CHOOSING A HIKING TENT - Hiking the Drakensberg

 

ENDURANCE IS NOT JUST THE ABILITY TO BEAR A GREAT THING…… BUT TO TURN IT INTO GLORY”

UNKNOWN

CHOOSING A HIKING TENT

 

For sitting out storms and lounging around you need a decent-sized tent, but if you want to backpack, weight is a serious consideration.

   Choosing the right tent is far from easy. One weekend you may be backpacking, the next you may be taking a short walk to a wild area, and the next you might want to camp from the back of your car. All these uses different sizes and weights of tent, so deciding what to buy is a tough call.

   The key features for such a wide range of uses are living space and weight. For comfort in all weathers your tent needs a area to store wet gear and enough living space to make long stays under the stars comfortable.

   But if you intend carrying the tent for any length of time, the lighter the better – even if some space is sacrificed.

Fabrics

The big choice is between nylon and polyester. Recent tests have shown that nylon is in fact less sensitive to UV than polyester, so nylon should last longer. Polyurethane is applied to make the fabrics waterproof. The level of waterproofness is indicated by a “hydrostatic head” rating. So a fabric with a rating of 10,000mm is more waterproof, and more expensive, than a fabric with a rating of only 5,000mm or less. However it is to be said that differing methods of testing mean that these figures should not be taken too literally.

Inner or outer pitched first?

Inner-first pitching saves weight and tends to be stable as the inner and outer contribute to stability. It should be more water resistant too as there is less complicated sleeves on the flysheet to seal.

But when pitched in wet conditions outer-pitched first designs are better as you can put the outer up, get inside, strip off your wet gear and then put up the inner in the dry. Then, when striking the tent you can do the reverse, pack the inner away and get your waterproofs on before hauling down the outer in the rain and packing it away.

                    Poles

Poles are used to give the tent shape and stability. Most tents have alloy poles with shock-cords down the middle that allow them to be easily folded and opened. Better tents have color-coded poles so you know which pole goes in which part of the tent. For the greatest stability, look for geodesic designs where the poles cross one another at two or more places. Glass-fiber poles will snap more easily than alloy, particularly in cold weather and strong winds.

Guy-lines

A set of cords is usually provided to hold the tent stable in high winds. Some tent designs need fewer guy-lines than others, as stability can also be controlled by careful use of the poles.

Pegs

Most tents come with fairly lightweight basic wire skewer-type designs which are fine for general use. But more durable pegs are available for different types of terrain and these can be purchased separately if needed. Some pegs dig painfully into the hands when pushed into the ground so you may want to replace them with more “hand friendly” pegs.

Groundsheet

The groundsheet is the part you lie on inside the inner tent. In modern tents it is sewn in and seam-sealed to prevent it from leaking.

Porch

This is the large area that’s outside the inner tent yet still under the cover of the flysheet. It is ideal for storing wet gear as well as acting as a kitchen in wet weather.

Weight

The lighter the tent, the easier it will be to carry. Choosing a tent is a compromise and only you can decide which model best suit your needs. Solo backpacking tents can weigh as little as 1,3kg to 2,5kg. Some are little bigger than a sleeping bag others could even take two people at a push for one night in an adventure race.

Doors

The external doors allow entry to the porch and the inner tent. But they also provide ventilation and act as a windbreak and canopy when cooking. Ideally all zips should have double pullers so that the top or bottom of the door can be opened. Finally it is worth checking that the doors can be rolled back neatly and secured firmly without any fabric dangling into the porch or inner tent

Headroom

In some tents you can only sit up at the highest point, which is usually near the porch and entrance. To be sure you can sit up inside the tent, get a friend to measure your height when sitting, and then compare this to the maximum internal height in the specification.

Flysheet

This forms the outside of the tent, and as its job is to keep the rain away from the inner tent it has to be waterproof. A polyurethane coating is usually applied to achieve this. On more expensive tents a coating of silicone elastomer may be applied; this is more durable and more water repellent than polyurethane.

Mesh netting

Mesh netting on the inner tent reduces weight and packed size, and increases airflow through the tent, which will aid the control of condensation. However, tents with too much mesh netting are colder at night and so are really only suitable for mild weather. The mess must be fine enough to prevent insects getting in.

