My friend Gerard White walked the Upper Yarra Track last week – from Waburton to Walhalla. With his kind permission here is his account of the trip: Day 1: Big Pats Creek to New Federal Mill (21km) (4 people) Last week (Sunday) I set off from Warburton headed for Walhalla on the Upper Yarra Track. […]
How much is your life worth? Is it worth laying out $80 and carrying 273 grams for example? This is the Outdoor Research Helium Emergency Bivy, a trimmed down version of their regular Helium Bivy (510 grams). If you carry a raincoat you could make a raincoat shelter for your head, and you could hold
Yet another sixteen ‘free’ ultralight hiking ideas. Enjoy. A Cure for Slippery Mats: I have just spent a couple of weeks sleeping on my new Big Agnes AXL Air 300 gram mat in Scotland. It is indubitably the most comfortable mat I have ever slept on, but it does suffer from being a tad slippery.
I am tossing around some ideas concerning DIY tent stoves – as you know, so I was delighted to stumble upon this amazing website: https://timtinker.com/ by a fellow Gippsland Senior – we are good for something still after all. As you will see Tim camps in the snow all the time, so his ideas clearly
How big a tipi can you make in a single piece out of a 3 metre (10’) wide roll of Tyvek? I began this project as I want to take one in and leave it in a canoe drum along with a small wood heater to warm it on winter nights at ‘our’ new ‘hidden
Just like practically everyone I guess I had an ad from the ‘hellosunny’ shop (see below) for Waterproof Shoe Covers. I had spent a lot of time on this idea before coming up with my own 13 gram DIY version (https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2017/04/14/19-gram-dyneema-camp-shoes/) which have proven very serviceable and durable on many trips now. I guess that
You can use Pipe Insulation to make extempore hiking poles or tent poles when you are in the bush. The piece shown weighs 5 grams. It certainly saves you carrying hiking poles when you don’t need them. When you do you can cut them to length with this 28 gram DIY ultralight saw. If you
A blast of Antarctic air is coming through Victoria in the next week so that it might be time to consider how to warm your tent. This great company Titanium Goat have extremely lightweight titanium stove (heaters), stove pipes, stove accessories, and a tent boot you can sew into an existing tent to vent your
The Americans call this ‘O.B. Wire’ (for ‘obstetrics’). Vets use it to cut up a stuck calf inside its mother! I have used this stuff to de-horn hundreds of goats in past years (It is not possible to breed poll goats as the poll gene is linked to hermaphroditism). You can quickly tie a length
I recently bought one of these for Della for canoeing (weight saving is still relevant if you might have to portage). Her glutes are a bit underwhelming so she gets a very sore behind after a few hours paddling. She was using Klymit’s Ultralight Pillow (which is an excellent sleeping pillow) but it was not
