I guess we’re only halfway through but I’m pretty excited about this month’s gear purchases so I thought I’d kick things off a bit early:
Massdrop x Dan Durston X-Mid 1P Tent
I love my Lunar Solo and used it exclusively for the entire 2019 season but the X-Mid’s simpler setup (four stakes in a rectangle) and double-wall-ness (better condensation management and summer stargazing) were intriguing enough to me to overlook the fact that it requires two trekking poles. From experience I’ll always carry at least one trekking pole in case of injury but custom carbon fiber tent poles are so light that I could see carrying a dedicated pair just for the tent. This would also allow for some redundancy (something I don’t have currently with my single-trekking-pole setup) although since I only use my pole for the tent and not for actual trekking that’s hardly a concern – I’m more worried about the carbon fiber poles snapping in my pack from a fall.
Not-so-exciting update: now that I’ve pitched the tent in my yard I’ve discovered that you cannot set up the mesh inner without the fly so my dreams of stargazing from the comfort of my new tent have been crushed.
Vonmahlen High-Five Keychain Charging Cable
This thing is bonkers. It’s a seven gram (assuming you remove the keyring) three-inch USB cable that can adapt USB-A, USB-C, micro USB, and Lightning. Oddly enough, the micro USB and Lightning adapter is actually the same adapter. My charging cable situation was already pretty bare-bones but this brings it to a whole new level.
($13.99, 7g)
Jones Stevens 4-Way Silcock Key
Also known as a universal water key, this thing will allow you to gather water from the spigots located on the outside of any commercial building. I first learned about this in the context of bikepacking since it allows you to gather water from parks or other public facilities even after hours without having to bother anyone, but they’re a common part of prepper kits as well.
($7.82, 160g)
Training for the Uphill Athlete
As winter slowly sets in I’m resigned to the fact that I’ll be spending less time outside. On the plus side this gives me more time for reading and this book is supposedly the Bible of outdoor fitness training. Building on the success of their previous book Training for the New Alpinism, this new book rounds out the advice to apply not just to mountaineering but to other sports such as mountain running and ski mountaineering, that latter of which is something I’m specifically looking to get into this winter.
($21.24)
Ultralight Winter Travel
Justin Lichter and Shawn Forry (aka Trauma and Pepper) were the first people to complete the Pacific Crest Trail in winter. That’s insane. Afterwords they went on to write this book. I’m only 60 pages in and I’ve learned a ton, from a new-to-me snow shelter called a quinzhee to custom kevlar boot jacks for Dyneema tents so that they can be used with an ultralight wood burning stove.
($16.13)
Stoic Merino Blend Tank Top
After last weekend’s visit to Red Mountain I was annoyed by the amount of sweat that was pooling on my chest so I went on the hunt for an inexpensive wicking base layer. I like tank tops because they don’t interfere with armpit venting and I wanted a wool/polyester blend to combine the best properties of both fabrics. Backcountry’s in-house Stoic brand delivers with this excellent tank top – I took it out yesterday in five hours of pouring rain and I forgot that I was even wearing it.
($29.99, 119g in size medium)
Frogg Toggs Chilly Pad Cooling Towel
After being unhappy with the performance of your typical ultralight microfiber backpacking towels (water seems to want to run off the towels instead of being absorbed by them) I heard about some fancy material called polyvinyl alcohol which could hold an incredible amount of water for its weight and was typically sold in towel form at auto parts stores. Searching online I found that it’s also frequently used by marathon runners where it’s known as a cooling towel. I just wanted something that would actually soak up condensation in my tent but maybe this could also double as a hot weather item as well?
Oddly enough, the material is inflexible when dry and ships slightly damp in a little plastic tube. It’s hard to say what the weight is exactly because it depends on how much water you leave in it while you’re carrying it. I plan on cutting mine down quite a bit.
($9.38)
Bark+ Dog Bags
Bread bags as vapor barriers for either camp shoes or snow travel work great but they tend to get holes in them after every trip and I don’t eat enough bread to replenish my supply. So, I thought some larger dog bags might do the trick and also double as poop pick-up bags (for myself or the actual dog). Unfortunately they’re short enough where they tend to get sucked down into the shoe which sort of defeats the purpose. I’ll keep playing around with them.
($11.70 per 300)
Allen and Mike’s Really Cool Backcountry Ski Book
I picked this up as a sort of backcountry-skiing-for-dummies and came away disappointed. The gear advice seemed rather dated and I found the enormous amount of cutesy illustrations annoying. As someone who has taken winter camping courses before this didn’t really have much to offer. Would not recommend.
($11.66)
ChannelLock Camper Axe
Instead of lugging around a full-size axe or a Pulaski for one-man trail work I thought I could get away with a smaller hatchet instead. It turns out that with a good pair of loppers (see below) for brush and a full-size hand saw for logs you don’t really need anything else. These will probably end up hanging out in the shed more often than not.
($21.99)
Fiskars 28″ Loppers
Bought these for trail maintenance and so far they’re cutting through brush and small branches like butter. They feel awfully light for the size but I haven’t actually weighed them yet. Weighing big things is hard.
($26.99)
Notch Pocket Kerf Wedge
Handy for keeping the kerf open when sawing larger logs, but I haven’t had to saw though anything large enough to really warrant them. Link goes to a SherrillTree branded version, looks like they recently purchased Notch.
($6.69 per pair, 23g each)
Luminar 4
I have a love-hate relationship with Luminar, the software I use to process my photos. The PC performance in version 3 was so abysmal that I had to start using Person B’s iMac to do photo work and then when we got the cabin I didn’t want to lug an iMac around so I purchased my own MacBook Pro (see below). On the other hand the results I get with Luminar are outstanding and it’s incredibly easy to use. Version 4 didn’t fix the PC performance issues nor the incredibly long pause when exporting a photo and the new features it added (sky replacement and portrait retouching) aren’t really for me, so… we’ll see.
($49, 0g)
Apple 2019 MacBook Pro 13.3″
As mentioned above, once we got the cabin I needed a way to process photos at either location and I thought it made sense to get a Mac laptop. The new MacBook Pros support the DCI-P3 wide color gamut and depending on which review you read they support 114-118% of the sRGB color gamut. This means that they can accurately display many more saturated colors than my PC laptop which only supports 60% of sRGB. For gaming the cheap display doesn’t matter all that much but for photos it’s a night and day difference between my old laptop and either the iMac or the Macbook Pro screens – everything on the PC laptop just looks so much duller.
($999)