Kit-wise for me....
Learned alot!
Successes:
PHD hispar 600 worked a treat, wayy lighter than the army bags (1.1kg) and its comfort was to -21. I slept outside in -20 with a thin HH cool baselayer and was fine (not warm warm but I got 6hrs sleep!). Plus its shell was easily tough/waterproof enough to survive being stood on, messed about and condensation issues.
ME compressor pants were plenty warm with 1 layer of thermals underneath even sitting around in -20. Bit worried about the delicate sections but I had to issues atall.
Subzero factor 2 thermals...awesome! Had on for 5 days straight, didn't smell one bit (to me anyway haha), comfortable. Merino gives me the itch so I've found my alternative.
Nikon D40 as always, reliable, solid slr, can use most buttons with gloves and even mitts. Battery was eventually effected by the cold but lasted alot longer than others. Photos up soon promise!
Exped synmat 7 standard: Worked a treat, basically I never noticed it was there and I never noticed any cold from underneath or any excessive warm. Survived some slightly sharp branches, quick to blow up, easy to pack, 11/10! I tried the downmat 9 for one night and didn't actually notice the difference at -20.
Bafffin Technology -70F boots. My feet are rubbish but these oversized boots worked a treat until I eventually on day 5 got them wet and even then I never had terribly cold feet. Walking 5 miles was fine but anymore and it would have got slightly uncomfortable though.
Fenix torches: Awesome things, changed battery once mainly because I accidently left it on for the evening in my bag lol. Superbright, waaaay brighter than everyones petzl's. Its all down to the cree leds though. My P1D twist on-off button did suffer abit. My Tk11 clickly button was far better as it was rubber and didn't either freeze my hands off or need grease.
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Hmmmmmmm..middle of the road stuff
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PHD 900 down pullover and PHD synthetic smock: Together they were all I needed in -20 with a baselayer which is impressive. However the down pullover got in the way on my gloves and general tasks and I lost a fair bit of down at the end of the arms. I did get it customed for long arms though so my fault there. Plus the 1/3 zip was a pain really for quick venting and removing while walking. The smock shell was tough enough really but with loads of branches around I generally lobbed on my goretex shell aswell. In hindsight the phd belay jacket would have been waay more suited instead of those two together as they wern't designed to fit together.
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Failures (or "lesser successes"
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PHD down gloves: They did keep my hands warm when dry but I sweated to quickly in them when I was walking, and I got the down inside slightly damp which caused issues. Plus as everyone commented they were like boxing gloves and doing anything practical with a knive, axe was impossible. Recommended for colder temps or when the situation doesn't not involve heavy handling.
Rab storm bivi: It wasn't bad but it was a fraction short for me at 6ft 3in and it did collect a lot of condensation on the 1st few nights. It was useful when I slept outside in -20 though and is clearly tough enough plus at £55 I couldn't complain that much.
OMM 32L rucksack: great rucksack but far too much mesh for heavy snow conditions. Snow collected everywhere and it became a pain. Mesh and snow don't mix!
Thats all I can think of at the moment! I don't think anything I took with my was a bad piece of kit on their own (I do spent ages researching) but some were less suited to the environment and tasks than others or clashed with other pieces of kit. You live and learn though
Dave
