Montane Deal

Loving the look of this deal from the Hike-Lite guys.

A Montane Slipstream Gilet and a Montane Dragonfly base layer for 55 quid.

This get up will pretty much sort summer out for me – both hiking and biking.

Cord Lock Light

An 8g wonder from Black Crater.

Via Uncooped.

New ti' from Alpkit

The guys at Alpkit have just launched a new range of titanium cooking and eating gear to compliment their existing stuff (sporks, cutlery, chopsticks, cooking mug).

The new kit consists of of 'Snapwires' - ti' cutlery with folding handles (fork, spork, knife and a spoon @ £6.50 each), the Lhoon (long handled spoon for getting into freezer bags and deep cooking pots - 18g and a brilliant 7 quid), what looks like a remodelled MytiMug (750ml and 110g @ £25.00) and the MytiPot, a 1350ml cooking pot with a lid that weighs in 158g and £40.00.

I have also noticed a new LED lantern and some 8.5g titanium 'nail' tent pegs, although not strictly eating irons, I am sure that if you left your SnapWire at home...

Check out the new stuff http://www.alpkit.com/camp-cooking/ and start writing your Christmas list now.

Lightweight (+ dual purpose) cutlery

This is absolute genius. Find out more here.

Walking pole / Tarp pole

I can't read how he made this (or even if he did make it), but my favourite Japanese website http://ulgoods.exblog.jp/ has done it again with this fantastic gizmo to make a tent pole from a walking pole.

So much neater and well thought through than my own crude method!

Using a tarp with an Akto

During the Cambrian Way walk this summer, we spent a lot of time in Akto's in some quite wet weather. Most of the time, this was not a problem, but cooking was a pain, as was sitting chatting with the door open as the drizzle just came straight into the porch are soaking everything.

On the trail, I tried using my umbrella, with limited success, to make an awning of sorts. This was great when there was no wind, but it was a bit small.

I suddenly thought of a use for those crazy little micro tarps that Bob sells.

This weekend I experimented with using my two tarps to create a useful space outside the Akto. The SUL Cuben Fibre micro tarp gave good coverage for it's 50g. Click on the pic's to enlarge them.








































But my home-made extension turned the Akto into a palace for a couple of hundred grams. I haven't perfected the pitch yet, but the photo's will give you an idea of what is possible for those few extra grams.























































Anyone who has spent some time in a Akto in wet weather will know where I am coming from!

This is all very experimental at the moment. It would be great to hear from you if you have any ideas or have tried this and have a better system.

Akto Footprint - for half the weight

Before we left for the Cambrian Way, Alan and I bought an Akto footprint between us (250g), cut it down the middle, rolled and sewed the cut edge and used it as a vestibule footprint for only 125g!

I don't really see the point of a full footprint when you are backpacking - fair enough if you are car camping and the extra protection for your very, very expensive tent makes you feel better, but as long as you choose your site carefully and clear away sharp bits and bobs, the groundsheet on an Akto is pretty bombproof.

The vestibule footprint helps keep condensation down and gives you a nice, dry area in wet weather. It sits under the inner tent groundsheet about 6 inches - just enough to help it stay in place, although a planned mod' is to attach two dyneema lines to the back corners (and maybe one in the middle) to pull it tight under the inner.

It worked well throughout the trip and for 125g, gives a lot of comfort. God knows we needed every scrap of luxury!

Dr Bronner's Soaps

I finally managed to get myself a big bottle of peppermint Dr Bronner's from those nice people at 21st Century Health. It's true, you can use it for toothpaste.

If only it had some sort of alcohol content, it could also be used for fuel and a warming winter beverage. They are organic, natural, totally hippy and very concentrated. One drop on my toothbrush gave me a mouth full of minty bubbles - a strange experience, but better than carrying a tube of toothpaste too.

It's pretty good at cleaning the rest of you, your cooking gear and your socks - you can shave with it too. A few ml in a dropper bottle should last a week easily.

Apparently it "Creates an exhilirating tingly-cool body space and increases vitality and clarity" man.

Lightweight Tips

I was just reading through my 'Light Ideas' posts, as I am working up some new ones. For those of you new to Hike Wales, here is the collection so far. I particularly recommend the Swiss Card and the titanium mug tips!

Trimming the fat

I used the Ryel Kestenbaum 'Trimming the Fat' technique to shave 3oz off my Z55 today.

