Vaseline, Cookset Condom and Women’s Underwear

In the beginning … too cliqued, but the story has a beginning, not quite of Biblical proportions, but a beginning nonetheless. In the beginning, Big Kev was taking his son, “The Lad”, out for a trip to the Cairngorms. There was an open invitation to join them, so I pencilled it in my diary, and Dawn was going to travel up from London. Except for the plague that was brought upon both their houses. As I work for a far-seeing employer, I had already been inoculated against Cold, Flu, and the vengeful wrath of the Almighty.

And so it came to pass that I had a rapid turn-around after work on Friday night, and I was heading into the Chosen Land National Park. And lo, it was bloody brilliant!

Friday night.

With temperatures down to –4°c, it was going to be a cold one. I had the MWIS forecast and dressed accordingly. Also this month’s skymap was in my map-case. Leaving the car and walking through the woods, the cold mist clung to my face. No sounds except a distant water flow. No breath of wind except that which my lungs exhaled. The mist thickened with each breath and my gloves wiped away melting water droplets that clung to face.

Walking up the glen, I could smell woodsmoke from the bothy about 10 minutes before walking past it. No birds, no deer, no wind, no sounds bar the water in the glen and the occasional burn rushing down to join it. Clouds moved slowly in the sky, and a meteorite flashed by. Despite all the hi-tech modern kit, the inner-child still made a wish. About 90-minutes later, interrupted only by a “good evening” to a gentleman hiker walking his dog, I arrived at an empty ford (maplink). I had already decided to pitch where Mike and I had been earlier in the year. I stuck to that, even though I had the whole area to myself.

I cleared an area of debris, and pitched the tent. Then I cleared the debris from under the groundsheet. And once more before inflating my Insul sleep mat (the insulation will prove its worth tonight), and stripping down to baselayer, and climbing into sleeping bag (Cumulus Ultralight 350), and pulling my down jacket over my torso, and leaving my fleece-lined jacket over my lower body. I pulled on my warn cap and noted that the air inside the tent was much warmer than outside.

There was nothing interesting on the radio, so ate some peppered salami, drank some malt whisky and switched off the light and listened to Nature. I moved the Silva ADC device onto the groundsheet beside me. That would give me a shock in the morning.

I awoke twice in the night with a cold nose, so turned the cap around by 90° so that an earflap covered my nose.

Morning

With no fuss, it was morning. It was also –4.9°c and not quite 8am. Opening the zip on my sleeping bag, the cold quickly drove me to suit up – we’d see how good the Furtech trousers would be today!

Yes, there is an Akto in this photo

Filling the Camelbak from the stream, I found that the drink nozzle was frozen. This is the insulated version too. We had had problems with the crew-in gas canisters before, but was pleased to see that the Blackfly 4 worked well. However, I didn’t put it on a stone, and was using the Honey Stove separately, so it fell over as the frost in the ground melted. Twice.

Breakfast

Display reads –4.3°c

Leaving no trace

Any embers were doused with water, and scattered into the stream.

As I knew that there would be soot, I had carried in a ziplock bag to prevent it from making a mess of my kit.

Duly wrapped inside the pot-cozy, whilst the Honey Stove was back in its pouch.

I’ll do something about the fire starting kit, cutting the Maya sticks into shorter lengths, taking the small blue container of vaseline, pack enough cotton wool balls, and store it all in a lightweight, waterproof container, along with a knife that will fit there.

Everything was packed away and the ground checked for any tell-tale signs of my passing.

Hiking out

Low cloud gave glimpses of the mountains beyond. About 6 people had ventured past, and I would see two more before reaching the car.

South towards the Linn of Dee.

Looking back north up the glen.

Like some gate-keeper, this tree always freaks me.

A final parting shot from a great night out – a small party of deer were lurking near the car park.

Thank you, Nature. Shame out the cap, and the buff cravat.

====

Standard kitlist: Akto Year 2

Extras: SnowClaw (just in case), Alpkit Filo jacket, Extremities cap (apparently it is called a “Took” hat). Smartwool liner socks worn under thick Ultimax socks.

Things to do: cut Maya sticks in half. Replace batteries in headtorch. Protect Camelbak from cold overnight (by the way, my Silva measured –24°c in my freezer on Sunday). Water had frozen on the filter of the Aquagear, so that needs watching too. Look into a separate camera for video clips – maybe my old Sony stills camera.

New gear that made the grade and will be with me again: Furtech trousers, Lowe Alpine briefs (xl-w-noir), Honey Stove, Blackfly 4 (using a stable base).

