Professional mountain leader Kate Worthington will be answering
your outdoor questions weekly on OM. Along with her husband Ross, Kate
runs RAW Adventures offering professional mountain leadership services.
She's generally found outdoors, toting a big pack... Ask a question
This week's question: What's the
best way to pack a sack and what's 'sacred' packing?
It does depend on what activity we're doing and how much weight we're
carrying.
Let's say a weekend's backpacking in the Lake District, which means
it's a priority to keep kit minimal
to lessen the dreaded pack wobble on steep ground.
Sort the packing list - this
one
maybe - and make sure certain items are accessible., like gloves,
compass, camera etc. Should the first aid kit really be buried at
the bottom - what if it's needed in a hurry?
On the pack weight front consider between
20-35% of your body weight depending on experience.
Annoyingly shaped and heavier items should be towards the base of the
sack,
close to the back - pad around them with clothing if
necessary. A sleeping mat is best securely strapped to the base of the
bag, unless
it's a compressible, rollaway jobby - mmm...
My other golden rule is that I
have one 'sacred sack' - a big waterproof bag s - for 'I must keep dry'
items, think spare socks, thermal layer and sleeping bag etc. This is
usually
towards the base of the sack too as it's the last thing I unpack at
camp.
I
have experimented with many cute-sized waterproof bags, but then I get
a
multi-coloured tower of them in my sack that don't compress easily.
I now have one 'sacred sack/bag' and a 'working bag', another dry bag
filled
with spare layers for the day, hat, gloves etc.
Around these two main dry
bags, I stuff other goodies - hardware, food, torch etc -
either inside the
bags if I'm feeling precious or outside if I don't mind them getting
wet.
What's the point of having your waterproofs in a dry bag? If it's wet
they'll be on your body? If you're putting them away after rain, the
rucksack will be wet anyway so they'll be fine inside that, as long as
other
stuff is in 'sacred' dry bags!
Same goes for a tent - I can 'lose' a tent
much better if the outer is stuffed around the two dry bags. I'll try
and
keep the inner dry though.
Pack in terms of usage - 'all the time', 'sometimes', 'never', in which
case why are you humping it round with you?
Work with bigger items
first and fill the gaps with smaller items. You should then end up with
a
more compact sack with no annoying air spaces and unsightly crumples
and no mugs etc
hanging on the outside making us sound like a herd of alpine cattle.
Sack. Packed.
 |
RAW Adventures
is an exciting new company dedicated to providing well organised,
friendly and safe UK mountain events. We run Walking Weekends
for all abilities - keeping group sizes small for safety and
fun. We also organise larger scale Challenge Events for
charities and individuals wanting to raise money while doing something
that pushes you harder than usual!
Owned and operated by experienced and professional Mountain Leaders,
Kate and Ross Worthington, you are in safe hands for learning new
skills and broadening your own experience of the UK mountains. www.raw-adventures.co.uk |
