I am looking for new lightweight raincoats for each of us. I came across this wonderful innovative cut on Montbell’s Versalite rain jacket (Womens Medium 142 grams, Mens 168 grams A$190). This is a really genius idea. ‘Cut from a single piece of fabric, K-MONO CUT drastically reduces the amount of seam lines eliminating areas where […]
People carry too much gear. We are planning a trip to Scotland this year so we are working on how to fit everything we need into a couple of sub 500 gram backpacks such as these . For about a month away we will want to be carrying sub 20 lb (<10 kg) on our backs
How to Travel Around the World With Just a 20lb Backpack: Read More »
Some folk like to lug around a lead sleeping bag. Might be useful in the event of a nuclear attack I guess. The bag I use is the Montbell Ultralight Superstretch Down Hugger #3 (-1C) which weighs about 600 grams. My wife has a Zpacks -7C sleeping bag which weighs even less than mine (400
What a good idea that would be, especially if you need to use both hands for trekking poles on rough or steep terrain. When the weather is really humid, you really need a roof to keep you dry (and warm). A raincoat in such circumstances will just see you soaked and frozen. See: The Importance
I am looking around for a new rain jacket of both of us. People’s raincoats often weigh as much as 500 grams. Try weighing yours. So there is nearly a day’s worth of food (weight) to be saved in exploring a change to this item alone. For many years I hunted deer in winter in
Imagine a light shirt that automatically puffs out into a jacket when the temperatures drop. A textile lab is working on a fabric to do just that. This is a step upwards from the inflatable clothing I have written about before. I think it still has a way to go before it replaces wonderful down
Have you tried camping two up in a hammock with a single tarp? There are significant weight savings to be made… This is an 8’ x 8’ (2.4 x 2.4 metres) cuben tarp to which we sewed two 4’6” x 8’ (1.35 x 2.4 metres) ‘wings’ so we could close it off as a tarp
We had a programmed ‘acclimatisation day’ at Namche and another at Dingboche. Tully had decided we would use these days to climb up to the next 500 metre ‘step’ and then descend again to sleep. This proved to be a good preventative for altitude sickness as was taking half a Diamox twice a day starting
I am busy getting ready for this (and trying to finish some jobs around the farm) so posts have been rather light of late. I am a guest on this trip, so this is mostly Steve Hutcheson’s itinerary for the trip. I will be editing/adding to it over time, so come back and check. I
A life saver at 86 grams: I ordered one of these for my upcoming Everest Base Camp trek. It will keep my nose (& face) warm, a plus as this is one of the things that most bothers me about camping out in winter. More importantly though is that it warms incoming air by more
