Camping and Backpacking GEAR thread

There's a lot of folks that end up moving out here for outdoor pursuits. It really is that good.

Do you ever make it to the T-Wall. I've said this many, many times but it's my favorite crag in the US. When I first went there I was blown away by the quality of the rock and of the routes. My buddy and I drove down from the Gunks for a week of southern climbing. First stop was the T-wall. We hiked up and dropped the rope bag under Cakewalk. We did 10 routes that day and never moved more then 100 yards from the first climb. Everyone of them was brilliant. Just an incredible place. We ended up staying there the whole week.

Bouldering is a blast. It's helped my roped climbing a lot since I started doing it more. A few years ago I bouldered all winter. Didn't tie into a rope at all. Went back to Pine Creek in the spring to get on a climb that had shut me down the previous fall. I hopped on it and sent it first go. My endurance wasn't great but the power I got from a winter of bouldering made it feel easy.

Now I try and split my time between trad, sport and bouldering. Trad will always win if it's available but I've grown to really enjoy bouldering as well.

 

I haven’t made it out to climbing in Tennessee yet. Spreading out towards that way and Chattanooga are my next steps!

 

I'm not a climber but love Owens Valley. After learning about the Pine Creek Mine history I really wanted to drive up there. Did it on one trip after getting laid off. Met an older man who was working the pack station there. His dad worked at the mine and they still live in Rovana. During that short spur trip I looked to the mountains on the way up wondering why I didn't see any amazing documentaries of climbing there (glad it is still not too well known). Not a lot of parking alongside the road that way that I remember. If my employer had a location in Owens Valley I'd be there and never look back. Sadly I don't work for the LADWP.

 

I was at a small get together last night and met a women who moved here in 1952. Her father worked for the mine. She told me some stuff I never knew. Like Rovana was the second place the miners set up camp. The first was even further up hill between Scheelite Caynon and the mine. I've never even seen the old foundations that's how shoddy the place was. It's always cool meeting people that lived history.

As far as work here goes, it's tough for most people to find a job. Caltrans and DWP are the big ones. If you can work remote you can make it here. If your a carpenter, electrician, HVAC, or plumber you can do really well here right now. Housing is also limited so that helps keep the population small.

I can't count the number of people I've seen come and go in this town simply because they couldn't find a job in there field.

 

Yep, I think the original townsite was rebuilt once but later moved to Rovana due to all the avalanches in the area. This is a great book about the history of the mine and townsites but hard to find at a reasonable price. I have a copy but don't remember where I got it.

 

In other news I got some new additions for my Trangia 25.

 

So I have new super duper favorite headlamp. The

$44 Nitecore NU25 360 Lumen Triple Output - White, Red, High CRI - Lightweight USB Rechargeable Headlamp (Black)

Nitecore NU25. It is tiny and weighs very little. It has an integrated lithium rechargeable that you recharge via USB (I find it most efficient to have one large backup battery for everything). But most of all it has effing easy to use switches that do intelligent things!

White light button:

• Press once to get 1 lumen moonlight mode (who would have thought, start in the dimmest setting and not the brightest? I'm looking at you idiots at Black Diamond).
• Press again within three seconds to get increased brightness modes (medium and high).
• While in one of the above modes press and hold to get ludicrously bright "turbo" mode which only lasts a minute or so before thermally limiting.
• After the three seconds pressing once will turn off the light rather than hop to other modes. Cause surprise, surprise after using my light for awhile if I touch the damn power button I'm probably turning the thing off. (BD, still there with me?)
  
• Press and hold when off will get a high CRI wide beam. This is the most delightful wide beam ever. High CRI LED with reasonable color temperature. Awesome for cooking. Cooked food actually looks like cooked food rather than rotting flesh extracted from a bog.

Red light button:

• It is a separate freaking button! Who would have thought? (I'm looking at you morons at Black Diamond).
• Press once to get low power.
• Press again in three seconds to get high power. Again to get high power blinking.
• Press once after three seconds to turn off.
  
• This is a delightful wide red light with no hot spots (again BD, lessons to learn here).

I don't know why this has been so hard to make. Put a freaking Fresnel lens in front of the goddamn wide beam LEDs to get a decent evenly illuminated field. It is just a piece of freaking plastic that costs less than half a cent, why has this been so hard to get to? Don't do weird shit to make me end up in red with a high risk of blinding myself or others on accident. If I'm asking for goddamn red it is so I don't go effing blind. Make it impossible to screw up. And why for the freaking love of all that is holy and unholy would anyone want the brightest setting first???? Anyway, all this shit fixed in this light.

