Lightweight Gear for Long Distance Hiking: Four Months in Europe

Roger has been kind enough to send us some postcards to update us on his journey across Europe. I do not have precise dates for these notes, but will add his comments as I receive them.

Left Merens in bad weather. High passes blocked by snow. Went up 700m, down 850m, up 700m, down 700m… Weather improved! Crossed plains between Pyrenees and Cevennes – HARD work in the sun. Gear list going well. On to Cevenees.

Cheers, Roger

At Lodeves in Cevennes. Weather usually wet – "exceptional" according to locals. Gear OK – just enough. Lots of French bread and cheese. Yet to have a dry tent! But gear is still dry. Geology very varied, including dry limestone areas – carry water. Eating well, going well, no injuries. Wet socks every day – no problems, quite normal!

Cheers, Roger

Limestone country, huge gorge in middle [the postcard shows a huge gorge with a a town nestled near a fascinating hill in the center – Ben]. Down into gorge, along bottom for many km to this town, then up wall and out to where this pic was taken. Weather improving – fine like this pic. All water gotten from public taps in villages – they all have filtered water supplies these days. Very convenient! Going well & good speed. Gear OK.

Regards, Roger

Hi Adrian

> I find liners a pain.. they make the bag even harder to get in & out of, they constantly slip down/twist, and they often don't match the bag size/shape which either means you waste the roominess of a big bag or you end up with too much material kicking about. And they still don't protect the bag from my head (picture Homer dribbling here).
I have to agree, especially about the constraints on leg movement with a narrow liner.

> I've ditched my silk liner in favour of sleeping in thermal underwear+socks + a thin powerstretch balacava (saves on a pillowcase too). I'm wondering how comfortable this will be in summer though.
Could be a bit hot – you might not even need the SB! That's why I went to light silk – very similar stuff to the silk SB liners.

Update: the silk lasted very well and the pygamas were comfy. In the cold i add the thermal underwear of course.

Hi Allan

Drilling holes in foam can be easy if done correctly. It can also be a disaster…
You need a bit of thin-wall tubing of the right diameter, plus some means of holding this in a drill press chuck. Don't try it with a hand-held drill.

Sharpen the end of the tube from the inside outwards (NOT the other way!). Essentially, you make a cork borer. Mark out the places where you want the holes and then drill each one. It can be a bit slow as you will need to stop the drill press afetr each hole to remove the plug of foam. Be very careful with the sharp edge! Caution: if the drill does not cut cleanly the foam can wrap around the tube and then everything flies around rather energetically. Be very careful. It helps if you can flare the cutting edge outwards just a little, to minimise the possibility of the foam grabbing.

An option I have not tried is to compress the foam carefully downwards before drilling. I think some of the airmat makers do this.

Good Luck!

Hi all

Would there be any interest in a post-trip evaluation of the gear list? In general it went well, but some items worked better than others. A few items were sent back, and one significant item had to be replaced half way.

Cheers
Roger
PS: for airline schedule reasons we ended up in Grindalwald for a few days at the end. Visited the bottom of the North Face of the Eiger and Jungfraujoch … dream on … :-)

Welcome back, Roger.

I would love to know how your gear worked out for you. In addition, it would be fun to hear stories from your trip.

Hi Roger,

would love to hear about your trip, how about a podcast?

Jeroen

>> any interest in a post-trip evaluation of the gear list?

Absolutely!

Also tell us about the bread and cheese, etc

> Also tell us about the bread and cheese, etc
Ah well…
We gave up on the traditional baguettes – long sticks of white bread, for several reasons. They make an incredible amount of crumbs, they have lots of big holes which makes spreading butter & jam difficult, you need huge volumes of them to get enough, and we found other traditional breads which were much better. We bought a lot of pain de compagne (country bread), pain complet (wholemeal) and segle (light rye). One thing which was almost unknown was the 'sliced white' loaf – with the consistency of a sponge and taste-free to boot.

By the end the two of us were eating a 400 gram loaf of wholemeal in one day. But since there were a fair few small towns with bread outlets along the way, this was quite realistic. (The French do love fresh bread.) Fortunately most bread distributers also stock butter and jam, so we ate that in equally unlimited quantity. (Very goods stuff butter: very high energy.) "Butter getting low? Town coming up."

Now, cheese. Ah yes. The French make REAL CHEESE, unlike that 'processed cheddar' crap (or Coon cheese crap) which Kraft and others tries to fob off on us. Emmental and Brie are good, but there were lots of other types which are less well-known in America and Australia. By way of example, Beaufont and St Nectaire are equally good, and for the more kinky among us there was always a huge range of LOCAL goat and sheep cheeses in small rounds to taste. In small towns the cheese vendor was often the farmer and cheese maker, and very proud of their product.

I also got stuck into 'saucisson sec' which is a dry pork sausage which can withstand a LOT of heat and travel. It's precooked of course. That also comes in a huge range with local variations, and is a very reliable way of carrying meat for dinner.

So very often the menu was
Breakfast: BBJ, tea/coffee
Morning tea: BBJ&cheese, tea/coffee
Lunch: BBJ&cheese
Snack: chocolate, sultanas
Dinner: Light soup, pasta with thick soup and cheese and saucisson, then maybe a little slice of fruit cake if we could find some.

