Loaded or Credit Card?
03-01-11 | 02:03 PM
#1
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 3,670
Likes: 43
Bikes: Rivendell Quickbeam, Rivendell Rambouillet, Rivendell Atlantis, Circle A town bike, De Rosa Neo Primato, Cervelo RS, Specialized Diverge
Loaded or Credit Card?
I'm doing a 3 week tour of Iceland this summer. Some of it will be in remote areas with maybe 60 miles between resupply places. However, I've managed to booked hostels, farm stay sleeping bag accommodation or hotels for every night.....so the question is would you still take full camping gear for safety or just a sleeping bag and travel extra light?
03-01-11 | 03:55 PM
#2
Banned
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 5,115
Likes: 4
I guess the only reason I would take sleeping gear would be if I thought that with the wind in particular I was going to fall far enough behind that I would miss a night. But over 3 weeks with bookings every step of the way, you pretty much need to be able to keep up, so how tough are the days.
In your situation I would probably not take a full set of camping gear, I would take survival/ultralite level stuff like a tarp or bivy. I would not be taking all the cooking stuff etc... unless you are taking that for some other reason. So overall your ability to survive hurricane winds and rain, or just a night out, might only cost a pound or so.
In your situation I would probably not take a full set of camping gear, I would take survival/ultralite level stuff like a tarp or bivy. I would not be taking all the cooking stuff etc... unless you are taking that for some other reason. So overall your ability to survive hurricane winds and rain, or just a night out, might only cost a pound or so.
03-01-11 | 04:23 PM
#3
Senior Member
Joined: Nov 2008
Posts: 7,239
Likes: 8
From: Bay Area, Calif.
No need to take stove or cooking gear, but emergency shelter could still be a good idea - especially if you're carrying a sleeping bag anyway. Always a chance that weather or mechanical problems keep you from reaching a planned destination and you may even want the shelter during the day to wait out a bad squall. My tent (1-man) weighs under 2.5 lbs and my mattress pad another half lb. so I'd only save 3 lbs. by leaving them behind. Using a tarp or bivy sack would weigh even less.
03-01-11 | 06:26 PM
#4
Senior Member
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 288
Likes: 12
From: Vacouver Island B.C. Canada
Bikes: Catrike Trail/Catrike Expedition
03-06-11 | 08:06 AM
#5
Senior Member
Joined: Jun 2009
Posts: 3,119
Likes: 159
From: Kalamazoo, Mi.
Bikes: Sam, The Hunq and that Old Guy, Soma Buena Vista, Giant Talon 2, Brompton
I would always have something(plastic tarp,space blanket or poncho) which can be used for emergency shelter. Something will probably go wrong and it will be less wrong if you are not at the mercy of the elements.
Marc
Marc
03-06-11 | 08:57 AM
#6
totally louche
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 18,023
Likes: 12
From: A land that time forgot
Bikes: the ever shifting stable loaded with comfortable road bikes and city and winter bikes
siltarp or emergency bivy, not a climbing bivy.
don't avoid siltarps, they are versatile, and pack up VERY SMALL.
A viable shelter that packs up the size of an orange. not a grapefruit, an ORANGE.
if i was going to be in iceland for 3 weeks, there would be some nights i'd want to be camping out.
Alcohol stove and cooking cup, sleeping bag, mosquito head net, siltarp, pad.
A siltarp and a mosquito net would be small enough to pack into your cup.
don't avoid siltarps, they are versatile, and pack up VERY SMALL.
A viable shelter that packs up the size of an orange. not a grapefruit, an ORANGE.
if i was going to be in iceland for 3 weeks, there would be some nights i'd want to be camping out.
Alcohol stove and cooking cup, sleeping bag, mosquito head net, siltarp, pad.
A siltarp and a mosquito net would be small enough to pack into your cup.
Last edited by Bekologist; 03-06-11 at 09:02 AM.
