I have a lightweight goretex jacket which has a small stiffened flap over the zip, with a further small flap inside. But the outer one is bending away from the zip, making the ingress of water more possible. I thought I might fix this with a short length of velcro but I'm not keen to sew into the main body of the jacket.
Has anyone used self adhesive velcro for this sort of thing? I could, possibly, use a few stitches and seal these with the McNett sealant, but would prefer not too.
Otherwise, maybe a couple of small poppers might do, but it may be harder to seal these than the stitches.
There's quite a choice! Two years before that we started on the Kungsleden in Abisko but got bored with it being a relatively busy route so turned off at Akse (I think) in Sarek, then devised our own route back to Beisfjord just south of Narvik. The Rapadalen was superb, came face to face with a moose and calf. 23 days walking - fabulous! There's any amount of it.
Not sure your level of experience so be careful not to exceed your limits! As I said earlier, there are only two bridges in Sarek.
Thanks again - sorry, notification had gone into junk emails. I tried a Neoair last week - fine, less of a problem with feet falling off than expected but I can see one might slip off if on a side slope.
Geek - I'd not come across YMMV - had to look it up. I assume you prefer the Synmat? Worth the extra weight?
I was lucky enough to have like-minded friends and we just picked it up as we went along initially. Then after a near-miss one winter, decided we ought to buy axe, crampons and go on a course. But that was only for the winter technical side of things. This was followed by a winter climbing course.
I have subsequently done the ML but this was for work, to give me the qualification I needed at the time. So I could have survived quite happily outside of winter without any course, just common sense and a desire to improve skills such as navigation. Think of all the gear you can get with the cost of a course! But I think it's the common sense thing which is crucial. With our near miss in the winter, we just didn't know about nasty stuff like neve, leading to a rather rapid descent for my mate... Was this a lack of common sense, or just plain ignorance? Either way, it was the start of a fabulous winter career in the mountains - almost all of my full Munro list have been climbed in winter, some several times. But it was a close thing at first!
I reckon most could manage without a course if they read up fully on skills, routes and start at the shallow end, pushing boundaries as they go. It's a damned sight more fun, teaching yourself and making mistakes (within reason, of course).
Well, I'd opt for a decent down bag every time! I just don't want the bulk and weight of synthetic. Obviously you need to look after down more, but it'll look after you and will last very many years.
rob dixon 2
