New gear Reviewed, Pacific Outdoor Ether Thermo 6

Sleeping Mat - POE Ether Thermo 6

Initial Impressions

I got the Ether Thermo 6 just after returning from the last trip. It turned out to be a Long rather than regular but as it wasn’t much heavier and they didn’t have any regular in stock I kept it. I’d tried it twice and found it pretty strange compared to a normal self inflating mat, I had the feeling that I would fall off it. You have to inflate it yourself and it takes a fair few blows but it packs nice and small and was comfortable to lie on but didn’t provide much support if I leaned on my elbow on it.

In the Field

The mat is fine as far as sleeping comfort and insulation goes, the weight isn’t excessive and it packs down well however it is an effort to inflate even in the space of the bothy, trying to inflate it under the fly of a tent is too much trouble for my liking. Due to the length it kinks when you’re inflating it which makes it more difficult/awkward. I’m still not keen on the ‘Sleeping on a Log’ sensation and it doesn’t provide the same comfort as a Self Inflate foam mat if you’re leaning on your elbow to cook.

Conclusion

I guess I prefer Self Inflating foam mats even if they don’t pack down as small. I feel they provide a bit more sitting/elbow leaning comfort and only need topping up after they’ve inflated themselves. The mat is good enough and does what it claims, it simply doesn’t suit me.

Weight Watching

Gregory Z55

I knew my pack weight was going to be an issue before I left on my last trip but I didn't know just how big an issue it was going to be. I estimated it at the time to be around 19kg but I have a feeling now that it might have been over the 20kg mark as I've been busy trying to cut it down.

The 3 worst offenders were my Rucksack, Sleeping Bag and Roll Mat at 5406g so they were the 1st items to be replaced. I had already ordered a PHD Minin 500 prior to leaving but hadn't decided on a Rucksack or Roll Mat at that stage.

I knew what I was looking for in a pack and had a short list drawn up, one of the contenders was the Gregory Z55 which has what I would describe as an Internal/External Frame, similar to the old Vango Air Canyon packs. I find that they suit me better than packs with a closed cell/alloy spar back pad which I find to oppressive for want of a better word. Having looked at the Gregory website I did a quick search and found the Z55 on sale at Cotswold, reduced from £140 to £70 so it was duly ordered.

The pack sorted I started to look at Roll Mats and decided on the POE Ether Thermo 6 at £47 from Raw Outdoors.

The 3 new items came in at a total weight of 3090, a weight saving of 2316g.

That gave me a good starting point but clearly throwing more money at the problem wasn't possible or even likely to have any effect as the rest of the gear was reasonably light anyway. The next step had to be a close look at what I'd carried, what I hadn't used or what I could reasonably do without. The only items that I hadn't used at least once were the trowel and 1st aid kit, in fact I actually used the scissors from the 1st aid kit. With that in mind I started to look at individual items to see if there was anything that could serve a dual purpose or if there was anyway to lighten any of the items. I did buy 2 Sea to Summit Ultrasil Dry Bags, 8L and 13L to replace an Exped L Dry Bag and an Alpkit Black Large Stuff Sack, I bought 2 simply because the first, 8L while being big enough for my sleeping bag was too small to also take spare clothing (I only thought of that after buying the 8L Dry Bag) but it works as a stuff sack for my Montane Flux.

The List below is what I've managed to come up with, certainly an improvement but the next move is going to be expensive. Clearly my camera gear is too heavy,

Olympus E-3 + 14-54 - 1418g
CCS Pouch - 269g
Batteries/Cards/Misc - 217g

Total - 1904g

Panasonic SDR-S7 Cardcam - 210g
CCS Pouch - 150g
Batteries/Cards/Misc - 71g

Total - 431g

Thats a total of 2335g, the Cardcam and bits and bobs is fine, the E-3 and associated items isn't. I have an old Olympus C5050 zoom which weighs in at 528g and I may just take it next time. Ideally if money wasn't an issue (some chance) I'd be looking at either a Panasonic DMC-G1 a Panasonic DMC-LX3 or whatever Olympus releases in m4/3rds later this year. In any case I won't be in a position to switch any time soon.

