My hiking gear overview 2014

This is how it all began back in 2009, me carrying a huge backpack through the Swiss Alps for three weeks. And we didn’t even have camping or cooking gear with my friend!

(photo by my friend mr. Wolfskin)

I am not a gear enthusiast by any means – I don’t even have a scale to measure the grams, but I have learned to appreciate right type of clothing and equipment. Within the years I have slowly updated what I have and tried to look for lighter alternatives. I’m especially happy with my Big 3 nowadays: the backpack, shelter and sleeping system, weighing 3,3 kilos in total. I know those could be still lighter, but compare that to the old monstrous backpack which was 3 kilos alone!

Here’s an overview of my hiking gear and what I usually wear on trail. I hope you’ll find some useful examples, inspiration and please feel free to recommend something better! (click the images to see them larger)

The main difference between a summer hike and autumn/spring hike is that in colder weather I’ll wear the Rugged Mountain Pants instead of shorts. However, they are way too heavy to carry around, so I need to be sure that weather stays cool enough to wear them while walking. Otherwise I usually have pretty much the same set of clothes with me, whether going to the Alps or coast of UK. For example the shield jacket is so light and useful in windy conditions that I have it always with me.

I usually feel chilly in the evenings after a hard day of walking, when the air cools down and sun is setting. At the camp I’ll have my Rab baselayer on, fleece (taking either the micro or thicker one), down vest, rain pants and thick gore-tex shell jacket. The jacket is quite old and not very useful in the rain (too hot), so I’ve used it just when in camp. I’m dreaming of having a down jacket some day.

In West Highland Way and GR5 I used a cheap poncho as my main rain protection and despite its obvious defects, it worked well enough. But when it pours water the whole day and strong wind tests your spirit, going gets tough. So my latest gear update was to replace the poncho with a proper rain jacket and I found a good offer for that Montane Air. I recommend to check Ultra Light Ourdoor Gear that offers very good service and selection.

Here are some small items: tiny bottle of shampoo, minimum amount of toothpaste, cut toothbrush. I found that plastic capsule for my camera charger and batteries inside of a giant choko eastern egg! 🙂

I carry usually a small survival box with me. I have never needed to open it while on trail and hopefully no need to do so in the future either. I have customised what’s inside, not sure if everything is useful or if missing something important but it has for example a signal mirror, wire saw, sewing kit, water purification pills and painkillers, flashlight, tinderbox, money, tampon (for making fire), some gauze, glukoce pills…

It sure looks like having lot of stuff, but my base weight still stays under 10 kilos and usually with weeks food the weight settles somewhere around 12-13 kilos.

Vaude Power Lizard is like a palace for one person; you can easily take even the backpack inside.

Here’s a list of my hiking gear. The weights are estimates and taken from manufacturers web sites, as some of the cut gear images.

At the moment I’m looking for walking poles as I had to leave the old ones to France. But most telescope models have clumsy and big mountaineering type of grip. For fast and light movement I want to have slimmer and similar grip than those used in cross-country skiing. (check the photo here)

Also I need to replace my loyal Lowa boots in the near future.

And in winter?

I’m not (so far) a huge fan of winter camping and as you might have noticed I lack some proper gear (and skills) to survive in Nordic winter. Daily hikes and cross-country skiing are the best ways for me to enjoy the white and cold beauty.