Bedrock & Paradox

I dream of a hard and brutal mysticism in which the naked self merges with a non-human world and yet somehow survives still intact, individual, separate. Paradox and bedrock.

Trail gaiters

Took advantage of completed homework, a rainy day, and a closed university library (WTF!?) to complete a few projects.  Scotch brand stick-on “velcro” and barge cement on the shoes, and dental floss and a leather needle on the gaiters, should rid me of those damn shredded instep straps forever.  
Since I got these spandura gaiters in February, instep straps have lasted 25 miles, on average.  
The new shoes also got cement on all exposed seams.  Ready for scrambling and bushwacking.
In other gear news, I’ve been playing with one of these recently.  The appeal of a simple, unbreakable, waterproof system is obvious, but the spark it reliably puts out needs a very good tinder to burn well.  The included tabs were underwhelming at best, but today I found the solution.  Dumps them in a 30ml nalgene with 10ml of denatured alcohol.  The taps soaked it up, and I was able to get damp twigs burning on the first spark.  
Climbed Sentinel during a weather window this afternoon, and through a cloud gap saw a good bit of snow up above 8k on Point Six.  
I like Montana.
Evening add., for Chris:
“But as it turns out, reality more often than not surpasses imagination.”
Go here.  The K7 movie and the Torre traverse slideshow are especially worthwhile.

DaveC

3 responses to “Trail gaiters”

  1. Nathan Avatar
    Nathan

    dryer lint works well if it’s still dry, will spark up on the first try without problem.also try making your own ‘fire tabs’ by dipping some dryer lint or a cotton ball in vasaline, will work like a charm as well. the denatured alcohol tends to evaporate over time, the vasaline will last forever.all those years in boy scouts paid off by making me a resourceful pyromaniac. now arizona is doing its best to rid me of those habits.

    Reply
  2. Chris Avatar
    Chris

    I like the mini lighter, “torch match” combo. Just keep the lighter dry and warm and it does the trick with matches in reserve. Lighting Esbit with a sparker seems like torture.

    Reply
  3. Dave Avatar
    Dave

    Yeah, I’ve put a lighter in my kit. Redundancy is good. I’ll have to give p-jelly a go. Sounds promising.A bow drill is still the most reliable in inclimate weather, but is a bit of a pain to carry around.

    Reply

Leave a reply to Nathan Cancel reply