The OMM Final Kit List

With only a few days left till the drive down south to Dartmoor for the 42nd OMM/KIMM  the kit list is coming together.

Things may change at the last minute but I think this is pretty much it.

The Team - Myself & John Roberts

Class - A

Following the OMM kit list these are my choices of kit

Clothes

During the day I will be wearing my trusty Decathlon 3/4 length leggings, they are a little worse for wear, with a few holes here and there but they do the job. I have a choice of base layers dependant on conditions, but I think I'm going to go with a medium weight top with zip neck and long sleeves so I can roll them up if it gets warm and un zip the neck. Then my breathable pants underneath to stop the jingy jangling and some lightweight Bridgedale socks. Gloves are some old North Cape ones(59g) My hat is a buff, I'm taking two though so I have a dry one for the overnight camp (30g each).

For the overnight camps I then need extra full leg cover, I was going to use some Spray Way microfleece trousers (250g) but they are a bit bulky, although light, so I think I will need to go with some Helly Hanson Lifa Long Johns instead. My additional warm top is an X-cellerate fleece lined windproof (256g) that packs down really small. Then some dry socks(62g), if I need to leave the tent I have two large sandwich bags for my feet so they stay dry when I put them inside my trainers. The wet socks will go back on in the morning as the dry ones will be lighter to carry and would end up wet after 10-15 mins anyway.

Tent & Sleeping

John has invested in a Terra Nova - Laser Photon Elite (720g) it will be a considerably cosy night, at the widest point the inner tent is 87cm, the term 'spooning' has been mentioned in conversation. My sleeping bag is a Snugpak Travelpak (680g) I bought it originally for camping in Thailand so it's not exactly suited to October in Dartmoor, but I'm sure it is going to be cosy in that tent and it kept me warm enough in the barn after the storm of OMM 2008 ! I am sleeping in luxury this time as well as I have bought a balloon bed (120g). I could probably do with investing in something like a RAB top bag or similar but I'll leave that till next year.

My only concern is how much room there is in the porch of the tent for cooking if the weather is bad but I guess we'll have to take the risk.

Food & Cooking

Using my scientific "OMM Food Calculator" that I developed in 2008 I figure I have a fraction over 1.5kg of food for the two days. Providing me with 5258.7 KCal of energy, 738.7g of Carbs and 145.3 g of Protein.

During the days I'll be eating a combination of Trek, Clif, 0 and Power Bars, Rice Crispie Squares, Shot Bloks, Jelly Babies and Nakd bars, I have tried to use mainly natural energy bars with minimum additives as these tend to disagree with my stomach! I'll also be adding Nuun to my water during the day, I will just carry a 500ml bottle in a shoulder strap holder, and drink from streams.

Saturday night's food will be 200g of wholemeal cous cous with chorizo, pepperoni, sun dried tomatoes, stock cube and some spices this basically just requires hot water to cook so very easy and light on gas. I have a small Trangia mess tin the mix will go in here with the hot water, the lid goes on and after 5 mins or so it is ready to eat. This should give me plenty of carbs, protein and salt and then will be followed by Jamaica Ginger Cake and Custard, luxury!

I will take a 5l sandwich bag as a water carrier as well for drinking and cooking, we are borrowing an MSR pocket pocket (85g) as it is slightly smaller and lighter than my Coleman stove, this will be used with a 100g gas canister, together with a tin foil heat shield/wind protector, this should be pretty efficient.

Breakfast Saturday is 75g of Ready Brek made with hot chocolate, this will all be supplemented by cups of tea and warm Nuun. The food handily fits inside the mess tin together with the foil, handle, lighter and spork.

Waterproofs

My waterproofs are an old pair of Spray Way Horizon leggings(238g) it is highly unlikely I will wear them, my jacket is a Marmot Precip Ladies Large (It was cheap in the sale) (316g) depending on conditions on the day I may run in a windproof but I'm undecided.

