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Weekend Backpacking Gear

Submitted by Adam James, Liverpool, UK.

Some backpacking gear in captivity. It seems happy enough.
Here's what I normally carry when I'm out backpacking at the weekend, usually from Friday night to Sunday afternoon. It only really applies to moderate-to-good weather, hence the lack of waterproofs. I normally wear a Buffalo Teclite top in moderate weather anyway, and this copes well with quite a lot of rain, even though it isn't "waterproof". I wouldn't say I was an "ultralight" fanatic, but happily all the gear gets into a rucksack that is sold as a "daysack" and the whole lot weighs less than 8kg. I've found that in general, if a pack weighs around 9kg or less, I hardly notice it when it's on. Mind you, that's possibly because I'm "big-boned," to put it politely. And clinically obese.

Here's a comprehensive list of the gear, complete with weights. The real weights are given, in case you are interested - not the manufacturer's claimed weights. Where the item is in a bag, the bag weight is included:

CATEGORY	ITEM	WEIGHT (kg)

Shelter	Laserlite Tent & Small Pegs	1.150

Sleeping	Rab Quantum Top Bag	0.460
	Silk sleeping bag liner	0.110
	Thermarest prolite 3 small	0.400

Extra Clothes	Socks	0.150
	Underpants	0.100
	Hat	0.100

Food/Water/Cooking	2 litre platypus water bottle	0.045
	2 litres water	2.000
	Chlorine tablets	0.010
	Food	1.000
	Spoon	0.030
	Bowl	0.025
	Plastic mug	0.060
	Coleman F1 stove	0.085
	100g Coleman gas cartridge	0.190
	Mini Trangia pan, lid & pan holder	0.175
	Waterproof matches	0.010
	Sponge scourer	0.005

Safety etc	Mobile phone	0.080
	Tiny first aid kit	0.050

Hygiene etc	Hand Trowel	0.095
	Toilet tissue	0.030
	Dry hand wash	0.040
	Toothbrush	0.005
	Wet wipes	0.050

Navigation	Laminated OS map	0.200
	Compass	0.030

Carrying Equipment	Berghaus Freeflow Light 32 rucksack	0.890
	Very small drybag	0.035
	3 Misc. size stuffsacks	0.110
	2 carrier bags	0.020

Lighting	Princeton Tec EOS head torch	0.105

Misc.	Money, keys etc	0.050

	TOTAL WEIGHT:	7.895

Things I Like A Lot

The thing I like the most is the way lots of things fit into the Mini Trangia pan. I don't often use the meths burner that came with it - because a lot of the time I expect to cook in the tent on account of rain. Brilliantly, you can get all that you need to make a cup of tea into the pan. This includes: A Coleman 100g gas cartridge, the Coleman F1 Lite gas stove (in pouch), a box of matches, a teaspoon, the Mini Trangia pan handle, a few tea bags (in a food bag), some powdered milk (again in a food bag), and even a small piece of sponge scourer for cleaning the pan. And yes, the "lid" still closes!

Another thing I've grown to like is the small hand-trowel! I didn't used to carry anything like this - but it really makes using the great outdoor toilet so much more pleasant. It makes it so easy to dig a nice neat grave for your unwanted offspring, then cover things up properly afterwards. And it's so light for something so solid, it would be silly not to bother carrying it. I seem to remember I picked it up in the Homebase gardening section for about 95 pence or something. I've never looked back! [The Editor speaks: "Hang on a minute! Is this some kind of conspiracy!? That's the second item this week that mentions poo-poo! I'll get to the bottom of this, you mark my words!"]

Perhaps the other big stand-out thing that I really like is the Rab "Quantum-Top" down sleeping bag. I was a bit anxious about getting this, on account of the price, and the fact that it sounded like it might be very awkward to sleep in, what with the lack of zip and there being no down underneath. As it turns out, I've been very happy with it. Using a sleeping bag liner makes all the difference, however. It makes it easy to turn over without moving the sleeping bag - the liner stays next to you, but slides around inside the sleeping bag very easily.

