I’m so unbelievably fed up with Windows, particularly Vista, that I’ve just ordered a MacBook. I can’t believe how useless Vista is. Explorer keeps failing. I can’t create folders in Explorer. I’ve already been through one rebuild. I reckon over the past five years I’ve probably had to do at least ten complete re-installs of Windows. Life’s too short to keep doing this, so I’m turning to Apple.

A couple of guys at work swear by them. Now with boot camp, I’ll be able to run TrackLogs, which has been a major stumbling block to going Mac. Why is Windows so user unfriendly? When I look through the Apple range, it all links up and seems to be aimed at user friendliness. I’m seriously thinking about an iPhone as well. Let’s hope it’s as good as people say.

It has come to my attention that my negative reaction to the government’s negative reaction on the Wild Camping petition may induce a further negative reaction from the government’s cyber spies. In order not to induce a negative feed back loop that could imperil any future action on legalising wild camping and to lessen the chances of a nuclear war, I have withdrawn the offending post. I also apologise unreservedly to the Daily Telegraph for satirising their objective and even handed style of news reporting. Remember Big Brother is not just a TV show.

It’s often the small details that turn a potentially good bit of gear into a mediocre one. I’m always surprised that whoever does the product testing doesn’t pick these issues up. What am I talking about? OK, I’ll give you some examples from the gear I own.

Montrail Cirrus boots.

If you’ve been reading this blog regularly, you’ll know that I bought a pair of these last month to replace my Aku Icaros, which sprang a leak. The Cirrus is supposed to be derived from the Stratos (a pair of which I used to own), which was a very lightweight boot, but had a couple of flaws. The most serious was that the plastic sole chassis broke (apparently a common problem). The other issue was that the boot fabric was a bit flimsy. On the Cirrus, the sole is much more robust and the outer fabric beefier. So far, so good.

Unfortunately they’ve added a plastic ankle retaining strap, making the boot much less flexible, destroying one of the best features of the Stratos. I’m currently breaking in the Cirrus, through some dog walks (the dog is happy!) and I’m getting some bruising on the outside of my left leg just above the ankle where the top of the boot keeps catching my leg. Strangely I don’t get it on the right leg. However, it is down to this plastic retaining strap and I’m now wondering whether it will ever loosen up. Apart from that, the boot is fine.

It could be a great boot, but I think they’ve spoilt it. Why didn’t they just address the sole unit and the robustness of the outer material?

GoLite Quest rucksack

If you read my reviews after my recent Cairngorms trip, you will know that I think this is basically a good rucksack spoilt by a couple of design errors. Firstly, the shoulder straps are too hard and possibly a bit narrow. I had to add a couple of bits of foam to make them comfortable. Secondly, the straps that secure the floating lid on the front of the pack are too short and too narrow. They don’t slide easily, so adjustment is more difficult than it need be. Also the haul loop is quite thin. Again, a couple of tweaks would make it an outstanding pack. How did they miss these?

Western Mountaineering Highlite sleeping bag

At 465g, this is one of the lightest sensible sleeping bags you can buy. The down quality and workmanship is first class (as it should be at the price!). However the half zip has no baffle. For the sake of a few grams, this makes it colder than it should be. Not only that, the cold metal zip puller dangles in your face, when you sleep on one side. I had to get my mother to sew a short material zip guard because it was so annoying. This little glitch turns a great bag into a so-so piece of kit. Why didn’t they pick this up. Perhaps all the WM testers sleep on their backs.

Other examples:

MSR Pocket Rocket, the pan supports are too flimsy and only support on three points.

TN Laser Comp, who thought up the pole hood? Why not make the pole sleeve and guying points similar to the Akto, which is a much better design?

You get the idea. So many bits of gear don’t quite get it right. You would have thought they would catch these issues at the testing stage. My other bugbear is excellent bits of gear that get withdrawn, like the Montrail Namches. Don’t get me started on that!

