Gear Acquisition Syndrome

[James holden]

Why does it bother you so much Eric? You've been singing the same song all along. Thankfully you've dropped the hawt, and puffay crap. How about a trip report from you sometime? What gear continues to work for you?

heres my "trip report" for the rest of the summer

we went to climb some easy multipitch on the chief … perfectly nice day

on one of the climbs (xenoliths) i had an fun unexpected encounter and was forced to take the 30 footer …

bear 1 – eric 0

fortunately its only a torn achilles … so no rescue needed … i rapped off and crawled off the squamish chief … ruined a pair of pants that day as you can see … so i DONT recommend those eddie bauer guide pants, they should last crawling down bush on your hands and knees for a few hundred metres at minimum

i do recommend a good climbing rope for those days when you just never know what happens, i have no idea what brand or make my partner's was … but without it i would have hit the ground

so actually no matter what you do … anyone of you will be using your gear more than me for the rest of the season

so go out while you can … because life and health is too short to waste on GAS

;)

[Justin Baker]

I wish I had the luxury of gear acquisition syndrome. I can barely afford the gas cost to get to the trailhead. I still make do and push the limits of my gear.

I think there are many backpackers who have full time jobs and barely have the time to get out. Buying new gear and staring at spreadsheets lets you armchair backpack a bit. Sometimes I fly around the wilderness on google earth to keep my wilderness withdrawals in check.

[Bob Gross]

Well, it is a good thing that you didn't hit the ground.

If you had died, then we would have had to divvy up your gear right here at BPL.

–B.G.–

[Richard May]

Am I the only one that goes in a closet periodically and hugs his down sleeping bags?

I do. (it's new) And since I'm house bound for the next few weeks I keep packing my bag too.

:P

[EndoftheTrail]

I love the simple life and hate clutter. But there was a time up to just a few years ago that I also craved new gear — loved buying and trying out new stuff. And how did I reconcile the two? Easy — once I had my basic set up — with very few exceptions — every subsequent purchase had to replace something else — or it got returned. I even kept a spreadsheet of the in's and out's:

Cost of gear purchased and replaced : $6,350
Proceeds from gear sales: $6,286

Not bad, eh, considering all the new gear pieces that I got to play with.

But alas, these last two years, I seem to have lost interest in hiking gear. I don't even visit gear sites much anymore. Sigh…

[Ken Thompson]

Glad no permanent damage Eric.

[Ken Thompson]

But Ben, the legacy of your enablement lives on! I still buy, play, and sell. Not as much as before either. Once you get both your kit and mind in the same place, contentment follows.

[EndoftheTrail]

Moi? Enabler?

Contentment follows indeed. We Americans focus a lot on the pursuit of happiness. Methinks the cultivation of contentment ought to go hand in hand — for the perfect balance. :)

[Richard May]

Ben, contentment? Now that's down right un-American! :P

Eric, now I see why we're so willing to get into this debate. We can't get out there and practice what we preach soooo…. at least we can have it out here :) Hope your leg heals fast!

[James holden]

ahhhh … but im physically gimped …. i cant go do anything serious for the next few months if i wanted to

one thing that really opened my eyes climbing is when i saw someone with an artificial leg climb harder than i ever did

my partner turned around to me and said "whats yr excuse now?"

gear, like eerything else, is often an excuse … it doesnt need to be perfect, you just need to go out and do it

;)

[Author]

Posts