Monday 11 January 2010

If you have a better offer..

On Friday, the bloke organising the Rab mini mountain marathon uttered those glorious words. They had enough teachers to cover the students who had signed up, so the game is on!
I did a test packing over the weekend. The Jam was the only pack big enough to carry the volume of gear but the real shocker was the weight- it's been a year since I carried a winter pack and during that time I've savaged the weight I'm carrying. Including food, fuel and water the pack weighed 8kg-Ouch! Since last year I've added a neoair which is about 200g more than the GG nightlight and a down hood which weighs 60g. I do want to carry those though. If I don't take the Laser competition I can lose 500g even taking into account my trekking poles which I would probably carry a lot of the time. The choice comes down to the Gatewood cape with polycro groundsheet and no inner or the cuben tarp.

3 comments:

Marcus said...

I know the feeling but I've come to accept that winter just means heavier! More often than you don't need all of the gear but you want it for comfort and or safety.

Don't worry about the extra weight, just enjoy being out. Where are you off?

One Foot in the Clouds said...

Jeez, 8kg would be my idea of a superlight pack weight for winter, i would sit around the 12kg mark at this time of year!!

minimalgear said...

i know- it's an affliction that results in never being happy with anything!