GSI Pinnacle Soloist – First Look

Arriving nice and early in the post from the States was my GSI Pinnacle Soloist cooket, at my door 8 working day’s after I placed my order, pretty good, seeing that many UK outfitters would take this long for your order. The packaging gives a stupidly large amount of technical information about the product, strange seeing that it involves no working parts and is at the end of the day just a refined saucepan, however I suppose thats just a sign of the time’s as tech spec is everywhere, (and that maybe people that are into lightweight backpacking are somewhat gear freaks?)

The Pinnacle is the updated 2009 version, which has minor changes in the materials used as well as the inclusion of a telescopic spork. Hard Anodized Alluminium (Haulite) is still used for the pot, the interior of which now sports a Teflon Radiance coating, which is apparently designed specifically for camp cooking. The Plastic’s have been replaced and are now Bisphenol-A due to health concerns, and are now moulded rom Infinity clear polypropylene, whatever that is when its not at home? Either way between the changes in materials and addition of telescopic spork, the stated weight has increased from 270 gm’s to 305 gm’s (yet to personally weigh the set) with an icrease in price of $10. Personally I still think the retail price, circa $40  (£36 including postage from the states, the pound sucks at the mo), is very reasonable for what you get, titanium can stay on my oldskool powerbook and space shuttles for all I care.

Simple explosive diagram to help snug packing.

The main reason for picking the soloist cook-set, in my eyes, is that it keeps you’re whole kitchen in one compact piece; pot and lid, insulated mug and sipping lid, spork, stove (inside stove bag) and a 220 gas cartridge, all kept tidy in a water carrying stuff sack. Its a tidy little package and all fits in a space of : 134×126x126 (mm)

So what all do you get??

Inside the box, everything is housed snugly inside a light nylon stuff sack, which has a rubberised interior and bottom, and taped seams; the result being a watertight vessel which can be used as a kitchen sink, or to haul circa a litre of water (rather carefully.)

Out of the stuff sack, everything is still held tightly in place by the pots’ siliconiszed locking handles, so snug that they could be packed without the sack. Pinching the handles and rotating them 180 gives access to the rest of the kitchen.

First thing out is the pot lid, performs as both a lid/strainer for the pot, as well as a sip lid for the mug. With the knob lying up it sits comfortably over the pot, with a gap  on one side to pour warm liquid out and a set of holes on the other for careful straining. Flipped over with the knob facing downwards it fits snugly into the bowl as to allow it to be used as a sip lid (a la disposable coffee cups) or just to help keep the contents of the mug warmer.

The bowl/mug is next out which sports volumetric marking on its interior to let you know how much water you are using, with a capacity of around 500ml. Wrapped around it is a neoprene-esque material which helps insulate the cup and ease handling of it, it is easily removed for cleaning duties.

The telescopic spork fits into the bottom of the bowl sports the same colour as the pot handle and mug, and extends to give you a handle of 97mm’s (145mm total).

Also to fit into your mug is your stove, in the provided soft suede like bag. My pocket rocket fits into the mug with a little bit of persuasion (2 prongs down, 1 prong up) however anything less compact will struggle. With the stove in the mug, again it takes a small amount of force for the mug to sit in the pot, however I think shaving a bit off either side of the mug will solve this issue.

Last thing into the pot is a 220 gas cartridge, which I unfortunately don’t have to hand right this moment, however will be added to the system to make sure of compatability with the pocket rocket and to irradiate any false promises by GSI.

Left to right (clockwise): Water-tight stuff stack, Streaming/Sip lid,Cooking Pot with siliconised handle, Orange mug with neoprene “insulating” sleeve, Telescopic spork (inside mug), Stove bag (pocket rocket inside)

The soloist pinnacle is a great looking cook-set, everything fits snugly inside each other to create a tidy and functional kitchen, in one package, to which you only need add water and food. If it performs as well as it looks and feels then It’ll be with me until its destruction!!

