Simplifatico

Light and Dry When It's Wet and Cold

Labor Day marks the official end of hiking season in the U.S.

Which means that after Labor Day, it's a great time for a hike: the thin crowds and Indian summers of September make for choice campsites and high miles during cooler days, without having to add a lot of weight to your pack. Nighttime temperatures remain reasonably warm and winter weather hasn't arrived yet.

October gets a little sketchy. Still a popular time for day hikers, but for the most part, seasonal mountain backpackers have all but left the wilds.

In the Rockies and Cascades, November really gets into what we call the "shoulder" season: too cold, windy, and wet to pack ultralight (and leave the rain pants home) but too warm and wet to take advantage of drier winter conditions (and enjoy soft shell breathability).

And so, at some point, you just have to bite the bullet and take a full suite of wet weather gear: gaiters, rain mitts, rain jacket, rain pants, and waterproof shoes.

This was my (necessary) strategy for a November hike of the Wonderland Trail: 90+ miles of wet (right), cold, slushy, and muddy walking.

My wet weather gear:

• Integral Designs eVENT Rain Jacket (10 oz)
• MontBell UL Rain Pants (7 oz)
• Integral Designs eVENT Shortie Gaiters (2 oz)
• Bozeman Mountain Works eVENT Rain Mitts (1 oz, prototypes)
• Brasher Supalite GTX Boots (32 oz/pr)

Dry, warm, comfortable, and light! Compare this 52 oz wet weather kit to my wintertime crossing of the Olympic Mountains in 1988:

• REI Switchback Gore-Tex Jacket (22 oz)
• REI Switchback Gore-Tex Rain Pants (16 oz)
• Outdoor Research Crocodile Gore-Tex Gaiters (10 oz)
• Outdoor Research Gore-Tex Mitt Shells (4 oz)
• La Sportiva Makalu Boots (48 oz)

That's a 50% savings in weight.

Here's the irony and surprise, however. That 1980s-vintage 100 oz kit hasn't lightened up much. Every overnight hiker I met on my Wonderland Trail hike was sporting heavy, mass market gear that hasn't lightened up much in the past 20 years.

But it's not the fault of the manufacturers: every manufacturer makes lighter stuff these days.

But somehow, customers still seem to refuse to listen, or are otherwise failing to hear, about the benefits of lighter gear.

My message to you: don't avoid the shoulder season because you have to carry an extra pound or two of stuff. It's worth the sacrifice: November and December open up vast opportunities for those that can stay warm and dry - and light - in the cold and wet.

An Insulated Hat Need Not Be So Heavy

Why are insulated hats so heavy?

Andy Skurka learned a lot on his 7,800 mile hike across the country. But sewing was not among the skills he mastered. As I work on this week's BPL Newsletter, Andy descends from the BPL warehouse loft (location of sewing central, where all of our good designs are born and where all of our bad designs are never spoken of again) with an evil smile on his face: he has haphazardly constructed, out of available scraps, a seriously high lofted insulated hat that is winter worthy, weighs less than an ounce, and seems to violate every industry standard principle of apparel production.

You'll probably be hearing more about this product soon enough.

And until I find a competent seamstress to resew the design, there is no way on God's green earth I'm going to show you a photo and embarrass poor Skurka.

Backpacking Stoves for Melting Snow, Part 2: What About the Jetboil?

An interesting side show from my boil-water-from-snow time/fuel economy test was the performance of the Jetboil Stove.

The Jetboil required 54 minutes to boil 2L of water from snow but used only 1.5 oz of fuel (compare to 20 minutes or so with an MSR XGK-II @ 2.8 oz, Simmerlite @ 3.2 oz, or Coleman Xtreme @ 2.2 oz).

Of course, with the Jetboil, you'd be half hypothermic by the time your soup would be ready, but at least you can drag the Jetboil in the tent with you to get out of the storm.

The performance of the Jetboil in this test doesn't validate some of the Testimonials for the Jetboil stove found at http://www.Jetboil.com:

"...I poured in just a cup of water and filled the rest of the liter cooking cup with snow...and it boiled a little more than 2 cups in less than 3 minutes while set out in the open in a 5-10 mph wind!" (ref.)

