Osprey Exos 58 litre (Large)

I got my Osprey Exos 58 litre as a special order from Outside.co.uk – they had a limited supply of the large backs.

My rational for going from the Atmos 50 litre (L) up to a pack that has 61 litres capacity was simple. I can do simple. The Exos 58 (L) is lighter than the Atmos 50 (L). The larger capacity Exos can allow me to transport a larger load than the Atmos. The Exos can be compressed down so that there is no excess material.

I’ve had the Osprey Atmos since 2006, and it has been my overnight pack, my weekend pack, my long-distance-walk pack (West Highland Way, Southern Upland Way). It is very comfortable, and a great load-carrier. But I’ve often had to strap the Akto’s fabric on to the outside of the pack in it’s compression sack. It just doesn’t look nice. I don’t go climbing, so am not concerned about dragging my pack up cliff-faces on the end of a rope.

First impressions of the Exos. Light. Straps are thinner. More ways to pack items on the side. Belt pockets seem easier to reach. Pocket under the lid is useful, and is now home to a XSS Exped waterproof bag.

I don’t like the official “backpanel sleeve” for hydration bags (loads move as the bag is emptied), and hung mine from the wee strap in the main compartment, and down through the zip into the frame space. I did this on the Atmos, however that was designed to do it, the Exos is not. The zip in to the airspace compartment is on one side only, so cannot fully close (hmm, not neat).

The manual is up to the usual high standard, and the whistle is still present on the chest-strap (and confuses birds no end).

More to follow over the Summer.

Honey Stove aus 2009

Honey Stove 2009 in use as a windshield and pot-holder. Alpkit’s MyTiMug (750ml). Tinny’s BlackFly#4 meths stove (1 oz fuel). The new design allowed me to move the Blackfly closer to the base of the pan. When the fuel ran out, I had enough hot water for two mugs of tea. It still amazes me that such a small amount of fuel can give 2 people a cuppa each – truly a marvel.

Honey Stove in wood-burning mode. A few scrapes off a ‘maya’ stick with the pocket-knife, on to cotton-wool coated in Vaseline, and quick blast from the gas-lighter, and fire was made. I’m sure the Ancients did it the same way.

I boiled enough water for another brew for us both. Then to rehydrate my dinner. Then to wash the dish. Then just to stop the fire from going out.

After the fire was done, I left the stove to cool down, and activated the cloaking device.

Designer and retailer: http://www.backpackinglight.co.uk/product397.asp

Bob and Rose are selling an Upgrade Kit for owners of the 2008 version.

For me, if I’m taking the meths stove, this is a standard accessory. I amn’t counting the grammes, but I am looking at a flat-pack kit that just slides into a side pocket and is multi-functional.

Pro Action Hike Lite

I felt guilty about making Mike haul the old Wild Country New Ilanos, so looked at the old “Tiger Paws” tent that pops up on Outdoors Magic every now and again. That’s “paws”, not “feet” (thank you, George).

A quick check online, and a trip to Argos last Thursday meant that a smaller packed unit went into the Atmos. Of course, I’d swapped the pegs out for a mix of lighter standard pegs (from Blacks) and some ground-grabbers from Alpkit.

Stats from the Argos site:

2000mm hydrostatic head. [The Akto’s is 3000mm]

Taped seams.

Tension adjusters.

Quick clips.

Size of overall tent (H)300, (W)120, (L)105cm.

Size of each room 110 x 290cm.

Size of living space 110 x 290cm.

Packed size (H)15, (W)15, (D)40cm.

Weight 2.1kg.

There wasn’t much of a wind, and it wasn’t raining. During the night, the temperature dropped to 4°c and rose again to 14°c by the time we broke camp. Mike carried it, pitched it, dozed and slept in it.

Altanour Overnighter

The weather was too good, and the fuses too short to stay in Aberdeen over the weekend. Mike was in agreement, and the forecast was great, so kit had been gathered for an overnight visit to Altanour Lodge in Glen Ey (maplink). I’d been there before, and love Glen Ey.

I started packing on Friday night, and looked out extra kit for Mike. I’d picked up a “Tiger Paws” tent from Argos, as I felt guilty about lending him my old, huge New Illanos tent. I’m not a morning person, so was concerned about forgetting to look out essentials for him, so a sofa filled with gear. With my new Osprey Exos 58 litre (large, so 61 litre) pack, he also got my Atmos 50 litre pack. Saturday morning arrived, and the Atmos was packed with chosen gear, and we were off.

An uneventful trip out, with a pit-stop in Braemar, got us to Inverey at noon. Packs, suncream, and brimmed caps were the order of the day.

And so we walked for 3 hours. We saw an adder, birds (brown), birds (black and white), birds (seagull), birds (shadowy), rabbits (big), rabbits (small), slugs, sheep (humming), slug (sunning), deer (red), deer (Gilliamesque), beetles (don’t use it’s stage name), ducks (swimming), curlew (curling).

