Sometimes in winter on trails like the EBC etc there are dangerous patches of ice which need to be traversed. Obviously if you were expecting this as a constant situation you would be using more serious crampons. Vargo have just updated their ultralight pocket cleats (62 grams each) which can be quickly attached to your […]
I was just working on this idea. Here I have epoxied a copper flange to an old can of powdered milk and attached 1 metre of old silicone tube. I was catching the water in a Vargo 450 ml (cool lips) titanium mug. I was just cooling the steam with wetted down tea towels. I
Some tips and tricks on how to stay clean and healthy on the trail, how to wash and dry your clothes and more. I have been doing this for nearly seventy years so I must be doing something right! Some of these issues are a bit of a ‘No No’, but someone needs to bring
I already mentioned cooking falafel in the leftover fat from Chinese Sausages in Hiking Food: Protein (the first for dinner, the second for breakfast), but you can carry a pack of falafel mix and approx 60 ml of eg olive oil in a small plastic bottle (but this is better Out of the Frying Pan.
This is Big Agnes Cyclone Chair which weighs only 170 grams. I always carry one of these. Have been doing so for nearly twenty years. You can make a comfy chair with it out of just about any pad. Today I use the Thermarest Neoair X-Lite Womens or the Big Agnes Insulated AXL Air. In
This stuff is wonderful. First, there is its obvious utility in joining/repairing cuben fibre. There is a single-sided and a double sided version – and it comes in various widths). You normally use it to make joins to create a wider tarp, or to make ‘no-sew’ cuben fibre stuff sacks. Where it really comes into
Does your dog rip holes in your sleeping mat (see photo), your pack raft or canoeing dry bag with their sharp claws even if you keep them trimmed? Instead of leaving Spot (or Honey) at home you could get yourself some dog booties to prevent such disasters. This is the hole Honey managed to rip
It is highly desirable to carry a fixed blade knife mainly for those rare occasions when it is necessary to split branches to produce dry kindling and shave them to produce ‘excelsior’ (wood shavings) which are the best fire starter. Lighting a fire when it is very wet and cold is the most important time
Getting a fire going (in the rain and wet) is the most important thing you need to know – ever. If you don’t know it, one day you will die from your ignorance. It will always be unexpected. Folks are always heading off for a day’s drive wearing shorts and tee shirts into the High
The 14.8 gram 650 lumen glow in the dark Awesome Flashlight I wrote about recently which can be made into a head torch like this can also be converted into a cap light by using the supplied 1.9 clip. This A5X model is absolutely brilliant. You could just use the side LEDs (without the silicone
