Award:Sierra Designs Tov Jacket with DriDown™ and Ymir 55 ski pack win 2012 Editors’ Choice Snow Awards from Backpacker Magazine

Offering stellar winter performance, both the Tov and Ymir are honored
with the outdoor industry’s most sought after award

BOULDER, COLO. (For Immediate Release) – Sierra Designs is honored to accept two Editors’ Choice Snow Awards from Backpacker Magazine in recognition of the Tov jacket with DriDown™ hydrophobic insulation and the Ymir 55 ski pack.  Both the jacket and pack are new for fall 2012.

Featuring the game-changing DriDown™ insulation, the Tov down jacket won praise for its ability to retain loft and stay warm even in damp, snowy conditions where untreated down loses insulating efficiency.  The Ymir 55, a ski pack with features and sizing ideal for backcountry hut travel, caught editors’ attention because it hauls gear comfortably and fills a previously empty niche in the world of ski packs.

“We are beyond thrilled to have two of our products win Editors’ Choice Snow Awards from Backpacker Magazine,” said Michael Glavin, VP with Sierra Designs. “Sierra Designs has always strived to create innovative, functional outdoor gear to help backcountry enthusiast get more out of any outdoor experience and this recognition is confirmation that we are succeeding.”

For all the warmth of a puffy down jacket with the superior performance of DriDown™, the Tov jacket ($259) delivers.  Insulated with 600 fill DriDown™ hydrophobic down insulation, the Tov takes the chill out of the coldest, wettest days.  A helmet compatible, adjustable hood with separate collar adds warmth while a two-way zipper makes it easy to access a climbing harness.

Melodie Miller, Sierra Designs Director of Product Development for apparel, is responsible for conceiving, designing, and bringing the Tov to market.  Melodie has since moved on to pursue new opportunities and Sierra Designs would like to thank her for her contributions and wishes her the best of luck in the future.

For extended tours, the Ymir 55 ($199) is a multi-day load hauling machine.   Perfect for a hut trip or overnight ski mountaineering adventure, the Ymir features an assortment of quick-access pockets and compartments, making it faster and easier to access all your gear, including essential rescue equipment, skins, and extra layers.  Features include a snow-safety pocket for shovel and probe, a snow-shedding back panel, and ski/snowboard carry system.

In total, twelve manufacturers were honored as recipients of the Editors’ Choice Snow Award. Using the same rigorous gear testing practices as the annual Editors’ Choice Awards announced in the spring, the Editors’ Choice Snow Awards are a prestigious honor in the outdoor industry, given to cold-weather season products in recognition of their outstanding innovation in design, materials and performance.

“There’s no other magazine or website that conducts in-depth field-testing as vigorously or impartially as the crew led by Gear Editor Kristin Hostetter,” says Backpacker Editor-in-Chief Jon Dorn. “With a core team that has several centuries of combined trail time and expertise in every backcountry discipline, Kristin puts products through an unprecedented level of real-world abuse in every terrain and weather imaginable, including snow and ice. Because of that, extending the coveted Editors’ Choice Awards to account for the winter season allows us to lead consumers to even more products that show best-in-class performance.”

About Sierra Designs:
Born in 1965 and raised during the heyday hiking and backpacking, Sierra Designs is driven by a desire to enhance the outdoor experience with state-of-the-art tents, sleeping bags, apparel, and packs that truly address the needs of today’s backcountry enthusiasts. Continuously innovating across all product lines, Sierra Designs utilizes the latest materials and cutting-edge designs, offering solutions to many of the biggest problems encountered on any outdoor adventure. Sierra Designs gear is made to keep you warm, dry, and comfortable in any situation, allowing you to go farther and faster while having more fun than ever before.  Sierra Designs.  Seek Adventure. (www.SierraDesigs.com)

About Backpacker:
Backpacker (www.backpacker.com) brings the outdoors straight to the reader's doorstep, inspiring and enabling them to go more places and enjoy nature more often. The authority on active adventure, Backpacker is the world's first GPS-enabled magazine and website, and the only outdoor media whose editors personally test the hiking trails, camping gear, and survival tips they publish. Backpacker's Editors' Choice Awards, an industry honor recognizing design, feature and product innovation, has become the gold standard against which all other outdoor-industry awards are measured. And the magazine recently launched mobile media applications that allow users to text-message hiking maps and directions to their phones. In the last four years, Backpacker has won five National Magazine Awards, the publishing industry’s highest honor. In 2008, the magazine won the NMA for General Excellence, joining The New Yorker, Mother Jones, GQ, and National Geographic as top winners in their respective size categories. In 2009, it won three awards, including General Excellence Online. Backpacker has also won numerous other print, design, and digital awards, and its writers have been recognized in prestigious contests and best-of-the-year anthologies.

Scott Kaier / Sierra Designs / scott.kaier@americanrec.com /303-262-3048