New gear that didn’t make the grade: PossumDown Gloves – toasty, but left tickly fibres on my rough manly face. I also couldn’t operate camera whilst wearing them. My normal Mountain Hardwear “powerstretch” liner gloves will be staying with me.

Akto, an II

At the beginning of July, 2006, my Hilleberg Akto arrived. Last year I marked this with a post called: A Year With An Akto. So, what has happened in Year II? The only maintenance on the tent was the repair of a hole that appeared.

Kit

I pack the night before an early start, and find that laying my kit on the bed is a great aide memoir. I make piles of clothing to wear, carry and so-forth. Unlike what follows, which doesn't go into each nook and cranny of every pocket.

Footwear

My preference is still for the Scarpa ZG65 boots. I had swapped out the footbeds with the moulded superfeet. I use Nikwax cleaning products after brushing or washing off excess mud.

Recently I have tried the TNF Hedgehog XCR trail shoes, swapping out the laces with those from my old Inov8 Terrocs. I picked up some blisters in Dartmoor and tightened up the lace fittings on return, no problem walking in last week, but picked up 1 1/2 blisters on the return as I had forgot to change out of the Sealskinz socks I was using as camp shoes.

My favourite pair of socks are a black & grey pair labelled "Ultimax", and have a spare pair of socks in my kit. I find that the Air Force X-socks make my feet smell.

Pack

I am still using the Osprey Atmos as pack of choice. In fact, for overnights to longer, it is a comfortable pack that handles what I throw at it. I could shave some weight off by using a smaller pack for short trips, but I can't afford it and just tighten the straps on the pack.

I bought a new Camelbak hydration sack during the year, and now use the insulated one. I might be imagining that it keeps the cold water colder.

Poles are still the PacerPoles. They are good at doing the job, and I break them down after hikes, and sometimes at night too, to stop the mechanism seizing.

Kitchen

On my last two trips, I took the MiniBullDesign Blackfly 3 meths stove. I never liked the open fire meths stoves as they seemed too uncontrollable to me. This small stove uses two ends of a wick to boil enough cold water for a brew in about 10 minutes. Slower than my Primus Micron, but I can merely refill the fuel bottle at the end of a trip. I cannot do that with gas. After about 4 days, the size of a gas canister starts making it viable again.

The mug/bowl combo from GSI is great, and I've been using the folding spoon instead of the folding spork (photos). I still have food to sort, and haven't had a serious attempt at freezer bag cooking. I have a cupboard of supplies, and just grab what I need.

Bob kindly sent me an AquaGear water filter to test (and I've still got the write-up to complete). This lives in the side pocket of a pack, and I use it to drink at a packs-off stop. I also fill the hydration bag from it.

Sleep Kit

My bag is still the Cumulus Ultralight 350. It does the job. I can unzip it and use it as a duvet. I slide the Insul Mat Max Thermo Lite down the inside of the pack. It is full length and I didn't find it cold when out in the low temperature. Having failed to replace it with an Exped, I might try next year's Thermarest release.

After seeing an Ajungilak Air Pillow in use, I upgraded from rolling up clothing into and around a stuff sack. Mine now lives in a small waterproof Exped stuffsack.

From the washing line I have rigged from ties in my tent, I can hang a small torch, as well as the more Alpkit powerful headtorch (I've not used the e+lite since the meet at Brecon last year). My pack stays at the foot end of the tent, kitchen outside in the porch, and fragile things safely up at the head end.

Clothing

With Sunday's purchase, my base layer is all merino wool. Shreddies, long-johns and longsleeve t-shirt.

Beyond that, my trousers are Paramo, meaning I can leave the waterproof overtrousers at home. Above that is a TNF fleece, and Montane primoloft lined windshirt. Buff and maybe a bonnet live in the pockets, along with liner gloves and Garmin Geko 201. In the top of my pack is a Montane Quickfire waterproof jacket.

I replaced my 'Ultimate' hat with a cammo one from Mackays, and sprayed it a couple of times with Nikwax waterproofing. The brim keeps the sun and rain off, and it folds into my pocket.

Housekeeping

The first aid kit, toilet bag and lotion & potions make up most of the rest of the kit. The small containers that I got this year allowed me to take various items like germolene and soap in smaller bottles.

Hiking

Last year finished with illness outside Killin, the pain returned and I got little hiking done as I was concerned that whatever it was would return. A trip to the physiotherapist ruled out a hernia. I got some short walks in, and bagged no further Munros until late Spring. In early summer, I was signed off with cellulitis. As it was still itchy and swollen, I wanted to keep pressure off it, so used that as an excuse not to get much done before a trip to Dartmoor in the summer.

