canisters and it was worth the money for me. I save about a pound and the canister itself can fit over a week’s worth of my food. The only problem I have is that I waited almost 10 years to get one.

1. Therm-a-rest Neoair

The Therm-a-rest Neoair was the must-have innovation that every backpacker wanted this year. Providing 2.5 comfortable inches of thickness, an R-value of 2.5, and a footprint of 20 x 66 inches in a 13 oz package seemed impossible up until recently, but  Therm-a-Rest delivered with this $150 product. Reviews are mixed, generally positive with warnings to treat the pad carefully – leaks seem to happen easily. As for me, I used mine all summer, slept like a baby, kept warm and comfortable, and have no leaks. I have relegated my older sleeping pad to car camping – it is just as comfortable as the NeoAir but weighs twice as much – this helps me keep the wear and tear on the Neoair to a minimum. It’s a backpacking-only piece of equipment and I probably baby it more than the rest of my gear.

So, that’s my 2009 list. There are a few honorable mentions that I decided not to include here: my new Panasonic LX3 wide-angle backpacking camera and the Osprey Exos 58 pack. My first impressions are very positive but I’d like some more experience with them before drawing final conclusions. Did any of these items make your best-of list for 2009?