Other things I'd recommend without hesitation are: The Thermarest Prolite 3; The Exped drybag (the small orange bag in the picture); The Princeton Tec EOS headtorch (in spite of it's small size and low weight, it's just about good enough for mountaineering, as well as path-walking and campsite use); Laminated, i.e. waterproof, maps. Well worth the extra price and weight. My non-waterproof ones never lasted - get them out in the rain a few times and they're ruined.

Things I Like a Little Bit Less

While I'm happy with all the stuff at the moment, it's only fair to point out some problems and/or issues with certain stuff, in case this helps anyone else who is in "shopping" mode:

I got the Berghaus Freeflow Lite 32 (32 litre volume, that is) largely on account of the fact it's one of those packs where the back of it is kept away from your back - allowing air in between your back and the rucksack. Absolutely brilliant if it's a hot day and/or you're very sweaty. Anyway, the rucksack is also built with light weight in mind - and the structure that bends the pack to keep it off your back is a bit flimsy. If you pack the rucksack tight with gear, this gap disappears as the structure is flattened out. Something to watch out for, and it can be a nuisance, especially if you are cramming stuff into it for an entire weekend. Mind you, it's sold as a daypack, so I shouldn't complain, really.

The Terra-Nova Laserlite tent. Now don't get me wrong - it's great. I've probably pitched it around 30 times, and can't deny that it's served me well so far, and it was invaluable on the Pennine Way. However there are some problems with it. I had some problems with the tiny pegs at first. The yellow tips on some of them weren't glued on properly, and came off when you tried to take the peg out of the ground. Shoddy! Also, some of the stitching on the outer tent is starting to go near one of the ends (where the carbon-fibre stay meets it). The stitching also fell apart on one of the toggles underneath the groundsheet - luckily that's not critical. It has spent at least one memorable night in shocking wind - perhaps that caused the stitching problems - not sure. It looks more like the stitching is just falling apart, though. I also have one issue with the design - it allows huge pressure to be put on the flysheet's zip. The fabric either side of the zip is pulled in opposite directions as a natural consequence of the way it is pitched. This can get worse overnight if there is any wind - the central pole can move a lot and place even more pressure on the zip. There is no aspect of the design to counteract this - but a halfway decent workaround is to jam a peg to the side of the main pole to stop it from moving around.

The Coleman F1 Lite Stove and/or Karrimor "PowerSource" gas. I'm currently on my second F1 stove. This is more of a warning than necessarily a problem with the stove. The first one died when I was using it to boil some water at full-pelt. One minute it was roaring away, the next it went "pop" and the top part broke away from the bottom part - where there is a black plastic-type material. Possibly the interesting thing is that it was very cold weather, so I was using a cartridge of Karrimor "Power Source" gas, rather than the usual Coleman stuff. The Power Source gas is supposedly better in cold weather on account of the isobutane that's mixed with it. Whatever, it may just be that the resultant flame burns too hot for the poor old Coleman F1 stove. Not sure. Just a warning...

Platypus water carrier: Again, these are great things. However, one time, when I'd bought a new 2 litre version, I went straight up into the hills with it. The first time I filled it was from a mountain stream up there. Then I realised it wasn't "sealed" properly at one corner, and the water just poured out. So a word of warning: If buying one in a shop, check that the plastic is sealed all the way around the edges - clearly the manufacturing process isn't perfect! By contrast, one thing that has never failed me, are the cheap 2 litre bottles of water you get from supermarkets. They are very solid things indeed - and the same weight as a 2 litre platypus (45 grams). Not quite as easy to "fold-away," though.

Me: I smell very, very bad after a weekend jaunt. As you can probably deduce from the list of gear, hygiene consists largely of smearing baby wipes, or similar, around my hideous stinking body. This helps, but it isn't enough. The way I look at it, my stench isn't my problem. It's for my walking friends to deal with. And funnily enough, I keep losing my walking friends, so the problem sort of solves itself anyway. I think I'll send that in separately as a "Top-Tip".

If you want to put the owner of that lot in their place, or have yourself put in your place by the owner of that lot, or you just want to come up with a sentence shorter than this one, then you can comment on this item here.

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