Camping and Backpacking GEAR thread

Where's the damn LIKE button!

 

EBC is a great walk!another one is ABC (Annapurna) - amazing views of Annapurna and Dhaulagiri massif, probably more rewarding than EBC.

Have fun in Africa Let me know if you need help organizing your Nepal trek (you are not going to the Norhern side throug Tibet, right?). EBC in Nepal can be done very inexpensive, but there are some pretty shady as well as very reliable characters out there and having the right people is important.

You also do not need sherpa to get to EBC, your regular Nepali porter will manage just fine - sherpas ar high altitude people and pretty expensive too.

Just for fun - Annapurna view from Ghandruk

 

How have I never seen this thread?

I've been a wilderness guide for over 4 years and now I'm the field director of another program. If anyone has questions about gear let me know. I've tried a lot of it and deal with a lot of the companies to outfit the program I work for.

My go to pack is an osprey aether 85. Sleeping bag is a mtn hardwear lamina 20. Thermarest inflatable pad. And big Agnes fly creek ul1 for a tent-or a eno single nest/ eno pro fly depending on the season.

 

No pack I own (Osprey, Black Diamond, Kelty, Gregory) is as bomber as my Dueter. It's low on frills and high on durability...just how I like them.

 

All this talk about packs gets me excited for my leg of the AT coming up. I will be hammock camping, but for my pack, I'll be wearing a Gregory Baltoro 65. That is one fine pack, in my opinion. I looked at the Aether 70, but the Baltoro felt better with some weight in it.

 

Just found this thread myself. Cool to see other people's view on gear. I'm not a ultralight backpacker but I do try to go fairly lightweight. My big pack is a REI flash 65 for multi-day trips. My overnight/day pack is a REI Traverse 30. My cold weather sleeper is a REI Arete ASL 2. Right now using an older kelty sleeping bag. I have my eye on the Mountain Hardware Ultralamina 0 or 15. ENO doublenest anytime it's above 40-45 or so.

 

Never hiked the trail but it is on my bucket list. I have however, carried quite a few hikers a little closer to there destination. I work right at the Charlotte Airport and live 25 miles west of the city. I'll see them at the on ramp thumbing a lift. Not hard to tell them from the bums when they're carrying a $400 backpack and $200 boots. Probably not smart but I try to be helpful.

 

Nice, I only got $47 Oh well though, more than enough to make a trip and go pick up some more protein bars and such for the camping trips.

 

Any of you guys have a recommendation for a down jacket? Just a nice layer to wear around camp or under a shell sort of deal. Looking for something from rei since its dividend time

 

If it's just around camp I wouldn't buy a premium down jacket. I think LL Bean and Eddie Bauer both sell down jackets with 700 down fill or 650 for $50. Just as warm as high end jackets but less compressible and heavier material, which for a camp jacket is a non issue IMO.

I had a Marmot Zeus which was great. Patagonia has very highly praised down gear, as do their synthetic equivalents. Lot of possibilities.

 

I have a old Mountain Hardwear jacket that is great. Not sure if they still make them since they were bought by Columbia a few years ago.

Also, rei brand usually is a good bet as well.

 

My favorite down piece is an Outdoor Research. They're a great company and make great products. I also really like the materials on some of my wife's Arcteryx stuff but it's usually top dollar (see: I don't own any for myself).

Eddie Bauer was mentioned and I will add that I have a down jacket from them (First Ascent) that, as mentioned by another poster, is a nice enough piece but I tend to wear it around town because it's not quite as light as some of my other stuff. Don't believe REI carries them though.

 

First off... sub'd What a great thread although I've only read the first few pages and the last few posts. Hope there's some pics along with all the gear talk...

Just took a trip up around Staunton in January and was using an ENO single nest with an Incubator 0 from hammockgear.com and a pretty old Marmot bag. Temp outside was 18deg not accounting for the wind chill (and it was pretty windy) but inside my bag was a toasty 86deg!

http://www.hammockgear.com/incubator-0/

 

If you have an Eddie Bauer store near you they were/are clearancing out their First Ascent Line of down jackets. I just picked one up a little over a week ago for $88 out the door. Normal price was $230. Coated 800 Fill down too! Herehttp://www.eddiebauer.com/product/downlight-reg-stormdown-trade-jacket/38832183/_/A-ebSku_0880768938000070__38832183_catalog10002_en__US?showProducts=111&previousPage=REC&cm_sp=REC-_-PDP-_-38832204

It's not actually that orange more of a coppery color but the flash made it look pretty bright. They had other colors but not in my size.




Not as compressible as some of the other's mentioned but great for the price being that I was about to spend $275+ on a North Face jacket.

If anyone wants I can weigh it when I get home from work in the morning.

 

Thanks! I am stoked for that trip. The 21st of May can't come soon enough.

Thanks for the heads up. If the time off gets approved I'll be booking through a company that I found good feedback on. I work for one of the top two online travel sites (Two companies own all of the major travel sites) so I get a pretty good discount on tours if I send a email asking for a discount using my corporate email lol The price seemed fair with the discount and takes the planning out of my hands. I bet I would save a couple hundred planning it myself and just finding a porter and teahouses when I get there but the couple hundred isn't going to break me and I really like that this one was focusing on the culture of the area. Its EBC and Kalapatthar plus stops at different places along the way.

That's how I am doing my Kenya trip. It's a travel industry trip that is subsidized or discounted to get people to go to the area and suggest it to people. I usually don't tell them I work in IT and don't talk to customers though.

 

Awesome! Going to be tones of fun. Hope you get your time off, Himalaya mountains is a very special place on this planet, and you will be so happy you went there.

Oh one thing, I know it is far away, I am sure you are aware, but just in case - gaining an altitude (5 380m. which is very considerable) most likely going to make you quite sick if done incorrectly. Make sure that your guide knows what he (she) is doing and acclimatizes you properly.

Cheers and good luck in your travels!

 

Thank you! If I have any questions I'll be sure and PM you! You seem like a wealth of knowledge.

EDIT: Time off approved!!!!!

 

Congrats! You are going to have tone of fun and remember the trip for your entire life. Yes sure, shoot me a PM if needed.

Here is another photo from Himalayas. This is Annapurna South. The dreaded big one however is behind it - 45% of people attempted a climb ended up dead.

 

K2. I just watched a film on Netflix about what climbers have to do to climb it

 

On a photo behind the Annapurna South? Actually it is the main peak - Annapurna I (8,091 m). Annapurna is a massif with several peaks and the Annapurna South is the smallest of them - 7,219 m. still way higher then the highest point in NA - Denali at 6,194.

K2 is in Northern Pakistan in the Karakorum region. I will find a photo. Actualy my wife 5 years ago organized and lead an expedition (160 people of staff) to K2's sister K3 ( AKA Broad Peak ) which is another 8,000 m + mountain.

Here, found some. With love to my wife who is with out exaggeration one of the best high altitude female mountaineers in the world - some pictures of her expedition to K3.

Some mountains, some Toyota offroading in very unforgiving conditions (just to stay on the forum's topic). And of course photos of some amazing Pakistani people who with out any "equipment" enduring such a harsh environment and working hard for their families. Which brings me to the point - it is not in the equipment, it is in your heart.

Also the 2007 time stamp on some photos is erroneous - something went wrong with the camera. The year is 2010.