Viewing entries by
Damian Stones
Marmot - Quasar Jacket - It was fantastic to have the use of the Quasar jacket as it’s super light and weight was critical on this trip. If the weather had really turned on us and we’d had cold days on the river, wearing this at the end of day would have been essential. I also used this jacket to boost my meagre excuse for a sleeping bag!
Marmot Pack Aquifer 24 - Once I aligned the mouldable shank with my back along the inside of the pack, it was a comfortable fit. Nice and light with a single sack as the main compartment and enough space in the lid pocket for more accessible items. The exterior pockets were extremely useful, perhaps the front exterior pocket could use the same stretchy material as the side exterior pockets to allow the user to stuff more items in easily. Side compression straps helped with making pack more streamlined with small loads.
Marmot Super Mica Jacket - Muel and I used the Super Mica Jacket. We needed an extremely lightweight waterproof shell to wear both on the bike and in the packrafts. The Super Mica performed extremely well in both pursuits.
Accent - Collapsible paddles - The Accent 4 piece breakdown paddles we used were a touring paddle but they fitted the bill nicely. 210 cm length required for packrafts, tick. Strong durable blades, tick. Very light, tick. Deane used an Accent white water 4 piece slightly bigger blade, touch stronger and a unique and funky joining system.
Astral Brewer river shoe - The requirement for an ultra lightweight river shoe was filled when Chris from Kayak HQ suggested the Astral Brewer. Incredibly light, self-draining. I found them best with bare feet but if you want to wear socks go for it.
Astral buoyancy - YTV PFD / Astral bouyancy aids are by far some of the most engineered river gear ever created and the YTV is no exception. Minimal but snug fitting, heaps of buoyancy, and 2 compact pockets make this garment a good choice for packrafting due to its compact size.
We used Alpacka Llama (Large model). They had a cruiser deck option and specced w the ‘cargo fly’. These boats are a superb design, fast, stable and easy to paddle. The cruiser deck was a little cumbersome pushing the buoyancy vest up around your neck but kept most of the water out, we also had 2 boats w the self-bailing floor which is superior in white water.
