We're currently snow-holing in the heart of the Cairngorm plateau with Eamonn and Ben. Both have completed or are training for the summer ML so should be excellent summer navigators and used to expeditioning in limited visibility and adverse weather! More details and photos tomorrow once we return.
Out of interest everything for the overnight expedition was packed neatly INTO the 47 litre Crux rucksack which weighed in at less than 10 Kg. Being ruthless I could easily have shed another kg by leaving out the Klymit micro airbed, Montane jacket, spare clothing and gloves and a few of the other luxuries!!!
The weight of two days food, gas and a litre of water came to around 3 kg with another 2 kg for the axe, crampons, avalanche probe and shovel.
So for under 5 kg the sack contained a minus 16 rated PHD Hispar 500 bag, ME bivvy bag, Karrimat rolled to replace the sack frame, a micro air-mattress (getting old!), Jetboil stove, insulated cup, spoon, first aid kit, candles, lighters, whistle, head-torch, hat, four pairs of gloves, Buffalo mitts, Montane Prism jacket, Rab Generator smock, spare socks and underwear, two maps, compass, GPS, sunglasses, goggles, toothbrush, tissue, lots of plastic bags, mobile phone, camera, rope sling and krab and a few other bits.
All a far cry and far far lighter than the kit I used over twenty years ago for snow-holing or bivvying :-)
Pity my expensive iPhone and Memory Map application refused to work highlighting how important basic map and compass work and spare maps are for essential navigation in bad weather and hostile environments. See http://www.facebook.com/lovememorymap/posts/10150660485477474
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