New gear List/Weight

Load carrying
Rucksack - Gregory Z55 - 1575
Liner - Tesco Rubble Sack - 60

Load Carrying Total - 1635

Shelter
Tent - Terra Nova Laser - Poles + Stuff Sack - 1316
Tent Pegs - Vargo Nails x 4 - 60
Tent Pegs - Camcleat Y Pegs - x 6 - 96
Tent Pegs - Blacks Alloy Skewers x 4 - 60
Peg Bag - Alpkit Small Red - 7
Footprint - Own Design - 170

Shelter Total - 1709

Sleeping System
Sleeping Bag - Snugpak Premier 1 - 957
Stuff Sack - Sea to Summit Ultra Sil 13L - 42
Roll Mat - Pacific Outdoors Equipment Ether Thermo 6 - 623

Sleeping System Total - 1622

Cooking System A
Stove - Einzel Kocher Kombi inc Stuff Sack - 241
Pot - Alpkit Mitymug mk2 - 122
Mug - Tibetan Titanium 450ml Mug - 61
Cutlery - GSI Long Spoon - 11
Teaspoon - Plastic Disposable - 2
Cozy - Own Design Thermawrap - 35
Cloth - J Cloth - 21
Lighter - Ronson Disposable - 16
Bowl/ Chopping Board - Orikaso Folding Bowl - 34

Cooking System A Total - 542

Cooking System B
Stove - Einzel Kocher Alcohol Set Up - 71
Pot - Alpkit Mitymug mk2 - 122
Mug - Tibetan Titanium 450ml Mug - 61
Cutlery - GSI Long Spoon - 11
Teaspoon - Plastic Disposable - 2
Cozy - Own Design Thermawrap - 35
Cloth - J Cloth - 21
Lighter - Ronson Disposable - 16

Cooking System B Total - 339

Hydration
Feed - Source Convertube - 101
Filter - Aquagear Eliminator Inline - 90
Bladder - Outdoors Essentials 1.5L c/w Plain Cap - 33
Bottle - 500ml PET c/w Plain Cap - 28

Hydration Total - 250

1st Aid/Repair/Spares
Mossie Net - Highlander - 29
1st Aid - Own Design - 82
Anti Bac Wash - Tesco Gel - 52
Whistle - Plastic Safety - 9
Back-Up Firelighting - Flint (Use with penknife) - 26
Cord - Para cord - 21
Batteries - 3 x AAA - 36
Repair - POE Roll Mat Repair - 11
Stuff Sack - Alpkit Small Red - 7

1st Aid/Spares/Repair Total - 273

Wet Gear
Jacket - Montane Venture - 450
Over Trs - Trespass Trestex - 296
Gloves - WindX - 88
Gaiters - Trekmates Grasmere Short (Straps & Buckles Removed) - 59

Wet Gear Total - 893

Other Clothing
Insulation - Montane Flux - 613
Stuff Sack for Flux - Sea to Summit Ultra Sil 8L - 13
Wind shirt - Tacgear - 174
Fleece Hat - Miltec - 51
Cap - Field Cap - 98
Gloves - Trekmates Micro Fleece - 35
Buff - Buff - 37

Other Clothing Total - 923

Spare Clothing
Base Layer Top - Sub Zero Factor 1 L/S Crew - 127
Base Layer Bottom - Sub Zero Factor 1 Long Johns - 118
Socks - Short Trekking - 94
Boxers - Primark Lycra - 63
Stuff Sack - POE Roll Mat Stuff Sack - 23

Spare Clothing Total - 425 (Spare Clothing in POE Stuff Sack Stored with Sleeping Bag in Sea to Summit 13L Dry Bag)

Misc Equipment
Trekking Poles - Highlander - 558
Tent Light - Osram Dot-it LED - 67
Head Torch - Energizer LED - 77
Hygiene - Wash Kit - 167
Hygiene - Trowel & Paper - 165
Penknife - German Army Issue Victorinox - 94
Compass - Silva Type 54 - 47
GPS - Garmin Etrex Summit - 188
Sunglasses - Bloc - 23
MPS Player - Phillips GoGear 4gb - 64
Phone - Sony Ericsson K750i - 114
Maps - OS 1/50000 - 100 approx
Maps - OS 1/25000 - 100 approx
Route Card/Notes/Pen etc - 50 approx
Map Case - A4 Ziplock - 10

