Out in the woods

I've ordered a few new toys, a hatchet, folding saw, high carbon knife (perfect for flint striking) and a crook knife for carving. I couldn't wait 'til they arrived though so I met a buddy and went out into the woods to mess around with his kit since he has the same hatchet and saw. I've already tried out the saw on my Leatherman that I bought in the States in August, and I'm actually quite impressed with it. It handles small branches pretty well and much quicker than batoning, but trying out the Bahco I felled a small Birch no problem and did so pretty safely and cleanly. One of the most important things to remember with a short handled hatchet is that it's really easy to bury it into your leg, so you should always swing it while kneeling so you can be sure that it'll bury itself in the ground if you miss the chop. In this case I played it safe and used the saw for felling, but the hatchet was of course handy for taking off the branches and bark. It has a really nice weight to it and it feels really comfortable holding it close to the head, and using it for dexterous work like carving. It's also pretty interesting owning something with a makers mark. His hatchet was an MM (Mattias Matsson) but I wonder who will have crafted mine?




















He had just bought a new tarp and wanted to set it up, getting used to the pitch and all. To be honest I'm still getting used to the Akto, it's tricky getting a really tight pitch, but I can't argue with the quality! I remarked that although I'm a little paranoid about sharp sticks when I'm picking a site, it's more about how much money I invested in the tent than that I don't trust it to cope. I'm sure it'd pass the test, just don't want to test it!















He had also just purchased a new Frost River canvas pack so he kindly donated me his old vintage pack. It might not be so light at a whisker under a kilo, but it looks the part and it certainly encourages you to carry less with it's compact size. Perfect for bushcrafting!

Birch Quaich

Just looking at some birch kuksa carving and wondering if I could do the same thing with a two handled version, like a Scottish Quaich. Quaich's were used to pass around and drink whisky, and a silver or pewter quaich is quite a common wedding present.










Crafting a Classic Kuksa Cup

Kuksa of Oak Burl

First things first, I'll need to get some simple carving tools, Greenman Bushcraft looks like a good start.

http://www.greenmanbushcraft.co.uk/

And it may be best to start with a spoon...

Over hill, and under Hilleberg

I was lucky enough to celebrate Midsummer in a cabin south of Stockholm and saw it as a fantastic opporunity to try out the as yet untested Akto, albeit in the garden. I had a wonderful nights sleep out, and even though it was a little chilly outside, the inside of the tent was very cosy in my Cumulus Quantum 200 bag. I kept all of the vents open, at both ends, as well as the wired door vent, and a touch of rain overnight didn't creep into the tent. The ventilation ensured though that I didn't have condensation issues which can prove problematic in any small tent.

In all I'm very happy with it, and as you can see there is enough room inside for two to sit up comfortably, (though not to sleep in, I should point out!) In green the tent is also somewhat stealthy and blends into it's surroundings quite nicely. This is a plus as I intend to use it on weekend walks around the city where clandestine pitches may be the order of the day (one has the right to camp in Sweden on private land, though not in the vicinity of houses. However if no-one can see me, I aint there!)

Hilleberg Akto

At the risk of sounding incredulous, I shall be going out to buy a Hilleberg Akto this weekend. Admittedly it's not the lightest, nor is it the cheapest, but I can honestly say that I've never read a bad review. Condensation issues sure, but that's to be expected with any double-skin tent, and proper ventilation should overcome the worst of this. (As an aside the person who informed me of these condensation issues, suggested that it was necessary to use a bivy bag inside the tent to stay dry. I had to point out that the sleeping bag would probably get wetter inside a bivy bag than from a little bit of moisture on the inside of a tent, a tent tending to breathe far more than even the highest quality bivy). It weighs in at 1500g, which will make it difficult to follow Fjäderlätt Jörgen's 3 for 3 method, but not impossible. If I have to invest in one specific thing for comfort, I'll make it the tent.
As my previous post is testament to, I was all set on an MLD order, however considering the fact that all MLD orders are taking 5-8 weeks to shipping, with at least another 4 weeks for that, that gives me perhaps a 3 month timescale for a new tent. I don't know how patient you are at waiting for your hard earned gear, but patience is not something I'm known for. I had looked at a TNLC, as many friends of mine swear by, but I'm not convinced of it's durability or survivability, year after year, and it's not worth the price demanded in Sweden. If I'm going to be paying 4000 SEK for a tent, well... it's said that a Hillberg is for life, not just for Christmas! Who to order from? KG Jonsson Sport & Outdoor are as a good a choice as any. I attended a job interview there back in February, and the guys working there not only know there stuff, but are great guys too, and right now they're offering a 500 SEK voucher with the purchase of any tent this summer. Actually, Hilleberg seem to be pretty strict on their wholesale pricing - there doesn't seem to be a tangible amount of money saved by purchasing online and the beauty of buying in store? Instant gratification!

