Category: Outdoor Gear
Insights from a comparison
3rd December 2008 Buying outdoor gear is an expensive habit to to acquire, which is why I gamely try to keep the collecting to a minimum. Nevertheless, that does nothing to stop wish-lists from growing and seeing shiny kit featured in magazine reviews is no help either. Of course, expert gear reviewers are in an enviable position with their ability to compare different manufacturers' attempts to cater for a particular need. That gives them a level of insight unavailable to the rest of us with those ever tightening constraints on purchasing power and all those other calls on our time limiting our explorations. Even with the insights of experts, we still need to discover what is right for ourselves and that can mean the occasional mistake from time to time. Speaking for myself, I am lucky to say that most of what I own is of the silent stalwart variety rather than attracting my reservations. Maybe, reading those gear reviews is useful after all...
When it comes to the minority that I mentioned above, my Scarpa boots come to mind but another piece of kit that fell into the same category is a Karrimor Cougar rucksack that I bought a few years back. To be fair, it served me reasonably well on numerous Scottish outings including sessions along the West Highland Way and the Rob Roy Way along with weekend visits to Lochaber. Being a heavy duty article, there is a weight penalty of next to 3 kg before anything goes into it and that is where my concerns start. Add to that its harness feeling a little like a cage while you have it on you back and a hip belt that gives a neutral performance and the penalty points rack up, especially when compared to something like an Osprey Atmos 50. It also took some time to fine tune the back system so that it worked more to my liking and that's somewhere the Atmos scores too.
Those reservations about the comfort, fit and weight of the Karrimor got me thinking about alternatives for August island hopping trip. While my Atmos 50 has an Tardis-like ability to carry more than you'd expect of it, I thought that using it for a whole week might be a little limiting; according to BPL.com, the Exos has eerily reminiscent talents and would be on my list if I was looking at a rucksack for a week-long trip again. However, the Exos was in the future so I ended up settling on another Osprey, an Aether 60, for load hauling duties in its place and that of the Karrimor. The Aether, definitely a lighter article than the Karrimor, did whatever I asked of it, even if it was that little bit bulky (compression straps on the 'sack do make things much more manageable though) for day walks and some of those really did take me across some rough country. When fully loaded, the hip belt worked well so long as it was done up tight, a behaviour typical of these packs if comments made by BPL.com are to be believed. The back system again gave me no cause for real complaint either and the weights being carried really tried it out, especially on the Tuesday of my sojourn on Harris.
I have to say that the Aether still seems to suit me better than the Cougar but there's one insight that I have gained from using both: you need to be acclimatised to whatever weight you plan to carry or your progress will slow. It could also make you gradient-shy like I was on a weekend away with the Cougar and left a walk up Ben Vrackie for another time; the damp aspect of the day provided additional impetus for my decision. For sake of clarity, I am talking about weights of up to 20 kg here rather than anything more than that. So, for that future longer trip away to sample hill country, I plan to more acclimatised to the weights that I will be carrying and that perhaps preposterous thought of carrying the Karrimor on shorter training walks and it well loaded may come into play yet. Another idea is to plan for posting things home as I go. From my experience of spending a week of island hopping in August, maps come to mind because I was moving around from place to place but there can be other things being carried needlessly too. Organising parcelling and making time to visit a post office without it impacting on time in the countryside are probably the tricks to master with this one.
It may have meant spending a more money than I might have liked but I think that I learned something useful from using two different rucksacks for multi-day hiking. No doubt, there is more to be learnt and that comment applies to more than rucksacks. For instance, who knows what my footwear explorations could yield yet? I may even start to view my Scarpas in a new light.
A need to try again?
28th November 2008 It's been a while since I mentioned my Scarpa ZG10's on here. Over the summer, I took a risk in taking them with me on my bout of island hopping because I feared that I needed their waterproofing with the weather that was being forecast. As it turned out, I went to one of the few parts of Britain where there was sunny weather but I still put them to good use and needn't have had the worry that most occupied my mind: ankle discomfort. Any breaking that I had been doing paid dividends there.
Since then, I have found that if I did get unpleasant weather, they would cope well with it. Their robust construction meant that crossing of rough country around Skye and South Uist was easily within their operating range. More recently, I confirmed this when I took them on that crossing of waterlogged terrain from Ardlui to Butterbridge. Having a solid rubber rand all around the the bottom of the uppers makes cleaning easy too, a useful attribute in this season where mud is often encountered.
