Hiking, backpacking, trekking, mountaineering...

[GiraffePencils]

After talk with the other campers, it seems a trip to Torridon was on the cards.
From what I remember, it's not the most tree covered region, and can get a bit breezy

Might look towards a solo tent rather than a hammock/bivvy ....

 

[touch]

After talk with the other campers, it seems a trip to Torridon was on the cards.
From what I remember, it's not the most tree covered region, and can get a bit breezy

Might look towards a solo tent rather than a hammock/bivvy ....

Just go for a bothy, there's a few choices in torridon

 

[leemk]

Your going to struggle to get a tent for £150 as you have already looked at Zephros 2 and Banshee 2.

The next jump is in the £300-450 for what you need or maybe look at 2nd hand tent.

Was talking to my mate this morning , hes given me his Luxe Sil Hexpeak V4A to try out , only thing i will have to go and buy is a hiking pole as i have never used one.

 

[Glaucus]

as we are on the topic of tents, I'm wanting something bigger but I just cant find anything reasonable.
Currently got a six moon lunar solo which is great but would like something slightly bigger. not much room for pack storage.
been looking at some of the 2 person tents and they are actually smaller. Also want less than 900g

decided to go to lake districts rather than Hadrian's wall. Its one thing I hate about England trails, accommodation even camping is so expensive. They really need to allow wild camping along certain routes/certain locations.

 

[Willis]

as we are on the topic of tents, I'm wanting something bigger but I just cant find anything reasonable.
Currently got a six moon lunar solo which is great but would like something slightly bigger. not much room for pack storage.
been looking at some of the 2 person tents and they are actually smaller. Also want less than 900g

decided to go to lake districts rather than Hadrian's wall. Its one thing I hate about England trails, accommodation even camping is so expensive. They really need to allow wild camping along certain routes/certain locations.

Whats your budget for a tent?

 

[Glaucus]

Whats your budget for a tent?

preferably under 400, but fire away with anything.

 

[Willis]

preferably under 400, but fire away with anything.

The Nordisk Telemark 2 is amazing tent at only 900grams and you can sit up in (i'm 6ft) The bonus is that the porch area can be adjusted so you have more space to cook in. I get a 65lt pack with big Exped down mat and all my camera gear in the tent and still space left. I looked around at tents for ages and finally got it and had no regrets. It retails at around £400-500 but if you look at some places you can grab it for £300.

 

[Glaucus]

The Nordisk Telemark 2 is amazing tent at only 900grams and you can sit up in (i'm 6ft) The bonus is that the porch area can be adjusted so you have more space to cook in. I get a 65lt pack with big Exped down mat and all my camera gear in the tent and still space left. I looked around at tents for ages and finally got it and had no regrets. It retails at around £400-500 but if you look at some places you can grab it for £300.

I have had a look at that before , but its actually smaller (well slightly wider at widest point, but shorter and less long.). Unless I'm reading something wrong.

 

[touch]

What food do people carry with them for multi-day trips?
I'm not taking a stove or any cutlery so it needs to be pre-prepared, ready to eat.

Any suggestions for small and light but calorie-dense foods?

 

[Jokester]

I use self-heating chemical packs to cook wet pouches if a warm meal is important to you. The full packs are completely self contained with a spork/spoon.

Otherwise if you're talking about dry food without cutlery I find muesli bars and the like are about as good as you get. Gel packs are also good for carbs and electrolytes.

 

[touch]

I use self-heating chemical packs to cook wet pouches if a warm meal is important to you. The full packs are completely self contained with a spork/spoon.

Ah! That's a great idea! I'll have a look at some of those.

 

[Jokester]

Ah! That's a great idea! I'll have a look at some of those.

All day breakfast ones are the business, particularly on cold wet days.

If weight is an issue you could potentially go with a dry pasta pack, add cold water and then use a ration heater pack on it, but results probably won't be brilliant.

 

[Metalface Mark]

Just back from Nepal doing the Annapurna Explorer tour around the north side of the Annapurnas and trekking the Thorung La Pass, it was fantastic.

Morocco next weekend to Mount Toubkal over a couple of days so should be reasonably challenging.

Kilimanjaro in Sept

 

[touch]

If weight is an issue you could potentially go with a dry pasta pack, add cold water and then use a ration heater pack on it, but results probably won't be brilliant.

Weight is not a huge issue but pack size is. Also time - I'm not taking a stove because I dont have time to stop and cook. Presumably with the heat pack meals I can activate them and stick them back in a backpack whilst they cook and I continue to move?

 

[Clarkson]

Just back from Nepal doing the Annapurna Explorer tour around the north side of the Annapurnas and trekking the Thorung La Pass, it was fantastic.

Morocco next weekend to Mount Toubkal over a couple of days so should be reasonably challenging.

Kilimanjaro in Sept

Which route are you taking up Kili? I did the Umbwe route > Western Breach in September last year and I'd definitely recommened it. Didn't see anyone else on our route up except for Baranco Camp which is like a big cross-roads of routes. Came down one of the main tourist ways (can't remember which) and honestly it was terrible in comparison. Over-crowded, uninspiring landscape, and loads of dust. I wouldn't have fancied going up that way.

Also did Mt Meru (and little meru) prior to Kili and that's also great. Arguably a more beautiful and striking mountain to stand atop of with quite a small summit area and jagged ridges/big drops.

Hope you enjoy in any case!

 

[Jokester]

Weight is not a huge issue but pack size is. Also time - I'm not taking a stove because I dont have time to stop and cook. Presumably with the heat pack meals I can activate them and stick them back in a backpack whilst they cook and I continue to move?

Well the packs take 10mins to heat a meal up, and they do get the water near boiling hot - the should be kept flat so the water spreads out and heats evenly, trying to do it upright, on the move could lead to disaster!

 

[Glaucus]

What food do people carry with them for multi-day trips?
I'm not taking a stove or any cutlery so it needs to be pre-prepared, ready to eat.

Any suggestions for small and light but calorie-dense foods?

why wouldn't you take a stove? how do you not have time?

want dense and non cook, then tub of peanut butter is pretty much the best you can get weight to calorie wise. Which I was thinking about for later this year, but didn't get permits, it had a 7 day stretch with no resupply.

can also get canned pate and take some hardtack or normal cracker to put it on.
trail mix.
cn do overnight oats for breakfast, stick some powdered yoghurt and some protein powder in there.

best bet is look at some youtube videos of pct/cdt/at and see what those eat plenty do not do any cooking to save weight. Makes no sense to me mind.

 

[touch]

why wouldn't you take a stove? how do you not have time?

It's a race. Total time is going to be 4/5 days so 15mins to boil some water for a dehydrated meal doesnt sounds like a lot but when you add in time to stop, dig all the kit out of your bag, setup, cook, eat, clean and pack up again - it can be over an hour of stoppage time. Even if I have just 1 hot meal a day, that'll be at least 4 hours onto my total time.

It's in Scotland so there won't be any huge stretches without resupply. Worst case scenario is about 1.5 days. Although, I'll be cycling for ~18 hours a day so I'd want to eat about 7000 cals in that time.

 

[Glaucus]

this is where you really want a support crew to sort that out for you.
I would be looking at things you can eat whilst riding for the bulk of it and not full of sugar.
Perhaps you could even make some yourself, I have made my own high protein bars before

 

[mccarf]

Climbed Snowdonia on Wednesday. Loved the views once I reached the top. I tried it a few months ago but the snow and setting sun prevented us from reaching the top then.