Misc Equipment Total - 1824

Total Weight System A - 10096g
Total Weight System B - 9893g

Water and Food

Water Max weight 2000g
Food approx 750g per day x 4 = 2500g

Fuel
2 x 250ml Meths @ 230g each - 460g

Camera Equipment
Max 3000g (DSLR + Lens, Card Cam, Spare Batteries, Cards & Essentials )

Opting for cook System B and removing items in Italics would reduce weight to - 9267g

Items in Bold Italics could be Replaced with Lighter Alternatives,

Alpkit Wee Airic @ 528
PHD Minim 500 + S2S Ultra Sil Dry Bag @ 892

This would reduce the above to 9065g Not including Water/Food/Fuel





PHD Minim 500 & POE Ether Thermo 6




Source Convertube, PET Bottles and Outdoor essentials Bladder. The black bottle is an Oval 600ml Sigg, nice but too heavy. I'll be using the Aquaguard Eliminator Inline Filter from DrinkSafe-Systems with the Source Convertube.

Pacific Outdoor Ether Thermo 6, Ajungilak Air Pillow

I bought an Ether Thermo 6 after coming back from my last trip as I wanted sleeping mat that was full length, reasonably light, had a small packed size and was suitable for winter use. The Ether Thermo 6 has a synthetic fill and is rated as 3 season but I reasoned that as I was unlikely to use it in conditions that would be considered 4 season in the USA where the mat is made it should fit the bill. Looking at the Pacific Outdoor website it seems the ET6 comes in 3 lengths, Long 198x51x6 @ 675g, Regular 183x51x6 @ 623g and compact 122x51x6 @ 416g. I ordered a Regular from Raw Outdoors, the only option available but when it arrived it was a Long, not sure how that happened but in any case it weighed less than the list stated at 639g.

It takes a fair few blows to inflate, I can see the attraction on mats with a pump built in and when fully inflated looks pretty long and narrow, apart frok the fact that it is long and narrow the tapered end makes it look longer than it is (I think)
It seems comfortable enough although needless to say if you lean on you're elbow it doesn't offer much if any support. It came with a stuff sack and a repair kit which lives in a pocket at the base of the stuff sack. The stuff sack is pretty big and it was easy enough to get the mat back into the plastic sleeve type packaging that it came in even though the plastic sleeve is much smaller diameter than the stuff sack. I found that it was better to fold and roll at the end rather than roll from the beginning. I folded the outside 2 chambers on both side into the middle then folded it in half tucking the tail into the pocket formed by folding the sides in. I then kept folding in half.

I tried it out last night and I'm not sure yet whether I like it or not. It's really narrow and it feels like always about to roll off the edge. It feels warm enough with no noticable cold from the ground. I'll try it again tonight as my shoulder was pretty painful last night which made it difficult to get comfortable. I was using a Snugpac Premier 1 sleeping bag but felt cold so resorted to long johns and L/S thermal top, I didn't have any trouble getting to sleep but I did waken a few times, I guess it's still too early for the Premier 1 but I was in TK Max today and picked up a Trekmates microfleece mummy shaped liner for £10 which I'll add tonight.






The other item I wanted to try was the Ajungilak Air Pillow. I'd heard good reports about them so when I saw one in Blacks in Fort William I bought it. Now it looked really compact but for some reason I assumed it was the self inflating type, I'd bought some of those from Lidl for car camping so I was a bit dissapointed to find that I'd paid £14.99 for a plactic bag in a fleece cover (that may have coloured my judgement slightly) In any case I inflated it but found that the stopper pops out very easily, you'd think they could have used a safety type given the not exactly bargin price. I'm not keen on the simple blow up type of air pillow, I always find they're to hard or something regardless of how little air you put in, the foam filled type are much better IMO. The other thing I noticed was that they're noisy. Having said all that I wasn't kept awake by it and it is lighter and more compact than my Lidl self inflate pillow, on the other hand my Montane Flux in a stuff sack works just as well if not better.