SoloMid

With much deliberation, then some more deliberation, I've settled on a SoloMid. I was pointed in that direction by a friend's comment here. Gossamer Gear's The One is an interesting shelter, but for forays above the treeline - camping trips in both Scotland and the far North of Scandinavia where it would see the most use, I don't think the spinnaker and fiddly pitch is up to the job.

I'm very happy with everything I've read about Mountain Laurel Designs and Ron Bell. From what I understand he's a man that understands. The shelter itself seems pretty bombproof, having withstood the Alaskan wilderness as Andrew Skurka's shelter of choice on his Alaska-Yukon expedition which you can read about in the March 2011 issue of National Geographic. In his gear list he remarks that the "pyramid design has the highest strength/weight ratio" which is pretty much everything I'm looking for; lightweight but also durable, and able to stand up to some pretty inclement weather. He also points out that it could be carefully used in 4 seasons. If it's good enough for him and a 7 month, 7500 km expedition, then it's more than certainly good enough for the Kungsleden and I. The shot above is from the MLD website, and show's a SoloMid completely buried in the snow, but amazingly still standing and none the worse for wear. Of course this is not recommended, and in reality you'd have to keep digging it out, but I think it shows what the shelter is capable of. Picture couretsy of MLD (but I figure Ron won't mind me using it as I'm pretty much endorsing his product).

Why a SoloMid you ask? Sure another Scandinavian-living ex-pat says that it's too small, that if they were going to go that small they'd use a tarp, and that in fact the DuoMid is a perfect size for long trips. Maybe, but a SoloMid is still incredibly light, can give me full bug protection without the claustraphobia of a bivy, and sets up very stable with a PacerPole A-frame. A DuoMid would give me more space, but it would also weigh more, and here's the biggy, cost considerably more. Buying direct from MLD, and costing in 25% MOMS and a very reasonable $25 flat-rate shipping, I've priced the SoloMid (with inner) at 2700 SEK, while the DuoMid (again with inner) will set me back 3300 SEK (Forex). That's quite a difference in price, and given that I'm actually stretching my budget somewhat to accomodate the SoloMid, it would be a moot point as to whether a DuoMid is more suitable or not since the bottom line is, I can't afford one of them!

The other thing that shines bright about a SoloMid is that you can choose to have yours in beautiful sunburst yellow! Since I hike in Northern Sweden, or Scotland where I don't have to be stealthy and hide since I generally have a right to be there. Allmansrättan in Sweden; no criminal trespassing laws and a right to roam in Scotland. It's just an altogether more cheerful colour, and it makes it easier to find in a snowstorm or the middle of the night. In all I have trouble thinking of a reason not to have one! I'll have to order it in plenty of time for my Kungsleden trip in June though, since orders from MLD are taking up to 5 weeks from order to shipping, adding a few weeks on top of that for delivery. They're so popular, they struggle to keep up with demand!

It's Christmas!

A package! For me! It must be Christmas or something. I'm not particularly used to getting anything in the mail, thankfully even the bills tend to come adressed to my wife, but a fairly large sized parcel dropped through the letterbox this morning, with my name on it! I was actually reasoning whether I should wait until Christmas morning in case it contained an unwrapped gidft, when I noticed the postmark of the sender - Svenska Fjällklubben!

