 |
| My Tarptent Scarp 1 on the Challenge in 2015 - One of my favouritist wild camp pitches, ever |
My thoughts are turning to the annual TGO Challenge in May. For the uninitiated this is a two week backpack, west to east, coast-to-coast across the Scottish Highlands. Actually, this statement is incorrect. My thoughts are not turning to it. It has been almost constantly in my mind since I submitted my entry five months ago. That's one of the reasons I swore in June 2017 that I'd never do it again - it can become all consuming.
 |
| An Idiot Only an idiot would say he was never going to do the Challenge again after experiencing this sort of setting for a fortnight. |
Anyway. The three naughty boys have invited me to walk with them. I am still not certain why, and at the back of my mind I worry that ulterior motives will become clear on the Challenge at a time of their choosing. Perhaps Mad 'n' Bad will suddenly tear my Montane Beanie from my head and produce a gimp mask for me to wear, whilst the Stringpuller and Lord Elpus dance around chanting "We're twenty miles from civilisation and we've caught ourselves a bitch", followed by the order "Now get our tents up and fill up our water containers. And make it snappy or you'll be carrying all of our cheese and wine up Stob Poite Coire Ardair tomorrow ready for the evening's convivialities".
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| A Stringpuller |
 |
| With Lord Elpus in his natural environment |
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| Mad 'n' Bad on a Mission to find a wild camp spot |
It's a well known fact amongst less experienced Challengers such as me (this will only be my fifth crossing) that the most essential part of the preparations is using a set of scales to weigh your gear choices and then setting out the results on a spreadsheet. Indeed, my experience of blogging about the outdoors is that any post with the word "gear" in the title gets far more hits than anything else that I write. Thus, I have set out my list below. I am sure things will change before May, and probably choices will still be being made the day before I set off for my train journey up to Lochailort.
The list assumes that the weather forecast immediately before the Challenge is for Scottish mixed wet and dry conditions, with average temperatures, and that most of the snow has gone.
The items most likely to be subject to further thought are:
1. Shelter - Either the Tarptent Stratospire 1 or the Tarptent Scarp 1. The former is 500 grams lighter and has much better vestibules and headroom, but is more fiddly to orientate for a good pitch. My Scarp 1 is, by me, more tried and tested, and has been with me on three previous TGO Challenges.
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| My Tarptent Stratospire 1: Palatial for a one person backacking tent, but, oh the geometry is weird for pitching |
2. Footwear - Almost certainly trail shoes - either my Inov8 395 Roclites or my Salomon Ultras non-GTX shoes. But just possibly my Salomon Ultra GTX Mids.
3. Shell Jacket - I'm minded to take my newish Paramo Velez Jacket rather than the Rohan Elite Jacket I used in 2017 and 2015. If the former, which is heavier, I can get away without taking a windshirt.
4. Sleeping Bag - I sleep very cold and normally have several uncomfortable nights on the event when using my Z Packs 20 Degree or Rab Neutrino 400 bags, and often end up in the early hours putting my down jacket on and still not being able to warm up. I have wondered whether it might be worth carrying my Rab Alpine 600 bag despite the extra 4 or 500 grams this would involve. I could, though, then ditch the silk liner. I will probably stick to a lighter bag but...
5. Hip Flask and Scotch - it's not on the list on my doctor's orders. But then again, what do doctors know?
Without further ado, apart from apologising that the cutting and pasting of my list has messed up some of the formatting of what follows, here it is. Oh. PS. As I have quit Twitter this week it would be rather lovely if somebody would post the link to this on Twitter or hardly anyone will see it. Humble pie is so yummy!
TGOC 2019 Gear List
|
|||
Pack
|
Non-Pack
|
||
(Grams)
|
(Grams)
|
||
Pack
|
|||
GG Mariposa
|
1015
|
||
Packliner
|
54
|
||
Pack Cover
|
110
|
||
Shelter and Sleeping
|
|||
Stratospire 1, extra
guys, polycro
|
1170
|
||
Tent pegs (surely I can take fewer!!!)
