Two down!

I hate spending money for the obvious reason but I also hate accumulating stuff. First you have to store stuff and the more you have usually the more you throw out and thus making me a poor environmental steward. So my motto is to always try as much as possible to not be a consumer and only replace items when absolutely necessary.

I previously mentioned my gear list that could grow longer and longer with all the great toys that stores like Bushtuka and MEC carry. My gear list is as follows;

1. Light hikers – as I lay my other pairs to rest.

2.Day Pack – old day pack is increasingly giving me back pain when loaded.

3.Collapsible hiking poles – old ones bit the big one a few weeks ago on the way to the chair lift –They were telemark ski poles as well.

4.Ski boots – beside the resemblance of storm trooper attire they also don’t fit properly anymore. I am probably going to loose my nail on one of my toes as it was throbbing and turned as black as night after the J ski trip –not so good.

5.Ski Helmet –a must on mountains today with the crowds. A must for backcountry glades cutting through those trees. And let’s face it although there isn’t much in my skull one massive jump that goes wrong and I could scramble what’s left.

6.Gore-tex jacket or outer layer shell- mine has given me over 7 years of great service but I decided to put a hole in it last year that may lead to leakage eventually and is beginning to feel as loose as a garbage bag after you have cut the appropriate head and arm holes -reminds me of all those drunken high school concerts I went to.
Ski Poles – Old ones don’t have baskets and more and are non-replaceable so they are useless in even and inch of powder.

I think that is pretty much the extent of it. That entire list will roughly come up to $1200 - $1400. So the idea is not to purchase it all now but what is required -top three items- for summer hikes and trip to Europe. The skiing items can wait for off-season sales coming this summer where I will hopefully bring those projected numbers much farther down. That is a lot of money that I really do not want to part with.

But I do get some great gear that will last for years to come -and I am really hard on my gear- in exchange for many hours of work. Like today I went to purchase item number 1 and although I planed on buying number 2 in a few weeks, it just happened that it was there in stock with a beam of light shining down on it with Baby its you by smith, playing in the background. Well maybe it was all in my head but it seemed to justify the purchase.

Luckily I was able to stay with Salomon for my day hikers. I decided on the mid cut, Elios MID GTX, to hopefully prevent or limit any ankle roll on the trails as last years injury has greatly weakened it. -I normally keep higher cut boots for my heavy hiking boots, Asolo, looking for boots this is a great company and my favorite boots they have been through a lot.

The new Salmons are light, durable have a great Contagrip sole and, to keep my feet completely dry on every single outing, Gore-tex. They were a little more then I was originally shooting for, $159, but with this kind of boot and the use I will get out of them it is worth it. They also don’t have the quick lace system that my Salomon XA Race shoes had but I think I will get over it.

The second item I purchased was my new Futura 28 day pack, by Deuter. Top zipper pockets enabling for quick bag enter, mesh gear and bottle holders’ and lots of space with 28litres of volume. My big pack (80 liters) is also a Deuter and have found their straps, and back air comfort system to be one of the most comfortable. They are also well priced making them extremely attractive when comparing to some of the more expensive brands like Gregory, Vaude, Dana Design and so on.

Back to my ski conversion, at least that isn't costing me anything.