I’m not sure how I missed Bob’s podcast on Paramo, but I listened to it this morning as I walked the dog. The weather today illustrates precisely why Paramo is so good. In drizzly, Scotch mist type weather, you can’t beat it. It keeps you dry but you don’t overheat. In fact I think there’s a lot of nonsense talked about overheating in Paramo.

My view is that when you’re walking up hill, you’re more likely to overheat in a hard shell as there’s precious little ventilation. Most of the time when it’s raining, the air temperature is not exactly hot. If it is, you’ll be even more uncomfortable in a hard shell as it will be soaking inside, unable to cope with the moist air. So where’s the problem? The only time I carry a hard shell now is if I want to go as light as I can or I’m reasonably certain I won’t need it.

I think much of the “it’s too hot” mentality comes from the older style Paramo jackets, which had a thicker lining and were quite fluffy. The newer ones have a thinner lining and a more open weave. I’ve yet to overheat in a new jacket when it’s raining. I should qualify this by saying that if it is warm I usually only wear a short sleeve base layer underneath. I’ve found that Merino is an ideal compliment as doesn’t seem to get as warm and sweaty as a synthetic, such as the Berghaus X-static. I put this down to the way Merino absorbs moisture and re-evaporates it.

Anyway getting back on topic, Bob seems to have had a positive experience with his Velez smock on the Cape Wrath Trail. I’m looking forward to the podcasts, Bob. No doubt he’ll give us a few thoughts in those. I’ve also been in correspondence with Colin Ibbotson, who used the 3rd Element jacket on his recent TGOC. He was very complimentary about. So you can imagine what happened next. W. Slack & Sons are selling them with £40 off, so it had to be done.

Why bother with the 3rd Element when I’ve already got four Paramo jackets (Old Alta, Viento, Vasco, Velez), that’s not counting my old Fuera jacket and my more recent Fuera smock BTW? Well what appeals to me is being able to convert it into a gilet and to have even more flexibility. As Colin said, if you’re not wearing Paramo, it’s rather wasted. The gilet option means that I’ll be wearing it in a wider range of conditions. I know I’m mad, but now you know that I will be armless as well. I couldn’t resist it.

I’ve recently purchased some socks from Chocolate Fish to see how they measure up to Smartwool. I came across them reading PTC’s blog. He has been sent a long sleeve top to review. I didn’t need yet another top but I wanted some thinner socks. Something that pricked my interested was his comment that Icebreaker had shifted their manufacturing from New Zealand to China. On the Chocolate Fish website, there’s a fuller explanation of what happened.

I have no economic objection to moving manufacturing (or anything else) around the globe. It’s called the law of comparative advantage and means that goods and services are produced in the areas most suited to them, making production more efficient so everyone wins. Think of a secretary and a brain surgeon. The brain surgeon may be a better typist than the secretary, but it makes sense for the brain surgeon to concentrate on surgery and the secretary on typing (since the typist can’t do brain surgery). In that way economic efficiency is maximised and everyone is better off.

Although I find the Chinese regime repulsive, I do not object to buying Chinese goods as it benefits the wider Chinese population. It is also a subversive thing to do. As the Chinese get richer, the likelihood of a repressive regime collapsing becomes greater. This is especially true now that greater numbers of Chinese are travelling and seeing the freedoms in other countries. Over time they will agitate to gain those freedoms for themselves. So, in an odd way, it is not necessarily a bad thing to buy Chinese goods.

However, where I feel a bit uneasy about the Icebreaker decision is in relation to local businesses and communities and the potential increase of their carbon footprint. If Chocolate Fish is correct, price was not the deciding factor as local manufacturers were willing to match the Chinese price, although this is disputed by Icebreaker. It seems to me that businesses do owe a duty of consideration to other local businesses and the communities they support. Decisions should be taken with due regard to responsibilities to the locations where businesses are based. I’m not saying that Icebreaker were wrong, because I don’t know all the facts, but the way that Chocolate Fish have presented it makes me feel some sympathy for the New Zealand businesses that Icebreaker abandoned.