Matchbox Pinhole Camera

I’ve been looking of going to film for a while now and the idea of developing them myself also sounds like a good bit of fun, the fact that I’m currently without a camera has probably increased this desire though. While looking for a simple guide of how to develop your own photo’s I ended up coming across DIY photgraphy’s article on making your own pinhole camera. This reminded me again of a rticle in outdoor photography about making your own pinhole camera, however the instructions were less than clear,and although when making something the chances of it going wrong is part of the fun,trial and error can get quite annoying. The instructions have been updated and are now being shown on matchboxpinhole, and I think this will be my next mini project, I’ll throw up my results whenever I finally get round to it!!

Lastnightsparty – Photo collection

I came across this photography site while looking for a new desktop wallpaper, and its full of really nice pic’s. Pity you can’t download some of them at higher res as I really like some of tem. Most of them as the sites title would suggest are of nights out partying, and they’re a good reminder to have a good night but don’t get too trashed, says he who crawled in to bed this morning 7.20 Am.

Note to self drinking all nite does nothing for your ability to achieve anything half productive the next day

David Waldman’s Journey of a lifetime

While out for a walk along the coast, from Helen’s Bay to Donaghadee and back, I was cutting between mp3’s on my phone and the radio, flicking through channels as reception was gained and lost due to the terrain. I happened to catch the last 5 minutes of Dave Waldman’s audio diary of his time in Kenya, and if it wasnt for the fact that he repeated his name and the show’s title quite a few times I might have forgotten about it.

I finally googled it and came up with the radio 4 site, and have to say I was a bit dissapointed to see that there was only one log to listen to, the one I had caught some of, I was quite looking forward to having a couple of excerpts to hear, never the less it was as entertaining and enlightening as I rememberand I endeaver anyone out there to get a listen to it while it’s still availible!

After a further check, it seems that there are a total of 5 journey of a Lifetime’s out there so will be checking them out to see how they compare, hopefully thye’ll be just as nice to listen to

Peru Summer ‘08, part 3 – Santa Teresa Trek

After a half hour of wondering if anyone was going to meet with us, our guide Edwin arrived and led us to our bus for the journey to Mollepata, “just in the next square” equated to a 1Km walk to a set of crossroads. The bus was of the basic standard we had become use to over the last couple of day treks. After throwing our rucksacs onto the roof of the bus we got our seats at the back and waited for the journey to begin. Like any journey, the vehicle was packed to the rim with people and kit with bags of chickens and corn all across the floor. It wasnt the most comfortable of bus journeys, the custom vetilation in the back (holes in the flooring) was a bit uneeded with the cool morning temperatures, but standing for the following 4 hours (the fate of some of the Peruvians) would have been far from amusing.

After a rather cold journey, slipping in and out of sleep with the cold, we arrived in Mollepata glad to get out of the fridge of a bus and get moving to warm up. Before entering the village we stopped on the outskirts while our guide bartered with the guards over the price of our entry, nothing in Peru seems to have a fixed price, even thigs with fixed prices. Breakfast was taken in a restraunt off the village square. Top tip; get the largest breakfast availible, “Grande Americano” I believe, as the larger portions are definately worth the extra couple of Sol. After breakfast, we had a quick brief from our guide a couple of photo’s and then set off on the trek, leaving our bags for Edwin’s mate and his horses to (hopefully) pick up.

Unlike the majority of other groups we started off in Mollepata, most others got driven up a further couple of K’s in the back of a flatbed, On leaving the village we passed a couple more shops, from which, you could get any last minute items of food that you needed, all be it for an increased price. After an hour’s walking it became clear that our route was to lead us up the inside of the valley, on a road that had been cut into the hillside to access the higher villages. Another hour and we stopped for a break, where we were very surprised to find a shop selling a variety of food and drinks. As you would expect the prices were again more expesive than in the Mollepata, but thats to be expected when you’re on a hill!!

The further up the valley we travelled the greater the views were. The snow capped peaks of watched over us, where as across the valley we could see tracks once used be the inca’s to run messages to the outer villages of the empire, perfectly horizontal and cut into the hill, very much unlike what we were travelling upon. Another couple hours up the hill and we arrived at out lunch stop, a well received rest for the feet. A straw roof gave us good shade from the sun and the lack of walls gave us great views across the valley. It was at this time that we realised that our rucksacs had been brought thus far via a minibus, and the horses were just getting loaded up with our bags, not that they didn’t try to run away before getting loaded up. I think after the morning’s walk everyone was very glad of the decision to get horses to carry our house, as I think everyone would have been struggling with the combination of heat, altitude and weight (especially the extra 4 Litres of water in each pack!)

