Kit list : 20 days Graian – Cottian Alps 2018

Your kite is 30g lighter than mine :arghh:

i wonder if it is as robust though?

After countless col, and summit launches, mine's still going strong, if a little tattered in the tail ...

Doubtless you have an ultralight string winding spool tho Tom?


Sometimes its a handy thing to get you up a hill - a necessary lift to the spirits even :geek:


edit - what is white flower oil for please??
 
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MyHatGandhi

Trail Blazer
I've never thought about taking a kite on a hike in the mountains. But now I really want to.

Any recommendations? I had a quick Google and came across the prism 4D... but that's a bit pricey for now.
 
I've never thought about taking a kite on a hike in the mountains. But now I really want to.

Any recommendations? I had a quick Google and came across the prism 4D... but that's a bit pricey for now.

You know that thing where parents buy presents for their kids..

Which are really for themselves?? :angelic:

I think mine is probs close to fifteen years old now...
Straight outta a toy shop..
All of a fiver at the time I'd imagine.

Got much fancier, but heavier ones too.

I don't think you have to spend loads :geek:

Just pure luck, in a way, that it flies so well..
Pockets for air gathering, is essential imo

I keep threatening to copy the present one.

A nice person on here sent me some colourful ripstop for that purpose

All you've got to do then, is take it nice places like

this ...

And this :)
 

tom

Thru Hiker
Wooah - innernet signal on the caldera rim... connected world :(

Kite: @Fair Weather Camper - similar story, picked up this basic kite at some shop 12-15 years ago, got flown once or twice and predictably landed in some drawer... Couple of years ago I read Matt Ruff's 'Fool on the Hill' and became enchanted by George's kite flying, dug out this little thing and packed it to fly on passes and summits - more of a soul thing than anything else ... but still going :)

And the kite looks no worse for wear, just getting a bit tatty on the edges.

So no fancy string winding spool but I started experimenting after going to a kite festival in Yorkshire with the girls this autumn. Difficult to get kites high up without a spool. So any spooling tips welcome... In the Ecrins last year, I twice managed to hike with me kite flying above for a stretch. But mostly its too gusty unless I get the hight.

@MyHatGandhi just get anything small to get started - I just got 2 low wind kites for little kids from the 'bay to experiment (my kite needs a fair breeze to get up).

@Fair Weather Camper - this is the oil
Screenshot_2018-12-19-16-23-53-955~01.jpg

IMO works better than tiger balm and less messy, and only needs a few drops. Also works on chest for coughs on trail...
 

tom

Thru Hiker
How you finding the poncho Tom?
Indispensable after nearly 4 years...
Its by far the most breathable rain kit I ever tried. Wouldn't take it on its own - I always carry a light storm jacket too. But the Berghaus hyper jacket + poncho combi is still only 230gr gr.

I used it in conditions when I had to watch not getting blown over. Takes a bit of practice to put it on in a sudden gusty squall (on your own anyway).

But I certainly need both my hands to close the 2nd zip with some acrobatic twisting and fumbling - you will know best what you can and can't do...

But as a piece of kit I recommend it without any reservation. I still use conventional wp jackets for cycling and the difference is a frequent reminder of the cuben poncho benefits...
 

Helen E

Ultralighter
@MyHatGandhi

I bought one of these pocket kites from M5 Gloucester Services this summer and had lots of fun with it - ended up buying several others as presents - at six quid it might be worth a punt? Takes a bit of technique to stop it nosing into the ground but once you get the knack it's fine. The pocket kite is 75g, and its rather overengineered stuff sack is another 9g.

https://www.houseofmarbles.com/shop/product/pocket-kite-in-a-bag/

The miniature butterflies are much less versatile in terms of their windspeed limitation, and a bit more gimmicky but at 4g each...

https://www.houseofmarbles.com/shop/product/new-mini-butterfly-kite/

I'm glad it's not just me who takes kites for a walk :)
 
Wooah - innernet signal on the caldera rim... connected world :(

Kite: @Fair Weather Camper - similar story, picked up this basic kite at some shop 12-15 years ago, got flown once or twice and predictably landed in some drawer... Couple of years ago I read Matt Ruff's 'Fool on the Hill' and became enchanted by George's kite flying, dug out this little thing and packed it to fly on passes and summits - more of a soul thing than anything else ... but still going :)

And the kite looks no worse for wear, just getting a bit tatty on the edges.

So no fancy string winding spool but I started experimenting after going to a kite festival in Yorkshire with the girls this autumn. Difficult to get kites high up without a spool. So any spooling tips welcome... In the Ecrins last year, I twice managed to hike with me kite flying above for a stretch. But mostly its too gusty unless I get the hight.

@MyHatGandhi just get anything small to get started - I just got 2 low wind kites for little kids from the 'bay to experiment (my kite needs a fair breeze to get up).

@Fair Weather Camper - this is the oil
View attachment 15334

IMO works better than tiger balm and less messy, and only needs a few drops. Also works on chest for coughs on trail...

Thanks for the message from 'The Rim' @tom...:)
I won't enquire as to wind speed experienced up there :oops:

Oil sounds interesting.

I think I take far more string than necessary..
Could easily drop 5g there I reckon.

She'll fly on a very short string in the right conditions...
Essential if you're to get her in a square box shot..

