skredic, mouse, bill, etc

Interesting that skredick admits enjoying a bit of dangerous thrill in his outdoor adventure but thinks his wife would be appalled. Mouse's signiture "may you have - what crooked dangerous paths - something like that. I can attest to the fact that out of hundreds of awesome camping trips, mostly in the Sierra, I remember the ones where I rescued someone, was hit by a blizzard, ran out of water, ran out stove fuel in the winter, or those where I went rock climbing on some nice scary rock.

My outfit comes from alpine mountaineering gear. I spent a night out in 40 below in the Alps and ever since then I have taken the clothing to allow me to walk (ski) out through any weather and the gear to stop and camp in any storm at any altitude. My clothing had to be rugged enough for climbing, that means triple thickness goretex bibs with reinforced knees and a drop seat, etc. [of course I don't wear that where its not needed]

I don't take a lot of items that many people do. I do like my Xtreme (ore melter) stove especially for use in winter especially for cooking in the tent where the instant on and positive off are required, and the lack of priming prevents flare-up. My titanium alcohol stove stays at home along with my knife collection, map, compass, etc...

Note to beginners - after a couple hundred trips, especially sort of extreme trips, you will know what you need to take, what you have always taken and never used, and what to leave at home. After exhausting all of the camping fantasies and owning WAY too much gear, I find it interesting that I leave 90% of my camping gear at home. I do love my huge backpack and would never give it up. My Kelty Cloud 6500 (6500 cubic inches)is modular and will strip down to a 29 ounce bag with padded shoulder straps and a lightweight waist band, or I can add any of a number of accesories - heavy duty waist band, spectra side pockets etc etc, and of course it has full iceaxe loops and daisy chains. Let me put it this way - a certain rather shy climber, one of the leaders of the American K2 expedition of 2000, begged me to loan him my pack for the climb. The fact that I still have the pack means he didn't get it - I told him I figured some sherpa kid would end up carrying his books to school in it.
Jim