Some pic's and thoughts on winter gear

[baggins]

ve , a really good thread. nice one mate. Me and SWMBO are planning a trip for this march, flying into Kiruna and then touring around up to the north Norway coast and everything in-between.
Don't think we'll be camping this time round but hopefully will still have a lovely time.
you have some lovely kit. it looks fit for purpose and modified to suit your own needs.

 

[jonny the monkey]

I really enjoyed reading through this, thanks Ivanhoe!

 

[R3XXY]

Great read Ivanhoe. Thanks for sharing

 

[Ivanhoe]

Hi!


I see my old thread has woken up again.

Concerning binos, this is what I got:

Used, but mint, condition. Extremely cheap, as the previous owner has a too narrow eye distance...



Brunton ETERNA Mid-Size Binocular. 10 x 32.

"When weight and size are factors, the nimble ergonomics and sheer versatility of the Eterna Midsize can make the difference between enduring your hunt,
and enjoying it. Bright 32 mm objective diameter, Emerald Fire full multi-coating and BaK 4 prism glass deliver superb image quality under a wide range
of conditions. Multi-step eye relief keeps things comfortable with or without eyeglasses."

• BaK-4 prism glass
• State-of-the-art phase coating
• AL reflective coating
• Emerald Fire full multi-coating
• Multi-step eye relief system
• Waterproof
• Nitrogen filled/fog proof
• Ergonomic body armor
• Power: 8X, 10X
• Objective diameter: 32mm
• Eye relief: 16mm, 15mm
• Exit pupil: 4mm, 3.2mm
• Field of View: 394 ft, 315 ft @ 1,000 yds
• Eye cup type: twist up
• Frame / body material: polymer
• Weight: 25 oz
• Close focus : 4 ft
• Includes: Bino Glove and neoprene neck strap

It still impresses me after a year!


I've also added some of these to my jackets and backpacks:

Brunton ECHO Pocket Scope. 7x18.

"Impressive performance in a 7x18 monocular, thanks to top-end BaK-4 prism glass and multi-coated optics.
Bright, sharp image as close as 13 inches."

• BaK-4 prism glass
• Multi-coated
• Power: 7X
• Objective diameter: 18mm
• Eye relief: 12mm
• Exit pupil: 2.6mm
• Field of view: 181 ft @ 1,000 yds
• Polymer frame
• Weight: 1.8 oz
• Close focus : 1.1 ft
• Includes: lanyard and case

Amazingly fun, light and convinient to carry around!


Now it is only one week left until the X-mas vacation!
I'm goining to be out in the forest again, hoping for snow!

 

[BlueTrain]

As Fjallraven had on the cover of their catalog a few years ago, "cold at last."

I especially like your comments in post #13. My object of being outside is a little different but it's good to be honest with yourself about why you do the things you do. I use a lot of army surplus stuff, too, and also a lot of old and old-fashioned things as well. Some outdoor writers and experts seem to think that if you don't have the latest commercial gear, you shouldn't be allowed outside because you're obviously a danger to yourself and others, something I don't understand. In fact, an article about Earl Shaffer actually included a disclaimer that said they couldn't possibly recommend using any of the things he did or how he did it and Earl Shaffer actually did the Appalachian Trail thru-hike three times.

I've also tried making a few fabric things and ended up ruining my wife's sewing machine.

 

[Ivanhoe]

Some pic's and thoughts on winter gear - The repetition

So you can see the pics again...

- - - - - -

I've just come home from a three day outdoor trip and I'd like to show some pic's from this
adventure and talk a little about gear in general.

I was inspired to post after I read the 'Jokkmokk Trip Report - Andy' thread.
http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/sho...d.php?t=103646


Now, the only purpose with gear is to allow you to have good outdoor experiences. You can have
amazing trips without any expensive gear what so ever. I'm not trying to sell anything in this post,
but to show you just how far you can take your interest in gear, if you want to.

I know some of you are interested in the gear itself, so I'm going to show some pictures.

Anyway, here we go!

There was a storm coming, so four days ago I drove deep into a forest about 30 km from where
I live, here in Sweden.

I had rammed my little adventure car full with gear!

Those are old Army skis, a shovel and a glass fibre sledge.

A large backpack and a chimidan fits perfectly, with room to spare, and a sledge like this enables
you to bring everything you might need for a week. Ice drill, water, firewood or whatever...

I've added the reflectors just to feel safe while on the small road.

The quality is, as always, in the details.

It's about -5 degrees C and I'm skiing straight out into the forest, using a compass bearing and map.
A storm is approaching.

It is a crystal clear sky filled with stars.

I've found my camping site and I'm raising my tent in total darkness, but for my LED headlamp.

I'm wearing a Taiga FS02 Gore-Tex uniform and cap, that has so many great details that I can't
begin to show them all.

You can also spot a Mora 2000 utility knife.

My backpack has a winter camouflage cover, that's also from Taiga.

In fact, all my underwear, underpants, T-shirts and undershirt are from Taiga and has the same
olive green colour. And my jersey and sweater. It is great to have stuff that are designed to
work well together.

