So obviously I had a lot of gear with me on the last tour, and a detailed review about everything would be nice but its not possible due to time constraints. So, inspired by PTC's "Kit that broke, kit that didnae, and other stuff before I forget" series of posts and a post by Markus on the trekking-ultraleicht.de Forum I decided that a post in which everything in the pack and worn gets a sentence or two written about would be in order.
Various gear drying out at the cottage.
Spork: Not good if you eat out of bags. Happily Q had a 2nd Sea to Summit long handled spoon with him, which he gave me. Very useful and light at 13 g. Sea to Summit = Keeper, Spork = retired if I eat bag food.
Ti-Tri + Inferno: Didn't use it once on the whole trip, as I melted snow on the fire in my Tibetian Titanium 1100 pot. There was just no need for it, and I would leave it at home if I know I will be going to campsites. The pot was perfect, good size for melting snow.
Platypus: Two 1l bottles and the PlatyPreserve for the "Pepi". I borrowed a cozy which held the tea warm for a couple of hours, and if the water froze some massaging of the Platy always gave some water free.
Real Turmat, Travellunch: Both high quality food. Real Turmat slightly better, but at 8€ a meal I'm not sure if they will be the standard. Travellunch tasted good, and has a wide variety of meals for around 6€. If I have the extra cash I go for them, but Ramen and selfmade food taste as good, if not better.
Puukko & Kuksa: Both Keepers. Puukko so handy if you need to cut small pieces of wood to start a fire after your quilt collapsed, wouldn't miss it for anything. Kuksa isolates excellent and is easy to clean.
Multimat Adventure + Multimat Summit Compact 38: Perfect Duo, never got cold from down under. Keeper.
GoLite Ultra 20°: Fine till -10°C without a VBL, over that and it collapsed. My mistake, not going to take it if that kind of low temps could surprise me. Still top notch for the summer.
Laufbursche shelter: Slept only one night under it, but it was great. Easy set up, heaps of space, well-thought-out design. Might need to get a own one.
Petzl Tikka Plus: Gets retired. For winter you need a serious lamp, and the Tikka Plus ain't it. Some test lamps from Fenix and Princeton Tec coming in, expect a post in the coming weeks.
Julbo Dolgan sunglasses: The Anti Fog only worked half of the time, but otherwise I was glad to have them on those bright and sunny days. 33 g well worth to carry, but need to test them more.
Cyclone Buff & Merino Buff: Perfect for wearing during the day, kept me warm and dry. Wearing the Cyclone around my neck and up over the nose, and the Merino on top. Keeper.
Rab Microlite Vest and Klättermusen Loke: Great duo for wearing at camp and sleeping. No problems with being close to the fire either, the Loke can withstand some sparks without getting holes. Keeper.
Rab Momentum Jacket and Drillium Pants: Both great for when its windy and snowy, though I was able to get the eVent to the limit and had a bit of moisture build up, but when snowshoeing at -15°C that can happen. Keeper.
You already know that I liked the GoLite Pinnacle and the Woolpower gear, and expect a separate review of the Integral Designs PLQ jacket and pants. I will also give my thoughts on the Suntrica charger in the next few weeks. That's pretty much it what I had with me, most of it Keepers as you see, with some stuff needing more trail time.
So what about the stuff I didn't had with me? Well, a pair of VBL socks would have been a welcome piece of gear to have, because they keep your feet warm and minimize the danger of frostbite. An Cyclone buff for the neck and face also would have been useful, and probably more multiuse than a balaclava?
That was it. Questions, comments, observations, recommendations?
So obviously I had a lot of gear with me on the last tour, and a detailed review about everything would be nice but its not possible due to time constraints. So, inspired by PTC's "Kit that broke, kit that didnae, and other stuff before I forget" series of posts and a post by Markus on the trekking-ultraleicht.de Forum I decided that a post in which everything in the pack and worn gets a sentence or two written about would be in order.