I repeated this test, sort of. The temperature was 19 °F, wind was 1-2 mph, starting water temp of the first 4 ounces of liquid water was 140 °F (!), and I boiled snow to make 2 cups of boiled water. Time to boil: 14 minutes, 40 seconds. Unfortunately, back-of-the-napkin thermodynamics calculations don't afford the ability to extrapolate a three minute boil time using even 8 oz of 140 °F water...

This testimonial is even more precarious:

"...just returned from attempting Rainier’s Liberty Ridge. We had two Jetboil stoves with the 100g cartridges...melting snow more rapidly than an equivalent MSR white gas stove would..." (ref.)

I can't imagine how you spin the numbers to get that result.

Bottom line: the Jetboil has its advantages: it's a fuel miser, a piece of cake to set up and use, and great in a tent. But before you put your faith in its ability to serve duty as a winter stove, run your own boil-water-from-snow tests side by side with the liquid fuel stoves you may be used to and see if you have the patience for it.

• Read a comprehensive review of the Jetboil Stove by Backpacking Light Magazine

Backpacking Stoves for Melting Snow, Part 1: Coleman Xtreme vs. MSR Simmerlite

Leave it up to a company that considers Wal-Mart a key customer to invent the first backpacking stove that has the very real potential to usurp the veritable MSR white gas stoves as the highest performance liquid fuel stoves on the market.

But that's exactly what kind of potential the Coleman Xtreme has.

Backpacking Light Magazine Section Editor Roger Caffin published a detailed review comparing the Coleman Xtreme to vs. the MSR Simmerlite earlier this year. This review uncovered the simple truth: that the Xtreme can hold its own against the market leading Simmerlite.

But how well would the Xtreme melt snow?

An important question, since the ability to melt snow efficiently and in a timely manner is the primary benefit of white gas stoves.

I tested the Simmerlite and the Xtreme, along with two other stoves, and measured boil times and fuel economies required to boil 2L of water from snow.

Here's where the Xtreme shined: no sacrifice in boil time (both required about 20 minutes to boil 2L of water), and a 30% weight savings in fuel used (2.2 oz for the Xtreme vs. 3.2 oz for the Simmerlite).

This data proves interesting enough to complicate stove selection for my SUL Winter Challenge, coming up...

...Especially if Bill Fornshell and the gang can figure out a way to put the Xtreme on a serious weight loss program.

Essentials are Not Always What "They" Say They Should Be

Which media channels do you trust?

The news media is not particularly known for its sage advice about outdoor travel. They are, after all, "only journalists", or so it's been said...

Perhaps we should place our trust in a backpacking magazine that claims to be the authority in backcountry travel. A reasonable enough assumption, I think.

This week, a Montana hunter died of hypothermia. He was on a day trek, got lost, and was forced to spend the night in the wilds. He did not survive because he was ill-prepared for cold conditions.

The article's author, Scott McMillion, is smart. He's done his time in the woods and is cautious about his reporting. It's fair, accurate, and over the past 10 years of reading the Bozeman Chronicle, he has gained as much trust from me as any outdoor news writer anywhere. So when Scott gives advice, it's usually sound.

But the best advice in this article came from what some may consider an unlikely source: the information officer, Kerry O'Connell, of the local sheriff's office. Her advice for day hikers:

“Bring extra clothing, maps and firestarting material.”

Obvious enough, right? I mean, with extra clothing and firestarting material, you can survive the coldest night a Montana winter can throw at you.

Contrast this to the anonymously written Start Smart: Hiking Solo:

"Whether you're an expert or a novice, going alone invites greater risk: help is not guaranteed. Decide what to bring--like a sleeping bag or bivy sack on a long dayhike--by weighing the consequences of not having it against the burden of carrying too much. Extra food, water, and a signaling device (a whistle, signal mirror, or cell phone) are musts." (emphasis mine)

"Musts?" If Gordon Longnecker of Billings could chime in, I think he'd have something to say about that.

O'Connell knows the "musts". Smart lady. And she probably didn't even have an editor - or two - to review her comments.

Need additional perspective on what might constitute a true "essential" for a winter day hike? Be sure to review the Winter Day Hiking Kit.

