TGO Challenge Gear Review

You are a demanding lot! It has been pointed out that I haven’t posted by customary review of my gear yet! As I’ve still got to finalise the journal I thought I’d better post something here.

Shelter and Sleep

I’ve reviewed the Mountain Laurel Duomid separately and you can read this here.

I decided not to take a groundsheet, which seems to have been an unusual decision. However, this is something else that can just get wet. Wild camp pitches in Scotland tend to be good and I didn’t miss one for a moment.

Protection was provided by a Mountain Laurel Soul Bivy. The Soul is a perfect companion to the Duomid. It has a bathtub/waterproof floor but a breathable upper. this is by far the most breathable bivy I have used. The bivy has a built in bug net in the hood and I nearly always use this. The net can be attached by chord to the roof of the tarp but it also comes with a wire frame which can be bent to ensure that the bug net does not sit on your face. I tend to use the wire. The hood also has a second set of zippers which allow you to close a fabric hood opening. This is rather similar to pulling the draw chord of your sleeping bag closed. This can raise the temperature inside of the bivy considerably. As always you get a little condensation but in practice this is not a problem with the Soul Bivy. A great piece of kit.

My sleeping mat arrangements changed during the Challenge. I started off using my Gossamer Gear torso length foam mat. This is a fantastic and light piece of kit which keeps you well insulated from the floor. Sadly, this seems more difficult to get hold of in this country — Winwood OUtdoors sell them but they seem permanently out of stock.

I had a real problem with my back during this event. At Braemar I decided to invest in a Thermorest Neoair, which everyone was raving about. I’m not sure if this really helped that much but it did even out the ground very well and made it easier to sleep, which helped. The Neoair is the most comfortable inflatable mat I have ever used. It seems to be more robust than it looks. I used a small size, in kind of torso mode. I found this was more than adequate for me. At 120 cm this is the longest mat I have used for years. I simply stashed clothes and drybags under my feet to keep them warm. The Neoair is expensive but is a very effective piece of kit.

My sleeping bag was once again my PHD Minimus 400 bag. This keeps my comfortable to down to around zero. It seems to have lost some fill be I’m always surprised by how effective it is. I used this with a Rab silk liner.

The nights at the beginning of the Challenge were cold. I bought a pair of Icebreaker merino long johns for the cold. I didn’t rally find these that comfortable and they simply were not breathable enough in the sleeping bag and bivy. Next year I think I will use a pair of OPHD down pants. On cold nights I also worse my down jacket and was perfectly warm. For most evenings the bivy and bag were warmth enough, too warm sometimes.

Cooking

I took a canister stove — the Peak Ignition stove — again this year, simply because I had some unused canisters at home. I really don’t like canisters and most of the time these days I stick with alcohol stoves. This year I was impressed with the Caldera Cone system and have since bought one. I reckon this will become my default stove when the Bushbuddy is not viable. I’ve also purchased a Gram Cracker esbit stove which I shall experiment with (using the cone).

I had one pot, the MSR Titan Kettle. This I used to eat and drink out of it.

Fuel use was kept to a minimum by using a pot cozy made from a backpackinglight.co.uk’s kit.

Other kitchen gear included a fire steel, a platypus carry water container and a titanium (folding) spork.

Pack

I used my trusty ULA Conduit backpack once again. This is a frameless pack which is very comfortable — the shoulder straps are the very best I have ever used. This dyneema pack has an internal capacity of just over 30 litres but copious side pockets and a large pocket on the face of the pack. With a lightweight load it is possible to carry five days worth of food quite easily.

The Conduit has now been redesigned and as far as I can see all of the changes are improvements! These have to be imported from the USA but if you don’t fancy that it is about the same capacity as the Golite Jam.

Feet

Inov8 Terrocs again. Wonderful shoes. These have been modified lately. I’m not sure what the differences are but I think there is a little more padding in the ankle. they may also be a bit more hard wearing in the sole department. New for the CHallenge mine still look rather pristine.

Terrocs mean wet feet. I find X Socks, Trekking Lite, are the perfect companion socks. They don’t hold water and are easy to wash through.

I alos carried a pair of Smartwool socks for cold nights. A pair of Sealskinz socks were used not for walking but for camp and civilisation when the shoes were wet. Works well this system. Saves me carrying a pair of sandals or crocs.

Clothes

Paramo Velez trousers and Paramo Third Element jacket (follow links for reviews).

I also carried a pair of Paramo summer trousers, the Merapi Vent trousers. These were carried for hot weather (but never worn) and used in pubs, hotels, etc.

Baselayers were Icebreaker, one long sleeve and one Polo short sleeve shirt. I carried one pair of Icebreaker 200 boxers.

My PHD Minimus down jacket was as wonderful as these always are.

Poles

Pacerpoles — aluminium. I love these poles. Mine are 6 or 7 years old and have taken a pounding They’ve had new base sections and new tips. They now need replacing as everything bends easily now. In a peat bog I managed to bend the middle section of the pole which can’t be properly bent back! I will stick to aluminium as I’ve seen too many carbon poles shattering on the Challenge! I also carry a Pacer camera connector which turns a pole into a basic monopod.

Notable Accesories

Toilet trowel (from backpackinglight.co.uk), Ortleib map case and mobile phone case, Swiss Army knife, Garmin Gekko – a very basic GPS. My watch was my Suunto Observor. This was carried in a pack pocket as the strap broke. This is the second time this has happened in two years — the plastic just seems to perish in the rain! Annoying.

 

And that’s about it I think!