Hmm... yes. I've been watching the "what have you made" thread intently for quite a while now :tongue:

I'm sorry to be such a dissapointment to you @Craig :frown:

If only I didn't have a farm to run, yoga to teach, union business to attend to, walks to be walked, bikes to be ridden... etc etc.

I could carve out some proper chunks of time to attend to creative endeavours too.

I don't know how people manage to fit it all in :sorry:

Must try harder, to over-schedule. Less.. :confused:
 
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Clare

Thru Hiker
@tom are you using the poncho as a tub in the Notch at the moment or just carrying it anyway as preferred rainwear?
 

WilliamC

Thru Hiker
A couple of questions when you get the time, @tom.
What is it that makes the Ruta Locura crampons better than spikes?
How's the Yolk solar charger working out. I go back and forth over whether it's worth getting one or whether to stick with power banks.
 

Whiteburn

Thru Hiker
….What is it that makes the Ruta Locura crampons better than spikes?.....
IMO the only benefit of Ruta Locura Crampons & Vargo Cleats is the weight, probably 200 - 250g lighter than Kahtoola Microspikes.
Performance wise I say Microspikes are a better all rounder (more widely spaced teeth & firmer attachment), the RLC's & VC's come into there own when you have to carry them for weeks with only occasional sections of low angled neve/ ice (high cols).
 

WilliamC

Thru Hiker
IMO the only benefit of Ruta Locura Crampons & Vargo Cleats is the weight, probably 200 - 250g lighter than Kahtoola Microspikes.
Performance wise I say Microspikes are a better all rounder (more widely spaced teeth & firmer attachment), the RLC's & VC's come into there own when you have to carry them for weeks with only occasional sections of low angled neve/ ice (high cols).
I get what you're saying, but Tom says at one point in his TR, "I headed up a faint trail with some steep semi-frozen snow to cross for which the Loca Rotura (sic) mini-crampons felt perfectly adequate (I would have hated to do this in micro-spikes or cleats)."
 

tom

Thru Hiker
A couple of questions when you get the time, @tom.
What is it that makes the Ruta Locura crampons better than spikes?
How's the Yolk solar charger working out. I go back and forth over whether it's worth getting one or whether to stick with power banks.

IMO, the RL crampons are much closer to basic 10 point steel crampons (Kahoola K10 hiking crampons) than to microspikes or cleats. IMO, th RL come to about 70% of the K10 if used with their design limitations in mind.
  1. On the upside, there is penetration - 3/4" (same as K10's) compared to 3/8" (thats 19.5mm instead 0f 9.5mm in metric) for both cleats and micro-spikes
  2. Whats more, those 4 RL points are much more chunky than the K10 ones, and makes for better resistance in semi-frozen snow.
  3. The in-step only points aren't that much of an issue in my experience (see also my review here)
  4. BUT - the RL crampons do need some adapting to: the points are only chunky in two directions - forward and backward - but no sideways. This takes some adaptation and getting used to to get the best purchase - traverses need some practice to get the best put of them.
  5. As 2018 was quite a big snow year, I got to use them a fair bit and even after hours of use, the RL's never needed re-tightening once. But I only tried them with 2 shoes - Speedcross 4 and Brooks Cascadia - the cascadia tongue is a bit more fiddly to put the crampons on than the Speedcross (and no laces to get in the way). But the ease and speed of putting them on and off is another big plus IMO compared to all the competitors (cleats, micro-spikes and 10 pointers).
I don't have much experience with micro-spikes - the 150 weight saving over K10 10-pointers seemed a wrong economy given identical penetration depth of micro-spikes and cleats (but almost triple the weight of the cleats) but whatever the difference between spikes and cleats are, IMO the RL's are much closer to basic 10-pointers and I trust them in similar terrains and conditions I wouldn't feel ok with cleats. My fall would have happened on that trip the same way with 10-pointers - though I might have been able to stop my slide with the heel points but I wouldn't count on it - this was a job for a self-arrest tool (which I stupidly carried on the back of my pack instead of in hand...)

The Yolk solar charger is fine - no problems. I actually stopped carrying any powerbank with the big Lenovo P2 battery.
 
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Clare

Thru Hiker
I took a yolk to the Pyrenees this summer and it didn’t work out for me at all. Perhaps I don’t sit still long enough for it to gather charge (highly improbable as a well known indolent). I ended up posting it home and relying on my 6500mah power bank which was at the limit of functionality but worked out okay.

I know @tom and @Max trust theirs so I’ll give it another go this summer but not yet convinced that it justifies its weight.
 

tom

Thru Hiker
@Clare - There's a little power dispaly on the Yolk you can use to optimise the angle and orientation of the panel. My gripe was that it couldn't fast-charge my Anker power-bank (not the fault of the Yolk of course) - so I just kept the powerbank in reserve and charged the phone at every opportunity for my old phone. Obviously 30 minutes during lunch have their limitations, and more so if some high clouds are about, but with clear skies, I get a pretty fast charge - maybe 70% of a good mains fast-charger...
Since my upgrade to Lenovo this summer, the P2 lasts me 4 to 5 days in flight mode for reading books, taking notes, photos, use maps and satelite GPS when needed. All the Yolk needs to do is extend those 4 to 5 days until I need to resupply anyway...
 
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