Born Again Rain Mitts

Something that was nearly ubiquitous on the early gear lists of our staff was the Outdoor Research Rain Mitt (a few were aficianados of the Lobster Claw style). These little beauties weighed 1.1 oz per pair, covered just the hands, and secured with an elastic cuff - a little short for mountaineering and full time wet walking, and a bugger to put on, but suitable for supplemental handwear in the shoulder seasons.

In 2004, of course, something predictable happened. OR discontinued them.

Their replacement was abysmal: the Rain Claw Mitts. These babies gained weight with tougher fabric, a gripper palm, and one handed closure: exactly the kind of crap we wanted stripped when we screamed for the original rain mitts a decade ago. The Rain Claw Mitts were a full 300% heavier than the original Rain Mitts.

Not so surprisingly, the supply of Rain Mitts and Lobster Claw Mitts dwindled rapidly off the likes of eBay and STP, and it was a banner day for an ultralight hiker to find a set in a closeout bin of a specialty retailer who hadn't a clue about the fact that they were worth ten times the marked price.

Of course, these models didn't even last a full season, and they've now vaporized from OR's web site, sort of (Google still has them indexed). Which means there is a chance they could reappear, or vanish from the market entirely, due to the simple reason that they were pretty unremarkable products that failed to capture anybody's attention in a way that the one ounce mitts did.

Death of an entire category in six months. Unbelievable. Worse, more fringe ultralighters identified OR with the rain mitt as their finest product. Now what's left for us? Stuff sacks?

Do-it-yourselfers rejoice. You can finally make a very useful product for which nothing on the commercial market is available.

(At least until Spring 2006...3-layer eVENT, seam-taped, 1.0 oz per pair, full gauntlet with drawcord.)

Kanso: A Blueprint for Better Gear Design

Wouldn't it be great to find better gear that allows us to exist in concert with, and not because of that gear?

"Simplicity means the achievement of maximum effect with minimum means." - Dr. Koichi Kawana

"A key tenet of the Zen aesthetic is kanso or simplicity. In the kanso concept beauty, grace, and visual elegance are achieved by elimination and omission." - Garr Reynolds, in Presentation Zen, in the context of contrasting the effectiveness of presentation styles from Gates and Jobs.

And there's always the cliched quote from St. Exupery that manufacturers who think they make light gear love to put on their websites:

"La perfection est atteinte non quand il ne reste rien à ajouter, mais quand il ne reste rien à enlever. (You know you've achieved perfection in design, not when you have nothing more to add, but when you have nothing more to take away.)"

When I designed the Cocoon Pullover, I wanted to bring the lightest possible synthetic insulated long sleeve top to market. I almost did it, but the MontBell Thermawrap inched it out. What the Cocoon does do, however, is provide a better warmth-to-weight ratio than anything else available in its class. How'd that happen?

It's easy. Ditch the fluff. The Cocoon Pullover is simpler than any pullover garment on the market: it minimizes notions, in particular, and reduces material weight dramatically without sacrificing fit.

A new Cocoon top (no, not the hooded jacket, but that's coming too) will hit the market in Spring of '06. It's not going to replace the pullover, which will remain in the line. Rather, the new product will appeal to the decidely un-mass-market nature of truly ultralight gear at the very fringe of the movement and provide a design that is so simple, so obvious, and so-not-to-be-found-in-your-local-retail-store that its six ounce weight will decidedly - and decisively - shatter the expectations of the precious few that will be the first to figure out the concept.

I'd rather not see my gear become bloated with time, but achieve the effervescent Kanso that puts the burden of responsibility for a product's performance on the user, and not the designer.

Ricoh GR Digital

If you're serious about blending photography and mountaineering, you'll know that the list of cameras suitable for professional quality photographs that can withstand the rigors of mountain life and weather is extremely short.

The criteria are simple: pocketable, reliable, fast, easy, weather resistant, and exceptional lens quality.

To that end, the short list pretty much ends with the Ricoh GR, Contax T3, and for those on a budget, the Yashica T4. The latter's build quality means that it's not going to last you through a lot of banging and hacking, so it's the former two models that really grab the fame. Of those two, it's the Ricoh GR that garnered cult status among the pros, due to its more comfortable form factor and rubber grip: a nice feature when one hand is hanging from an ice tool shaft and the other is left to snap a photo of your belay partner.