So, in the last year, despite illness, I have hiked 132km (80 miles), spent 7 nights in my Akto, and bagged 1 Munro. Not as good as I could have been, but my motivation has been hit by concerns about another bout of pains. The main lesson this has raised is, whatever you do, don't say you go hiking, as the medicos seem to jump on that as the causes of illness. For the pain in my side, it was caused by my rucksack. I tried to explain to the doc that the pains started in my flat, before I went near my pack. And the infection in my leg was due to a tick (there weren't any) or a midge (ditto).

Some pitches

And now, some pitches with the best all-round solo tent in existence. I store the fabric in its carry bag, and then put that inside an Exped compression bag. This lies across the rucksack, near the top. The peg bag and pole all fit into the supplied bag, and that goes inside the rucksack on the side opposite the hydration tube exit. When I pitch the tent, I make sure that no gust of wind can lift empty bags, so clip the compression bag to my rucksack, and put the empty tent bags into it as I am pitching the tent.

Happy trails.

Ice Cold Tea Bag

Back at Braemar after overnighter at Derry Lodge. Mike volunteered to spend a night out for the first time in years. Sadly in was so cold that gas canisters had to be kept warm, and he had my secondary kit. Photos n stuff later. Non-gas cooking to investigate, and winter warmers for gas stove.

--

Leaving Aberdeen at 6pm, we were at the Linn of Dee car park for 8pm with light dipping failing, and a red tint to some clouds. (maplink)

Exiting the woods in which the car park is located, we encountered a large herd of deer near Creag an Diuchd. They fell back in an orderly manner. Pausing occasionally to allow us to take blurry photographs.

We got to Derry Lodge after just over an hour  of walking. We encountered a few ground-dwelling birds (and not mutant deer as I first thought), and some more deer just before Bob Scott's Bothy. It was a pleasant evening, and the moon and some stars came out.

Pitching Mike's tent first (my old Illanos tent), I made a hash of the flysheet - but that wouldn't become apparent until the morning. But I was sure there should have been a porch on the tent. We had some freeze-dried Norwegian foods left over from last year's trek, and some Polish foods Mike had bought in town. Followed by Earl Grey tea, some Scotch and Turkish delight. Foods from all nations. Across the river some kids were refusing to get tired out and were running around enjoying themselves with torches. The Alpkit torch I got at the Outdoors Show performed well, and I found myself favouring the single low-powered LED.

The night gets colder. There isn't much cloud cover. The cooking had taken ages, but I had put it down to a nearly empty gas canister.  The Primus Gravity stove I had lent Mike works fine, seemingly confirming my thoughts.

In the morning, I give Mike a quiet call - "You awake?" ugh "if you look out of your tent, immediately to your left there is a herd of deer 3 trees away"

After some more photos, the deer are wise to our presence, and start moving off. We let them alone and get on with breakfast. Mike said he hardly slept - he was in the warmest synthetic bag that I had and was in all his clothes. I was in my down bag and had my down jacket on top, allowing me to sleep in base layer. To avoid headaches brought on by rebreathing gases, I didn't try the facemask recently mentioned in TGO magazine. I did try wearing the buff over my nose and mouth to prevent warmth escaping from my respiratory system, but it didn't work and left me feeling constricted. Wearing an insulated hat and getting low into the sleeping bag was good enough for me.

As we were talking, Mike produced a frozen tea bag from his waste pile, and I recalled the problems of gas fuel at low temperatures, so wrapped my jacket around the canister. It did improve things for a short while, but not for long enough, so I resorted to using the buff as impromptu insulation.

After what seemed an aeon, we again resorted to the Gravity stove (which has a pre-heat tube) and found it better in the cold. I set my brain to thinking of alternative fuel again.

We broke camp as the 3rd group of walkers strode past, and headed out by 10am, leaving no trace.

Pausing for a few photos along the way, we were back at the car by 1130 and had a good long shop in the Braemar gear shop, and a sedate drive back to the city.

Checking the temperature at the Met Office site, Saturday night in Aviemore dipped to -3°c. The comfort level of the synthetic sleeping bag was rated to +4°c.

Cumulus Ultralight 350

The down sleeping bag I've been using since I got it: the Cumulus Ultralight 350 (link), stuffed into its own stuff sack and the into an Exped Small drybag. The magazine is there for scale.

Ultralight350L Hosted on Zooomr