My second area of concern is the potential for an increased carbon footprint. Again, I don’t know the facts and whether there was any kind of audit, but it would be surprising if that moving manufacturing to China didn’t increase overall carbon emissions. At the very least, movement of raw materials usually entails more energy than finished goods and presumably executives will be flying back and forth to China.

Lastly, I do not like Icebreaker pretending that their garments are from New Zealand, when they are not. I have a number of items of clothing from Icebreaker and have been pleased with them. However, if Chocolate Fish can come up with equivalents in function, quality and price, I would be inclined to buy from them rather than Icebreaker. One manufacturer that I’m always pleased to buy from is Paramo, who I think are exemplary in the way they approach their business.

A hat, a hat my kingdom for a hat. Being trichologically challenged, I wear a hat most of the time when I’m out, especially when it’s sunny. I’ve been searching for ages for the perfect hat/cap. I’ve got a Tilley hat but find it a bit bulky. Recently, I’ve been using an Inov-8 cap or a Jack Wolfskin cap. Both are very comfortable but do not provide much neck protection. Last year I tried to get a Salomon XA + cap. Cotswold tried to order one but there were none to be had.

I had another look last week and found an online supplier, Ultimate Outdoors, from whom I bought my Akto two years ago. It arrived this week. Why is it better than other caps? Apart from being made with a cool perforated polyester material, it has a detatchable neck flap. Unlike the Raidlight cap I have, it is easy to attach and detatch the flap. Now I’m a happy bunny, having solved my hat problem. Let’s hope it’s durable.

In this last section, I will concentrate more on some of the mental aspects of going solo.

One of the biggest issues of walking solo is the most obvious. Are you comfortable in your own company? Are you self reliant? I must admit, I’m not at all worried about being alone, whatever the circumstances. Both my parents and school gave me a good grounding in self-reliance. How confident are you when there’s no-one around to ask what to do? Having a good standard of navigational skills and not panicking when you don’t get it quite right are important attributes.

This year’s Cairngorm trip was a step up in terms of remoteness and distance walked. On one day, I met no-one else at all and on another, I saw only one. Not having conversations with others does not bother me. However, it does make you appreciate conversations with others, should the chance arise.

I was not sure how my body would hold up, particularly as I carried a bit more weight than I had intended with five days of food. This was a particular area of anxiety for me at the beginning of the walk. I’m happy to say that I was fine and the 20 mile day on day four gives me enormous confidence that I can do substantial distances.

There is a psychological barrier in doing long daily distances. It is easy to be daunted and to get frustrated with slow progress. What seems like a short distance on the map often takes twice as long on the ground. All I can say is don’t focus on how far it is and try to do it in manageable stages. I try to set short term goals, but realise that I’m often over optimistic and try to avoid being disappointed if it takes longer than expected. For a solo walker, discouragement in whatever form is something to be on your guard against. Taking each day as it comes appears to be a common way of dealing with longer trips.

Another lesson to learn is that it pays to be disciplined if you want to do long mileage. For me, getting ready in the morning was initially a struggle. This was not because I couldn’t get up early (I’m used to that in my job). It was the process of getting breakfast, organising myself and packing that took time. It took three days to get a system going. Being on my own, it was very tempting to idle in the morning as essentially I could please myself.

During the day I also had to discipline myself in stopping and taking photos. I like to take a lot of photos and there is a temptation to stop every minute or two to take one. Having the camera easily accessible in my belt pack helped to cut down some of the time taken. It also helps to have a “point and shoot” camera. Spacing rest stops sensibly helps to maintain your pace. Too many slows you down and not enough tires you out. Going solo means you need to be careful not to be too slack or too hard on yourself.

One of the great joys of going solo is that you can please yourself. There is no-one to consult. If you feel like pushing on, you can. If you feel like stopping, it’s up to you. In an increasingly complex and pressurised society, the simplicity of backpacking, where everything is stripped down to the basic elements of food, shelter and walking has a refreshing and invigorating effect. The additional dimension of doing this solo is the total freedom of doing it however you want.