The pending release of the Ricoh GR Digital, then, is bound to create excitement among those who appreciate these minute details that make for high quality mountaineering and backpacking photographs.

I've been using the Ricoh GR Digital for a bit now, and it feels great in hand and pocket. Solid build quality, metal case, and light. It's very fast ('on' to 'record') which means I won't lose a lot of shots, and the most important functions seem to be managed by a button and not buried in a menu nest: flash, self timer, exposure compensation, aperture control, macro mode, and more.

I'm sure the pro-lab reviewers will have critiques about those nether portions of the image field as the Ricoh GR Digital hits the US market this winter (uhhh, when is that again?) but the lens quality is good enough to create crisp, well-saturated mountain images that are nothing short of stunning on the web for print journalism. We don't really need this camera to do gallery prints, but at 8 mp and the f/2.4 GR lens, its enlargements do well.

I'm writing the review for the Ricoh GR Digital for Backpacking Light Magazine, so if you have an online subscription there, stay tuned for more: I'm putting the camera through its paces in an outdoor wilderness context, and I have plenty to say about durability, weather resistance, and ease of use.

The short version: it's money well spent. This one's a beaut. And Japan's got'em.

Holler if you can't figure out how to convert the menus to English...

Gnarly Mosquitoes and Combat Gear

I actually know hikers that refuse to go certain places at certain times because the mosquitoes are "bad". I know, crazy, isn't it?

The worst I've experienced was on the Thorofare River south of Yellowstone Lake, in late July. But the fishing was good. Not going there because of mosquitoes would have been unthinkable.

So why do folks avoid bugs?

Because they will drive you absolutely insane if you don't know how - or simply don't want - to deal with them. I can't help you too much with the latter, other than to say that whatever brings you out into the wilderness needs to be more important than some petty little nuance like dealing with biting insects. But there are some gear bits you can hang on to to help you "how".

1. Use permithrin. Spray it on every bit of external clothing you have. Hiking pants, socks, shoes, shirt, cap, bandana, gloves, hat, the netting on your tent door, the inside of your tent/tarp/bivy sack, and for goodness sakes, yes, your headnet: anything a mosquito can jam its probiscus through or land on in your proximity. Worried about toxicity: you better stay home then, because there is no substitute.
2. Use DEET, high roller style: 95% is your only option for serious bugs, but 35% long release is OK for tourist season. Worried about toxicity: you better stay home then, because there is no substitute. Save the Avon and so-called 'natural' products for your back porch. They won't work in Yellowstone or Alaska as the snow is melting.
3. Long pants. Long sleeve shirt. Neck protection. Maybe gaiters. A good wide brimmed hat covered with a headnet (make your own out of Tulle mesh, you can't see out of or breathe through anything that costs more than six bucks at an outdoor specialty retailer). Worried about being too hot, because it's summer? Slather yourself in DEET, then repeat immediately. Frequently.

Do these things, and use an ultralight bivy sack with a tarp and wear earplugs. Camping in Yellowstone's worst bogs all of a sudden becomes a reality, any time of year. And your pack stays light without losing your sanity.

It also seems like everyone from California, Montana, Michigan, or Alberta thinks they have the worst populations of mosquitoes in any backcountry found anywhere. See the photos (right) from Peter Vacco from a bushwalk way up north.

We don't know what bad mosquitoes are down here.

Titanium Trike

I'm no expert in, nor do I closely monitor, the bike industry.

But I love seeing weight reduced.

I have been researching road bikes lately, and would love to build a Litespeed fixie with the lightest components. Between the Ghisallo frame, carbon post & bars, etc. etc., it would be outrageously ultralight. Can you imagine a 10-pound bike?!

Recumbents are bizarre bikes, but incredibly efficient. Perhaps the ultimate long distance road machine? Check out the Kettweisel TT, in titanium of course. I wonder who will be the first to blend an ultralight approach to gear with an ultralight recumbent to ride Sea-2-Sea unsupported? How about without resupply? Cross country bike tours are old news, but this one is ripe for the taking.

What's next? There's a market for really cool, ultralight bicycle-like gear, I'm sure (ahem). Kid's trikes, jogging strollers, unicycles, the list goes on.

Keep your eyes peeled: bicyclists and manufacturers are figuring all this out as fast as we are.