Saw some cool new gear at the “Kickoff”

[Kevin Egelhoff]

I was at the PCT “Kickoff” this past weekend and had a chance to check out some really great items from several companies.
ULA was on hand showing off their packs, shelters, and gravity feed water filter system. They also had the new electric bear canister on display that looked very intriguing!
Henry Shires was on had with all his Tarptents. It was great being able to see them ALL side by side to compare sizes and features. Lots of sizes and options to choose from. Almost too many. He has really been working hard to refine his designs!
Next to Henry was Gossamer Gear with Grant and Glen both manning the booth. They had the new Miniposa on display and it looks like the new “gotta have” pack! Several PCT hikers were waiting in line to try on the new pack for sizing and comfort. The pack looks to be very well designed towards the ultralite hiker with several options to minimize and compress loads as they become smaller. I really like all the new features incorporated into the pack and even though it is under a pound, it somehow looks and feels like it is going to be more durable than the Golite packs I just purchased last year. I had never tried a GG pack with there creative design using the night lite pad against your back and this appears to be the super light weight and comfortable solution I have been looking for all along. I plan on using this new pack to reel off (5) 25 to 40 mile per day hikes on the JMT this summer. Grant was busy building up packs in the booth and selling them as fast as he could assemble them. Guessing GG has a winner with this pack and I’m waiting for mine to show up in the mail with the small size waist belt. Will post a complete review as soon as I have a chance to test it out.

[Kevin Egelhoff]

Also snapped this picture of Glen's GG Cuben Fiber Shelter. This thing was pretty cool and looked well thought out.

[Miles Barger]

Wow, that shelter looks a heck of a lot like what I've been dreaming about lately… a Cuben Gatewood Cape. I hope they'll have a cape option, or at least consider it.

[David Stenberg]

When looking at the picture I almost missed the bugnetting and sewn-in floor. That is a great looking shelter! Wonder what it weighs in at?

[Glen Van Peski]

11 oz.

[David Stenberg]

Thanks Glen for the response. 11 ounces is pretty amazing! Bring it to the public for sale!

[Mike Barney]

11 oz cool!!! Any chance for a 2 person 16 oz version?

[Aaron Sorensen]

Anyone have any idea what the size of the miniposa is?

It would be a hard toss up to have to decide between that and the ULA Relay.
I think they could both easily be considered as a PCT pack with an ULer.
Even when you would have to carry an extra 25lbs of water a few times with each, it would be very doable. 90% of the time your pack weight is only going to be 15-20 lbs unless you've just stocked up on food.

[Kevin Egelhoff]

Aaron,
Here are the specs that were on the pack.

[Glen Van Peski]

We aren't thinking about a cape option at this time, and have no plans to for right now.

[Glen Van Peski]

The Cuben version will be prohibitively expensive, but we're working on the spinnaker version, which we hope to bring it at a pound.

[Glen Van Peski]

Probably not. I'm not sure that this design scales well to a 2-person version. There are lots of great two-person shelters out there, so 2-person version of this is pretty low on our list. We'll work on getting the 1-person version out and see where it goes from there.

[EndoftheTrail]

Glen:

For the fanatics in us… any chance of retaining cuben as an option while bringing out the spinnaker version?

[Steven Evans]

Agreeing with Ben – a cuben version would be sweet, I'd most definitely get one. You could eliminate the bivy with the floor and netting…and if it could be used as rain protection aswell (maybe a clip out floor or something), that would be my shelter of choice.

[Arapiles .]

Hi Glen

Any idea of the timing for the Spinnaker version?

[Donna C]

Glen,
the shoulder straps on the pack look pretty wide. Will they fit a women's body without getting in the way?

[Glen Van Peski]

We're thinking of making at least a few cuben versions. The fabric is so expensive that the shelter will be hugely expensive, so we don't want to tie up too much capital by making a bunch of them. Plus, it's not the most durable of shelters. Who wants to spend $600 on a shelter only to have a branch fall on it and wipe it out?

[Glen Van Peski]

We're planning on spring '08 at this point. We have are field testing now.

[Glen Van Peski]

Donna –

Best bet is to drop Grant a line [email protected], he can better answer that. It depends on the woman, obviously. The shoulder straps can be made effectively skinnier by using socks or rolled up bubble wrap instead of the flat foam inserts that come with them.

–Glen

[Randy Brissey]

Hello Glen,

Will you be bringing one of these "If you have to ask……." shelters with you on monday night at A-16? I have been waiting for any info to show up on your website or the newsletter.

Randy

[EndoftheTrail]

Glenn:

It would sure be wonderful if you can bring your tent with you to the Torrance A16 on Monday. Can you also set up a small "petting zoo" of cuben, spinnaker, silnylon, etc. — to give the public a touch and feel comparison? Bring all the animals. :)

[Glen Van Peski]

Randy and Ben –

I guess I could bring some fabric samples. The only cuben version shelter is a very ugly early version that is not fit for public viewing.

–Glen

[EndoftheTrail]

Glenn:

I'm sure folks will be interested in a look-see of the tent itself, be it made of silnylon, spinnaker or cuben. :)

Looking forward to meeting you on Monday!

[Glen Van Peski]

Unfortunately I don't have anything to show in any fabric except very crude early prototypes, so I'll have to pass this year. If people are interested I could post some photos of the last prototype (cuben), assuming I can figure out how to do that.

[Arapiles .]

Well, if you'd like some field testing done in Japan and Australia I'm happy to volunteer …

[Author]

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