As I said at the beginning, I’m no great expert (or philosopher, come to that). Hopefully, aspects of these posts will have been of interest. If you’re worried about backpacking on your own, we’ve all been there, but I would encourage you to give it a go. There is a sense of freedom in solo backpacking that is virtually incomparable.

Photos, l to r: Glen Tilt, The Devil’s Point, Loch Avon

Over the past three years, I have sought to rebuild my experience and confidence gradually. First, I did a couple of solo overnight wild camps to test equipment and myself.

On both occasions I left the car and my base camp tent at a camp site, so if things got too hairy, I could bail out. I was very glad I made this provision as on my second time out, the wind was so ferocious that my ME AR Ultralite was flapping like a spinnaker, so I packed up and went back to base.

I know that many deride backpackers’ obsession with gear, but it is important to have confidence in the gear you use and know its limits. In this case, it showed me that for mountain camping, the AR Ultralite was not the best option, hence I bought an Akto. That is not to say that I wouldn’t have survived or indeed that the tent would have blown away. However, there’s no way that I would have had a decent night’s sleep, so for me, it was a valuable test.

Staying on the gear theme, going solo means that it is more critical to get key items of gear right as there is less margin for error. You may not die from a bad bit of gear, but having confidence in them means less things to worry about. I think this applies particularly to boots and rucksack. If either are uncomfortable or cause pain, not only will it be less enjoyable, but in the latter part of the day you may be more prone to navigational errors and to fatigue induced accidents. This is doubly so if you encounter bad weather.

Shelter and cooking are also mission critical elements. Having been used to geodesic dome tents for base camping (Wild Country Nova, Marmot Thor), I guess I’m a bit pickier about stability than some. For me, the Akto is the best compromise between weight and stability. I know it is essentially bomb proof, so I don’t have to worry about how and where I pitch it. The Laser Comp may be lighter and probably won’t get blown away (had to put that in before PTC gets upset!), but the Akto scores for me for Scottish wilderness trips. Elsewhere, I’ll use the Comp.

Cooking equipment is also an area to spend a bit of time getting right. If you use gas, it’s very straightforward, but other methods require more thought and skill. I’ve used meths burning Trangias and an Optimus Hunter. The later was very good, but heavy. Any meths stove requires a bit of care and a bit more planning on how you cook. The same applies to the Bush Buddy. For me, I like to plan for the absolute worst. I know that I can use my Snow Peak in my tent with very little risk as it produces next to no carbon monoxide and if I use canister feet, it’s very stable.

While the choice of clothing is less critical, a basic level of foul weather gear and warmth is important. I always try to ensure that I have enough to deal with the worst conditions I can imagine. For rain gear, I imagine what it will be like if it rains all day. That’s why I generally end up with a Paramo jacket. I also always carry overtrousers and a warm layer (even on day walks).

Walking on your own you need to be more aware of the dangers of hypothermia as there is no-one else to look out for you. I’ve only once been near to having exposure. Fortunately, I recognised it and put all the clothes I had on. I always carry a spare set of dry clothes as well, so if I do get wet, I know that I can be dry and warm in some dry clothes and sleeping bag.

While much of the above applies to walking with others as much as it does solo walking, the margins for error are finer on your own. It makes sense to plan for the worst and to ensure that you have the appropriate gear and know how to use it.

Tomorrow I will look at some of the mental aspects of going solo

 Photos, l to r: GoLIte Quest (shame about the shoulder straps), Akto (home from home), Laser Comp (how not to pich a tent!).

My first true backpacking trip recently was my walk from Blair Atholl to Aviemore last year. It was also my first walk (excluding the end of the Pennine Way) in Scotland. I really didn’t know what to expect or whether I could manage it. It was fabulous, even if it only lasted three days and confirmed that I was still capable of serious backpacking and that it was enjoyable.

As a reintroduction to serious backpacking and as a solo trip, the route had a number of features to commend it. The navigation was very straightforward and it would have been difficult to get lost, even if the weather had been bad. Although, I’m a reasonable navigator, it does take the pressure off if the route is straightforward, particularly if you are concerned about other things like fitness or solitude.