Of course, every time we found bananas we bought some and ate them on the spot. The French have good bananas. Also we bought quite a number of cartons of yoghurt – ditto.

Haven't been on BPL for a while. Did I miss an after trip report concerning the gear and did I miss the trip report? If so where are they? if not will they come?

I'd be very interested to hear about your trip Roger.

Eins

Same here. Did I miss a trip report?

> Same here. Did I miss a trip report?
No, the post-trip gear evaluation got a bit delayed by some other issues. However, it is now in the pipeline.

Cheers

fresh bread, cheese, saucisson, …
I see Roger has experienced the delights of walking in France.
Well, you know what they say: living like God in France.

Wow, what a great review. I like your style! For this type of backpacking, this is what I am aspiring to gear wise. I'm probably going to think in terms of skimping just a bit more — but so far tarps and duvets and pepsi can stoves don't really appeal to me. Basically seeking lightweight versions of traditional gear. And of course asking the question, will I really use this? Just got my first scale and started a spread sheet.

Re: the crampons, axes, etc. Were you using the postal service a lot?

BTW, do you bring Vegemite Tubes?

This is brilliant! So you can use the puncture canisters with a screw top stove? Like the little Snow Peak titanium that folds into the little white box. Do I have that right? I am going to look for one right now and then finally go out and PLAY.

Hi Hartley

> Basically seeking lightweight versions of traditional gear
With two people, a UL tent is no heavier than two tarps, bivy bags etc. We sleep under a quilt at home – what's different about using one in a tent? Pepsi can stoves … ah well, I prefer a canister.

> Were you using the postal service a lot?
Didn't use it at all. No bounce boxes at all. No crampons either.

> Vegemite tubes?
:-) Nah, didn't bother. Went Continental.

Cheers

> So you can use the puncture canisters with a screw top stove?
NO!!!
I have used the puncture canisters in the past, and I found them rather unsafe. I had one leak inside my pack for a while – I was wondering what that hissing noise behind my head was … Stank the pack out a bit too. I won't touch them any more.

The French canisters I was using are of the 'Twist-Clik' style. The same as the screw-thread canisters in shape and size except there is a different Lindal Valve fitted: no screw-thread.

> the little Snow Peak titanium that folds into the little white box
Yep – the GST-100 (or the GS-100). The Vargo Jet-Ti is almost identical (different pot supports) and is available from the BPL shop:
http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/vargo_jet_ti_stove.html

Cheers

Roger:

Shocked someone suggested that your wife give up her MacPac pack for a couple pounds. Amazing to see these on baggage carousels worldwide and on the trail — in the color schemes of 10-15 years ago.

BTW, do you know if Fairydown went out of business?

I love these brands in general (gave up on the MacPac Microlight tent — could be a user issue — though). I love getting questions about my Fairydown items. Fairydown sounds very funny in American. People think they are patches I sewed on my gaiters to be funny.

Hi Hartley

Fairydown did go out of business effectively, but the brand was bought up by the same guy who has bought out the Macpac brand after the suits made a complete hash of it. You will find the brand on the Macpac web site now.

The microlight … yeah, well, good fabric but the single long pole is hardly very stable.

The Torre – well, it isn't the bag itself my wife likes but the harness the hipbelt and back padding and shoulder straps. She agrees it is heavy. I don't think she is greatly fussed about the colour either way. It doesn't affect the load-carrying.

Cheers

"The microlight … yeah, well, good fabric but the single long pole is hardly very stable."
If nothing else, the new version (in silnylon) is about 400g lighter
Franco

I gave up on it. Some pretty experienced people use this tent in some pretty iffy conditions. It DOES have a really low profile. Even I can't sit up in it. Some people cram two into it. CULT following. Franco, do you use it?

There's been a real shakedown in the NZ outdoor gear scene in the last few years. A bit of googling will reveal the tangled web:)

I still see Fairydown branded stuff in the Macpac shops. Last year I got a 9oz down jacket for NZ$ 99 and some cheap carbon fiber walking polls, which after some MYOG handles are fairly light. I always thought FD gear, especially the sleeping bags, was pretty good.

I also still have one item of gear made here in New Zealand – a big down jacket I use for round town use.

Do I use the Microlite ????
I play with a lot of tents but only use Tarptents. (well, almost)
One of them is the Not So Micro But Light ( aka Rainbow)
The Microlite feels too small for me. I am only 5'7" but my head touches the inner once it is closed up. I will not die from that but prefer some extra space.
I would buy the TT Moment now as a 3+ solo tent.

Curiously when Macpac took over Fairydown, they did not get hold of their tents (designs/patents) . Somehow all traces of them had disappeared.
Franco

I have a late MSR Hubba HP with very low mileage. Almost 3+ seasons? Find it sturdier than the Microlight — with my tent skills — it's also bigger and I can sit up in it. Not advanced enough for the tarp yet. LOL.

4 season solo? I have a Bibler I-tent. Is it really worth having a 4 season solo tent — presumably you want to be able to hole up in there for a while.

In case you can't tell, I'm not very light yet but trying to lose weight!