So, there's a lot to like about them. There is, however, one constant nagging doubt remaining at the back of my mind and that relates to how well they fit me. Scarpa is one of those manufacturers that resolutely sticks with European sizing, even on the U.K. market. Because of this, I wonder if I ended up with a pair of boots that is a U.K. half-size bigger than what I really need. In the shop, they appeared to fit fine and I didn't detect too much looseness while breaking them in but it was my taking them north on that island hopping excursion that found them out. On my most recent hiking trip to Cumbria, I found that wearing thicker socks and using volume adjusters really did help and I don't remember much heal lift, so long as any laces didn't fulfill an urge to loosen.
My having qualms about sizing and fit is something of a shame, considering how well the Scarpas otherwise perform, but it is often said that fit is the most attribute of a pair of boots and I would have to agree. It would be worse if the boots were too small for me but their being a little too big can be troublesome too so the thought of trying out alternatives does linger in my mind. Since there's only so much that you can learn from trying boots out in a shop, the idea of renting a pair to see what they're like sounds an intriguing way to avoid spending money on what isn't suitable (I have a vague recollection of such a service being advertised). Of course, having firmer idea of what you want helps too and could get you away from picking a particular brand or model to seeing what a shop might have on offer, taking advantage of their expertise in the process.
I have yet to decide on a boot hunting mission so I'll continue to see how I can get on better with my ZG10's while continuing to ponder the footwear issue. They have already taught me a lot so there my be more to learn and they may loosen more with use with fit improving as a result; it happens with Raichles, apparently, but I will not be depending entirely on this happening with all boots. Even if the Scarpas were to get replaced by others for much of my hill wandering, I would still hang on to them because one never knows what might happen that would have me seeking out a spare pair for some weekend away; I am sure that they would serve a bigger purpose that what they have taught me so far.
A plan is coming into place
7th August 2008 Now that the accommodation side of things has been organised, I think that I can be brave enough to share the scheme for a planned trip to Scotland that now seems to be very much in the offing. The destination this time is the Western Isles and it would be my first visit to these parts. The journey that is coming into place takes me from Skye onto Harris and then to Lochboisdale before I return to the mainland at Oban.
The weather looks as if it could be a mixed bag when I'm up there but it's hard both to discern the future and to get a sense of the Scottish weather patterns from England anyway. As it happens, I seem to get the sense that those Scottish weather trends sometimes pass by those of us who live south of the border and that might explain how I got surprised by the perfect conditions that I enjoyed when I visited Argyll in May. Nevertheless, so long as ferry crossings are unaffected, there are some dry sunny spells and it isn't a case of constantly getting soaked, I should be kept happy.
Sketching out some walking ideas is next on the planning to do list. I won't be spending so much time on Skye but the prospects for some ambling cannot be ruled out. Getting to know a little of Harris, South Uist and what lies in between is the main point of the outing and some promising hill country exists on Harris and South Uist looks promising so I should not be short of ideas. In fact, perusal of the maps and guidebooks that are in my possession is already paying dividends. If rain intrudes on play, having a few "foul" weather alternatives in mind is no load since any wandering that helps me to get know these islands a little will be worthwhile.
Of course, the matter of deciding what to take and what rucksack to use to carry it is ahead of me too. My weighty Karrimor is not in the running so a recently acquired Osprey Aether 60 or my well travelled Atmos 50 could be making the journey with me. The former has on offer its 60 litre capacity but the Tardis-like Atmos cannot be discounted either. Not only did it work very well for me on weekend visits to Lochaber and Argyll earlier this year but other examples have served well on a LEJOG and a two week crossing of Scotland on the Southern Upland Way. Whatever rucksack I take, the weight being carried will need watching since I'll be travelling about; it's not as if I will be fanning out from a single base. That weight watching will be balanced against what is needed to cope with whatever weather I meet and any terrain that I'll be crossing. However, having sorted out a roof over my head for every night, that will help on keeping down the weight that I'll be carrying too.
