I have been playing a bit with heat sealable materials. I decided to buy a sealing iron $A50 – a sound buy. Tried it out on one of the pillows I bought for my sleeping pad side insulation which I had been reluctant to touch as I was finding it so comfortable, but at 100 …
Unless you are tiny (like my wife Della) I’m sure that you have found that when you sleep on your back your arms fall off the sides of a ‘standard’ 20″ sleeping pad such as my wonderful Exped Winter mat shown. This is both uncomfortable and cold. Of course you could buy a (much) wider …
I have posted dozens of times about this wonderful trail which (in an extended version) can be walked all the way from Moe to Lilydale. Here is some indication of track times and distances and here is a detailed set of instructions. Below you can find some of my posts about it in the order …
Outdoor Research’s Helium rain jacket (and pants) are available at the moment on (Mass)Drop, the jacket at US$99 and the pants at US$70! This is outstanding value for a highly praised set of rain gear. Whether they are the lightest/best is always arguable. I have Montbell’s offering which I am quite happy with (but at …
How much can you say? I remember buying my first set of these (I guess) when I set about hitch-hiking to Cairns and back with a back-pack when I was about 13-14 years old. I had this, a home-made nylon sleeping bag cover, a billy and not much else. During the several cyclones I encountered …
My friend Gerard White walked the Upper Yarra Track last week – from Waburton to Walhalla. With his kind permission here is his account of the trip: Day 1: Big Pats Creek to New Federal Mill (21km) (4 people) Last week (Sunday) I set off from Warburton headed for Walhalla on the Upper Yarra Track. …
How much is your life worth? Is it worth laying out $80 and carrying 273 grams for example? This is the Outdoor Research Helium Emergency Bivy, a trimmed down version of their regular Helium Bivy (510 grams). If you carry a raincoat you could make a raincoat shelter for your head, and you could hold …
Yet another sixteen ‘free’ ultralight hiking ideas. Enjoy. A Cure for Slippery Mats: I have just spent a couple of weeks sleeping on my new Big Agnes AXL Air 300 gram mat in Scotland. It is indubitably the most comfortable mat I have ever slept on, but it does suffer from being a tad slippery. …
I am tossing around some ideas concerning DIY tent stoves – as you know, so I was delighted to stumble upon this amazing website: https://timtinker.com/ by a fellow Gippsland Senior – we are good for something still after all. As you will see Tim camps in the snow all the time, so his ideas clearly …
How big a tipi can you make in a single piece out of a 3 metre (10’) wide roll of Tyvek? I began this project as I want to take one in and leave it in a canoe drum along with a small wood heater to warm it on winter nights at ‘our’ new ‘hidden …
Just like practically everyone I guess I had an ad from the ‘hellosunny’ shop (see below) for Waterproof Shoe Covers. I had spent a lot of time on this idea before coming up with my own 13 gram DIY version (https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2017/04/14/19-gram-dyneema-camp-shoes/) which have proven very serviceable and durable on many trips now. I guess that …
You can use Pipe Insulation to make extempore hiking poles or tent poles when you are in the bush. The piece shown weighs 5 grams. It certainly saves you carrying hiking poles when you don’t need them. When you do you can cut them to length with this 28 gram DIY ultralight saw. If you …
A blast of Antarctic air is coming through Victoria in the next week so that it might be time to consider how to warm your tent. This great company Titanium Goat have extremely lightweight titanium stove (heaters), stove pipes, stove accessories, and a tent boot you can sew into an existing tent to vent your …
(or, A Further Use for Toilet Trowels) Disaster will sometimes happen upon you in the wilderness. The important thing is to survive it – as less experienced folk frequently don’t! For months I have been ‘stir crazy’ what with slow recovery from my back operation and (seeming to) need a new knee, but I have …
The Americans call this ‘O.B. Wire’ (for ‘obstetrics’). Vets use it to cut up a stuck calf inside its mother! I have used this stuff to de-horn hundreds of goats in past years (It is not possible to breed poll goats as the poll gene is linked to hermaphroditism). You can quickly tie a length …
I recently bought one of these for Della for canoeing (weight saving is still relevant if you might have to portage). Her glutes are a bit underwhelming so she gets a very sore behind after a few hours paddling. She was using Klymit’s Ultralight Pillow (which is an excellent sleeping pillow) but it was not …
I just saw the Granite Gear, the Crown X60 (ie 60 litre) pack on Massdrop for US$120 which has to be very good value for such a robust award winning hiking pack. As I already have $50 credit from folks whom I have recommended who have joined, it is hard to pass up. Perhaps for …
I was after a couple of cheap light weight pillows for another project (more about that later), so I sourced two of these on eBay for less than A$20 delivered (the pair). These pillows are approximately 18” x 12’ x 4” (45 x 30 x 10 cm) and weigh 100 grams.They have a delightful soft, …
Does your pillow creep away from you during the night – or do you sometimes lose it altogether in the dark? I know I do. Here is a method of preventing that for a weight penalty of 1-2 grams. Well worth it. i think it is self-explanatory. I have just tied a piece of 1 …
Maybe not ultralight, but certainly ultra-cool – and you can cut a banana with them! https://drop.com/buy/xc-carbon-carbon-fiber-playing-cards#overview 91 grams. US $60 (May 2019) ‘No more frayed edges, stains, or fading: if cared for correctly, carbon fiber playing cards can last a lifetime. Made from 100 percent carbon fiber, these thin and durable cards have a twill …
