Old Gear Out, New Gear In

When it comes to gear sometimes you have to try a few different options before you settle on something that suits your needs and that can result in too much kit laying about. I'd reached that point some time ago but now I'm pretty happy with what I'm currently using and there were only a few items that I wanted to get.

I've been very pleased with my Montane Flux but it's become a victim of it's own success as it's worn constantly and is definitely past it's best. I wanted to replace it but as it's a bit heavy compared to my down jackets and is still functional I decided that rather than buy a new one I'd go for the lighter Montane Prism 2.0. Maz had good things to say about it and as it's less insulated than the Flux I figured it might make a nice extra layer if I wasn't carrying a fleece and wouldn't be too warm to wear on the move. I've ordered one and hopefully I'll get it next week sometime.

The 2nd thing I wanted to get was an MSR Reactor, it's heavier than I'd ideally like but to be honest I've tried a variety of gas stoves and bought too many pots looking for the ideal set-up and the Reactor does seem the best option for me if I'm not using meths. I had a look on ebay and watched a few used ones but they seem to sell for between £60 and £70 plus postage. I happened to see that Field & Trek were selling the Reactor for £100, reduced from £139.99 including postage and when they were offering a further 10% discount over the Bank Holiday weekend I decided to buy one. It arrived a few days ago and although I haven't used it yet it weighs the same (within a few grams) of the one I tested. I still want to keep some of my smaller titanium pots/mugs as I can use them with my meths set-up but I may as well sell off the rest so there's some sorting out to do.



Another item that was on the shopping list was a Polar Buff, I always carry a standard Buff and sometimes use a peaked Buff but wanted a Polar Buff for colder weather. I think they're a bit overpriced at over £20 and as a result hadn't got around to buying one but while on the Field & Trek website I notice that they had them reduced from £22.99 to £12.00 so I added one to the order for the MSR. There isn't much to say about the Polar Buff, it's does everything a basic Buff does with the added benefit of having the Polarfleece added.






As far as rucksacks are concerned I didn't do too badly with them, the 1st was a Gregory Z55, 1.4kg approx, then a Haglofs LIM 45 and finally a ULA Conduit (now known as the CDT)


ULA Conduit


Gregory Z55

The Gregory is spacious and carries up to about 14kg very well. I like the back system as it provides plenty of airflow around my back but the same back system means the main body of the pack is fairly curved and packing long straight items can be difficult, don't even think about trying to carry a CCF mat inside. The up-side is that it would make a good winter pack thanks to the volume, the back airflow and the ability to carry heavier loads.


Haglofs LIM 45

The other rucksack I bought and which I really like is the Haglofs LIM 45. At 1.1kg it's lighter tha the Gregory, it's very roomy for a 45l pack and there are lots of featurs I like such as the frame and roll-top. The only downside is that the hipbelt is a bit too soft to allow me to carry much over 10kg so it can't really do much more than my ULA Conduit. I need to sell one of them but as yet I haven't decided, from a performance point of view the Gregory wins but it's a fussy design and I'm not keen on some of the features, the Haglofs I like from a design point of view but it just doesn't have the performance of the Gregory with heavier loads. I'll need to have a play around with winter loads and see which one I decide to sell.

Finally I still want a lighter tent, don't get me wrong I love the Phreeranger but I can't get away from the fact that with the inner tent and the footprint (needed as the groundsheet isn't waterproof anymore) it's around 1750g. I 've tried a few different tents but couldn't find one that I was happy with. I'd already tried a TN Voyager (returned) a TN Laser (Sold) and a few others that I still had so I decided to sell them off to clear a bit of garage space and gather the funds for another shot at finding a suitable tent.

There's nothing currently available that I particularily like, I suppose the closest would be the MSR Hubba HP but I'd only be saving about 400g and the Hubba HP pitches inner 1st. I don't consider inner 1st to be a deal breaker but combined with the weight it put me off.

In the end I decided on something that might prove to be a suitable replacement, significantly lighter than the Phreeranger although it isn't a style that I'm particularily keen on. I should get it next week but will it be a keeper or yet another return?

Night in the Hills

I managed to squeeze in an overnight wildcamp in the Mournes before getting ready to start back to work. I'd planned to go 2 weekends ago but the weather was bad and I was still suffering from a cold so decided to postpone it. I was off work all week and as Marcus was off work and the weather was settled we decided to go down to the Mournes on Thursday afternoon and come back on Friday. I wanted to get back before the weekend proper as I had some things to do at home.

It was really just a chance to get out as most of the gear had already been tried with the exception of the Goosefeet down socks which had only been tried out in the garden and of course a 1st try out with my new ULA Conduit.