It was raining and I was bored.

Basically load your pack up, get everything comfy, grab every strap you can find, if there is more than a fistful, cut it off and seal it. For a start, your pack will weigh less and an added bonus is that you won't get whipped in the face by all of the excess strapping that pack manufacturers feel we need.

Check out Ryels book The Ultralight Backpacker.

It is a good, easy read with loads of tips'n'tricks like this.

No more burnt lips

A silicon 'livestrong' bracelet stretched around the rim of your 25 quid titanium mug is the perfect thing to stop burnt lips and only adds a couple of grams. They are available from Ebay for around 99p.

High Visability Titanium Stakes

I bought a set of six Tibetan ti' stakes from Ultralight Outdoor Gear for a bargain £6.99.

After fiddling with my home made tarp (more on that soon!) it became apparent that it would take me about 5 minutes to lose them all in a 'real' situation!

I tried a bright orange enamel paint but that just peeled off when it was dry. Paint does not stick to ti.

I came across this thread on backpackinglight.com and a chap called Kenneth Thompson suggested heat shrink tubing (used by electricians I think). My father in law (thanks Viv!) had a foot of bright yellow 3mm tubing in his garage and it works a treat!

It's cheap, you can get it on Ebay and even if it's all wrinkled when you slide it on, a quick blast with a hair dryer shrinks it onto the stake and all wrinkles disappear. It has the appearance of being dipped.

'Lastic Laces

I posted earlier this month about elastic laces. I was just about to order some more for my other shoes when it struck me that they are only 3mm bungee cord with a fancy cord lock (which I didn't use anyway - extra weight and all that!).

A quick search on eBay found 5 metres of 3mm bungee cord for two quid (inc. delivery) - enough to 3 or 4 pairs of shoes.

Just tie them as normal laces and have a walk around, tighten or loosen until they feel great, then lock them off with a reef knot (right over left, then left over right for those who were never in the Scouts) and cut off the excess and seal with a flame.

If you do nothing else during this miserable January, try this!

Light idea - Alcohol stoves - Update

I tested the alcohol stove today and was very impressed. It was 4 degrees in the garden and the stove managed to bring a litre of cold water to a rolling boil in 8 minutes - using under 40ml of meths and my Vargo 1.3 litre non-stick pot and lid.

The primer disk gets the stove going in a matter of seconds compared to almost a minute without it,

This would be enough water for a typical FBC meal and a pint of tea.

So a 2 night weekend trip with a cooked breakfast and dinner should use about 200ml (about 200g).

Light Idea - Alcohol Stoves

I have just purchased a White Box alcohol stove from eBay after Sarah Svien (of Freezer Bag Cookery fame) recommended them. I have just received a copy of her book and really can recommend it - it is going to make such a difference to my eating habits when I am out.

The stove arrived yesterday complete with a windscreen and only weighs 30g with the windscreen weighing in at 26g. The quality of the stove and windscreen is superb. It seems to be made out of some sort of bottle rather than a Coke can.

I was planning to try and make a pop can stove myself, but Bill Ballowe makes these for only $10 plus $5 to post to the UK - and that includes the windscreen.

I am planning to test it this weekend (watch this space for an update) - if it works well, it should be quite a weight saving on short weekend trips. I have a Trail Designs primer and and Antigravitygear fuel bottle on order from Ian at Winwood Outdoors who is managing to get some real sweet American lightweight kit into the UK. Nice one Ian!

Light idea - strip down a Swiss Card

Airports are seizing Victorinox Swiss Cards and there is now thriving EBay industry of second hand cards. I picked one up for £1.49 + postage, took out the (excellent) scissors, pressurised micro pen, tweezers and toothpick, popped them in my first aid kit and threw the rest of the card away. The scissors and tweezers that come with first aid kits are normally cheap, heavy things, even in expensive kits. Treat the featherweight pen and toothpick as a bonus!

Light idea - non stick cooking

If you are not of the freezer bag school of cookery (more on that soon), you may be lucky enough to own one of the sweet Vargo titanium non-stick cooking pots or some other non-stick pan. A ti spork or spoon will kill the non-stick coating, so try a lolly stick (Magnums have good ones) or a wooden spatula from your local doctor or waxing salon. Weighs nothing, can be binned away when it get manky and can be easily drilled for all you milligram watchers ;)