Montbell Alpine Light Down Parka

~ John B. Abela (HikeLighter.Com) ~ 18 Comments
MontBell Alpine Light Down Parka
MontBell Alpine Light Down Parka

Just before the 2012/2013 winter season I placed an order for the Montbell Alpine Light Down Parka, one of the best ranked parka’s from gear reviewers that I have encountered in a very long time. It has been rated the #1 or #2 parka for a few years by just about everybody. For the last few years I have been using the Montbell U.L. Down Parka, and it is a great inner parka, but it started loosing its loft and I was looking for something a bit warmer, and the Alpine Light Down Parka really seemed to be the next best option out there.

A fellow hiker, gear reviewer, and friend, Stick, had one that he sent out to me with some other gear that I was wanting to trying (and at the same time, I had sent him a whole bunch of gear he wanted to test that I had) so I had a chance to put it on, give it a try, determine size and fit, and so forth. Here in the Redwoods of Northern California we only have one decent outdoor store and they are not able to do specialty gear such as what Montbell offers, so any chance I can get to try Montbell gear I take, and huge thanks to Stick for letting me try this/his jacket.

Specs:

I ordered my Montbell Alpine Light Down Parka from Moontrail.Com in size Large.

It is 470 grams (16.57 ounces / 1.036 pounds) total.

The parka itself is 453 grams (15.97 ounces / 0.998 pounds), and the stuff sack is 17 grams.

It uses 30-denier Ballistic nylon material on both the inside and the outside.

It has a wonderful micro-fleece lined collar – a feature I have read other hikers did not like, but I really found this to be nice.

It has the standard hem draw cords for adjustment, which are hidden in the pockets. You can really tighten up this jacket to keep 99.9% of the wind from getting in.

The medium size has 4.3 oz (121 g) of down fill, so I am going to guess that the large that I bought has around 4.5 ounces of down – I just do not know, as Monbell does not seem to include this information anywhere I have looked.

Continue reading “Montbell Alpine Light Down Parka” →

SteriPEN Ultra — The New & Heavier SteriPEN

~ John B. Abela (HikeLighter.Com) ~ 7 Comments

Greetings Hikers,

SteriPEN has recently released a new version of their UV water filter called the “Ultra“, which is being claimed as “the most advanced UV water purifer in the world”  – SteriPEN Ultra

I have to admit that I have been a fan, supporter, and user of the SteriPEN UV filters.

I know a fair amount of long distance hikers that have hated them. I also know a fair share of long distance hikers that have over 3000 miles of use with a SteriPEN and continue to love them. Inevitability articles about the SteriPEN turn into a whole bunch of hyperbole, so if we can keep those type of comments to a minimum, that would be awesome.

What I wanted to write about today was to present to all of the hikers that follow me the “new” and, oddly, heavier, new SteriPEN and to discuss the merits of this new UV Water filter by SteriPEN.

Now, by heavier, I do not just mean, ‘heavier’… I mean “heavier”… as in the second heaviest SteriPEN that they have ever made.

SteriPEN Specs:

Product Grams Batteries Treatments MSRP
SteriPEN Freedom 74 Internal 200 $119.95
SteriPEN Protector 103 CR123 100 $149.95
SteriPEN Traveler mini 105 CR123 100 n/a
SteriPEN Adventurer 108 CR123 100 $89.95
SteriPEN Journey LCD 128 CR123 100 $99.95
SteriPEN Ultra 140 Internal 100 $99.95
SteriPEN Traveler 162 AA 200 $49.95
SteriPEN Classic 162 AA 200 $69.95
SteriPEN Defender 162 AA 200 $129.95
SteriPEN Emergency 162 AA 200 $49.95

treatment based on 16oz Continue reading “SteriPEN Ultra — The New & Heavier SteriPEN” →

Applicational Hiking: The True Weight of Dehydrated/Freeze-dried Meals

~ John B. Abela (HikeLighter.Com) ~ 38 Comments
A typical graph for my long distance hikes. Showing the high percentage of how consumables (food mostly) is such a huge part of my overall backpack weight.
A typical graph for my long distance hikes. Showing the high percentage of how consumables (food mostly) is such a huge part of my overall backpack weight.