Compared to the Inca trail the amount of availible literature for the Sant Teresa trek is very much limited. Prior to beginning the trek we had thought that we would walking across the scrub anddoing a lot of nav, however the realisation on the ground was that we were following well walked traks, used by around 100 people a day and a good couple of mule trains. Maps were pretty much left in the daysack for the majority of the walking, except for points of interest, i.e names of sowpeaked moutains, distance to campsite and the like.

As we closed in upon the campsite for the night the size of the moutains either side of us on the valley floor became apparent, huge lumps of rock with small amounts of vegetation and snow covered peaks. With another 700metres to our finish for the day we passed what looked to be a 5 star thatched roof cabin with outdoor hot tub, nothing like 5 star accomidation to make you wish you weren’t camping!! Unfortunately they were fully booked and only served those that had booked prior to starting the trek in Cusco, there loss didnt want to jump into the hot tub anyways.

When we arrived at our campsite we found it all quite amicable. Pitching our terra novas and getting our site sorted before a quick exploration of the surrounding area. I was shocked to find a high class lodging at this height however was again surprised to find a concise shop at the campsite, selling everything and anything; wine, beer, rice, crisps, chocolate. A couple of beers with a dinner of pasta sauce and sausage was just the ticket. It was becoming apparent that you could complete the trek without carrying any food or water, jush purchasing on the way, even if at a rather inflated price. Definately bring a down/insulated jacket for the evenings as they are bitterly cold!!

The second day was started with a hearty breakfast, 2 cereal bar’s and some chocolate nut’s, not the fried sausages I’d usually start the day off with on a multiday trek! This morning we were walking to the highest altitude of the trek(4600m a.s.l), and also the highest I’d been since in the

Aberdares mountain ranges in Kenya. The previous day was pretty hard going with the altitude, however getting up to the pass is probably the most physical experience of my life.

The altitude really kicks the shit out of you, everybody handle’s it differently, but everyone in our group found it tough going, and all of us are far from unfit. Every couple hundred metres we had to stop and take a breather. It was here that the trekking pole’s came into their own removeing some effort from your legs and slowing the speed at which your legs would tire. Stopping nearly 150metres below the pass, we took our morning elevenses and enjoyed the great 360 degree views.

yes that’s right, hawain shorts at 4300m (a.s.l)

It was easily another half hour walking before we reached the pass and were very much relieved to get there. Here we stopped for another half hour or so and enjoyed the views of Nevado Salkantay and Nevado Tacarhuay and got plenty of photo’s including a Semi-naked one with “our wee country” flags, god was that cold, that photo wasn’t taken fast enough for my liking!!

From the highest altitude we were going to reach on the trip, we descended 1500m to our lunch stop.Climbing the last 800 metres had taken us nearly the complete morning, and descenting twice that took only 45 minutes. We really flew down the mountain, with the help and stability  given to us by the trekking pole’s, I would have been on my ass countless time’s without there help. After dropping over a K in altitude we stopped for lunch and it was far easier to move without feeling ike you had sat on the couch for the last year!!! A nice spot of rain led us to enjoy a longer a longer lunch break than planned, and then it was on with the downward journey to the nights camp.

Peru defo aint all sun!!

While descending it was hard not to notice the change in the landscape,  it was visible to everyone that this side of the mountain was getting all the rain, compared to the spartan vegetation on the other side of the hill, this side was lush and tropical. Again some of us pretty much ran down the hill to our campsite for the night, using the trekking poles as a rescue system when the fooring was less sound than expected, or when an unexpected turn came up. With nearly an hour of sunlight remaining we bedded down in our camp for the night vith glorious views of the sunset, and the last of the sunlight entering the valley. With high mountains on all sides of our camp and a stream trickling a few metres from our tents it was an idylic camp.

fading light at the end of day 2