Oh and while I'm throwing shade and BD do you know what those brainless dickwads did with one of their more recent lights? Fucking *motion sensing* mode switching based on tapping the freaking light. That's right - fucking sneeze and your low lumen red setting can suddenly change to surface of the sun mode!

Oh - and you can get these in freaking white! Yes - white body and white head band because you know what? If I'm freaking looking for my goddamn headlamp in the dark the last effing color I want it to be is black or dark blue!

Sorry... I'm a bit passionate about light...

 

I just picked one up a few days ago as well. It's well thought out and the best bang for the buck in the headlamp market I've seen in a very long time.

Head to head against my old BD ReVolt the Nitecore wins by a land slide. How many times have you tried to turn on a BD lamp and your finger doesn't hit the on button dead center. Then your stuck fumbling around trying to get the damn button to work. This lamps buttons are east to find and they're small enough that you can't actually miss the contacts.

The lockout mode is perfect. I had my ReVolt go dead even when it was locked out because it managed to unlock itself in my pack. The chances of something in my pack hitting both buttons on the NiteCore are pretty slim.

I'll put it though a few paces and see if I feel the same way in 6 months but so far it's a winner. And half the price of BD or Petzel.

 

@DVexile So how do you really feel about the light??

What is the battery life?

 

I haven't verified the battery life, but the manual claims 160h in 1 lumen spot mode, 5h in 190 lumen high mode, 6h in wide field high CRI mode, 68h in 1 lumen red and 8h in 13 lumen red.

Oh and like most red/white lights the red is 620nm or so. More ideal for helping preserve night vision would be 660nm but the effective efficiency is significantly lower at 660nm and so for better run time I think almost everyone except dedicated astronomy manufacturers use 620nm red LEDs.

 

Looks like a good light. Glad I never had a Black Diamond. I have four Petzl Tactikka XPs. Got turned onto Petzls when I was working on my private pilot certificate. That one had a flipdown red filter which is absolutely necessary to preserve night vision. Then found the Tactikka XP with a slide filter and better light modes including high beam. They are all pretty old and eat rechargables quickly. Most new headlamps are USB with internal batteries. It would be nice to be able to charge via USB but not sure I'm ready to dump all my headlamps just yet.

 

I have an NU20 and NU25. You hit all the points already, but my absolute favorite feature is the fact that they go to 1 lumen mode on first turn on. Great lightweight lights.

 

Anyone have experience with Hammock Gear and their claimed lead times?

They claim 10 weeks right now just curious how accurate that is or if I could expect an earlier ship date?

 

Ive always owned BD headlamps because of their durability. I was a guide for years and needed something that could really take a beating.. plus something that has batteries is a must because there wasnt the option to recharge anything when your out 8-21 days at a time. I do like the concept of it turning on in the lowest setting and my current BD headlamp (cant remember which model) if you set it to dim then turn it off, when you turn it back on it comes on with that setting and not full blast. Even when the older models did that, I was typically in the woods just trying to find something in the dark so it wasnt a huge deal that it came on with full force. I can see if youre a pilot or something that requires you maintaining your night vision, how that would be a royal pain in the ass.

Petzl is a great brand as well, but up until recently they didnt offer a high lumen headlamp.. that is why my experience with them has been limited. I did get one at the REI garage sale that I would hand out to clients that were on trail with me that either brought a shitty lamp or thiers died on them

 

Just reviewing the specs of the one I posted. From the manufacturer description on slamazon: "light shines up to 50 meters and provides 40 lumens of light. The Boost function is perfect for situations where more light is needed for a short period of time, like trying to figure out what is shaking that bush in the distance!"
40 lumens may not be a lot but I've always been impressed when using the boost button to see what's out there. Works great for my needs. As I said before, my headlamps are an older model and I don't know anything about the newer versions.

Being able to just slide or flip the colored filter is so much better than cycling through settings.

 

It all depends on what you want. BD still makes great lights, and I still have my 2015 model Storm. I don't have a need for a high power light, though, and these Nitecores are great.

 

I have an UQ. Quality is awesome. I bought one that they had in stock. My color, Coyote Brown, my size.

 

I ordered one of the 0* Economy Incubators. Lead time will damm near have us out of winter by that time lol

 

I have a 20° Econ.

 

I like my BD Storms and have one in all my packs and in the truck. Just ordered a Nitecore 25 to try out. I may have a gear problem, how many head lights do I need!