Even though I hadn’t been there before, I knew from some photo diaries that there would be a reasonable number of places to pitch, so I was sure there was some flexibility in how long or far I could walk, again removing some pressure. Both Glen Tilt and Glen Dee/Lairig Ghru are popular walks, so I was confident that if I had an accident, help would not be too long in coming.

For many, this is a key issue and can be a limiting factor in route selection. Mobile phones and the new SPOT tracker are both helpful pieces of technology to help both walkers and the families of walkers in remote areas. I am very tempted to get a SPOT tracker, just in case.

My next foray was a short trip to the Lakes in March, detailed in this blog. Apart from the motivation to “get out”, I wanted to try out some different gear before my next trip to Scotland and to see what it was like walking when it was a bit colder (most of my walking has been done from May to October). Being very familiar with the Lakes, I can’t say I was at all worried about this and it set me up for my Cairngorms trip in May.

So we come to my trip this May in the Cairngorms. My planning for this had one eye on seeing whether I would be able to do the TGO Challenge at some stage. I wanted to test myself in terms of solitude, self reliance, stamina and distance.

Originally, I had thought about walking from Strathcarron to Fort Augustus, but decided that I would like to keep that as a potential Challenge route. From a logistical view point, it also made sense to do a Cairngorm circuit.

As you can read from my trip diary, I had a great time. While it was testing at times, it confirmed to me that a TGO Challenge was not beyond question. I didn’t find the solitude a problem and relying on my own resources did not freak me out. It also confirmed that I could do substantial distances if necessary. On day four, I did the best part of 20 miles, which is the longest I’ve walked in a day for a long time.

Tomorrow, I will give some comments on why gear is important.

Pictures below, l to r: Looking east from Bynack Lodge (Cairngorms 07),  Hayeswater (Lakes 08), Fords of Avon (Cairngorms 08).

 

I’ve split this post into four parts to make it more manageable.

After one of my posts about my recent Cairngorms trip, I was asked to write about some of the mental aspects of walking solo. I’ve ended up writing a bit more than I had intended and on broader aspects of walking solo, so forgive me if what follows seems over-long.

Firstly, I want to say that I do not profess to be an expert on the subject. While most of my walks over the past three years have been solitary, over the previous fifteen years, I’ve generally walked with a friend. Not only that, most of my walking over that period has been day walks from a static camp.

Only in the past three years have I picked up on true backpacking again. In my youth, I went backpacking every year from the age of about sixteen until after university. These were also with friends rather than solo. We did some quite long backpacking trips like the Pennine Way. We also did a five-week trip around the Lake District and down through the Yorkshire Dales. Only after university, when I started working did I start walking on my own.

I did a couple of backpacking trips before sustaining a knee injury, which forced me to day walks from a static camp, to avoid carrying heavy loads. For some time I did these alone as I didn’t know anyone else who was interested in fell walking. After a while, I made couple of friends who enjoyed the hills and hooked up with them. Both have now moved abroad, so I’m back on my own again as far as walking is concerned.

My original reason for giving up backpacking was a dodgy knee. Fortunately, over the years, my knee has improved, to the extent that I no longer have any problems. Indeed, I’m constantly surprised at how strong and trouble free it is.

After years of doing day walks in the Lake District and Snowdonia, I began to hanker after longer walks and wild camping. I tried a few wild camps in Snowdonia and the Lakes before trying backpacking again.

That gives you a bit of background of my experience. While I wouldn’t class myself an expert solo backpacker, I’m certainly not a novice and have quite a lot of experience of both fell walking and camping.

Tomorrow I will write about how I started to rebuild my experience and confidence.

Pictures below: l to r, Maeneira, Snowdonia 2004, Burnmoor Tarn, Lakes 2005, Stoneycroft Gill, Lakes 2006.

