Learning's so far –
the good and bad
I have around 26kg between my day bag (North Face climbing
bag) and my Backpack(MacPac Genesis). Weigh too much!
(excuse the pun). But balanced out in
the knowledge that there’s about 7-8 kg of climbing gear and about 2 KG
of water ski gear (sans vest and ski which I will borrow when skiing).
Good stuff:
Headlamp -LED lenser
when you are walking in and out of climbing areas and the bush it pays not to be too budget on this piece of equipment. This on is used by some cavers and climbers. Not inexpensive, but I never buy cheap safety gear.
Packing cells…wouldn’t be without them (and one of the few things I will ever buy from Kathmandu) . A great investment and easy to live out of
and quickly re-pack. I can live a
modular existence – with each marked out “Warm weather”, “Cold Weather” , “Ski
Gear”, “Climbing Gear”, “underclothes”, “Medicine and toiletries”,
“Electronics/Chargers” and an empty one for “stuff to wash”
The bombproof and waterproof (and lifeproof!) Cactus outdoor
jacket.
Earth Sea Sky travelling pants – don’t crease, lightweight,
comfortable, stretch and breathing fabric, another well made NZ product.
Salomon boots…lightweight, comfortable (we’ll see how
durable as I go). As chance would have
it, they are the same model as my brother (Duncan) wore when doing the Machu
Pichu trail he has the same genetic trait of wide (club!) feet). His only criticism of them was that they were
not that firm footed in the wet and tended to slip around.
The ubiquitous iPhone - for mail, Skype, google maps, camera, phone (though buy a local pre-paid SIM in each country you go to e.g. Thailand cost me 850B ($32.00) for 6GB data for the month and 20 minutes of phone calls (which is fine - I use SKYPE and SKYPE out for calls anyway).
My camera is an old but good and relatively bomb-proof (we'll see) Canon EOS 20d - weighs a ton but good quality picture and high frame per second rate (handy when photographing sports). I invested in a single lens in Bangkok (and sent my 18-200mm and 75-300mm back home) - the new lens is a lightweight Sigma 18-250mm. Time will tell whether bringing a bulky camera was a good idea - the iPhone takes some pretty good pictures.
Almost forgot – because it fits in so well…the best backpack
in the world – the MacPac Genesis…a real
NZ Tardis – well made, rugged and multi-featured.
Stuff I should not have brought along
Too soon to tell ;0)
Though I must say that a kindle seems like a damn fine idea given the
great books my family and friends gave me for the trip…they take a fair amount
of room and a bit of weight. |
| (not very!) LifeProof iPhone Case. < 6 months old! |
Sports equipment
OK, so good equipment does not the sportsman make . Some might say it makes the wannabe
sportsman. But, while in reach I believe
in using good equipment – especially when it comes to safety.
including a new (or nearly new compliments of Di – a rope used once and
already travelled from NZ to Norway and back) Mammut 9.5mm 60m dry rope and
(long overdue) replacement of quick draws as a last minute purchase from Banana
fingers
www.bananafingers.co.uk
Black Diamond Hoodwire Quickpack = £133.34
An extra £12 and they arrived safe and sound a week later at work (and 2 days before I was due to leave).
An extra £12 and they arrived safe and sound a week later at work (and 2 days before I was due to leave).
12 quick draws super lightweight Black Diamond with a
special cover over the locking part of the biner that prevents it getting
caught when placing or removing the gear.
Topped off with some new shoes (I let my old ones wear down to getting a
hole in the toe – so unable to be re-soled.).
I figured my existing biners and rope have had 10 years use (OK,
infrequent use) so need retiring - more
carribiners for use around the farm for gates and holding up hay nets etc…very
handy “off label” use.
The other thing I have is water ski gear – sans the vest and
ski. Gloves, rash shirt and a very
special video mount www.wakeye.com –
designed and built in NZ by an ex NZ water skier and all round nice guy John
Gibbons.
The wakeye is (like most great designs) clever in its simplicity. It’s used by a range of the ex and current world champs like Aaron Larkin, Andy Mapple and at the recent Malibu open in the US to help training (and some of us wannabe and rank amateurs alike). It clips over the ski pole and rope and follows the rope around to track the skier through the course. Complemented by a clever little Apple app that load on iPAD or iPhone (which I use as my video cam) and uses the inbuilt GPS to know what speed the boat is doing and, with you having programmed the pass speed into the app, switches the video on and off within a 3kph tolerance of the course speed. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/wakeye/id769001644?mt=8. No need for wasted video time once you have finished the course (or fallen off!). A little plug for the models in the stllls in the itunes app…Nick Bakker (ex NZ under 21 champion and currently ranked in the top 5 in NZ skiers (which, considering we have a world champion in that mix is pretty impressive) and Simon Meade – both of Wanganui Water Ski club (and skiing on Lake Wiritoa).
 |
| beautifully made, carbon fibre. This is the complete kit. I have the subset of the main unit with a mounting for the iPhone Lifeproof case (it supports multiple media incl iPad, video cameras, GoPro etc) |
The wakeye is (like most great designs) clever in its simplicity. It’s used by a range of the ex and current world champs like Aaron Larkin, Andy Mapple and at the recent Malibu open in the US to help training (and some of us wannabe and rank amateurs alike). It clips over the ski pole and rope and follows the rope around to track the skier through the course. Complemented by a clever little Apple app that load on iPAD or iPhone (which I use as my video cam) and uses the inbuilt GPS to know what speed the boat is doing and, with you having programmed the pass speed into the app, switches the video on and off within a 3kph tolerance of the course speed. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/wakeye/id769001644?mt=8. No need for wasted video time once you have finished the course (or fallen off!). A little plug for the models in the stllls in the itunes app…Nick Bakker (ex NZ under 21 champion and currently ranked in the top 5 in NZ skiers (which, considering we have a world champion in that mix is pretty impressive) and Simon Meade – both of Wanganui Water Ski club (and skiing on Lake Wiritoa).
John is an engineer who owns a company in Porirua
specialising in design and build rapid prototyping (if it already exists, he’s
not your man. If it’s concept to reality
with great design input and quality, he is the man… 3mDesign Limited E:john@3dmdesign.co.nz
As an aside, John is helping the aforementioned Di design a
sports brace for her leg that she won’t break for a change (ACC really have
found Di’s ability to break the unbreakable quite puzzling…hardly a surprise
though, given her active climbing lifestyle…just goes to show that a fused
spine doesn’t need to slow you down that much.
[in truth, largely put this down to Di’s amazing resilience “not a case
of what happens to you in life, it’s what you do with what happens to you”].
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