Ultralight Food Locker: Grizzly Bear || IGBC TEST VIDEO

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.Ultralight Food Locker: Grizzly Bear || IGBC TEST VIDEO .

Adotec Gear Products Bear Safety .

[Art]

Now if only it would get approved from Sierras/John Muir Trail..

 

[DWR D]

Reasons some areas don’t approve bear bags are:

1. As seen in the video, hanging from tree encourages bears to damage the trees.

2. Bear proof containers need to be idiot proof as well as bear proof.  It takes and IQ of at least 90 to figure how to hang these things… far above what many hikers are capable of… :)))  (really, the cans are just more fool proof… no knot skills or picking tree judgement required)… sadley the park services have to make the rules for the lowest common denominator…

[David D]

The Adotech is a huge step up from Ursack if their claims are true.  They claim rodent-proof so the best comparison is against the Ursack Almighty, not the plain jane Ursack.

• Ursack Almighty: 10.5L & 9.6 oz
• Ursack Almighty Grizzly: 20L & 14 oz
• Adotech Grizzly 14L & & 6.8 oz

Benefits

• Lighter than Ursack when dry but my Almighty also absorbs an extra 6oz of water in rain and the Adotech Grizzly is “water resistant”, the Black Bear one is waterproof.  Adotech’s site doesn’t state the difference between them, but that would be good to know.
• 14L vs 10.5L Ursack.  14L is a real sweet spot.   I usually have to run a calorie deficit with the 10.5L Ursack for 7-8 day trips even with fat intensive meals or carry my 20L Grizzly but its huge/heavy and hard to pack and gets almost no use.

Justin Outdoors is testing one on youtube, eyes peeled on that one.

 

[jscott]

You won’t be able to eat the food inside one of those sacks after it’s been mauled to death and slobbered over.

In the Sierra, bears know they can’t get into a solid canister. they see one and move on. with these sacks, you’ll have bears hanging around for hours as they try to destroy the sack.

Bearikade Scout for six days.

[David D]

Trichinella is the one and only risk from bear slobber but no fun if contracted because it can’t be treated if caught too late and progressed into soft tissue

165F kills it so cooking the contaminated food in pot vs usual freezer bag soak is an emergency option if unable to bail, though that doesn’t help the bear that already got a treat and became acclimated to bag=food.

I posted a convincing video in the past of the effectiveness of the Opsack so am confidently safe for me and the bears with a bear bag and opsack with some careful food handling

Rodent proof is as important for self protection as bear proof so I was happy to see that claim from Adotech

[Drew Smith]

I’ve hassled the backcountry rangers at RMNP as to why they don’t permit Ursacks (when Yellowstone and Glacier do). Their response is that although bears may not get food from gnawing on an Ursack, they do get smell and perhaps flavor and this is enough of a reward to encourage further bad behavior.

I doubt there is much evidence for this. It sounds much more like a rationalization than a reason. But they (and presumably YNP and SeKi rangers) are going to apply the same rationalization to the Adotech bag.

[jscott]

“they do get smell and perhaps flavor and this is enough of a reward to encourage further bad behavior.”

sounds reasonable to me. the damn things are catnip.

I unfortunately had to handle my last tree hung bear sack after a bear merely broke off the hang branch and devoured the contents. Bear slobber is sticky and truly disgusting. it sticks to your hands.

I suppose we all have different levels of tolerance. No way I’m simply boiling the mash of freeze dried food, ibuprofine and other medicine, toothpaste, oatmeal, coffee, dried fruit and power bars covered in bear slobber–and calling it good.

[Terran Terran]

Probiotics.

[George H]

Interesting how companies spend time to developing these. I guess they sell. IMO a flawed idea, with the great likely hood bears receive a food reward and the backpacker most certainly don’t after having it crushed.

 

[Terran Terran]

The usual negative comments and fear mongering. Very little evidence. I get it. You guys don’t like them. Lots of opinions. Don’t use them. They’ve been proven.  They’re legal to use and personally, I’ve never had a problem. I’m sure life will go on if I do. I’m not feeding the bears.

