High Sierra Topix

can't wait to get the bag - apparently it won't ship until Monday (hmm - so you sell something, get it from the supplier, then ship it? low inventory means low prices). I don't mind, just need it by summer.

Been using boards a lot lately to tweak my gear. Last few days there's been a huge thread over on backpacking light following my almost heretic post about my gear (they just about chewed my head off when they realized I actually wear REAL BOOTS :-))

if you're bored - it also has a link to the current spreadsheet with my gearlist which is still evolving. When done I'll have to compare that to my '08 pack

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin ... d_id=19421

After many years of backpacking, I now realize I spend as much, or more, time on my back, in a bag, as I do walking, fishing, and climbing. This personal reality has resulted in my favorite pieces of gear to become the Western Mountaineering bag, (of which I have two, the Ultralite regular, and the Versalite long) and my Exped Down Air Mat 9 (DAM). I purchased both bags used (yuk! "Isn't that like sleeping in a motel where they don't change the sheets"?) The Ultralite is rated to 35 degrees and REALLY confining ( I am 6-1/2, 190# with size 13 feet). I used it last weekend on Santa Cruz Island, and at 38 degrees, with no long underwear, I started to feel a tad chilled, so the rating is right on. When the coastal evenings warm up, I use it as a quilt on the DAM to minimize the confinement. I just recently acquired the Vesalite and used it once last year at Cottonwood Lakes. Wow, what loft! The weather pattern was rainless, so I left the tent at the trail-head and slept underneath the stars on a breezy evening in complete comfort.
I switched from the Thermarest Prolite to the DAM three years ago and have used it ever since. To counter the increased weight and bulk, I now take less clothes, more concentrated, quick cooking foods, and weather/bugs permitting, no tent.

by the way the the Exped mattresses are on sale now at Sierra Trading post.

Mike

I've used the Versalite for a few years and have been pleased with it. Plenty of room for my approximately 6', 175 lb. frame, Mine has always shed a bit of feathers here and there but I believe that the newer ones use a different fabric (and have a draft tube at the neck). It's not much help since I don't remember the bag names but I had tried out a couple of the "lite" series in the store and felt constrained in them. The Versalite was luxurious in comparison and I've never regretted the choice :-)

Alan

Cloudy wrote:I've used the Versalite for a few years and have been pleased with it. Plenty of room for my approximately 6', 175 lb. frame, Mine has always shed a bit of feathers here and there but I believe that the newer ones use a different fabric (and have a draft tube at the neck). It's not much help since I don't remember the bag names but I had tried out a couple of the "lite" series in the store and felt constrained in them. The Versalite was luxurious in comparison and I've never regretted the choice :-)

Alan

great - if I only would receive mine... The Tent & Trails outfit in NYC has to be the most disorganized online dealer I have ever dealt with. 3 weeks after my order, and they still have no idea if they will ship it, have shipped it, may ship it, could ship it... been on the phone with them 4 times now and each time they give me a different story. The only good part is that they have not charged me yet. However, I can't just go to a different vendor now, since they will probably charge me and ship it a day after I order it elsewhere... and it is still 3 months before my trip starts.

Lol, I feel sorry for you. They sound like lamers. I have been in that position before from other game-playing companies that take your money and THEN order the item for you although they claim "it's in stock". They then have to tap dance when their supplier is out of stock and you want to know where your order is...

Cloudy wrote:Lol, I feel sorry for you. They sound like lamers. I have been in that position before from other game-playing companies that take your money and THEN order the item for you although they claim "it's in stock". They then have to tap dance when their supplier is out of stock and you want to know where your order is...

Just sent an email to Big Edge Sports a few minutes ago who is doing that very same thing on an order of mine.

Cloudy wrote:Lol, I feel sorry for you. They sound like lamers. I have been in that position before from other game-playing companies that take your money and THEN order the item for you although they claim "it's in stock". They then have to tap dance when their supplier is out of stock and you want to know where your order is...

they were quite up front about the fact that they had to first order it. I think what's going on now is that they want to make sure they don't order a second one and then end up with one "in stock" for real

well, I never received the bag from Tent & Trails - highly disorganized operation there.

Back to deciding if I really need a new bag

Fish,
I am so sorry that Tent 'n Trail hosed you on the bag, customer service wise...they did treat me well - fast, and I hoped that they would continue to be a good gear source...alas, turns out they suck.
I think I am done giving out gear advice...nothing seems to work...

Thank god the season is almost here!!!!!!!!
mark