 Hey all wonder if i could pick your brains. I'm thinking of going backpacking in the Lakes over the summer and starting to get the gear together now. I'm an experienced walker so have all the cothing needed so just the rest i need. This is the gear i already have:- - Vango air ridge 30+5 (thinking probably too small for backpacking?) - Vango Nitestar 250 and ultralite 100 - Thermarest single matress - Vango Signma 200 (probably too big/heavy for one man?) - Scarpa ZG65 XCR - Rab Lofoton - TNF Windwall 1 - TNF Cirrus (if its really cold!) - Berghaus Deluge Overtrousers - Berghaus Spectrum HZ MicroFleece
- Outdoor Design Alpine Gaiters - Craghoppers Kiwi zip off trousers - Various wicking base layers - Maps/compass/first aid/emergency bivi/mountain shelter/headtorch/etc However as i'm new to this game i'm unsure to what the rest is! From what i can imagine i would need something along the lines of:- - lightweight 1 man tent (any recommendations) - lightweight stove - lightweight pan set - larger rucksack (any recommendations) - food! I'm only a poor studenmt as well  so wanting to stick to a fairly tight budget! Any help would be greatly appreciated!
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 on a budget: tent- gelert solo- it's pretty much a copy of the microzoid, it's 2 skin (good for midges!)and i've had it up in the pyrenees and in snowdonia in gale force winds on an exposed pitch it can survive pretty much anything that you'll get in the summer. best of all it's only £25. on the down side, it's only got 75 cm head room and pretty much can only fit you in it. it does have storage down each side, big enough to fit gear and i have cooked in it (in the aforementioned gale). it only weighs 1.5 kg, but this includes steel pegs- use some of the money you've saved to buy some titanium pegs which will be a good investment for the future and should be a good weight saving. there are countless aluminium cooksets about, you should be able to pick up a two pan set for about a tenner- try gelert or hi-gear solo sets stove- coleman f1 lite- 25 quid, tiny and light don't take any spare baselayers, pants or socks (except some dry bed socks which you keep dry) wear long johns at night if you're cold (much lighter than spare trousers) try fitting all of your gear inside your rucksack first before you buy a new one- 30+5 should be big enough for everything IMO- throw out anything you can possibly do without so that you can fit it in. if you still can't fit it all in then at least you'll have a better idea of the pack you want rather than buying a monster pack which you'll want to fill.
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cheers for the advice guys ill have a look at the Gelert Solo! Would it be long enough for a tall lanky guy like myself? 6ft +
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may well be a bit of a squeeze, especially headroom wise, but definitely better than a bivi- it is a proper tent. but should be ok for the summer when you should spend less time in it anyway.
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Coleman Kraz £60, 1.6Kg Not used it, just sat in it in a shop. Was impressed by the room in it. One of the few of the cheaper solo tents I can actually lie down and sit up in easily (6' 1"). Porch looks a bit stingy for cooking in in bad weather, tho it looks like there were some clips where the inner attached to the head end pole you could undo to move it back a bit. A contender at any rate. Tesco 65L rucksack £25. Not as crap as you might think. Will last a few years probably. One from the likes of berghaus etc. will last decades and cost a lot less in the long run. Bit like buying a mercedes. You are a 'poor student' and yet you have a £70+ windproof fleece. That does not compute. Are you related to Heather Mills? What about a non insulating windshirt for warm days with a bit of wind? Generally more useful as you can put them over a baselayer, or a normal fleece when its colder. See Montane featherlite and Paramo Fuera for popular examples. Socks? Hats? Gloves? Waterproof pack liner?
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Yeah i have sock/hats/gloves and waterproof liner. Well poor students can stinge money off parents at birthdays  . I was thinking of getting something like a buffalo or equalivalent to cut down on layers/weight!
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.jpg) The nitestar sleeping bag will keep you warm but its huge and will fill your rucksack , so you will probaly need a bigger ruksack or a smalle sleeping bag. Take as little as poss , you need a tent , a sleeping bag , a mat , a stove , minimal cooking impliments, you are in the lakes so you will be able to plan routes to resupply food and maybe water (or you will need a purifing system,or risk it ) If the weather is good you may get away without the tent ...not for me, but... Clothing , its up to you ,how bothered are you about smelling  , undies and socks are a must ,just from a blister/chaffing point of veiw , wouldnt bother with spare baselayers or spare outergarments. Its dreadful carrying too much and can ruin your time , LESS is definately more
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.jpg) Golite Gust rucksack --£37.50 + postage at outdoor warehouse.Excellent backpacking rucksack. Rain cover for this.Non adjustable back so get the right size be large for you I think.MSR Pocket Rocket stove.Take one pan only , a spoon and an insulated mug.Dried pasta meals from supermarkets are ok if you like them.'Oats So Simple' easy to make just heat dried milk and water add to porridge and stir.Cereal bars ,oatcakes with tube of Primula or malt loaf for midday.Make a pot cozy to save fuel when making pasta.
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 Here here for the Teso rucksacks - basic but amazingly cheap for occasional use
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Buffalo stuff like special 6 shirt is very warm. For active use needs to be close to freezing. Lighter options like teclite shirt insulate much less but still most probably want it < 15C. For summer in UK the best option is to use layers. This will minimise the amount of time stuff sits in your pack not being used, and hense effectively minimise weight. My last trip to the lakes was a fortnight last May, with just about every kind of weather except snow. 90% of the time I wore some combination of baselayer, 100 weight fleece and windproof. (I donned a waterproof when it really pissed down, and a synthetic insulating jacket for stops when colder and when camped) Inspiration : Kit lists under 10Kg, gear for wildcamps , layers
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The only reason i think i would like to get a Buffalo is that i'm sick of the constant taking off layers and would just prefer one maybe two layers that remain on and if its starts lashing it down, crack open my shell! Do buffalo or the equvalent do a lighter option?
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had a lidl back pack, in fact bought one for my brother in law and he still uses it, perfectly good, so tesco should be a definite option- for someone of your size, the coleman tent seems a better bet, the gelert is pretty small.
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or check out the argos pro action tent which is receiving rave reviews elsewhere on this site.
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 Seeing as we're talking Tesco's budget gear for summer backpacking, their down sleeping bag at £35 / 800g has to be a good buy... http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.200-7415.aspx I had a punt on one and it has decent warmth for the weight, (nothing like PHD stuff but its a fraction of the price) and the outer seems very water resistant. Packs very small, and you can take it to under 750g by packing it into a sealable freezer bag instead of its compression sack. Only downside I can find is the zip on mine is a bit crap, but if you're looking for a good reduction on pack weight/size for the price of a night in the pub, its hard to beat. Its made the difference to me to being able to fit full overnighter gear into a 30l sack, which I'd stand no chance of with my synthetic bag. There's a thread somewhere on it that popped up the other day if you have a search.
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what gear did you end up getting VAS?
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Haven't got everything yet. But got myself a little stove - a GoSystem Auto plus 2 gas cartridges all for £25 which i thought was a good buy. Seems fairly robust and backs down really small! Tent wise, i have found a friend selling an old style Pro-action tent, which gets rave reviews on here and packs down really small, its in great condition, just working out a price with him. If that falls through ill probably look into a Gelert Fossa or Solo. I was out the other weekend in the lakes in some pretty nasty weather and was using the gear i had above and all worked well and i was toasty warm, so i don't think i need any more clothing! The only other thing i need (i think) is a fairly decent rucksack, which i'm constantly looking on eBay for, so hopefully get myself a deal on something from that!
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