Marcus had managed to pick up an older model Pro Action Hike Lite in green off ebay so he needed some extra loops added like I'd done on my own (and his other) Hike Lite. In addition to the new tent he had a new Sleeping bag, an Alpkit PD600.

I decided to take the Alpkit PD200 and used a 3/4 length Karrimor self inflate mat with a full length 3mm CCF to which I'd added 2 short pieces of 8mm CCF. I made this as it's easier to fold up to form a back support for the ULA Conduit. Like the last time out before Christmas I used the Phreeranger flysheet and silnylon footprint. We were both using EK meths burners and cone type windshields.











We hadn't any definite plans but we were parked up by 4.30 and inevitably ended up on Slieve Bearnagh. It was easy to find a nice level spot between the two tops and it was pretty sheltered as the Mourne wall runs across the saddle between both tops.





I'd been messing around with the dehydrator again and had brought a Spaghetti Bolognese although as I don't have complete confidence in my culinary skills I'd packed a 'Real Turmat' meal as a back-up.













As we were pitched up pretty early there was plenty of time to wander around before making something to eat. The spaghetti Bolognese was fine and after sitting around we decided to go back up to the summit tor to take some photos.





It was almost dark by then and as we were pitched on the side of the southish wall we were looking into the middle of the Mournes with the view north towards Belfast hidden from view. I was almost up at the summit tor before I looked around and was surprised by the lights from all the towns and villages to the north.







It wasn't too breezy and the temperature was above freezing but standing around my hands soon began to feel cold although I was otherwise fine wearing an ME Xero jacket which was to serve as the top half of my sleeping bag. We eventually settled in around 11.00pm and I changed into my baselayer and pulled on the down socks. I had the 3/4 length mat inside the bivvy bag and decided to make a hot drink before bedding down. I must have fallen asleep waiting for my drink to cool as I wakened with a jump at 12.00 to find my drink well and truly cooled, not wanting to waste it I drank it anyway.

I wakened again at around 4.00am, went back to sleep but wakened again thinking that I'd forgotten to switch off either the tent light or head torch, it was simply that it was morning, 7.30 or so. The wind had swung around in the night and was now hitting the front of my tent but after a quick breakfast we packed up and walked back down to the Trassey track and then on to the car park at Meelmore lodge. We met quite a few people on our way down and with the sun now shining and the temperature rising it looked like they were in for a nice day out.

We were back home at around 12.00, the journey taking about 2 hours or so.

There were no gear related problems this time, everything is pretty much refined now but unfortunately I'll be starting the end of week shift now so it'll probably be a month before I get out again.

ULA Conduit

I've been using a Haglofs LIM 45 (1050g) for most of my recent overnight camps and while it's a reasonably good load carrier with a good capacity, more than it's 45L tag would suggest I wanted something lighter and smaller for overnight/summer backpacking. I had found ULA last year and they appealed to me at the time although back then I was looking for a 45-50L rucksack. When I started to look for something smaller /lighter I found myself drawn to the ULA Ohm and ULA Conduit. Hendrik over at Hiking in Finland had been using the Ohm and that was the one I had almost settled on. I liked the idea of the carbon/Delrin hoop to help transfer the weight to the hip belt and I also liked the top tension/load lifters. The more I though about it though I began to wonder if I really need the load Lifter/Carbon hoop given the weight I expected to carry (Around about 5kg Base Weight) also taking into account that one of the main reasons for getting a new rucksack was to reduce weight I eventually decided on the Conduit.

When I looked at the Ohm/Conduit last year they came as basic packs with the option to purchase a variety of add-ons such as Hip belt pockets, Hydration pocket etc, See Here , I would have gone for the hip belt pockets but by the time I ordered my pack all the accessories were included although the cost of the pack had gone up by about $10. I think it works out better this way as sometimes it's difficult to know what optional accessories you will use until you try them.



The rucksack arrived today, to be exact I picked it up today as there were fees to pay and on initial inspection everything looked good. The quality of workmanship is good as far as I can tell and the pack had all the extra accessories fitted. The shoulder straps have a sewn in D ring which is good as I prefer to carry my camera in a chest pouch, there is also a webbing daisy chain loop. The hip belt has short padded wings and the Q/D buckle is tightened by pulling the webbing forward through a ladeer-lock buckle attached to the hip-belt wings on at each side.