 

OK it’s controversial, the title, I mean, but it got your attention, following my previous post. There’s an interesting article in grough about charity walkers who use the mountains as part of their fund raising. The Lake District National Park Authority is urging charities and participants  who use the fells for sponsored walks to make a donation to the local Mountain Rescue Teams. Sounds like a jolly good idea to me. MRTs must dread this time of year. Let’s hope the weather is kind and that they are not called out too often.

Just to let you know, this blog passed 16,000 page views today since November and yesterday was the best day ever at 301. I must be doing something right…but I’m not sure what it is. 

More photo diaries of this year’s TGO Challenge are appearing on the web:

Ian Cotterill ,  Hein Hogenhuis , Ali Ogden  

All very enjoyable. Thanks for sharing them with us.

The dates for next year’s Challenge have been announced: 8-22 May.

Will I be going? I’d love to but I’m not sure circumstances will allow, but here’s hoping. 

Shirley’s account of her Coast to Coast walk appears to have been stuck at Shap for an awfully long time. I hope she’s alright. It would be a shame to lose her unique writing style from the bloggersphere. It does take a lot of time to write those accounts, so I can sympathise. I’m toying with the idea of taking a few weeks off from blogging over the summer, although I will blog any trips that I do. Best wishes, Shirl, you may have gone, but you’re not forgotten!

I should have blogged this a few days ago. Last Saturday I had the privilege of going to the Royal Festival Hall with my father to a concert by the Philharmonia Orchestra, who are playing the full cycle of Vaughan Williams symphonies over the course of this year to mark the 50th anniversary of his death. We were treated to Symphony No 8, The Lark Ascending and A London Symphony (original version).

As a RVW lover, it was a special treat to hear these works live. The conductor Richard Hickox and the orchestra were superb, allowing the music to speak for itself. If I was being critical the third movement of the 8th wasn’t quite right and a couple of phrases of The Lark Ascending were not timed correctly. These are matters of interpretation rather than substance (and who’s to say I’m right, I’m not a musician).

Overall, it was a wonderful evening. The Eighth is a much underestimated symphony. At times like Shostakovich, but also distinctively Vaughan Williams. It is an astonishing piece of imagination from a composer in his eighties.

The Lark Ascending is one of the most popular pieces of classical music. While its simplicity is beguiling, for the solo violinist, it must be a nerve wracking piece to play as there is nowhere to hide and any mistake is blindingly obvious. For Anthony Marwood, it was the first time he had played the piece in public. He made a very good job of it too. Up with Hugh Bean, but not quite as good as Tasmin Little. A couple of phrases were not quite right, but that is down to interpretation. I was a little worried beforehand, as a disappointing performance of this would have put a dampener on the evening, but it was almost, but not quite perfect.

A London Symphony is my second favourite RVW symphony (the Fifth is my favourite). We were treated to the original, longer version, which has only been played once before since the mid 1920s. VW revised it a number of times before the final, shorter score appeared in 1936. The original 1913 version has only been recorded once, in 2000 by Richard Hickox and the LSO (Chandos CHSA 5001). When it was released in 2001, there was a concert at the Barbican. I had intended to go but for various reasons didn’t, so I thought my chance to hear the original version had disappeared. It was a great joy to discover that they were going to play the 1913 version.

 It very much lived up to expectations. The enormous scope and variety of the composition was well interpreted. Whereas the rise and fall of the orchestra didn’t quite work in the Eighth, it certainly did for this. It contains some of the most beautiful passages that RVW wrote (which is saying something!).  I am not a musician in any shape or form, but I do listen to quite a lot of music (not just classical) and it was a wonderful experience. Even my father enjoyed it and he’s not a RVW fan (baroque and opera is his style).

I have another treat in store as I’m going back to the RFH on Sunday 2nd November for an afternoon concert for Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis, Symphony No 9, Symphony No 6 and Symphony No 5. The hairs on the back of my neck are standing up in anticipation, even as I type this.

