Kit Advice Please

Hi Guys

Basically I'm planning to walk each of the National trails for charity, and I'm all at sea choosing kit

I pretty much need everything from scratch as my kit has been slowly dying for the last 18 months or so.

The only bits of kit I have sorted allready are bag(Osprey Atos 50L), base layers (HH), stove(Jet boil Sol Ti), Sleeping Bag (Alp Kit PD600) Down Jacket, Boots(Scarpa Kailash GTX) Roll Mat (Therm a Rest Classic), Dry Bags (Alp Kit), Food/ Nutrition (Fuzion & SIS), Hydration System(Osprey Hydrastorm 3L with cambleback flow meter) trousers(Cragg Hoppers kiwi convertable)  Gloves/Hat(Seal skins/ Low Alpine)

I was convinced that a paramo Alta2 was a good choice of jacket, but having carried it for the past month or so I'd have prefered a lighter waterproof and seperate soft shell for warmth, as the Alta is too warm in summer conditions, so any advice on the different waterproofs would be apreciated, as would constructive critique of my choice of kit so far.

Thanks guys

syd.

For a waterproof any one of the lighter eVent jackets from Rab or Montane? Or one of the Pertex Shield jackets Rab are now doing? Plus a microfleece and windshirt rather than a softshell, to give more flexibility in summer conditions, when often just a windshirt over a base layer is enough for me if it coolsdown a little.

Re footwear, I'd be using approach/running shoes rather than full on boots like the Kailash. The classic TAR mat is very heavy, so maybe a TAR Prolite, a NeoAir or just a closed cell foam mat. Hat/gloves combo a bit OTT? I'd think a Powerstretch beanie and gloves would be enough, and a lot lighter and more comfortable. And you look like you'll be carrying a lot of weight in water, so how about a Traveltap so you can top up and sip as you go along?

...what Guy says really, Neoair, Aquaguard Eliminator, definitely a windshirt (most useful bit of kit for me). That PD600 might be a bit warm if your doing it in summer... that would be my choices.

For a jacket i would look at the OMM Cypher smock/jacket or something by Rab/Montane or maybe a Rohan Elite.

Hi guys

Thanks for the replies.  I was thinking the PD 600 as I thought the temp on the peaks would drop lower than the comfort rating of the PD400.  I was planning on doing the Yorks start/finnish first, so coast 2 coast, TPT, Pennine way, James herriot way, etc.  in the summer/autom, those further south towards the winter and the scottish walks in the spring.

I have been looking at the neo air, I wasnt sure if it was worth sacrificing the comfort of the TAR for the weight of the neoair.  Is it any less comfortable?

Thanks for the advice on the jacket, thats specifically where I needed it, as I havent a scoobies about which "am best jacket".

Syd wrote (see)

I have been looking at the neo air, I wasnt sure if it was worth sacrificing the comfort of the TAR for the weight of the neoair.  Is it any less comfortable?

Hi mate,

That sounds like a trip and a half.

The big question is weight or comfort?

For me weight wins every time, the less you carry the faster and further you can go.

The quicker you can walk, (turn a 3 day walk into a 2 day) the less food you need to carry.

You can get 2 days of good settled weather but in my experience 3 days is pushing your luck.

I've just got back into backpacking after some time, only to find that all my kit that was

 light weight 10 years ago is know mega heavy.

I had a 4 day wild camping trip in the Peak district last month and my pack was over 12kg!

But I swaped my tent, stove and water proofs and therm a rest, rucksack and head torch.

And know my sack with 4 days food is know 7.5 kg.

I found that my old kit on its own was not that heavy, but buy swapping my stove I've

saved 250 gr. And my tent 1 kg.

Good luck mate and I hope this help's.

Oh PS,

I sold all my old kit to buy the lighter weight kit, so it only cost me £50 to swap nearly all my kit!

Cheers Mac

Thanks guys.

Certainly looking like the Neo Air's got some fans, so I'll be spending some pennies on one in the near future.

Mac, I'd love to say I'm doing it all in a oner, but alas I've been forced by this evil thing called work to make do with 4 1/2 weeks worth of walking every year, so it should take 4 years, assuming I can get 5 trails in every year.  When you look at it like that it doesnt look quite so bad, lol.

I've just opted for a bivi rather than a tent, as the weight difference is around half a kg.

Hi mate,

Now that's my kind of pace. lol

Are you sure about the bivi? I've just got a T Nova LC1 and I cant believe the weight of the tent. When it arrived in the post I though the package was just filled with air.

And you can make the tent even lighter by just using the flysheet and a ground sheet And mine only cost me £160 brand new 2012 model of eBay.

Good luck mate and live the dream!!

One quick bit of advice on the Jetboil Sol Ti.

What ever you do make sure you only boil water in it and don't try to cook any foods.

I had  a similar issue with the PCS, I assumed it was due to repeated long stints but thought it could just be age and lots of use, thanks for the Heads up.  Any idea if thats just the Ti, or all the Sol/Sumo mugs?

 Hi again Mac.  I've gone for an Alp Kit Hunky at £60 and 400g, and a Brit army Basha @100g.  I did have my eye on one of the L/W Terra Novas, but the price isnt really affordable.

I have a MSR Whisperlight, which is a great stove. But in my veiw its a bit OTT for my summer light weight wild camps.

So I needed a lighter a no hasle stove.  And the Jetboil seemed like the stove for me.

I've used it for about 10 trips and I've brewed up on it about 100 times (I like my tea) and it is a great bit of kit.

But I needed to cut back on some weight, so I now use a MSR Titan Kettle and  a Hi Gear Blaze which tip the scales at 113gr for the kettle and 47gr for the stove.

http://cascadedesigns.com/en/msr/cookware/rapid-cooking/titan-kettle/product

http://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/hi-gear-blaze-titanium-gas-stove-p158215

Ok you will need to carry a lighter or matches, to light the stove but I always did carry a lighter just in case the lighter on the jetboil failed.

I've not a comparicen test but I think the jetboil will use less gas than the Blaze to do the same job, so on the longer trips it could work out lighter as you wont need to carry as much gas.But so far it seems to be working out fine.

There are sevral stove sout there the same as the Blaze. There all made in the smae factory to the same speck. Mine cost me £12 form ebay, which was the cheapest I could find. Fied and Trek have some which are cheap to.

http://www.fieldandtrek.com/karrimor-x-lite-ti-stove-2012-787169

 I hope this helps.

Mac

The aluminium cups do seem to be a lot better, to be honest though since the Ti cup melt down if there is even a small chance of me cooking something rather than just boiling water then i take a aluminium cooking pot instead of the Ti cup.

Very very poor system with even worse European customer support, i would not buy anything Jetboil again that's for sure.