My main backpack is a Sacci Jägare-90, that looks saggy here because it is not fully loaded.
It is the best sack I've ever tried and today I have more than 10 Sacci backpacks of various capacity.

I have improved it in many ways and you can see various pouches for tent poles, tent pegs and
lamps and stuff.

 

[Ivanhoe]

I've made a lot of things for myself when there hasn't been anything similar available in the shops.
Bags for camo nets, bags for various small items and a cover for an inflatable sleeping mattress.

At the bottom is a cover for three tent poles that fit perfectly, making it impossible for them to rattle.
You can see some of the bags have the same width and the same distance between the fastening
points.

The colours are prefect for this type of terrain.

The big Sacci backpacks all have metal D attachments for pulling a sledge, but I prefer to have
the sack packed on the sledge, so I've built a harness for pulling the sledge with.

It is very rugged and will probably endure whatever I subject it to.

The white release buckles are for when I fall into the snow and have to get away from the sledge...

The skis I use are old school and the wax used is tar, which I don't want all over my car, so I've built
a bag for them.

It has padding built into the short sides, to protect from sharp ski tips and ski poles. The zipper
has a snow protection and can be opened from both sides.

One of the sleeping systems I use is a Snugpak 'Military Combo' double, with a -30 degrees comfort
rating. If that isn't enough, I can put another DPM Snugpak one I have on the outside!

I'm no longer tough enough, so I always use a pillow when I'm outdoors.

My best tent is a Hilleberg Staika of the old model with whole pole channels, better and thicker fabric
and the better Easton poles. It might be the most wind secure tent on the market.

I have improved it in many different ways. Like the numbers and colours on the pole holders.
Just by looking I know which corner I'm holding and where the doors are.

- - -

It is a mistake to think that products always get better with time. The quality, like many other things,
tend to follow the 'normal distribution curve' over time. As a company grows the management gets
more and more interested in cost cuts, which will eventually affect the quality, or price, in a negative way.

- - -

 

[Ivanhoe]

I use a metal lantern in my tent for light, heat and general cosiness. It uses normal candles, which
lasts forever.

Yes, I do know about the risk of burning down my tent and up myself, but I'm a grown man and I
choose to do this.

Being out in nature sometimes make me super concentrated and on those occasions I like to have
music to listen to. Here are two of my Mp3 players that I have filled with high quality and loss less
copies of my records. The left one also shows pictures, films and whole concerts. I've got more than
10 Mp3 players.

I always thought such a small screen would be worthless, but I was totally wrong! The green metal
miniature ammo box protects the Mp3 players and I've even put padding on the inside. The ear
phones are brilliant ones from Skullcandy.

As I've said, it is not every time I use them, but I always have them with me. It might be because
I'm outdoors quite a lot, for several days sometimes and very often all alone.

The nicely coloured fleece blanket is one with the cartoon moose Hälge on it!

Here I'm cooking dinner on a Primus OmniFuel gas burner, that can run on virtually any fuel
available.

By now you can probably guess how many outdoor kitchens I have...

I really don't like the gas ones, especially when it's cold, so most times I use a regular old school
liquid fuel burner.

Here's an old picture of a bag I've made for such a burner.

All the cutlery and stuff have pockets to be in and you roll that piece of fabric, so there's no rattling.
The bag is inside out here.

The best outdoor food I know is the Norwegian field rations made by Drytech. Three packs sits
together and equals 24 hours of hard work. Those are the dark green ones.

 

[Ivanhoe]

Map and compass are absolutely necessary. A small pair of binoculars are great for finding wildlife
to look at!

The world's most hardcore survival knife!

The Finnish m/95 Sissipuukko!

I put a longer webbing on it, so I can have it securely in the right leg pocket of my trousers.

What do you think this is?

A garage for my sledge and skis!

I've made the tarp myself.

Base Camp Thor!

Two fluorescent Emergency Exit signs show the way out into the wilderness!

Sunset deep in the forest.

The Sweden that I love!

Someone's out skiing all alone. (There are two kids you can barely see in the background, also
skiing).

 

[Ivanhoe]

My interest in the outdoor is really filled with contradictions. I am most interested in
the experience of being a part of nature.


And so on from previous pages...

 

[Janne]

Fantastic!

Nice to see somebody appreciating Vita Blixten!

I think the Exit sign shows the way to the toilet area. It would in my case, as I tend to wait a little bit to long wintertime, and have to run!


Great report, of a great time!

 

[baggins]

Great thread revival. So jealous of the beautiful scenery and the snow, 13c here today. Not even much snow up in Scotland. Very comfy and practical looking kit as well.

 

[oldtimer]

Great example of the pleasure a well illustrated trip report can give. Thanks for posting and updating and thanks also to whoever revived this thread.

 

[bopdude]

Great trip report, I'm assuming by the amount of sunlight that you were in the Southern part, just got back from Jokkmokk 2 days ago where the sun didn't climb above the hills

 

[Janne]

Just a (critical) comment:
Those plastic release buckles are fine in moderate temperatures, but quite fragile when it gets cold.
From own experience they also require you to take off your gloves if you fall in loose snow and need to fumble, blind, for them, when you want to release them.