Mike spotted some shells on the track. .22 he reckoned.

We arrive at the lodge, but there’s a family camped at the good pitch, so we slot into a wee gulley. After pitching, we get some kip in the shade. Mike later finds that he’s sleeping in his tent the wrong way, which accounts for his claustrophobic feeling. The evening passes with tea, cooking, deer-spotting, chocolate and malt.

In the morning, we break the tents down and head back to Inverey after the 16km round trip.

We stop at Braemar and Aboyne. On the way back to Aberdeen, we pass 3 road-side fires being attended by the Fire Brigade. Perhaps related, some steam traction engines are pulled up at the roadside, a couple are beside a vehicle with blue flashing lights.

Roadside Brew

I have used the Mini Bull Design Black Fly 4 a few times, so any opportunity to show it in use is a bonus. I like using it with BackPackingLight.co.uk’s flat-pack Honey Stove (2009 model).

Whilst one of Tinny's Blackfly 4 meths stoves does the work, the Honey Stove is used as a windshield, stove platform and pan support. On uneven ground, I think it's a great combo. 20ml of meths boiled 500ml of cold water. That's less than 1 fluid ounce. The time is long, but so what?

Therm-a-Rest NeoAir Medium sleeping mat pt2

A couple of weekends back, I used my newly arrived Therm-a-Rest NeoAir Medium sleeping mat and reported that I thought the mat might have been responsible for me sleeping cold that night. On Friday night, I put down a foil mat below the NeoAir, and slept warmer. The Silva ADC unit reported that the groundsheet temperature had dropped to 4°c.

The foil doesn’t add much weight. I didn’t use my Blizzard bag, keeping it for emergencies. I am sure that I saw Geoff do something similar at the Lakes meet a few years back.

Therm-a-Rest NeoAir Medium sleeping mat

I found a Therm-a-Rest NeoAir Medium sleeping mat for sale at The Outdoor Shop and collected it from the local corner shop on Friday. Based on my use of the Prolite 3/4-length mat in the past, I had decided that the small (47”) was too small. The regular (72”) too long for me, as that was similar to the Insul Mat I had been using, and the end usually disappears under my rucksack at the foot of the Akto. The medium, at 66”  (5.5’) sounded just right. The weight is quoted at 370 grammes, exactly the same as the quoted weight on the Prolite 3/4 mat. The Insul mat is 570 grammes. When I swapped the mats out, my backpack suddenly had much more space.

As the website had stated that a stuffsack was not provided, I had taken along the Prolite 3/4’s sack. The NeoAir only took about 3/4 of the space.

Upon unrolling the mat in my tent, the instructions and stuffsack were found.

In the morning, I compared the re-rolled NeoAir with my 2 litre Camelbak, and above that, the Ajungilak Air Pillow.

product sheet

Experience

On Saturday morning, my feet felt cold. I put this down to the vent being open into the prevailing (cold) breeze. Other than that, I had slept comfortably, and the mat had stayed put. Some other people have reported that theirs have softened overnight. I didn’t have that problem on either night.

To repeat the experiment, I closed the vent at on end. Yet on Sunday morning, around 2am, I could feel the temperature dropping, and pulled on a pair of socks. Checking the Silva ADC, the temperature during the night had dropped to 4.5°c. That isn’t that cold, as I have been out in lower in the same bag.

Next time that I am out, I will use my Blizzard bag as an insulating mat, to see if I can stop heat being leached out of the NeoAir to the ground. I didn’t want to try that on the Saturday night, in case it was just the cold breeze coming through a vent that was causing it. I carry this bag anyway, in case of emergency, so it isn’t an extra weight to carry to assist the NeoAir – which would kind of defeat the purpose of a sleeping mat advertised (on the box) as a 3 season mat.

Other than that, I had a great couple of nights sleeping, and even got some dream time logged. But you really don’t want to hear about that.

Derry Lodge and Glen Luibeg

I’d promised myself a couple of days in the Cairngorms this weekend. The week flew by. A few trips to local gear shops furnished me with meal-pouches and a fresh gas canister. Kit was dusted off, cleaned, treated and repaired. I couldn’t unlock my PacerPoles, but found the new carbon-fibre poles in Craigdon Mountain Sports. An impulse buy which performed well over the weekend.

After a false start on Friday, I parted with a new Therm-a-rest NeoAir sleeping mat to add to my kit. Apart from a couple of speeding cars and one overtaking on a blind corner, the drive out to Linn of Dee was excellent. Swapping out my sleep mats, I then had a fine walk up to Derry Lodge. The half-moon and familiar Landrover track allowed me to walk it all without a torch until I reached the pitch.

