Mt Whitney Zone Forums The Chat Room REI Anniversary Sale

Well I didn't know about the free shipping part. ...next time!

But since the store is close enough, I opted to pick it up there. It's always been free to have it shipped to a store.

Yeah, I thought about your wife's aversion to that color. It's pretty bright, with a hint of green.

And yes, I used the 20% PLUS my dividend.

(And this is the Chat Room. Drifting topics are quite ok.)

Glad you brought me along, huh?!

Gotta maintain my coordinates, er, I mean, bearing...

Ordered the NeoAir/regular this morning using my 20%, and elected free shipping. Steve sold me. It packs smaller and lighter than my Z-Lite, and is undoubtedly a helluva lot more comfortable. $127 total, but I'm willing to pay extra for a decent sleep.

Gary, congrats on the purchase! I am sure you will enjoy it.

I've been using the short version of sleeping pads for years, since it saves a few ounces. All I do is fold my hiking pants and maybe a coat for the area under my legs and feet. I have never wished for any cushioning in that area.

The only time this method would not work is when it is super cold (maybe around 20F, or sleeping on snow). You should try it.

Looking forward to it Steve. I appreciate the personal experience 411 on it last week - it's why I chose it.

I always use a full-size pad - not necessarily because I'm a sleep-snob, but because of an experience a few years ago. I was using a piss-poor, thin pad on a one-nighter, and I woke up next morning mostly off the pad and with a charley horse below my shoulder blade that was excruciating. Got progressively worse during the out-hike. By the time I got home I was a mess, and wound up missing a week of work 'cuz I could barely move. I've had broken bones that hurt less.

I'll pay a few extra dollars and carry a few extra ounces to avoid ever going through that again. The regular is only 5 ounces more than the small, so no biggie. Do you have the stuff-sack designed for it? I wasn't sure if it was worth another $15 when I suspect any smilar-size stuff-sack would work just as well. Am I missing something there?

Since I'm a superlight snob...

I use a backpack that has NO padding or back support. So I use the mattress as an internal lining inside my pack.

I make a fan-fold setup with the mattress pad against my back.
Then stuff all the contents into the pack.
Then.... inflate the mattress as tight as possible.

This is my padding against my back plus the only stabilization for my pack.

Do I sense the presence of an ULB (Ultra-Light Bigot)? New acronym for your growing compendium, wagga.

So Steve, what weight do you typically carry for an overnighter?

To the new folks: Gotta love this site. Grab your thesaurus, or google the word. Learn something new everyday.

Steve is certainly a ULB. And he's contagious.

ULB chiming in...

I forget what I carried last summer on a 4-nighter, but I think it was about 24#.

With my son on a 2-nighter, I carried 17#. But he carried stove and other stuff, and his was at 24#.

He's got my pack and neoair ready to go on his PCT adventure, and he told me yesterday his "dry weight" was about 12 pounds.

I'm about to order a new ZPack from ZPacks.com ...June 1st, I'll be the first to hit the submit button! My pack weighs 7 oz with all the accessories I have them put on it.

So I decided to try and take advantage of the REI anniversary sale and buy a Oregon Garmin 550T GPS but then I just find out that GPS is excluded from the sale so I try to find other coupon codes without luck but wait they do have a 50 dollar mail in rebate, well that still would only bring the cost down to 550 dollars then the tax came out to 50 dollars! so I said the hell with this and went to Amazon and they had the 550T listed for 520 dollars and no tax charged!

Sorry REI lol

And as for the light weight discussion you should consider that Zpacks Hexamid I posted awhile ago Steve, I finally got mine and have used it a couple times, light as a feather at 10 total ounces!

Now THAT is one determined ULB!

> consider that Zpacks Hexamid

I have the Six Moon Designs Gatewood Cape. It doubles as tent and parka. 11 oz.

That thing is floorless which means no winged demon protection! the Hexamid is a fully inclosed shelter and even though it has a netting for the floor it's so fine that dirt doesn't really come through.

Now if you want to buy the Hexamid without the floor it comes in at under 5 ounces.

I believe I just set an all time LOW for usage of the 20% Anniversary Sale Coupon at REI.

Disclosure: I have been a member almost 50 years. Thus I have everything I need, maybe two of each. After wandering
the REI aisles for almost an hour, I gave up and bought a cheap REI large storage sack for our Queen sized down comforter. Cost : $9.50 and my savings at 20% was $1.90 !! Hate to waste a 20% deal. My wife, also a member, bought some $90 shoes and both my children are members and bought things they wanted. I at least got some of the REI sale catalog items, but can anyone beat a meager $1.90 saving?

I might add, I did buy some shoes during the March members sale but feel sort of worthless in not finding something better than a large storage sack this time.

Gary, you will love the Neo Air.

> That thing is floorless which means no winged demon protection!

What??? are you a Bug Wuss?

I carry 100% deet in those tiny spray containers. And if I am heading into mosquito territory, I've got one of those springy foldable head-nets. So at night, I am all covered except the hands. So I only need the deet for them.

Last year I picked up the OR Nighthaven which isn't quite as light as the poncho-tarp thingie, but it's palatial for two people and has an optional floor. Actually, the edges of the walls fold back which does serve as a deterrent for most of the bastard winged specks of evilness.

And, of course, you can spot this thing from about 1/2 a mile away...

lol not exactly but last summer when I was out for weeks I decided not to use any deet because of how it eats up synthetic fabrics, I have even heard people having all the rubber on their camera being eaten away and at 2700 dollars for my camera body I said no way! but then I also saw some of the worst mosquitoes I have ever seen! having a tent to retreat to for eating and buzz free sleeping was just too nice!

I may give in this season and bring a small bottle of the 100% deet since I got like 15 packs for free and use it to spray on my shoulders because whenever the bugs were not too bad for my armor they would end up biting through my clothes on my shoulders.

I was carrying a container of deet in my pocket, and a pocket camera, too. At some point, a small amount of deet got on the camera, and it removed the painted-on switch markings.

Now I carry the repellent inside a ziploc, and make sure to clean my hands after rubbing it on.

It's a devil chemical, but what else works?