The rule everything else follows
Every factual claim on this site, every spec, price, weight, temperature rating, and safety statistic, traces to a primary source that was checked on the day the article was written. If a claim cannot be sourced, it gets cut. Not softened, not hedged, cut. That rule is the reason the site exists in the form it does, and every other policy on this page is a consequence of it.
How picks are chosen
Gear roundups start with the brand's current spec sheet and the credible independent coverage of the product, then apply judgment about which product fits the job the article is about. Two things should be plain about that method. First, no placement is paid for, no product is included because someone sent a sample, and no pick earns this site a commission. Second, this is documentary research, not a test lab. Where an article has not put a product through a season of use, nothing in it will pretend otherwise. You will see "the brand rates it" and "the spec sheet says," not a fabricated field anecdote. When that changes for a given article, the article will say so.
Where the numbers come from
Statistics are cited to whoever originally produced them, never to a site quoting them secondhand. Avalanche figures come from the Colorado Avalanche Information Center and the regional forecast centers it coordinates. Chain laws come from the relevant state DOT, updated each winter. Medical and cold-exposure claims trace to peer-reviewed wilderness medicine or public-health guidance. Where a popular claim turns out to be wrong, like the one about losing 40% of your body heat through your head, the article corrects it and links the correction to its source.
Specs go stale, so they carry dates
A spec sheet that was true last winter is not necessarily true today. Models get discontinued, prices drift, and brands change materials without announcing it. Every gear article states when its specs and prices were last verified, and treats every price as a snapshot. If a figure on this site disagrees with the brand's page today, trust the brand's page and then tell us: [email protected].
What this site will not do
No affiliate links, sponsored posts, or ads. No temperature ratings invented to fill a table. No award given to a product the article cannot explain in one sentence of plain English. No recycled listicle padding an old URL. And no claim left standing once a reader shows it is wrong.
When something is wrong
It gets fixed, visibly. Email [email protected] with the URL and the problem. The article is updated and a dated correction note goes at the foot of the piece, where it stays. The full policy is on the corrections page.