Christophe Noel
Expedition Leader
In a few minutes I roll out the door to take the Salsa Deadwood to Silverton to do a lap around the Alpine Loop. The plan is to also include a ride up the road towards Uncompagre Peak, spend some time in American Basin, and not knock down too many miles in three days of riding. Lots of picture taking.
I thought I'd share my packing list as I know this is always a popular topic. For this trip the considerations are:
- Mountain storms. I'm preparing for late PM showers and assume there might be some that linger into the night.
- Altitude. I'll hit 12,000 feet three times.
- Comfort. I'm not trying to break any records. This is a mountain toodle.
Bike: Salsa Deadwood
Bags: Bedrock Bags Coconino Seat Bag, Frame Bag, and Andrew's new drop bar bag. I'm a huge fan of BedRock.
Backpack: Osprey Hornet 24.
Tent: Terra Nova Laser Comp 1. This is my comfort kit. Two pounds total with loads of room and superb storm proofness. I will sleep well.
Pad: Sea to Summit Ultra-Light. My favorite pad ever.
Sleeping Bag: Sea to Summit Spark sPIII. This is a new bag for me and I really love it. Usually comfy down into the 30s.
Storm Gear: GoreTex jacket and pants from Gore Apparel. That's all I ever use. Ever.
Mid Layer / Sleep layer: Patagonia sent me preproduction samples of their new Merino Air top and bottom. Great stuff. A tad bulky.
Stove: Snow Peak LiteMax.
Cookpot: MSR Titan Titanium Tea Kettle. Had it for years. My go-to.
Cup: MSR Titan Titanium Cup. Again, a go-to.
Water Treatment: Steripen Adventure Opti.
Lighting: This is really only for camp use and emergency. The main light is a Black Diamond Storm. My backup....a very cool one is a Coast HP3R.
Tools and spares: Tube, patches, extra valve core, small bottle of sealant, thread/needle, multitool, chain links, brake pads, tire lever, tire boots, zip ties, duct tape, super glue, chain lube, small rag and a pump.
Food: Dehydrated meals from Good to Go. I will also eat Justin's Almond Butter packs, Kind Bars, Epic Bars (meat), Sweetwood Bully Bars (meat), Fig Bars, and only a few sweet chews. I try to avoid sugars these days and only burn them at upper altitudes where they process faster than protein calories. Fluids are augmented with Camelbak electrolyte tabs.
There are other items on board. I have my Fuji XT-1 camera with 18-55 lens. Sony sent me a new 4K Action Cam to test and I will bring along my Sirui Carbon tripod for good shots. It's a full boat.
This is about as much as I carry on any trip. I'd wager the weight of everything, including bags but not including water, is pushing 26 pounds. I packed more food than I probably need, but I'm a skinny twit.
The only other items of interest are a Garmin Epix watch for track keeping, and a Delorme inReach to keep my wife up to speed with my location just in case.
Off we go!
Oh, and one last thing. All of this gets to the trail head on our latest test car, a Subaru Crosstrek 2.0i using a KUAT Trio rack. That's a lot of product to test and evaluate on one trip, but it will be a good one!
I thought I'd share my packing list as I know this is always a popular topic. For this trip the considerations are:
- Mountain storms. I'm preparing for late PM showers and assume there might be some that linger into the night.
- Altitude. I'll hit 12,000 feet three times.
- Comfort. I'm not trying to break any records. This is a mountain toodle.
Bike: Salsa Deadwood
Bags: Bedrock Bags Coconino Seat Bag, Frame Bag, and Andrew's new drop bar bag. I'm a huge fan of BedRock.
Backpack: Osprey Hornet 24.
Tent: Terra Nova Laser Comp 1. This is my comfort kit. Two pounds total with loads of room and superb storm proofness. I will sleep well.
Pad: Sea to Summit Ultra-Light. My favorite pad ever.
Sleeping Bag: Sea to Summit Spark sPIII. This is a new bag for me and I really love it. Usually comfy down into the 30s.
Storm Gear: GoreTex jacket and pants from Gore Apparel. That's all I ever use. Ever.
Mid Layer / Sleep layer: Patagonia sent me preproduction samples of their new Merino Air top and bottom. Great stuff. A tad bulky.
Stove: Snow Peak LiteMax.
Cookpot: MSR Titan Titanium Tea Kettle. Had it for years. My go-to.
Cup: MSR Titan Titanium Cup. Again, a go-to.
Water Treatment: Steripen Adventure Opti.
Lighting: This is really only for camp use and emergency. The main light is a Black Diamond Storm. My backup....a very cool one is a Coast HP3R.
Tools and spares: Tube, patches, extra valve core, small bottle of sealant, thread/needle, multitool, chain links, brake pads, tire lever, tire boots, zip ties, duct tape, super glue, chain lube, small rag and a pump.
Food: Dehydrated meals from Good to Go. I will also eat Justin's Almond Butter packs, Kind Bars, Epic Bars (meat), Sweetwood Bully Bars (meat), Fig Bars, and only a few sweet chews. I try to avoid sugars these days and only burn them at upper altitudes where they process faster than protein calories. Fluids are augmented with Camelbak electrolyte tabs.
There are other items on board. I have my Fuji XT-1 camera with 18-55 lens. Sony sent me a new 4K Action Cam to test and I will bring along my Sirui Carbon tripod for good shots. It's a full boat.
This is about as much as I carry on any trip. I'd wager the weight of everything, including bags but not including water, is pushing 26 pounds. I packed more food than I probably need, but I'm a skinny twit.
The only other items of interest are a Garmin Epix watch for track keeping, and a Delorme inReach to keep my wife up to speed with my location just in case.
Off we go!
Oh, and one last thing. All of this gets to the trail head on our latest test car, a Subaru Crosstrek 2.0i using a KUAT Trio rack. That's a lot of product to test and evaluate on one trip, but it will be a good one!
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