[David D]

Go to 10 mins

 

[Terran Terran]

Bear Slobber

[Murali C]

David D – good video – also the backpacking food like dehydrated food don’t smell as much as sardines. And I usually roll the opsak like a drybag and if you put that in another opsak or 2 – I am sure, it is not going to smell anything.

[DWR D]

Bear Slobber ‘STUDY’

It’s just a ‘study’… way to early to draw any conclusions… especially relative to human health. Maybe 10 years from now there will be other studies that indicate this study was flawed. So it goes…

[Terran Terran]

In 10 years you might be right. I’ll take a study over a best guess.

[DWR D]

I’ll take not exposing my food to bear slobber over a ‘study’ which may or may not have any health implications… and as yet unproven by peer review

 

 

[jscott]

hey, why not package bear slobber and sell it as a health food? Or use it to sterilize needles before an injection?

that “study” is useless for drawing conclusions.. look, I’ve handled bear slobber on a food bag. It’s disgusting. Have at it if you please! let us know how it all works out.

[Terran Terran]

Whatever. Why does every discussion on ursacks end up being about the abstract subject of bear slobber. Some of us use them successfully. I’d love to get through the discussion without all the hoopla and fears. Personally, I’m not that afraid of nature. Start a different thread so i can ignore it. Discuss all your fears. Be very afraid.

[jscott]

“abstract subject of bear slobber. ”

when I read Hegel or Aquinas or Donne, the words don’t stick to my fingers in a thick, gelatinous glue that won’t wash off. Only someone who’s never encountered bear slobber on their hours long mashed food bag could call such..well,  slobber…”abstract”.  I suppose since it’s never happened to them, it’s ‘abstract’.

If your dog had chewed over your dinner for several hours…it wouldn’t be an abstract question as to whether you’d eat it anyway.

[Terran Terran]

I thought Ursacks automatically attracted bear slobber. I must have handled it if I were to believe everything I read here. I’m glad you’re an expert.

[David D]

I wrote in my post that I’d boil it “in an emergency”.  For me, that’s probably 3 days, 100kms from a trail head.  Wouldn’t add it to a Michelin 5 star list!

[Terran Terran]

The odds of being 3 days from the road are pretty slim, then the chance of running into a park bear are even slimmer. In a worst case scenario and I knew I had 3 days to walk out, I’d be more concerned with spoilage and lack of energy. I would start eating it the first day. Honestly the odds of that happening are slim to none. It may be a very bad day,  but the bottom line is that I’m not going to die. Sometimes those bad days make for the best memories. I’m not going to worry about it. As for a lighter bag, it may encourage more usage and that may be a good thing. I do wonder how it can be lighter and still be just as strong.

[bradmacmt]

All my backpacking here in Montana is in grizzly country. I don’t use a BearVault or Ursack, preferring a good hang. However, if I were required to use something, and it was allowed, I’d go with the Ursack or the new Adotec (which looks promising). But I’d still hang it like I do currently. As to bear slobber, it’s so far down on my list of worries that it rates right there with the Yellowstone caldera blowing. But then I don’t treat water here either :D

[jscott]

Julia Child’s recipe for Bear Slobber Soup:

Julia (speaking into the camera) ” the great thing about this soup for hikers is that it’s ‘in the bag’ cooking.! Easy as pie. First, get a pot full of river water and bring it to a boil. Then, toss in the food/medicine/insect spray/toothpaste Ursak that a grizzly has been gnawing on over many hours. This is the tenderizing process that makes the result so delicious. No need to stir the ingredients: the bear has mixed a weeks worth of medicine and bug spray directly into your bag–and added that j’en sais quois addition of bear slobber over the sack itself. Bring to a boil the way you would any traditional Mountain House freeze dried meal, let cool, open and dig in! Yum! ”

Thanks Julia! And now, here’s a word from our sponsor, Kaiser ICU.

“are you suffering from an unaccountable, life threatening condition possibly related to ingesting unusual foods? We’re here to help!

Kaiser, where two weeks in intensive care will be recalled as the best days of your life.”

The jingle plays: “Bad memories are often the best!!”

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