TGO Challenge 2019 Preparations: Gear Choices

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". 

A Stringpuller

With Lord Elpus in his natural environment

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.

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

Why I’m Leaving Twitter - Things Aint What They Used To Be….Or Are They?

I’ve had it with social media.  There is much debate about whether it is a force for good or not.  On balance I reckon it is not.  Apart from a two day trial I never did Facebook.  I had an Instagram account until recently but hardly used it so deleted it a month or so back.  After I have circulated this blog post via Twitter to my ‘followers’ I shall delete my Twitter account after seven years of pretty active use.  This piece explains why, not that anybody should be interested.  I will try not to turn it into a rant.  In it I will appear to criticise Twitter users ‘en masse’.  The criticisms will, in fact, not relate to many Twitter users as individuals.  And many of them will relate to me and my behaviours.  I’ll repeat that.  I am as guilty as many of some of the things I will moan about.

Twitter is not good for my mental health.  I suffer from depression and anxiety.  I easily get irritated.  I can brood on things and let them stew.  I do not suffer people whom I consider to be fools gladly.  I hate dishonesty, and have contempt for arguments which lack logic, or are based on false premises, or factual inaccuracy.  I despise those who see life in black and white terms (metaphorically and literally!), who cannot see that most things (I’m thinking politics here) have pros and cons.  These views and characteristics mean that Twitter is not a good place for me.

Twitter is lowering my opinion of my fellow man.  That’s people in general as opposed to individuals.  Perhaps the human race has always displayed the characteristics I dislike which I’ve mentioned above, and that social media is merely making them more obvious.  I suspect not, however.  When our interaction with our fellow human beings was mainly face-to-face we could have more nuanced communications.  We would explain our point of view and hear others more courteously.  280 characters rarely allows justice to be done to anything other than the banal.  How often have you read a Tweet and thought that the writer would never say that, or use those words, if they were sitting with the recipient down at the pub?  Twitter debates can be like road rage.  People act in ways that they wouldn’t dream of doing if they were not in their own little metal, or cyber, bubble.  The fact that so many post anonymously is particularly pernicious and allows greater levels of rudeness and unpleasant behaviour.

Connected with this is the polarisation that Twitter brings.  The best examples are, of course, the debates and Tweets about politics as exemplified by Brexit (in the UK) or Trump (in the USA and in the UK).  Thus, we read so frequently that all Tory MPs are heartless, they are all upper class fascists, and they want the poor to become poorer.  At the same time, thousands of others are implying that Labour MPs are thick, simply envious and jealous of success, that they believe in magic money trees and think that Stalin was a bloody good chap.  As for Brexit?  How often does anybody admit that the EU has pros and cons, that there are some  good arguments for leaving and some good arguments for remaining; or that the referendum campaign was filled with lies and distortions and predictions that turned out to be hopelessly wrong - from both sides?  When did you last read a Tweet about politics that said “On balance I believe….”?

With my personality traits all the above just winds me up, makes me cross and depressed by what I consider the illogicality, dishonesty or stupidity of others.  No doubt people who have read my Tweets have often thought the same about me.

Twitter does have good points.  It has helped me keep in touch easily with a large number of friends, many of whom I know personally, and others met, and only known through Twitter.  It does provide useful links to interesting articles and blogs and the like.  Oh, and some great cat and dog videos.  However, much of this is shallow and superficial.  When you realise that you have just spent ten minutes, as I did the other day, reading a thread about whether the rock band Queen really was British, and inwardly sneering or cheering at the views on the thread, you know it’s time to go and get on with having a proper life.  Further, when people you really like whenever you meet them in person are adding to your depression with their Tweets then it’s time to go.

Some readers of this who have followed me on Twitter may remember that I love writing real letters to friends, ideally with a beautiful fountain pen on quality notepaper.  This is time consuming.  But so is Twitter.  However, it is also infinitely more satisfying, and a far better way to communicate, despite, or possibly because of the effort involved, the time it takes, the thought that must go into it and the cost of the stamp.  E-mail, of course, is also superb for keeping in touch and blog posts can allow more thought, better prose and are a great vehicle for sharing or learning.  I’ll miss Twitter but I shall survive without it.  I am, however, wondering if there is the equivalent of the nicotine patch for someone who has decided to give up?

Do keep in touch if you wish.  Many readers (assuming this post will have readers) have my e-mail address; if not this Blog does have a linky thing allowing you to contact me should you have the need or desire to send me a message.  And, as ever, comments on what I have written above are welcome.