New lightweight packs, tarps and tents from the tent specialists.
A bit of Terra Nova news for you with some interesting tent
updates, the odd new model, a tarp no less and finally a range of
ultralightweight race packs to complement their lightweight
tents.
New Lightweight Packs
Let's start with the packs. Like all lightweight packs they sport
a combination of dayglo green and black - we're not sure why, but it
does seem to be the law - and they look, well, light and fast.
The Laser 20 is a 20-litre pack designed to
complement the tent of the same name and weighs just 328
grammes according to Terra Nova. It's an unashamed race pack with
the hip-pockets, mesh stuff pockets and shock-cord compression you'd
expect and an unusual central opening for rapid access. It takes a
two-litre hydration bladder and will retail, once available early
next year, for £45.
Alongside it is a Laser 6L lumbar pack, or bum-bag
to you and me built along the same lines and set to retail for
£28.
And finally for ultra-lightweight weekend packers, climbers.,
skiiers etc, there's a Laser 35L basically a scaled-up 20
weighing just 467 grammes and with a removable foam back pad,
to up comfort levels when toting climbing hardware. Price when it
appears early in 2009 will be £70.
Tentage... New Lasers And A Tarp
They've also been busy on the tent front with a couple of new
models and some mods to existing ones. The Superlite Voyager
backpacking tent gets new pre-curved poles, which change the shape of
the ten subtly to give steeper sides and consequently, more useable
internal volume.
Also on the lightweight front, the Laser is updated with
the addition of a second door, so there's now a door on either side
of the living space, making it more useable for two people with less
climbing over each other necessary.
There are also two totally new additions to the Laser series. The
Laser Space 2 is sort of a Laser on stilts. It's much taller
than a standard Laser with enough room to stand up inside - well, if
you're under 176 cm tall anyway and with a mahoosive 3 sq metre porch
for improved storage and cooking.
It takes two people and weighs in at a not unreasonable 2.77 kilos
given its size.
It's joined by the Laser Space 5 which is a lightweight
family camping tent with two sleeping compartments and a central
lobby that will accommodate five people easily and weighs just over 5
kilos with a surprisingly small pack size.
That's only around 1000 grammes per person, meaning that palatial
backpacking is at last a possibility if you can get the kids to carry
something for once... Or maybe just strap it to the dog...
Last but not least, Terra Nova has taken note of the explosion of
interest in lightweight shelters and launched a tarp, or in fact,
three tarps. The Tarp Shelter which is a basic 2.5m x 1.5m
rectangle with eyelets weighing just 178 grammes.
There's also a more sophisticated Bivi Tarp complete with
two poles and mesh inner and the Multi Tarp which is designed
specifically to extend the porch area of various Terra Nova tents.
All interesting stuff. Pics early next month...
All the kit above is out in spring / summer 2009 you can
find details of the current Terra Nova range at www.terra-nova.co.uk
