[ Editor's Letter Excerpt] This is a gear guide unlike any other. It is a partnership between five magazines—Outside, Backpacker, Beta, VeloNews, and Climbing, all siblings under Outside Interactive Inc. These pages represent the collective efforts of ten gear editors, 40 category managers, and nearly 150 testers. It is the biggest, most comprehensive, and most exhaustive gear guide any of us have produced.

[ Editor's Letter Excerpt ] Making our annual Winter Buyer’s Guide is roughly an eight-month process. We start testing gear in late January and go to press in September, just as the temps begin to drop. Flipping through page layouts and seeing all the season’s most exciting new products in one place always gets me looking ahead to what I’m most excited about for the coming winter.

Editor's Letter Excerpt: Objective measures of performance are only part of what makes a piece of gear “good.” The rest depends on you—your climate, your body, the demands of your outdoor life. Our goal isn’t to convince you to buy new gear, but to help you find what you truly need. Ideally, of the 340 products here, you’ll find one to adventure with for years to come.

Editor's Letter Excerpt: Maybe that’s why I’m looking forward to my first ski-waxing session more than ever, and why I’m excited for you to sit down with this issue of the Winter Buyer’s Guide, which includes our recommendations for everything from fun, ­hard-charging skis and goggles that quickly adapt to shifting light to winter-ready bikes and running shoes for all ­surfaces. Because in the face of such ­upheaval, rituals are a source of comfort. And when it comes to the outdoors, the best ritual I can think of is kitting up to play in the cold and snow.

[ Editor's Letter Excerpt ] I hope you’ll think of this issue of the Buyer’s Guide as your virtual gear closet, a place to get lost in the would-be and could-be of epic pursuits to come. The pieces in these pages inspired us with daydreams of the rides, climbs, runs, hikes, and camping trips they’ll be perfect for once the world opens up and we’re getting outside together again. Because at the end of the day, gear—even just looking at it and thinking about it—is a portal to adventure.