Greetings Hikers,

For me the weight of food while out on a long distance trail is typically 60-65 percent of the total weight of my backpack. This revelation has been causing me to evaluate the wisdom of some of the food I have been using the last few  years.

As with all of my “Applicational Hiking” articles, what I do within these articles is purpose a few ideas, none of them any better or worse then another, and try to draw out thoughts and ideas from other hikers, so that we as a world-wide hiking community may be able to gain wisdom and insight into better methods of how to approach hiking.

Within this article I am going to take a very simple example of how dehydrated or freeze-dried food can potentially result in a heavier backpack, and a greater ounce-to-calories weight ratio than off-the-shelf food bought in just about any local trail-town.

What I have is a single serving pro-pak bag of Mountain House ‘Chili Mac with Beef’ – a freeze dried meal of chili, beef, macaroni and beans. By far not the best meal out there, but one that stays in my food back for one of those long hard wet trail days. On my scale it is 136 grams (4.797 ounces) for the entire package.

Now, here is where I want us all to stop and go “hmmm” for a moment.

Is 136 grams, or 4.8 ounces, really the true weight of that meal?

No, am not talking about the weight of the bag…

Rather, I am talking about the weight of the water and water container required for us to carry for potentially miles and miles, so that at the end of the day we can enjoy that hot cooked meal of chili mac and beef.

Stop and ponder on that a moment. It is not just the weight of the bag of food that we have to take into consideration, but we also have to take into consideration, as long distance hikers, that we typically do not have a nice creek, river, or water source sitting right next to our campsite every night out on the trail. We might have to carry the 14 or so ounces of water needed to hydrate the meal, for potentially miles and miles.

The weight of the water to cook your single meal, carried inside of a smart water bottle is around 500 grams, or 17 ounces.

This just took a single meal from around 136 grams to around 636 grams (4.8 oz to 22.5 ounces).

Seriously, think about that for a moment. Continue reading “Applicational Hiking: The True Weight of Dehydrated/Freeze-dried Meals” →

Suluk46 Backcountry Team – Sponsorship

~ John B. Abela (HikeLighter.Com) ~ 6 Comments

suluk46Greetings Hikers,

Today I am very excited to announce that I have become a sponsored hiker of Suluk46, joining their Backcountry Team sponsorship program.

The owner of Suluk46, Steve Evans, and I have been in contact with each other for a number of years now. He has traveled the world, lives in Canada, and is the maker of some of the finest gear that I have ever purchased.

Steve has a great YouTube Channel that I have followed since he started posting videos.

He is one of the very few hikers in the world that has a decent amount of miles using a 0.34 cuben fiber tarp, and I am not positive but I think he has the second most miles of anybody, after myself. He strives for everything that I strive for: intimate knowledge of your gear, having the finest gear that does what it is designed to do, and the experience to be able to go out there and push yourself without putting yourself at risk.

I have been a long time user of his gear and have never purchased a single piece of gear from him that I felt was sub-par in any way.

The Suluk46 Titanium Windscreen is an absolute vital part of my sub two ounce cook kit (see video).

The Suluk46 Collapsible Titanium Stove is without a doubt the best wood burning stove for sub 400ml cups that exists. (see my review)

The Suluk46 Titanium Trowel is unquestionably the toughest and lightest full size trowel that I have ever owned. (see my review)

I am presently testing his newest product, the Suluk46 Titanium Double-wall Wood burning Stove, and it has been truly amazing me. (full review coming after I get more testing in different weather conditions) It is a sub-three ounce dream for wood burning fans!

And one of these days I am going to end up buying the Suluk46 Titanium/Carbon Fiber Ice Tool. I almost bought it the end of last year but I was not sure of just how long of a handle I would want and have been testing different length handles on some cheap’o ice axes this winter. Still not sure to be honest… what a tricky thing it is, trying to pick the best length for an ice tool.

As a hiker, and as many of my readers know, I tend to really push the boundaries of gear. It has been this reason that I have sought out companies such as Suluk46 in order to find gear that allows me to push the boundaries without excessive risks. I demand the lightest weight gear possible, and at the same time I also demand that gear to handle situations that weekender gear would never be able to survive in. Not that I am abuse towards my gear, but rather because I carry so very little gear as a SUL/XUL hiker, what gear I do have has to perform without failure every time it is called upon. Suluk46 has become one of my go-to companies for gear that I know I can buy – and trust that it will perform without failures and be as lightweight as a piece of gear can be made with modern material.