The 1st thing was to remove the extras which were 2 x Hand loops, 4 x Shock-cord/Cord-lock Bottle Holders, 1 x Internal Foam back pad, 1 x small mesh zipped pouch, 1 x Hydration Pouch and 1 x Hip belt pocket (I kept the one on the R/H side and in the end decided to use the mesh zipped pouch)



The next thing to check was if my CCF Full Length Mat would fit inside rolled into a wide cylinder, again no problems, the mat fitted in easily and was lower than the top of the main body of the pack while still leaving plenty of space inside. There are 2 wide elastic straps sew diagonally at the top of the back panel to hold a folded mat in place but I didn't try them.



I was impatient to see if my proposed summer kit would pack in easily so I gathered up my kit and and set about packing. In the 13L orange Sea 2 Summit drybag is my Mountain Equipment Xero 250 sleeping bag, a pair of Mont-Bell UL Down Inner Pants and a PHD Ultra Down Vest. I wouldn't expect to be using the Mont-Bell pants in summer but would normally have my spare baselayer and socks in the drybag instead. With the down gear packed and compressed I was able to place the drybag horizontally at the bottom.



The remainder of the gear shown was packed thus,

1 x Ration Pack placed flat on the sleeping bag
1 x Single Skin Tent placed upright on top of the dry sack against the back panel
1 x Ration Pack placed upright in front of the tent
1 x Pole Set stored vertically between the layers of the CCF mat
1 x Toilet Trowel etc placed between layers of CCF mat
1 x Cooking Gear placed Horizontally on top of Ration Pack/Tent
Wet Gear packed loosely in front of/around cook set
Windshirt/Gloves etc placed on top of wet gear
Wash kit, and other soft items placed between ration pack and front of pack
1st Aid/Spares, Tent Light, Head Torch, Penknife stored on Mesh pocket attached to inside of pack.



Side Pockets held 1 x 750ml Pet Bottle on one side and Bladder on the other side and I hadn't used the hip belt pocket or large mesh back pocket but in addition to the gear listed above I'd have a few other items such as GPS, Compass, maps etc.







With everything packed the top was easily rolled down and compressed using the top compression strap. It looked as if the pack could easily hold more so I placed my Montane Flux belay jacket at the top of the pack, the result can be seen in the photo below.



The pack seems comfortable enough but until I actually try it on a hike I won't really be able to comment. There are 2 areas that I'm a bit concerned about, the hip-belt attachment point is one. As the hip-belt is sewn in at the extreme edge of the back panel it's difficult to pull it in snug all the way around the waist, theres a gap between the hip-belt and my back (kidney area) that I can't close down but it may turn out to be a non issue.



The other thing is the hip belt pocket attachment method, it's very clever but IMO overly complicated. The front lower corner of the pocket attaches to the yellow tape loop using an open-able oblong D ring, at the rear lower corner the pocket attaches by a captive cord-lock on the pocket to a short length of Yellow shock cord with a knotted end attached to the pack, to attach the pocket you need to untie the knot and thread the shock-cord through the cord-lock before re-tying the knot. The final attachment point is a standard oblong D ring, the shoulder strap webbing needs to be un-threaded from the buckle on the shoulder pad and threaded through the ring/loop on the pocket before being re-threaded through the shoulder pad buckle.



It's all a bit contrived to be honest but of course once you have it fitted you can let it stay on. The biggest problem however is that the pocket tends to flop around as it's really only held securely at the front and rear bottom corners, the top rear corner simply slides up and down the shoulder strap webbing and has a tendency to pull up when you try to open the zip. I have to say that I didn't have anything in the pocket when I tried it so it may be less of a problem that I imagine. That said I feel there's room for improvement on this, if it turns out to be a problem I may simply sew the pocket to the hip-belt, sew a short length of 50mm (2") velcro to the hip-belt/pocket to keep it in place or remove it completely.

I ordered my pack Small/Medium with a Medium Hip belt and it seems fine although there isn't much adjustment left on the waist belt. I'm about 180cm (5' 10") approx and 30" waist. To be honest I haven't weighed it yet as I was more interested in seeing how my gear fitted.

It took a long time making up my mind which pack to get but subject to using it for real I'm very pleased with it.

The total cost including shipping was $162.45 (£110.00 approx) in addition I had to pay £24.25 in fees (£16.25 VAT, £8.00 Clearance Fee)

Edit to Add

I finally managed to weigh the Conduit and the accessories, the weights are as follows;

Pack - 488g (Stripped)
Hipbelt Pockets - 30g each
Handloops - 11g each
Bottle Holder Elastics - 11g each side (2 x Elastics per side)
Mesh Zipped Pouch - 28g
Hydration Bladder Pocket - 36g
Supplied Foam Back Pad - 25g

I intend to use it with one hipbelt pocket and the zipped mesh pouch which brings the total weight to 546g.