Getting ready for that trip up north has followed all the usual patterns for my trips away: arranging transport and accommodation, thinking out ideas for walks, sorting out what to take and doing the packing. Because I am heading for somewhere new and making a number of sea crossings, the planning might be a bit more deliberate than usual but common elements still are shared with a day hike or a weekend away. My preparations are still not complete and may not be so until just before I finally go out that door and set off. Even then, there can remain a certain amount of unfinished business with walking ideas or needing to pick up some needed item on the way. I certainly hope that there isn't too much of that this time so I need to get cracking on making sure that everything is sorted out before I go.
A pair of boots ready for longer walks?
2nd July 2008 When I buy a pair of walking boots, a number of months elapse before I take them out on a full day's walking. While trail shoes might suffice for a lot of my trips, I tend to prefer boots for their better ability to keep out mud and water. With boots, there's always the risk of ending up with the "stiff and stout" variety because so many are like that. In fact, conventional wisdom is that strong supportive footwear is what is needed for traversing hill country and mentioning the idea of using flexible footwear could result in a tide of disapproval heading in your direction. Solid ankle support and stiff footbeds are very much part of this usual line of thought.
While my Scarpas very much fit in with the above convention, I am inclined to wonder I need quite as much ankle support as they provide. Their predecessors were similar in this regard and their ankle cuffs gave me grief on a walk in North Wales one evening, an experience that taught me a lot; a back up pair of Columbia trail shoes were extricated from my rucksack so that relief could be provided. I usually don't seem to have trouble with how boots fit my feet but its my experience with ankle cuffs that taught me that a good run in period is in order and that's what I have been doing with my Scarpas since the longer evenings came upon us. The boots seem to doing OK but I am not planning to use them on all day walks straight away but am pondering taking them on half day hikes instead; taking them out in the Derbyshire Dales has come to mind. Whatever happens, I shall be keeping an eye on those ankle cuffs as well as doing more work on my lacing so that my feet are held in them that bit more securely.
Even with all this preparation of the Scarpas for use as my main pair of walking boots, I am beginning to think ahead to the future and what I really need in a pair of walking boots. An ability to take the rough stuff and keeping out water, mud and such like is all very fine but fit has to be a major consideration. This is why I am challenging the idea of high and somewhat less flexible ankle cuffs. It might be that I include that need on my list should I need a new pair of boots in the future. Another notion is percolating into my mind too: having different boots for different types of walking. The Scarpas could remain in use for rougher terrain while a lighter pair of boots, that are quicker to break in, would do a trek along good tracks and paths, keeping feet dry along the way. Along with the fit and comfort side of things, there are other advantages to having two pairs of boots such as spreading the wear across both, making them last longer, and having a dry pair ready after the other has been used on a hike through waterlogged terrain. With all the other demands on my income, I am not planning to rush out and buy anything just yet but there is enough going for the idea that it might take hold sometime.
A use for a damp evening
28th May 2008 Given our desire for clear blue skies and bright sunshine, it might seem strange to say it but seeing the countryside draped in a misty damp murkiness has a certain allure, a somewhat primordial feel in fact. That isn't what is at the heart of this post because I succumbed to the lure of soft shell clothing with the purchase of a North Face Apex Elixir jacket and these conditions presented an ideal opportunity to try it out in damper conditions than it has been seeing since I got it.
The idea of a soft shell is that there is at least some water repellence on offer, though heavy downpours will require something better suited to those conditions. If the Elixir keeps out drizzle and light rain like it has been doing (I am aware that Montane has something that is better in this regard), then the waterproof jacket can stay in the rucksack just a bit more.
Otherwise, the jacket has come in very handy on recent dry weather trips to Teesdale, North Wales and Argyll as well as going to and from work. It's a lightweight affair, a good thing for when it stays in the rucksack, but that does not stop it from warming you up on the move. Even so, I am not convinced that this is a cold weather item, at least not without additional layers, so the Polartec fleece remains the jacket of choice for those times.
They are a while away yet, so I won't be dwelling on the prospect. If things continue as they have been going, it looks as if my summertime fleeces could have their place usurped by the newcomer. The pockets are big enough to take a map, even if getting one in to and out of them is a bit of an art. The sleeves are roomy and can be rolled up for ventilation or cinched at the wrist if it gets a bit nippier. All in all, the jacket is a versatile thing that is seeing a lot of use, which is just as well seeing that it cost me £90.
