Friday, October 24

White Rim 2 day Gearlist

Okay I've had a bunch of requests for a gearlist, which for once was not preplanned in Excel. Yes I do make most of my gearlists in Excel because I'm a big dork. I'm going to try to post up what we brought, I might forget something since it's from memory. Feel free to ask questions.

Chris Clothing
Jersey
Shorts
Knee warmers
Smartwool socks
Smartwool lightweight long sleeve zip-t
Full finger gloves
Helmet
Sidi's
Cycling Cap
Marmot Hooded Windshirt
Fleece Earband
Golite Rain knickers (home chopped)
Underwear to sleep in
Nunatak hooded down jacket

Marni Clothing
Jersery
Shorts x 2
Knee warmers
Smartwool socks x 2
Montezuma lightweight long sleeve baselayer
Arm warmers
Gloves
Helmet
Sidi's
Cycling cap
Smartwool beanie
Golite Virga rain jacket
Golite Reed rain pants
Underwear to sleep in
Smartwool lightweight bottoms to sleep in
Montbell Alpine Light hooded down jacket

Camping
Black Diamond Firstlight w/ 4 stakes
Western Mountaineering Highlite (Marni)
Montbell Short inflatable pad (Marni)
Nunatak 3/4 quilt (Chris)
Cheapo blue foam torso pad (Chris)
1/8" Gossamer Gear Nightlight folded over to share for feet
Ultralight Esbit stove setup (BPL ti stove/pot stand, Sterno can pot, alum foil lid, ti windscreen, mini bic, DQ long handled spoon, Light my fire spork)
4 x 2.5L or 3L Platypus bladders (Marni carried hers, I carried 3 in pack/frame bag)
1 bike water bottle on Chris's bike
First aid and emergency fire kit (4oz)
Toothbrush and mini tooth paste
Smallest MSR packtowel
3 Butt'r packets
Sunscreen mini tube
4 Single use wet wipes
SPOT GPS tracker
Tiny Black Diamond LED headlamp

Packing
Nathan 759 (Chris)
Black Diamond Flash 9L (Marni)
Epic Designs frame bag (Chris)
Epic Designs seat bag (Chris)
Small sized compression sack on the handlebars (down items + tent poles + blue pad) (Chris)

Food
Day snacks (apple, bars, candy, goldfish, powerchews,etc)
Lunch of turkey/ham sandwiches, pringles, candy
Dinner of mac and cheese (marni) or alfredo pasta (chris) brought chicken packet but it didn't appeal to us so we didn't open it
Snickers for desert and some pringles too I think
Breakfast of cheese danishes and hot chocolate
A few emergency electrolyte tabs
Vitamin I for Marni ;)

Bikes
Monocog (Chris) w/ Stans tubeless
Trek Fuel EX7 WSD (Marni) w/ slime lite tubes
Ultra enduro toolkit (2xtubes,multitool,chainlube and rag,spare bolts,cleats,kevlar spoke, minipump,patch kit,spare disc pads) (Marni carried on bike)
GPS on both our handlebars for bike computer use (ETrex vista and Geko 301)

Also brought a camera and 2 spare rechargeable AA batteries (camera and ETrex) which we usually wore around our necks on a lanyard. Temperatures were probably mid to low 40s at the coldest, upper 70s at the warmest and no rain, very little clouds.

Alright I think that's everything but I'll try to update it if I remember anything else. Overall it all worked great as it's pretty close to my usual setup for the two of us. I ditched my rainjacket for a hooded windshirt and wool shirt combo because the forecast was clear and I was confident I could stay warm without it. Don't leave rain gear at home unless you're very confident in your abilities regarding keeping yourself warm. I made sure Marni had her full rain gear. The setup is not as light as one could go but plenty of food and lots of clothes to keep Marni comfy and warm. Plus I could spend all day everyday making and buying lighter gear but at some point you just take what you have and go use it outside.

I don't think I'd use a platypus in a frame bag again, maybe a dromadary with the tougher fabric. I was worried it would leak and I did put one pinhole in it at the end of day one. The firstlight is a great tent for two as long as you're under 6" tall and don't mind being close. Others might find it cramped but we like it a lot. It's pretty bomber too as we got lots of wind on our previous Koko trip and even with only 4 stakes and no guy outs it worked great. I'd bring 4 more stakes and some line if I expected really windy conditions. I'm still planning on experimenting with a Henry Shires Tarptent to lose some weight there but the firstlight serves many roles in our house so it's unlikely to go away. It's quick to setup, light for a freestanding and essentially bomber western USA tent and packs small being singlewall.

The Nathan pack rules for heavier pack weights and Marni said she liked the flash which I also used on the CTR. I have chopped the waistbelt off that one but not the Nathan. The Epic bags are awesome and I could never do a trip like this without them. The extra storage for soft goods and the tent(!) in the seatbag plus the large food storage of the frame bag is great. Then I can pack most of the heavy but dense water mostly on my back where it's safe. I also had some MP1 tablets with me for treating river water in an emergency.

Hope that helps some of you. A couples list is a bit trickier than a solo race list (easy don't bring anything, then leave more at home) but it's a lot more rewarding to do a trip like this with your sweetie!

2 comments:

Dave said...

Looks good to me. The Firstlight rules, though I'm planning on making a 10'x10' silnylon tarp before spring.

Carney said...

And I thought I was the only person with homemade rain manprees!