So all in all, 5/10 so far for the Ether Thermo 6, another night's use might see that score improve. I won't score the Ajungilak Air Pillow, I wouldn't have bought it if I'd known it wasn't self inflate but the fact that it's a simple blow up and has a dodgy stopper makes me think that it's a bit expensive at £14.99, of course for anyone who finds it comfortable it is quite light and compact.

The sleeping bag is a PHD Minim 500

Trip to the Cairngorms

Just back last night after a few days in Scotland, my plan was to do a bit of walking/camping in the Cairngorms coming in from the Linn of Dee. I'd already booked the ferry so even though the weather forecast wasn't promising I had little choice but go. The trip didn't exactly go according to plan, for one thing I decided to leave my ice axe, crampons and stiffer boots in the car to save a bit of weight (my pack was already around 19kg what with gear that isn't exactly lightweight, 4 days food and around 1.5kg of camera and lens) I didn't really have any definite plans preferring to be flexible but with the benefit of hindsight I was perhaps a bit too flexible as I wandered around a lot and changed my mind too often.

In any case it was an opportunity to try some new gear and some older gear in a different environment. It was my 1st real try with my new Terra Nova Laser so I was looking forward to seeing how I managed, also I'd opted to take an EK Kombi as my sole means of cooking, I'd brought my C-3 mini gas stove but decided to leave it in the car reasoning that in the absence of suitable fuel for the wood stove I could rely on the back-up alcohol burner. Most of my main meals were made up of a variety of supermarket dehydrated meals but I did take a Wayfarer and a Mountain House main meal for variety.





My kit list was as follows,

Shelter
Terra Nova Laser

In addition to the 12 supplied pegs I took
4 x Vargo nails
10 x Camcleat Y's

That added 250g

Plus a Footprint at 194g

Cooking Gear
EK Kombi c/w Meths burner
Alpkit Mitymug
Tibetan ti 450ml mug
Plastic Mug
Tibetan ti Folding Spork
GSI Long Handled Spoon
Mora Carbon knife c/w flint
Cosy for Ziplock Bags
2 x 250ml Bottles of Meths
6 x 14g Esbit Tabs

Sleeping Gear
Field & Trek Moonlite Down Bag (bit of a misnomer as it weighs over 2kg)
Highlander Thermalite Compact Self Inflating Mat (another misnomer as it's neither compact or lite, just over 1kg)

Water carrying
Aquagear Bottle
L Ortlieb Bag (only filled prior to setting up camp)

Food
I made up 4 foodpacks which consisted more or less of the following,
Breakfast - Muesli, Coffee
Lunch - Fruit/Cereal Bar, Mini Smoked Cheese, Garibaldi biscuits, Cuppa-soup*, Instant Mocha/Cappuccino*, Chocolate (Mars)
Main Meal - Cuppa Soup, Cup Pasta, Mrs Mathesons Smoked sausage, Coffee.
Night Snacks - Cuppa Soup, Coffee + whatever was left from Lunch/Main Meal.

I tend to drink a lot of coffee and eat constantly when I'm stuck in the tent with nothing to do so everything was used up, in fact the Mountain House Rice and Chili was so utterly disgusting that I couldn't eat it, that resulted in using additional fuel (fortunately using the wood stove at that time) and a raid on the next days meal. I'm definitely going for a dehydrator, one from Westfalia at £26 will be fine. I don't expect to see a massive weight saving as the only stuff that wasn't dehydrated was the sausage but at least I can make something I like in the quantities I need.

