Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Updated Gear List

This trip on the Current River Section will involve two new items. The first item, Gossamer Gear's Lightrek 3 Custom Trekking Poles, have been in my arsenal since Christmas and unfortunately have been slowly collecting dust. But they are out now and should be incredible based upon the reviews out there. Total weight was slightly more than advertised, but still registered at only 2.8 oz per pole. This 15 oz savings (Leki poles-21 oz) should be felt within the first few miles of the trail. The second item is one that is homemade...a Tyvek bivy sack. I have done my research when it comes to Tyvek products and did not want to invade my goose down bag with body moisture so I designed it more like a canoe, in that the moisture leaving my body can escape up thru the bag and into the atmospere. Since I will have my sil-nylon tarp above me there was no need to fully envelope my sleeping bag; more simply, I just needed the foot box and sides covered just in case rain decides to blow sideways. This reduced size alows the bivy to come in at a scant 6.45 oz. I will post pictures of this thing from the trip. My revised gear list is below...7.8 lbs base weight ain't to shabby. jm

3 comments:

  1. Nice looking list! When are you planning on taking this trip?

    I'd like to see pictures of that bivy. I'm thinking of making one myself and I'm looking around at various patterns.

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  2. Still having problems with condensation on the bivy aren't you? The condensation can't evaporate through your whole body. Not having a top on the bivy helps, but once the condensation gets to your back it can't go any farther. Unless the bottom of the bivy is made from breathable material (99% of bivies aren't) you are going to have mild condensation problems. All part of a bivy.

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  3. I have only used the bivy for two nights so far and only experienced minor condensation the first night. It was mainly at the foot box and didn't appear under the bag. I turned the bivy inside out to pack it and kept it outside of my pack liner. The sleeping bag got a little damp on the shell but it didn' seem to get into the down. Now if it happened day after day for a while...I may have some issues. Have you any Tyvek products?

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