Various gear drying out at the cottage.
Spork: Not good if you eat out of bags. Happily Q had a 2nd Sea to Summit long handled spoon with him, which he gave me. Very useful and light at 13 g. Sea to Summit = Keeper, Spork = retired if I eat bag food.
Ti-Tri + Inferno: Didn't use it once on the whole trip, as I melted snow on the fire in my Tibetian Titanium 1100 pot. There was just no need for it, and I would leave it at home if I know I will be going to campsites. The pot was perfect, good size for melting snow.
Platypus: Two 1l bottles and the PlatyPreserve for the "Pepi". I borrowed a cozy which held the tea warm for a couple of hours, and if the water froze some massaging of the Platy always gave some water free.
Real Turmat, Travellunch: Both high quality food. Real Turmat slightly better, but at 8€ a meal I'm not sure if they will be the standard. Travellunch tasted good, and has a wide variety of meals for around 6€. If I have the extra cash I go for them, but Ramen and selfmade food taste as good, if not better.
Puukko & Kuksa: Both Keepers. Puukko so handy if you need to cut small pieces of wood to start a fire after your quilt collapsed, wouldn't miss it for anything. Kuksa isolates excellent and is easy to clean.
Multimat Adventure + Multimat Summit Compact 38: Perfect Duo, never got cold from down under. Keeper.
GoLite Ultra 20°: Fine till -10°C without a VBL, over that and it collapsed. My mistake, not going to take it if that kind of low temps could surprise me. Still top notch for the summer.
Laufbursche shelter: Slept only one night under it, but it was great. Easy set up, heaps of space, well-thought-out design. Might need to get a own one.
Petzl Tikka Plus: Gets retired. For winter you need a serious lamp, and the Tikka Plus ain't it. Some test lamps from Fenix and Princeton Tec coming in, expect a post in the coming weeks.
Julbo Dolgan sunglasses: The Anti Fog only worked half of the time, but otherwise I was glad to have them on those bright and sunny days. 33 g well worth to carry, but need to test them more.
Cyclone Buff & Merino Buff: Perfect for wearing during the day, kept me warm and dry. Wearing the Cyclone around my neck and up over the nose, and the Merino on top. Keeper.
Rab Microlite Vest and Klättermusen Loke: Great duo for wearing at camp and sleeping. No problems with being close to the fire either, the Loke can withstand some sparks without getting holes. Keeper.
Rab Momentum Jacket and Drillium Pants: Both great for when its windy and snowy, though I was able to get the eVent to the limit and had a bit of moisture build up, but when snowshoeing at -15°C that can happen. Keeper.
You already know that I liked the GoLite Pinnacle and the Woolpower gear, and expect a separate review of the Integral Designs PLQ jacket and pants. I will also give my thoughts on the Suntrica charger in the next few weeks. That's pretty much it what I had with me, most of it Keepers as you see, with some stuff needing more trail time.
So what about the stuff I didn't had with me? Well, a pair of VBL socks would have been a welcome piece of gear to have, because they keep your feet warm and minimize the danger of frostbite. An Cyclone buff for the neck and face also would have been useful, and probably more multiuse than a balaclava?
That was it. Questions, comments, observations, recommendations?
Gear Talk: Gear that worked and gear that didn't
Good stuff.
ReplyDeleteI think all the little bits and pieces that can make a real impact on a trip, when something works it becomes standard and then that's something that's worry free.
If you do this as a series of posts it'll be interesting to see if you change your mind, I know that I've evolved some opinions as time's gone on.
Thanks PTC! I'm pretty sure that this is going to be a series. I also believe that it might evolve as time goes so, so what now might considered a Keeper might not be so anymore in the future. We'll see =) Good to see you commenting here, btw!
ReplyDeleteThe spork is indeed dead. I have several (plastic, titanium and folding) lying in my bits box. Too many punctured freezer bags. Simple spoons are much better at scraping every last calorie from a pot or bag. I have two of the AlphaLight spoons, the long one is perfect for freeze-dried meals and the short one for when I eat couscous/ramen out of the pot.