I listened to Andy Howell’s podcast with Mark Richards recently, discussing our relationship with the landscape and local communities. I started to consider whether my recent trip to the Cairngorms had benefited the local community in any way. In all honesty I have to say that I spent very little locally, principally as I was in the mountains for five days. My only financial contribution to the community was one taxi fare, a few minor purchases in Tescos and WH Smith in Aviemore and a meal in the restaurant at Aviemore station. From a personal and moral perspective, I don’t think this is good enough, so I’ve resolved to try to find a way to give something back to the community in some way.

I’m sending a cheque to the Cairngorm Mountain Rescue Team as one contribution to the community (and an appropriate one). I was wondering what other worthy local causes there might be. A brief internet search didn’t reveal much. If I can’t find anything local, I’ll donate something to the John Muir Trust.  From now on I intend to make an assessment each trip as to how much I’ve contributed to the local economy and if I judge it to be insufficient, I’m going to make a donation to a local cause.

I used an Icebreaker Kent Polo shirt on my recent Cairngorms trip and loved it. I liked having a collar and looking like a normal human being, rather than some tri-athlete in a multi-coloured figure hugging spandex wicking t-shirt. It has a nice and loose but not baggy fit. The short sleeves allow reasonable air circulation to keep you cool in hot weather. The only real downside was that I could only get it in black. When I asked Snow + Rock if they could get it for me in a different colour, they wanted to charge me almost double the price, so I had to settle for black. Unlike Mr. Sloman, I’m not that keen on black as it’s a bit too funereal for me. Today, I happened to go to Cotswold and what did I espy? A Kent polo in ash (a sort of bluish-grey). Out with the credit card and an instant colour upgrade. Very stylish (n.b. the photo below is not me!).

Various Challengers are starting to publish their photo diaries. One of the best is Caburn Chamberlain’s. He has recorded his 2005/6/7 and 2008 Challenges. The only slightly off-putting thing is the number of times he appears to want to record his skinny dipping exploits. Leaving those aside, there are some excellent photographs, some with sound effects.

I bought one of these last year and haven’t had much of an opportunity to use it. One thing that didn’t feel right was the carbon fibre stays, which are ram rod straight. This meant that the pack tended to lean back and that there was a fair gap between the pack and the top of my shoulders.  Clearly the solution was to have more flexible or bendable stays. I’ve been having e-mail exchanges with Grant at GG for a while over the subject. GG have been developing some metal stays but have yet to put them in production.

Anyway I got fed up waiting, so I though I’d see if I could get some aluminium rods to adapt. After doing a bit of searching I found a web site, Metals4U, which did small quantities of aluminium rod . The stays are exactly 50cm, so I ordered 1m. At the same time I ordered a slightly thicker nylon rod, to experiment with flexible stays. On Saturday, I found some time to cut them to size.

In the pictures below, on the left you can see the stays. On the left are the original carbon fibre ones, then the nylon ones, on the right are the shaped aluminium ones. The aluminium ones seem to be the most successful, pushing the top of the rucksack nearer to the shoulders. In the middle picture, you can see the slight curvature at the top of the pack. I didn’t put a heavy load in the pack, but with a light load, it felt more natural and comfortable.

 

I whizzed a quick e-mail to Grant to let him know what I’d done. In return (and this is the scoop) he sent me a CAD mock up of the yoke they have been working on. He also very kindly consented to me putting a picture on this blog. He says that it significantly improves the stability of the pack. Hopefully, he will let me know when it goes into production as I would like to try it.

In the meantime, I’m going to take my Mariposa on my next trip and test out both my aluminium and nylon stays to see how they perform. For you weight fetishists, the carbon fibre rods weigh 20g, aluminium 86g, nylon 74g. I also removed one section of the NightLight pad for the back padding so the pack sits nearer my back. This combines nicely with a short Thermarest to form a full length sleeping pad.

So there it is, my modifications and scoop. Hopefully in the next month I’ll get a chance to test it.

 

I haven’t got time to do much writing tonight, but I’ve written a piece on solo backpacking (with a ballpoint that works!), which I will type up later this week. I also have an unofficial modification for the Gossamer Gear Mariposa Plus, together with a small scoop from GG, just to tantalise you!