I haven’t got a hope in hell of getting any more test kit up this side of Christmas. Which is a shame as there’s a bunch of good stuff to come, including the Edelrid Opilio remote canister stove and Edelrid gas, Petzl’s Core and Ultra Belt, Grivel’s Haute Route lightweight axe, Outdoor Research’s sub-200g Helium Jacket, Berghaus’ Octans pack and Ignite Belay jacket, an Ultralight Kettle, there’s a Wigwam sock giveaway and then there’s the Akto of course. Next week. Probably.
I’m also sitting knee deep in single-person tents and tarps, stuff I’ve never used too, Gossamer Gear, Gram Counter Gear, Exped, Helsport, Nordisk, Snugpak, as well as new models from all the regulars like Nemo, TNF, Terra Nova, MSR etc. I’ll be looking for volunteers in a couple of weeks…
After some thought, I’m also going to do a personal Top 10 of kit I’ve used this year. Aye, I’ll be off the fence and naming favourites or kit that’s been on every trip. It won’t be what folk are expecting either.
Anyway, you don’t need all that fancy gear, that bloke’s at 1000ft in the snow wearing canvas work pants and he’s still smiling.
I’m very interested in your opinion on the Edelrid Opilio, I’ve had one for a couple of months and I’n not convinced that it works as it should. I have to be very careful with how much I open the gas or very often it doesn’t burn well, it’s hard for me to explain in English (that would be why I’m so interested in hearing your words :-)
To sum up, I’m often forced to use it with a very gentle flame so that it will burn well…
poor guy…
Will be a good read.
Oh interesting stuff – I’ll put my hand up now ;-)
I’ll also look forward to the PTC* Christmas countdown.
The Opilio has the same burner as the Edelrid Kiro Ti, a Primus model and it’s very sensitive to wind and temperature, so it’ll be watching closely.
Yiu reaslise the top ten has a guitar in it… But tent test, aye first week in January I think?
Cool – looking forward to John Peel’s festive fifty… er… festive ten.
Are all those tarps and single skins not going to be a festive feast of condensation at this time of year. That’s maybe the point!
Interested in hearing about the Nemo and the gram counter gear as spacious -summery – though .
It might be a Top 13…
The Nemo is an interesting one, it’s an all-new something-or-other, scrapes under a kilo.
There’s a lot of single skin right enough, we’ll see how I do with that. I suspect the waterproof Crux Torpedo will be slept in quite a bit.
I misread that as gaiter at first – I was getting quite worried!
Name the days and I’ll see if I can escape work, although the lack of holiday might be an issue :-(
The last set of proper gaiters I bought must have been the Mountain Hardwear Venti-flap affairs, yellow and black, magic. I’m going to dig them out now….
We’ll sort something hopefully, fingers crossed for the weather.
Better than the rather flabby paramo ones that I still have in a cupboard somewhere.
With you on the second thread on every level!
I had orange and black Cassin ones on earlier in the week :o)