Chat about backpacking, trekking and hiking
Tomorrow morning — so long as Skype obliges — I shall be recording a chat with Colin Ibbotson about his recent trek along the Arizona Trail. I’ll be covering all the usual ground, but I wondered if any of you had any specific questions for Colin? Send them in and I’ll see if we have time to ask them.
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Ah, the joy of gremlins! Colin’s hard disc is malfunctioning and so we will probably have to postpone. But keep the questions coming in, you never know PC World might just be able to weave their magic this afternoon!
Gear, gear! I want to know all details about the gear he took, his experiences with it, what he would change, keep etc. Gear, gear and before I forget: Gear, please!
Computers fixed Andy got a nice new hard drive!
I want to know his thoughts on the new Terra Nova Laser Ultra 1. At this new ground breaking weight does this tent now become an option for the Ultra lightweight hiker ?
Cheers
My first reactions are no. No lighter than my Duomid and certainly a lot smaller!
UKMase – Terra Nova Laser Ultra 1 – didn’t you post the price of this somewhere? Personally, I think this offering is a bit of a gimmick, but I’ve not seen one in the flesh and could be horribly wrong…
I’m sure Phil is right. This allows TN to continue to claim they have the lightest tent on the market. Bet they don’t make many. If I was MLD I wouldn’t be very worried!
Got to agree that it looks a bit of a gimmick. I heard a price of £550 being mentioned!!! Bob Cartwright has seen one and this is what he said “However no one seemed to notice that they had stitched the fly and not glued it, so therefore I wouldn’t give it more than a few nights use before it fell apartâ€. That sounds like a big problem to me. I construct out of Cuben quite a bit nowadays and sewing on any load bearing item (like a fly) is a BIG mistake. Nice idea TN but I think there is a lot more work to be done before this is a viable alternative to a tarp or MLD shelter.
People who haven’t tried tarps or other MLD cuben shelters don’t appreciate the importance of space. Getting that much space for that little weight is a real bonus!
PTC said a six foot you would be cramped in the Ultra and a porch depth of 25cm I think max is good for nothing. MLD shelters offer more than the Ultra can. Lots Tarp Tent ones have more to offer as well.
Colin what is your views on the camera you took and cameras for backpacking after your experience on such a long walk?
I know it’s not cool to like TN as they not making their tents out of a shed in a desert in the US but I think they should be applauded for pushing the boundaries of mass-produced lightweight tents and making them accessible to a huge number of people.
You can now get a Laser Comp for under £200 which is not a bad price for a good tent that weighs less than a kilo…and you can get to see one in the shops, don’t have to worry about VAT/import charges etc which will put a lot of people off.
Hilleberg have not done anything new to the Akto for yonks and here TN are coming up with new ideas and driving the weight of their products further down year on year.
As others have said, can’t see them flogging many of the new 500g tents bar to a few hardcore mountain marathoners (who can’t use a tarp anyway) but well done for developing something like this and putting it out to market..no other UK company has managed to.
Back to the original topic…I would like to know a bit more about how Colin coped with the weather/finding water on the Arizona Trail.
You’ll have to wait a few days to hear Colin, but it’s all arriving as soon as possible.
As for TN yes they deserve credit but this is a gimmick! As for HIlleberg, well Cameron tells me they are looking to reduce the weight of the Akto! But if this is your thing go have a look at Henry Shire’s alternatives!
We do like talking about exotic kit. Sorry!
Will the Akto still have a low internal hight Andy? 90cm is too low. A little bit more would help it. Good to hear that. They need to lower the price at the same time.
Martin I will answer the photography question on the podcast.