Posts

Gloves (and mittens)

The idea of this post is, to show you some different types of gloves, what I like and what I dislike, how they fit, about material...  - maybe you cand gain some useful infomration. Different types of gloves Gloves for summer, for winter, for work, for combat... If you want to check out a lot of mind-blowing information about gloves, their history and whatsoever, check out the article on wikipedia about gloves . (Also great if you have a lot of free time and no idea what you should do now)  Winter gloves (and mittens)  Do I have to explain, why we sometimes need to wear gloves in the cold months of the year?  Well, even when this should not be the "thing" to be concerned about: Frostbite If you have you free skin in contact with the cold air around, you can get frostbite. (not immediatly, but after some time). Another point: you will loose your feeling, e.g. for pain, or for some fiddly tasks. All this can be prevented by wearing gloves.  There are three p
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Headwear

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The Head is often overlooked when putting together your equipment for a trip in the beautiful mountains. Never forget to bring an appropriate headwear... low temperaturs: Our head is heavily supplied with blood and poorly insulated. When you have sweat a lot, wet hair won't help with insulating and our body loses a lot of warmth. Even with good insulated clothing on the rest of our body we can't compensate this loss.  A very important fact: you never freeze on your head, so you won't even notice that you lose so much warmth over your head (and warmth means energy). Wearing a cap in your sleeping bag also reduces the heat loss of your body.  Caps/hats for cold weather: You can use all sorts of fleece or wool caps you like. They should cover your ears and be thick enough to be windproof.  Examples Merino Wool watch cap: I have two of these and I like them very much, comfortable to wear, very warm... a normal wool cap, but it's made from merino wool.
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First Aid Kit

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In my opinion you should always have a small first aid kit with you, not only when you decide to go hiking or mountaineering but also everyday, in your car, backpack or messanger bag - because you never know when you need a band-aid or something to treat superficial burn. For mountaineering I built my own first-aid kit but you can also buy a completly assembled kit. I personally like to customize my first aid kits, so I don't recommend getting an assambled kit. Better build your own kit specified for your needs. Always keep in mind when packing your own kit, don't pack a first aid kit that every paramedic would be proud of having... There is no need to go overboard. Thankfully I never had some sever injuries but some items from the kit came handy for me in the past. So lets take a look inside my kit and why i have choosen those items: Pouch: Basically, the type of pouch or container you choose for your FAK  (=First Aid Kit)  dosen't matter. As an example, a frie
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Clothing (Overview)

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Headwear: Summer:              M36 Field Cap (finnish military surplus)              or (depending on the weather)              Särmä Field Cap (Polycotton M36 repro) Winter:               Merino Wool watch cap (Varusteleka Särmä)              or (depending on the weather)              M36 Field Cap  Scarves/Tubes: Obviously I use them only in the cold winter months:              Merino Wool tube (Varusteleka Särmä) Upper Body: I will start with baselayer and work my way outside to the outer shell. How much layers I wear depends on the weather - temperature, rain etc.  Summer:               Layer 1: Coolmax T-Shirt (Varusteleka Särmä)               Layer 2: Bundeswehr turtleneck shirt (Bundeswehr surplus)               Layer 3: Clawgear Aviceda Fleece Jacket               Layer 4: Bundesheer G3 Alpinjacke (G3 civil)               Layer 5: Gorka 3 Jacket (BARS)               Layer 6: Gunfighter Softshell Jacket (Helikon-Tex)               Rain Apparel:      
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Mountain EDC

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You have probably heard of  EDC (= Every Day Carry) In this article I will just explain what I carry on person while mountaineering. Some basic items always stay the same, some may vary depending on the route I am about to take. They are not really meant to build up a survival Kit, they are just what I think could be useful to have at your fingerips whithout taking your backpack of. When you look at my article about my clothing system you will find a review about the trousers I use  (summer: KAZ03/M75 trousers of the Austrian Bundesheer - winter: same as summer but with extra layers of clothing underneath or the Gorka 3 trousers) On Person - Basic: My watch, the Samsung Gear S2. I use this watch to track my route and to view my pulse. The watch has a lot of other nice features but I don't use all of them while hiking. Not an ideal solution, beacuse of the low battery lifetime and the high price. My watch (Samsung Gear S2) Upper pockets:  right hand side : Mobile
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Karrimor Predator SF30

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this site is under construction - I would be very happy about every Feedback! The Predator 30 is considert to be a lightweight and durable daypack for harsh environment. The backpack is covered with modular webbing which allowes to use a wide range of pouches or other things that fit through the loops to be attached. It has no real "frame". Instead there is a thick plastic plate inside the back of the backpack which could be taken out. The Predator 30 is perfect for one-day-trips or with the addition of modular pouches also perfectly servicable for longer trips (longer than 2 days)  Made out of KS60-RS which is basically a 600 Denier polyester fabric with a Silicone/PU elastomer that adds abrasion resistance with the benefit of beeing lighter in weight to the Backpack. The Fabric is coated with a durable water repellent (DWR) elastomer. On the inside you can see the PU-coating Dimensions Height: ~50cm Width: ~30cm Depth: ~20cm Weight: ~1.3
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