Some of this is gear comment, some a report on a short trip to Greg’s Bothy 3 of us did, FatGeoff, Jut and me.

Gear: I was keen to see how two new bits of gear performed: my 10° Loco Libre Ghost Pepper and my KS Ultralight KS 50 backpack.

The easy one to report on first is the quilt – it never got tested; despite winds and snow and the coldest night of 2017 providing the perfect test conditions in my tent, I opted to stay in the bothy as we got it so chuffing warm in there. Temperatures may have dropped to 0ºC/32ºF inside our uninsulated stone shed, and as expected the quilt was toasty. So not really a good test. Unlike the treatment of the pack…

We carried in 15kg (33lbs) of coal between us; I also had 2kg (4.5lb) of food and alcohol with me (beer and wine and whisky: it was a booze fuelled trip!). So with my pack (tent, waterproofs, quilt, Xtherm, down coat, spare socks, cooking stove, music, camera and spare lens, phone, tripod etc) weighing in at 6.3kg (14lb), it wasn’t a lightweight trip!! I think that makes about 13.3kg (29.5lbs) carried in. The KS50 carried fantastically – granted it was only 6 miles, pretty much all uphill in snow and ice, but I do not expect to carry that weight on a normal longer trip so I was very pleased with how the KS50 carried. I also loved the hip belt pockets, the best I have used (and I’ve had a lot of packs!) due to size (they took my camera in them) and ease of access. So all in all I think at last I have found (for me) the perfect pack – lots of areas accessible without the need to take the pack off, the way it carried, and the simplicity. Having been a z-packs user and having the carry system fail on me mid way through a two week trek, I value simplicity and the lack of fragility.

Just out of interest, this is my tent, a full 2 walled number weighing around 660g (1.45lbs): http://www.tramplite.com/search/label/Tramplite%20Shelters

The walk was lovely, conditions on the way out fantastic, the sun setting just as we arrived at the bothy. We need not have bothered with the coal as someone had very generously literally left bags of the stuff here (someone must have quad biked them in?). Needless to say it was very hot in there until the fire went out in the early hours. One of the photos shows how hot the stove got!

The walk out was a bit of a white out but great fun. So, all in all a fantastic 24 hour trip!

My pack – the carrying suspension and the pockets are fantastic:

Some from the walk, the last 3 are arriving at the bothy, the red hot stove, and the walk out.