Anything Else

I have got a Heatsheets Survival Bag(113g) this is compact and light, and if I get cold in the tent I could always put it over my sleeping bag. Emergency rations are a small tablet of Kendal Mint Cake and my adequate first aid kit is a couple of plasters, vaseline, safety pins, a small bandage/dressing and a few pain killers, plus a bit of gaffer tape round my rucksack strap, the latter can be used for repairs to coat, tent etc as well. The pencil and paper are inside the first aid kit, small pencil from Ikea, inside the bag this should be able to be used in the wet.

Torch will be my Petzl Tikka (75g) and all of this will be in a dry bag inside my inov8 Race Pro 18 (470g) with my day food in the mesh pocket at the front. I have picked up a top tip to have my food in the front of John's bag and his in mine for easy access, the only problem being that he doesn't have a pocket on the front of his bag ! Most of my day food fits in my waist pockets so I should be okay.

I really wanted a thumb compass but I'm going to leave it for now and make do this year, but having used one last in 2008 they are really easy.

Weight

This brings me in at about 4.5 - 5.0 kg so pretty happy, just wish I was a bit lighter and fitter now, I don't think we have much chance of winning I'm just looking forward to a good weekend.  I think I'm going to take my camera as well, I know it's more weight, about 200g but I think it would be good to take some time and get some good pictures.

Any thoughts on kit ?

Langdale to Pillar Rock

Had a great day out with Ben & John, we camped over at Great Langdale on the Friday night, John and Ben in the camper van and me in the boot of John's car, luxury! Had a good chilli, rice and chips and a couple of Old Peculiars from the ODG before retiring. The valley was looking fantastic on the drive in Friday night.

The plan was to run from Great Langdale up Rosset Ghyll, over Esk Hause and drop down to Sty Head Pass, before following the climber's traverse round Great Gable and then over Kirk Fell and from Black Sail Pass follow the traverse path to Pillar Rock. There was a memorial service scheduled for 14:00 for Dave Ridout, mentioned in a previous post, an old scouting and caving friend who died last month. The last top he had to complete in the Lake District was Pillar Rock, unfortunately he died befor he managed it. So West Lancashire Scouts Mountaineering Group were taking his ashes to the top.

So that was the loose plan run there and back.

John & Ben crossing the ford at the head of Great Langdale

Looking back into Langdale from Esk Hause

John at Angle Tarn

We were moving well and probably a bit too quick, we realised  when John announced he thought the memorial was 13:00 why we were moving so fast!  We took it a bit easier and just enjoyed the scenery as the sun started to burn the cloud off. By the time we got to Sty Head Pass it was warming up nicely and we were basked in sunshine on the climber's traverse.

Sty Head Pass with Wasdale in the background

We decided as we were doing well for time to "thread the needle" the scramble up behind Napes Needle, a bit hairy in fell shoes as you can see above.

Looking down into Wasdale from Napes Needle

Napes Needle

Scafell sun bathing

We had run out of water by this point so skirted round Kirk Fell to use the spring to top up our bottles, before picking up the traverse route to Pillar Rock from Black Sail Pass. We caught up the rest of the group, that had walked up from Wasdale, the memorial was thoughtful, we held a silence and a few people said some words about Dave. Then here you can see Dave being transported to the top of Pillar Rock. By this point we had started to get a bit cold as this North side of Pillar was chilly, we made our apologies and dropped down to Ennerdale.

We followed the beck to Windy Gap between Great and Green Gable before dropping down to Sty Head and following the route back we had taken in the morning. I was struggling by now and not moving as quick uphill as I would like, but I'm sure that fitness will come back as I increase the time on the hills.

Looking back into Ennerdale

A good day out and 22 miles plus about 7500ft of climbing. After making our way back to Great Langdale we grabbed a quick pint of lime and lemonade and the stopped for fish and chips in Bowness on the way home. Excellent.