|
270
|
||
Sleeping Bag Z Packs 20 degree
|
660
|
||
Rab Silk Liner
|
116
|
||
Down Socks
|
90
|
||
Compression leggings
|
250
|
||
Silk Liner Gloves - Lowe Alpine
|
30
|
||
Exped REM Pillow (weight guessed)
|
100
|
||
Thermarest XTherm (large)
|
580
|
||
P Bottle
|
62
|
||
Lightload towel (for pre-pack drying tent)
|
17
|
||
Small Cuben stuff sac for tent tidy
|
5
|
||
Cooking
|
|||
Jetboil Minimo
|
475
|
||
Evernew 0.4 litre mug (Titanium)
|
28
|
||
Long spoon (Titanium)
|
11
|
||
Fire steel
|
28
|
||
Classic Swiss Army Knife
|
21
|
||
Water Purifying Tabs
|
10
|
||
J Cloth
|
12
|
||
Water Kit in DCF stuff sack
|
|||
Sawyer Filter + Medium Pouch
|
110
|
||
Sawyer Syringe
|
20
|
||
Platypus 2 litre
|
39
|
||
Platypus 1 litre
|
42
|
||
Evian bottle
|
10
|
||
Wine Platypus
|
30
|
||
First Aid Kit
|
290
|
||
First Aid Kit Dry Bag
|
|||
Elasticated knee bandage
|
|||
Tick remover
|
|||
Safety Pins
|
|||
Scissors
|
|||
Sudacreme
|
|||
Plasters and compeed
|
|||
Wound Dressings
|
|||
Micropore tape
|
|||
Paracetamol
|
|||
Ibuprofen
|
|||
Imodium
|
|||
Hayfever tablets
|
|||
Gehwol Foot Cream
|
|||
Lanacane Anti-Chafing Gel
|
|||
Sunscreen
|
25
|
||
Sunscreen Lipsalve
|
15
|
||
Wash Kit in UL Dry Bag
|
350
|
||
Mini toothbrush and paste
|
|||
Comb
|
|||
Dr Bronner's
|
|||
Mini Deodorant
|
|||
Towel - Lightload Mini *2
|
|||
Contact lenses
|
|||
T Roll, lighter in zip lock bag
|
|||
Hand Sanitiser gel + sanitiser wipes
|
|||
Ear plugs
|
|||
Tissues
|
|||
Trowel - MSR Blizzard with tent pegs
|
0
|
||
Navigation/Tech
|
|||
Silva compass
|
40
|
||
Ortilieb A4 Case + map printouts + 2 half OS maps (rest sent ahead)
|
270
|
||
Galaxy S7 Phone with Viewranger
|
156
|
||
Lightproof Phone case
|
60
|
||
Phone charger
|
45
|
||
Power pack
|
125
|
||
Spot Messenger
|
60
|
||
Repair Kit
|
70
|
||
Duck Tape
|
|||
Spare Batteries CR2032 *3, (watch and
headtorch)
|
|||
Spare Batteries *4 AAA lithium for
Spot
|
|||
Thermarest puncture kit
|
|||
Velcro tapes *2
|
|||
Tenacious tape
|
|||
Accessories
|
|||
Thermarest sitmat
|
90
|
||
Whistle
|
15
|
||
Headtorch - Petzl e lite
|
30
|
||
Midge head net
|
40
|
||
Notebook and pen
|
52
|
||
Watch - Suunto Core
|
64
|
||
Camera - Lumix DMC TZ60
|
400
|
||
Reading glasses in case
|
40
|
67
|
|
Black Diamond Trail Pro Poles (or the much better Pacer Poles if Scarp 1 tent is taken)
|
560
|
||
Wallet and cash
|
70
|
||
Rail tickets and Rail Card
|
10
|
||
Exped UL Dry Bags *3 for clothes etc
|
90
|
||
Pod Dry Bag (waste)
|
25
|
||
Z Packs CF Dry Bag (food)
|
25
|
||
Clothes
|
|||
Trail
Shoes Inov8 395 Non-GTX
|
740
|
||
Dirty
Girl Gaiters
|
50
|
||
Pants
Under Armour Boxers
|
72
|
||
Pants
Helly Hansen Boxers
|
88
|
||
X Socks Exped (2 pairs)
|
62
|
62
|
|
Bridgedale
Coolmax Liners (3 pairs)
|
40
|
20
|
|
Seal
Skinz Socks???
|
|||
Trousers - Montane Terra
|
357
|
||
Rohan Merino Shirt
|
286
|
||
Rohan Silver Core Zipped Base
|
255
|
||
Berghaus Extrem 7000 Hoodie
|
440
|
||
Montane Prism Gillet
|
284
|
||
PHD Minimus Down Jacket and Hood
|
480
|
||
Rohan Silver T??
|
|||
Montane Beanie
|
60
|
||
Outdoor Research Cap
|
|||
Buff
|
38
|
||
Montane Prism Gloves
|
60
|
||
Waterproof Overmits
|
41
|
||
Paramo Velez Jacket
|
670
|
||
Berghaus Paclite Overtrousers
|
250
|
||
Hi Tec Zuuc Shoes
|
450
|
||
Total
Base Carried
|
8890
|
||
Total Non-Pack
|
4364
|
||
Food,
Drink and Fuel
|
|||
Gas
|
380
|
||
Dehydrated Main Meals (3 days)
|
1500 (Estimate)
|
||
Total other food (3 days):-
|
1500 (Estimate)
|
||
Soups
Packets custard and semolina |
|||
Tea bags
|
|||
Nido dried milk
|
|||
Condensed milk(luxury item!) - tube
|
|||
Instant porridge
|
|||
Cereal bars
|
|||
Trail mix
|
|||
Chocolate
|
|||
Primula and wraps
|
|||
Food bags
|
|||
Water
|
750
|
||
Total Fuel, Food and Water
|
4130
|
||
Total Pack Weight,at start
|
13020
|
||
