r/UltralightAus

Hey guys, i’m new to hiking and planning on doing my first overnighter in the blue mountains soon.

I know there’s been a lot of posts about this previously, and i have been trying to do my research, but I am still struggling to come to a decision on a few things. Got a redline 2p tent and mountains designs 55L pack on sale at anaconda yesterday.

What’s everyone’s recommendations regarding sleeping bags / quilts, sleeping mats and pillows? It is coming into winter, so needing some decent warmth.

Ideally budget, but i am not against investing in good gear. Especially a mat since I’m mainly worried about having a comfortable sleeping mat, i’m a side sleeper, 5’5F.

Sleeping bag, ideally something that’s on the cheaper end since i know they can get quite expensive. I am just starting out so don’t want to go too overkill just yet :)

Any other must-have recommendations would be appreciated as well! Thanks in advance!

As in title, went for an over nighter in Namadgi National Park recently and woke up with a small layer of dew on my Neve Gear Waratah, I slept in a tent with a rain fly (X-Dome 2), the top vents were open.

Is this normal? Am I just being overly concerned? I did hang it up to dry when I got home as it was still a little damp. For multi day hikes is there a way to mitigate this or deal with a slightly damp quilt on multi days?

Hi all,

I am more a light rather than ultralight hiker and my multi day set up is often around 18 kilos (includes food and water).

I currently have an Osprey Exos Pro 55 which I have used on a couple of recent multi day hikes and I’m finding it not carrying the load too well.

It’s been fitted well, packed well and adjusted where I can, but I wonder if the load is simply too much for it.

Does anyone have any suggestions for other packs which might be more suitable?

Thanks

Hey all!

I'm doing the larapinta trail next month and I was wondering if anyone had any recommendations for solar battery packs? Do they work well for two weeks?

Thanks 😊

Hi,

i'm new to hiking and am wondering if anyone has some budget friendly quality gear recommendations, backpack, shoes/boots, sleeping gear, tent, etc.

any help would be much appreciated!!

Thanks

Hi there, I'm looking to upgrade some gear for a trip and hoping to get some advice.

I've done a little bit of backpacking - a few overnighters on the Heysen/Flinders and 4 days on the Wild South Coast Way. I bought cheaper (and heavier) stuff a couple of years ago because I wasn't sure I'd enjoy it.. but turns out I really, really love it.

Looking to go to Kyrgyzstan/Kazakhstan/Georgia/Nepal for 4-6 months and my current gear just won't be warm enough. It will be summer, but at altitude there's the high likelihood it will get pretty cold, Google says -5C to 0C is possible. I'm hoping to spend a week or so each month in my tent, but not all of my camping will be at altitude.

Would it be good enough to keep my current sleeping bag (comfort rated +4, limit 0, and extreme -14) and get a really well insulated sleeping pad, and on cold nights sleep in extra layers and a silk liner? Then I won't be roasting on nights I'm not at altitude. It will also save me a LOT of cash.

But I don't want to be freezing and if a new sleeping bag is what I need too then I'll suck it up. Would prefer not to drop the cash if I can manage it otherwise!

Thanks in advance!

I’m looking at sleeping bags and landed on the Mont Helium 450. I found it for a good price but they only have the XL size available. I’m 180cm, will the XL make that much of a difference? Will I be swimming in it? Alternatively if I go for the Mont helium 600 will it run too warm? I’m mainly looking to use it for around Australia; Blue Mountains, Kosciuszko, Tasmania. Thanks in advance!

Edit: This might be the wrong place to ask as UL isn’t a deal breaker for me, this subreddit just popped up when I was looking at other questions about gear. ALSO, this will be my first sleeping bag.

I thought I would share with you all a find I had today:

https://www.kmart.com.au/product/puree-dispenser-43549375/

The Kmart Puree Dispenser. Cheap compared to online at $15. Comes with 20 pouches that hold up to 120mL of liquid.

Great for decanting things for an overnight or three such as sauces, honey, jam etc so that you don’t have to get the smallest available size (and pay the premium). Good if you already have stuff in your pantry cupboard. The pouches are also less likely to burst compared to other plastic bottles etc.

Each pouch and cap weighs 11g.

I have chewed through my dynafit pole tips and am struggling to find a suitable replacement, so am now considering getting a new pair of poles unfortunately.

What collapsible, aluminium, adjustable poles are people using ?

Cheers,

Alex.

Don’t know if this is the right place to ask this. But essentially I’m looking for a shoe that I can take on through hikes (I’ve just started doing those so I’m not doing anything crazy or like snow weather atm) but that I can also take on my daily walks and more casual day hikes.

So far I’ve tried some shoes and found the Merrell Moab 3 and Hoka Challenger 8 (this one a bit more) the most comfortable.

So my question is should I be getting the hokas which I can use for walking on pavement and tamer day hikes AND the merrells (waterproof version??) for through hiking and more hardcore hikes. Or would just buying one of them be good enough for both scenarios.

Would love any advice (even if it’s trying different shoes).

And also any advice regarding the merrells. More specifically if low/mid is better and whether I should be getting the waterproof version (my thinking is if only buy the merrels they would be non-waterproof for versatility but if I also buy the hokas I would buy these waterproof to have that option?).

My hiking shoes are falling apart so I've just been wearing runners lately. I'm located in Sydney but keen to potentially fly to Tasmania.

In terms of gear, I've got a -8 comfort rated bag, Naturehike R5.8 + foam pad, and a Naturehike Mongar 2. Did Frenchmans Cap early April last year which was good fun.

I was looking at this www.alltrails.com/trail/australia/new-south-wales/mount-jagungal-via-round-mountain-fire-trail-grey-mare-trail but thinking conditions might require alpine gear?

Any recommendations around kosciuszko or elsewhere welcome! Or if all these are too extreme right now in May, I'll take recs in the Blue Mts or other national parks.

On the hunt for a lightweight static layer with a very big hood. Im talking pretty much helmet compatible for my big melon.

Does such a thing exist, or should i be looking into XL beanies?

One would assume that this can handle a few degrees below zero and I'm curious if anyone has put that to the test?

Hi all, I'm looking to get a bivvy and was wondering if anyone has any recommendations (bonus points if it's under ~$300). Are there any particular features I should be looking out for?

Also if anyone has any recs of overnight/multi-night walks in NSW for bivvy camping, I would love to hear them!

Thanks

What is the max load people have had in the Osprey Eja (or men’s equivalent) Pro pack? The osprey website has max load at 30pounds, which is almost 14kg, but the Paddy Palin website has it at 18kg.

I’m pretty sure that when I did Jatbula had about 15kg inc water & 6 days food and it seemed ok. I’ve had 14-15kg in it recently and it’s starting to feel uncomfortable. I’m not sure if this is because it’s just water I am carrying (padded out with blankets) so it’s carrying different compared to how it would with my gear in it. I want to be able to carry 16kg comfortably for when I do Larapinta due to the water carries required for the high camps. Not sure if I should look at other packs or not.