Lighting
Osram Dot-it LED light
Energizer Headlight

Clothing Carried
Gaiters
Shell Gloves
Lowe Mountain Cap
Goretex jacket
Light Trespass Overtrousers
Montane Flux
Spare L/S Sub Zero Thermal
Pair light Fleece Trouser Liners
Spare pair short Socks

Misc
1st Aid Kit
Trowel
Maps/Compass/GPS
Repair kit
Wash Kit
Panasonic SDR-S7 Cardcam + 2 spare batteries (carried in a CCS Belt Pouch)
Olympus E-3 & 14-54mm lens + 2 spare batteries & spare CF Cards (carried in a CCS Pouch clipped to the rucksack shoulder straps)
Lens Pens/cloth
Pair Highlander Trekking Poles
German Army Penknife

Clothing Worn
Chocolate Fish Merino L/S Base layer
Mountain Equipment Liskamm Trousers
Fleece Zip Neck Top (£2 at Primark)
Tacgear Windshirt
Fleece Hat
Salomon Socks
Meindl Borneo Boots



I used a Karrimor Condor 65l SA rucksac to carry it all.


I think the only thing apart from the 1st aid kit that didn't get used was the spare base layer top, the fleece trouser liners I wore once at night. Of the other stuff I could probably manage without,

Folding Spork
Plastic Mug
Mora Knife (retaining the Flint)

That would save 172g. I won't take the TN wire skewers again, they're light but compromised, instead I'd take 6 Camcleat Y's, 4 Vargo Nails and 6 Blacks Alloy Skewers for a total weight of 249g. As it turned out I was glad to have the TN Wires, I accidental left the EK Kombi Windshield support rods behind after stopping for lunch on day 1 and had to use 2 TN Wires that evening, actually picked the 2 rods up again on the way back!!

Of the rest I'm not sure where to make a saving, the sleeping bag is sorted as I'd already ordered a PHD bag at around 900g, a saving of over 1kg, I should and probably would have taken a smaller camera but for the fact that my wife had taken it with her to Spain. That would save 889g (E-3 + Lens 1418g, C5050 529g) As for the sleeping mat, well I could have taken an Alpkit Wee Airic or gone retro with a Karrimat Extreme strapped to the outside which incidentally I had to do with the Thermalite. Either option should save about 500g although I'm considering a Pacific Outdoors Ether Thermo 6 at 623g. It seems pointless saving 100g but all the 100g here and there add up and at 10st I can't afford to carry any unnecessary weight.

Although the trip was a bit shambolic due to poor planning and indecision everything worked pretty much as it should, the Kombi performed flawlessly, used 3 times in wood stove configuration, once with an Esbit tab simply to see how it performed and all cooking that was done inside the porch was done using the meths back-up as a stand alone stove. I had no problems with stability as a skewer through the baseplate kept it rock solid.

The Laser was mainly fine but I have to say there are a few areas where I feel that a compromise was accepted in an attempt to save a few spec sheet grams. It seems to be extremely prone to condensation, even with the ends vents hiked up, that wouldn't necessarily be a major issue if the inner and fly could be separated easily but they can't so by the time it was packed and bagged the entire tent, inner and outer was saturated. I have to say that once pitched it does offer a comfortable amount of space for 1 especially if you're sitting out bad weather as I did in Glen Nevis when it rained constantly from arrival late afternoon Tuesday until I left late morning Wednesday. I'll post a few thoughts on the Laser comparing it with the Phoenix Phreeranger/Phreeranger EB but that'll keep for another time.

Of the clothing I used everything was fine, the Liskamm's were warm, pretty windproof and water resistant and dried quickly, the Montane Flux was fine but I expected that as I'd almost worn it out when I got it, the Tacgear windshirt did what it was supposed to do and was pretty cheap, my fleece cost £4 from Primark (zip neck, shockcorded hem, elasticated cuffs, 2 handwarmer pockets) and did what a fleece is supposed to do and the Chocolate Fish Merino top worked away in the background keeping me dry, warm and socially acceptable.

The biggest problem I had was my rucksack, for some reason I couldn't get it comfortable, it seemed to press on the belt of my trousers or cut into my shoulders, never had a problem with it before, the only thing I can think of is that since I last carried that amount of weight in it I've had a bad RTA on a motorbike, a few broken ribs and a broken shoulder blade among other things resulted in my right shoulder being 1-2" lower than the left, either that or my wife is right, I've just had too many birthdays :-)

All in all not exactly how I imagined it but I'm looking forward to a return visit with a lighter load and some idea of where I'm going. Perhaps the weather will be a bit more predictable next time!!