Frozen Flounderings kit review

I have a fair amount of kit, but it all gets used – I don’t like to buy stuff willy-nilly, on a whim. If I buy kit it’s for a reason – and it gets used.

 
The low temperatures endured on last weekend’s Frozen Flounderings trip in the borderlands of Scotchlandshire entailed careful choice of kit – and food, so I thought some comments on a few items of my gear were in order.

Hilleberg Akto Not the lightest tent in the world at around 1.6kg, but quite bomb-proof. I’ve had my Akto for around 8 years and I’ve been more than pleased with it. Aktos  do have a condensation problem. Correct pitching will help, proper use of the vents also helps, but it’s still a problem. One mod I’m intending carrying out: sewing a loop onto the outer door at the bottom of the zip – this is to allow another guy to be attached so the door can be guyed open, forming a sort of porch-shelter.
It’s not a cheap tent – current list price is around £425, but you get what you pay for. Interestingly (bloody annoyingly), the US price of a Hilleberg Akto is $465 = £300. This begs the question: why does a European-made tent cost so significantly less in the US than in the UK – especially when the damned thing doesn’t need shipping across the Atlantic?

Mountain Equipment Helium 3.8 self-inflating mat. Bought from Cotswold recently for the special price of £45, reduced from £80. Another heavy bit of kit (750gms) – but supremely warm and comfortable. I couldn’t find any info on this mat on the ME website which leads me to suspect it may now be discontinued. It’s a big mat, 183x51x3.8cm, I’m sure a shorter mat would be quite adequate for my 173cm frame – combined with a stuff-bag pillow, a 160cm length mat would be sufficient for me…and lighter of course. The mat is made of significantly more robust (= heavy) materials than a NeoAir and I would therefore expect it to be much more resistant to puncture damage. Time will tell of course!

A Mountaineering Designs modified Mountain Equipment Dragon II down-filled sleeping bag. An obsolete bag that has seen much action – it’s level of down has been increased making this a warm bag at a good price. Another heavy bit of kit (1.3kg), but quite warm. If you’ve got a down-filled sleeping bag that could do with improving, a call to Mountaineering Designs could be the answer.

Alpkit Gamma headtorch. At £15 these are just brilliant. Sorry about that. 3 x AAA cells power 5 LEDs giving a wide range of illumination options: a 1w white LED for ‘searchlight’ mode, red, green and white 5mm LEDs for general use, and a red LED for use as a ‘rear lamp’, a particularly useful feature for walking on the road at night.  I first used this in anger on the night section of The Woldsman, a 50 mile challenge walk last year, it did a great job. Highly recommended.

Peter Storm down-filled and hooded gillet. On special offer from Millet’s just before Christmas, at £20. Warm, light-ish…and cheap. For that price you can’t go wrong. I’m chuffed to bits with mine. I’m not a fan of getting clobbered-up to go to bed, but I wore this in my sleeping bag last weekend and it made all the difference.

Vango Compact Gas Stove Cheap and cheerful – and quite light. At just over 100gms it’s around 20gms heavier than a Pocket Rocket, but at less than a quarter of the price it’s got to be a good deal. I’ve had mine for around 4 years, it works very well. Nothing more to say.

Fire Steel Say goodbye to worrying about keeping your box of Swan Vesta (Average contents: 85 matches) nice and dry, a Fire-Steel is far more reliable way of lighting your stove. I’ve had my Fire Steel for around 4 years and I wouldn’t be without it. I keep mine in the stove storage box.

Paramo Velez Adventure Light My second piece of Paramo kit – I also have a Paramo Alta II. I find the Velez to be very comfortable and ergonomically just about right. I’ve only ever had one failure with the Velez – on a very wet Sunday in the Lakes last autumn. It was my fault, Paramo stuff is easy to re-proof and I hadn’t cleaned the Velez since May last year – lesson learned!
A couple of features I’d like to see, purely to increase ventilation because I over-heat easily: 1) Under-arm pit-zips (like on the Alta II), 2) A method of holding the chest flap open, perhaps rolled-up, when unzipped – perhaps a couple of press-studs or a couple of elastic loops at the bottom of the chest-flap? I feel a modification coming on.

Pacerpole trekking poles. Mine are the heavier alloy poles, quite robust – and VERY comfortable. No more gripping pole-handles, the “unique contoured handle is designed anatomically to integrate with the hand - for controlling the arm's stride-leverage and transferring power directly and effectively.” Well that’s what it says on the Pacerpole website – and I ain’t going to argue. They’re brilliant to use, but….
In spite of following Pacerpole’s instructions to dismantle, clean and dry the poles after each use – then storing them in a dry place, the twist-lock system has major seizing problems. It’s simply not practical to strip, clean and dry the poles whilst on a multi-day backpacking trip, but for day walks, and when they haven’t seized, I always strip, clean, dry & store them properly…..and the twist-lock mechanism STILL seizes. Interestingly, a single latex glove is supplied with Pacerpoles, the idea being to afford better grip on the pole shaft – for when they seize? That does rather suggest a known problem…
I’ve used other poles (Leki and also el-cheapo Go Outdoors poles @ £5 a pair) that use a twist-lock system that don’t have the same seizing problem, I’ve also used (and own) Black Diamond poles that use a flick-lock system – it would be wonderful if Black Diamond and PacerPole could get together and produce a hybrid pole….I don’t think that’s going to happen though! Pacerpole have offered to take a look at my poles, perhaps I’m doing something wrong. I’ll be calling in to Pacerpole the next time I go to Cumbria – Mr & Mrs Pacerpole seem very keen to try to sort the problem, very refreshing.

Obviously I took far more kit than this, but these were just some of the more significant items. I’ll wait until after my next trip before I write a report on my choice of backpacking foods.