I know that a lot of my readers have bought gear from Suluk46 and that is awesome – if you have not already bought some gear from them, I would really encourage you to check out what they offer.

I am truly grateful to Steve Evans, to Suluk46, for adding me as a member of the Suluk46 Backcountry Team!!

+John Abela

suluk46_sponsorship

Suluk46 Titanium Trowel

~ John B. Abela (HikeLighter.Com) ~ 20 Comments
Suluk46 Titanium Trowel
Suluk46 Titanium Trowel

Greetings Hikers,

please note: the Suluk46 Ti Trowel has been updated since the below article was published in January 2013. It is now slightly more durable, does not have holes (talked them into removing them, the saved weight was not worth having dirt/mud fill up the holes) and I personally recommend the ‘large’ size of the new trowel, especially for long distance hikers.

Does the hiking world need another trowel – or even a bigger question is: does it need another titanium trowel?

Not anymore!

I recently ordered up the Suluk46 Titanium Trowel to replace my previous Ti towel, from another company, that I gave away to an inbound hiker that I knew when I was outbound on the same trail.

On my calibrated scale it is 14.7 grams and it is a pure work of art.

For a piece of titanium it is extremely strong – as strong as those heavy plastic ones most of us probably started using when we first got into hiking.

I always felt like my other trowels where a novelty item – they worked but they just never felt like they had what it took to make it into my backpack for the long haul.

I am extremely happy with this Suluk46 Titanium Trowel and it will hopefully be the last one I have to buy – and this one I have no intentions of ever giving away.

Anyway, there is not a whole lot to say about a trowel, so just going to leave it at that and here is a video of it in use:

Sawyer Squeeze – Updated 2013 Version

~ John B. Abela (HikeLighter.Com) ~ 31 Comments

Greetings Hikers,

2013 Sawyer Squeeze
2013 Sawyer Squeeze

A few days ago, on January 15, Ron Bell from Mountain Laurel Designs announced on their facebook page that a new 2013 version of the Sawyer Squeeze had been released. (read my review of the original 2012 product)

The announcement included the fact that (a) Sawyer has redesigned the water bladder material, (b) they have reduced the included bags from three bags to a single bag, and (c) they have reduced the price a few dollars.

Ron Bell, like a few of us in the hiking industry, have been in contact with Sawyer since the release of the Squeeze filter, about trying to resolve the high failure rate issues with the original Squeeze bag. Thankfully Ron has a larger voice than some of us and has actually been able to get some direct input on these new bags.

I, and others, have been huge supporters of the Sawyer Squeeze filter. But we have not been able to support the bags that Sawyer produced. The Squeeze filter itself is the absolute best filter presently in the hiking world on a performance to weight ratio. As I try to make a key point of within my review of the Sawyer Sqeeuze it is the only filter out there that provides us with an Absolute One Micron filter – and that word “absolute” is a big issue. Do a search for the word “absolute” on the CDC page concerning water filtration if you do not believe me. If you do not want to believe both the CDC and myself, just do a google search for “absolute vs nominal micron” and research it yourself. Simply put, as a backcountry hiker, what I want in my backpack is an Absolute One Micron filter, and the Sawyer Squeeze is the one filter out there that provides me that level of filtration – and does so at only 93.64 grams (3.303 ounces) Continue reading “Sawyer Squeeze – Updated 2013 Version” →

HikeLighter.Com Facebook Page

~ John B. Abela (HikeLighter.Com) ~ Leave a comment

Greetings Hikers,

Well I figured it was finally time to put together a page over on facebook that is setup specifically for hikelighter.com – mostly for cross publication of my articles to be listed over there.

If you are on facebook and would like to join me over there:

https://www.facebook.com/HikeLighter — the new page for HikeLighter.Com

https://www.facebook.com/abela — my personal facebook page

I would love to have all of you follow my HikeLighter page and I welcome anybody that would like to become friends with me to send an invite to my personal account.

Thanks,
+John Abela