Without further ado I tore open the package, Christmas had come early this year. Inside I have a veritable assortment of interesting snippets for any lover of the mountains, Svenska Fjällklubbens Årsbok 2010-2011 and Fjället magazine's Winter 2010 issue. These will be somewhat slow going for me, as it always is with Swedish, though this will only get better with time. Also I don't really want to interrupt Chris Townsend's Vandrarens lilla handbok (the Backpacker's Handbook translated into Swedish) which I took out of the library last week, but it does give me a fantastic amount of reading material for the holidays.

I can also commend Svenska Fjällklubben on their choice of membership card. It may just be a credit card sized piece of cardboard with an ispiring image of a mountain on the front (being relatively new to Scandinavia I can't yet identify it, I can say that it's certainly not in Scotland). Of course this realtive simplicity is also it's greatest strength, it easily fits into my lightweight money clip, takes up very little room, and weighs next to nothing (it didn't even register on my kitchen scale). Much better than my STF membership card which is made of quite thick plastic (5g) and which I shall begrudgingly take with me on the Kungsleden this Summer, but at other times is actually stowed away with my passport. It may not seem like much, but when you think of all the cards that you carry around in your wallet, it soon mounts up; for the trail I generally only carry my bankcard, ID, moneyclip and a couple of notes, (why carry your library card halfway accross Lappland?) but I think I'll let this card come along too! A small paper card is also in my opinion much more sustainable than plastic, especially here in Scandinavia, and it's biodegradeable.

Oh, and Merry Christmas to you too! I hope that exciting parcels also grace your doorstep this week, indeed why don't you tell me about what you've got or what you're expecting?

the One

I'm currently considering Gossamer Gear's the One. Ok, so perhaps strictly speaking it's not a tarp, it's a tarp-tent, but being from Gossamer Gear it's made of Spinnaker sail cloth. Therefore it doesn't weigh much more than a tarp, 224g. (or 1 pound, hence the name). This is excluding poles and pegs, but since extremely lightweight titanium pegs are everywhere now, and you can pitch with trekking poles in exactly the same way as you would with a tarp, this puppy can really lighten your pack weight. I think it's also going to be a good way to ease myself gently into the world of tarps since I have a love hate relationship with mosquitoes; they love me and I hate them. It's considerably lighter than even the lightest tent; half the weight of Terra Nova's Laser Photon Elite, and less than a third the weight of it's classic and cheaper cousin the Laser Competition (TNLC).

What really edges it above the competition (pun intended), is that you have a dual use for your trekking poles; why carry tent poles when you've got perfectly good trekking poles already? This makes it exremely light. I also like the fact that when it's blue skies, you can leave the entire side of the shelter open, enjoy the view but still have no-see-um mesh to keep the bugs out. (A no-see-um is a North American type of knott or midge.) Expensive? Relatively; it retails for $295 but with shipping and customs factored in it'd cost me around 2800 SEK. Even the best sale price TNLC wouldn't be measurably cheaper, around 2500 SEK if ordered from the UK. (Though if ordered from Sweden, this figure would be closer to 4000 SEK.)

The downsides, since obviously there are trade-offs:

• Stability - of course it's light, but it's not as stable as a tent. Using trekking poles is a sacrifice of stability therefore knowing it's limitations and sheltered pitching are fundamental here. Spinnaker is incredibly strong and it doesn't stretch when wet unlike Silnylon, but it is incredibly noisy in the wind.
• Durability - the bathtub floor is the weakpoint here, so they recommend that you also use the included polycryo ground sheet (43g.) to protect it. This is always a consideration with lightweight kit; am I serious about lightweight kit or not?
  
• Condensation - unlike the TNLC it is single skinned, so condensation can become a problem. This can be offset by ensuring that you've got plenty of ventilation. Indeed since you can leave the entire side open when it's not raining, it's possible to get a lot of airflow.
• Fiddly - pitching is also a little tricky, but no more fiddly than attaching the waterproof pole hood on the TNLC. Lightweight shelters are a little fiddly.

It may seem like I'm singling out the Terra Nova here, but I see it as it's closest competition given that most of the other tarp tents are either more difficult to source or considerably more expensive. Since price, as well as weight, is a major consideration for me, as I'm sure it is for most of us, it's between Terra Nova and Gossamer Gear here, and as far as I'm concerned it's the One for me.