Clearing away pine cones and debris, the tent was soon pitched and the pack (Osprey Atmos 50 litres) was emptied. I pack items into stuff/dry-sacks, so I end up batching bags together in the tent, eg sleeping bag, mat, pillow. After a good night’s sleep, I breakfasted and headed out to see what the weather was going to do on the tops.

The weather was definitely changeable. Snow above 800m was also on the forecast. I decided to turn back to Derry Lodge and have a lazy time.

The weather changed again, but I was already in a mindset to kick back and put my feet up, and enjoy the day.

I rigged up a reading-lamp, which was more comfortable than the head-torch, and got through a lot of Tom Standage’s “The Victorian Internet”. Normally, I don’t take a book, instead a thin, cheap book of poetry. I may change that habit now.

After a cold night, I broke camp and headed back to the car. There were some hailstones (just a few seconds-worth), and the shower didn’t come to much. Looking back, I couldn’t guess whether I would have had a good or bad time up on the plateau, but I still had a good time not risking it.

The journey home included a brief stop to resupply in Braemar (yes, it did include “The Hungry Highlander”), and dropping my Furtech trousers in to HillTrek in Aboyne to get some decent belt-loops fitted.

Occam's stickpic

Occam's stickpic, originally uploaded by dimacleod.

I really hadn't thought about storing the stickpic adapter until seeing Jason's video. A quick loop and it's done.

General Pole Hospital

General Pole Hospital, originally uploaded by dimacleod.

I'll state for the record that i love my pacerpoles. But it just seems to be me who has a problem with them jamming. No-one else has to return them once a year for a refit. No-one else has to call upon their good will. So i tried using my dad's vice (no, not his weekly cigarella) padded out. No joy. So i'll need to contact the folk again. Silly thing is that they were fine when i last used them, i didn't use them when i last overnighted in the cairngorms, leaving them strapped to the pack. And now they are both jammed. At different sections. Trust is a dilema for me. They are the only poles that i have used since getting them.

In Filo Country

In Filo Country, originally uploaded by dimacleod.

New tripod

New tripod, originally uploaded by dimacleod.

Playing with setup of new slik pro 700dx tripod with pan head. The central column can be inverted. Two spirit levels two.

REMF

Not much been going on this week. Okay, so that is a lie, there has been lots happening, but nothing vaguely related to this blog.

Paramo short gaiters arrived from Foothills. Part of my WHW AAR. Also part of this was the ordering of a pair of Goretex over-socks from Furtech. My feet don’t do well in Sealskinz socks – great for river-crossings, and for around the tent, but not for hiking in. Oversocks had been on my radar since some people, eg Dawn, had mentioned them.

I’ve been reading some more of Jon Vonhof’s “Fixing Your Feet” . There is a great section on solutions for feet problems…lots of solutions. Great – everyone is different, and there is no one solution. Something it takes time to realise.

A very nice woman has mailed me her … sorry … their BushBuddy woodburning stove, and I’ll be having a play with it over Christmas. I’ve given Honey Stove feedback to Bob, so it will be good to see them both side by side. He has certainly piqued my interest. I want to see how it all works – or doesn’t – in a moorland situation.

The StickPic arrived during the week. I had found that they were selling off ‘seconds’, so got a few dollars off. Which was nice. I hadn’t had the chance to try it out yet … well, I have, but you really don’t want to see late-night photos of me in my PJ’s waiting for the cold-drugs to wear off so that I can sleep. In case you don’t know what a StickPic is, here is George and Jason’s videos about it. I’m sure they can send John and Andy a typed transcript instead ;-)

Having had problems with my tv recorder, I finally cleared off all the recorded shows and re-formatted the hard drive. No longer will every activation of the device start up with a clip of Chris Townsend pitching his Akto! Och. But hopefully it means that the recorder will stop ‘forgetting’ to record programs. A very useful device, and has changed my viewing habits.

Cheated and painted the gun crew in a uniform expensive black cloth, and based up the demi-culverin.

And my new washing machine was delivered today. Hopefully the saga ends there. A tale of attempted DIY, poor online shops and poorer real-world shops.

Having caught the “Culture Show” special on Baz Luhrmann last night. Besides being another chance to see some great clips from his work, I was left pondering a quote of his: “we don’t have anything if we don’t have stories”. Even something as humble as a washing machine has a part to play in the epic.

So far, so good, and no leaks.

NCIS Cairngorms

Some geartalk in this video from yesterday morning.

And one of the chaps at work wondered about camera fittings, so here is how I secure my Berghaus hardcase to my Osprey Atmos hip-belt. Means the camera can be taken out quickly.

As the Atmos has a split-belt, I can hook in a d-karabiner, and clip it to the loops of the camera case. when I unclip the belt-buckle, the case (and camera) don’t come flying off.

*Ask Darren about the NCIS reference.