ReplyDeleteI use a wide-mouth Nalgene soft canteen for water storage in winter. The wide opening doesn't freeze at all. I also take a 'non-lightweight' 500ml Nalgene wide-mouth bottle. I can use this as my water-bottle (kept in an inside pocket when hiking/skiing) and also as a hot-water bottle. If I'm really counting grams then I'll use this as my hot drink mug and leave my Snowpeak double wall mug at home. It will even do as a pee bottle in an emergency...
Real Turmat! Surely the king of freeze-dried meals! I wait until one of the local supermarkets has a 'clearance sale' when they're left with one particular flavour (usually the Lapskaus!) and sell it for 20kr. Then I buy loads of them!
Talking of unwanted but perfectly usable gear maybe we should organise a 'mystery box' for Scandinavian bloggers? I've got a bunch of stuff that maybe useful to someone! Or compile a list of worthy causes (Scouts? Charities that take underprivileged kids out into the wilds?) that we can donate the gear too? Reuse/recycle!
Interesting post, I will get hold of a long handled spoon - I've also found that sporks are less than ideal for Real Turmat and the like :)
ReplyDeleteJoe: good idea to make a mystery box! how do we organize it? will it follow a set address list? I am a bit concerned with the shipping costs though. I know Posten here in Norway charge quite a lot for international packets. Maybe we could get a way with sending as "letter"
Ha ha! We're ultra-lighters right?! Shipping costs should be minimal, even in Norway! :-)
ReplyDeletePeople might be interested in this article about how GoLite looks to recycle more of its kit. http://www.backpacker.com/golite_take_back_recycling/blogs/green_scene/1660
ReplyDeleteHi Hendrik
ReplyDeleteI finaly managed to find your blog.
The Sea to Sumit spoon sounds good I have been looking for the perfect spoon for Mountain marathons.
All the best
sbrt
Hi Stephen, yeah, I'm well hidden! Nice to see you here, hope you enjoy your stay! he Sea to Summit spoon is excellent, and also cheap (5€)!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the interesting link, harttj!
Joe & Thomas, looking forward to the Mystery box!
The spork is indeed dead. I have several (plastic, titanium and folding) lying in my bits box. Too many punctured freezer bags. Simple spoons are much better at scraping every last calorie from a pot or bag. I have two of the AlphaLight spoons, the long one is perfect for freeze-dried meals and the short one for when I eat couscous/ramen out of the pot.
ReplyDeleteI use a wide-mouth Nalgene soft canteen for water storage in winter. The wide opening doesn't freeze at all. I also take a 'non-lightweight' 500ml Nalgene wide-mouth bottle. I can use this as my water-bottle (kept in an inside pocket when hiking/skiing) and also as a hot-water bottle. If I'm really counting grams then I'll use this as my hot drink mug and leave my Snowpeak double wall mug at home. It will even do as a pee bottle in an emergency...
Real Turmat! Surely the king of freeze-dried meals! I wait until one of the local supermarkets has a 'clearance sale' when they're left with one particular flavour (usually the Lapskaus!) and sell it for 20kr. Then I buy loads of them!
Talking of unwanted but perfectly usable gear maybe we should organise a 'mystery box' for Scandinavian bloggers? I've got a bunch of stuff that maybe useful to someone! Or compile a list of worthy causes (Scouts? Charities that take underprivileged kids out into the wilds?) that we can donate the gear too? Reuse/recycle!
If you like to go camping in COMFORT, I suggest you buy yourself (or as a gift for some one else) a one man hammock tent! Hammock tents are awesome because you don’t need to remove rocks and sticks where you are going to camp because the tent keeps you comfortably up in the air suspended between two trees!
ReplyDeleteIf you want more information on camping go ahead and visit my blog!http://camping-3.blogspot.com/