Inner tent

You sleep inside the inner tent, so it needs to be dry and spacious. To ensure you do stay dry, the inner must allow warm air to escape to the underside of the flysheet where it may form condensation. There must also be a gap between the inner and the flysheet, so that condensation on the underside of the flysheet does not soak into the inner tent. A better quality inner tent may have a light fluorocarbon finish to repel condensation that falls on to it from the underside of the flysheet. Single skin tents do not have a separate inner, so the weight savings can be considerable, but the occupants run the risk of coming into contact with the inside of the flysheet where condensation will always collect – which means they could become damp inside the tent. Single skin tents are generally colder too.

 

We as hikers, explorers, and adventurers have the absolute duty to respect and protect our Wildernesses. Nobody else will do it for us. Take ownership!

  

The End.

 

Safe Hiking.

References and Acknowledgements

From the book – The Ultimate Hiking Skills Manual –

                              A Hinkes / C Bagshaw

Photos – Willem Pelser

Compiled by Willem Pelser

The Silent Snow - Hiking the Drakensberg Mountains

 

THE AMPHITHEATER PLATEAU IN WINTER  

“GREAT THINGS ARE EXPERIENCED

 WHEN MEN, MOUNTAINS AND A WILDERNESS MEET”

 

I have often found myself reflecting on why I solo-hike the Drakensberg wilderness. Using the words of author R.O. Pearce — with a few thoughts of my own added — perhaps this comes closest to explaining it:

“Here I am, a civilized man, living in the wilderness, doing my own cooking, getting tired, and hot, and dirty, and enjoying it. It is too easy to say I needed a change, or that the beauty and peace of nature drew me there. Why do it at all? I do not think it is entirely because of a love of nature. It goes deeper than that. I have a deep-seated, subconscious dislike of the artificiality, attitudes, complications, and ease of modern life.

We lead such superficial lives, in square houses, along regimented streets, where the procuring of the essentials of life — food, clothing, and shelter — is no problem at all. These things are no further away than the nearest telephone. Life was not meant to be like this.

Here in the wilderness I have only myself to depend upon. I have to find shelter. I have to carry my own food and bedding with me. I have to find my own way without signposts.

If I conk in, get lost, or the weather changes, I have only myself to rely upon to get me out of the mess. If I sprain my ankle, I cannot simply phone the nearest doctor. There is no-one to help me. Life is reduced to its essentials — food, warmth, and shelter. It becomes simplified.

It is good for a man to sometimes break loose, go primitive once again, and experience an uncomplicated, wondrous life — even if only for a little while.”

The Silent Snow

“The Silent Snow Possessed the Earth”

FROZEN AMPHITHEATER WALL

A few suggestions might be useful for those who plan to visit the Drakensberg high peaks and Wilderness in winter.

   First of all, make sure you are carrying plenty of warm clothing and plenty of food. If you plan a multi-day hike, take reserve food for another two or three days. This need not be anything elaborate – some highly concentrated, light-weight balanced food, like Pro-nutro, which doesn’t have to be cooked, or a few extra slabs of chocolate – enough to keep body and soul together in an emergency. A small pressure stove is invaluable, for in heavy snow fuel is next to impossible to find in an emergency. A groundsheet is essential for keeping moisture from reaching one’s sleeping bag. A sleeping mat improves comfort. It is wise to carry two sleeping bags, an inner and an outer. Modern sleeping bags are so light that this is easily done. Even if you leave your base camp and intend returning to it that night, slip a sleeping bag into your backpack. If you rick your ankle you can’s ring up a taxi to take you home in the Drakensberg. And remember: at all cost keep your party together. Never separate, even for a short while.

   Remember, too, that the great killer on the summit is not cold, but cold plus wind plus moisture. Your body can withstand tremendous degrees of cold, but if the cold is accompanied by wind, you will quickly succumb without adequate protection. Make sure you have windproof outer clothing with you. If you have to sleep out in the snow, choose a position sheltered from the wind. If the weather is fine you will need no roof over your head. In a snowstorm, your best hope, if you have no tent, is either a cave or a rock overhang. Caves on the summit, unlike the Little Berg, are few and far between, but overhangs can usually be found. Try somewhere along the escarpment edge for these. They are more numerous there. Remember that everything will freeze during the night. Boots and socks are the main problem, for they are sure to get wet during your day’s march through the snow, and in the morning will be stiff with ice, delaying your departure for anything up to a couple of hours, if you do nothing to protect them. Protect them during the night. Slip them inside your sleeping bag when you turn in, together with anything else you are likely to need in the morning, such as your water-bottle and essential medicines.

   If you observe these few simple precautions you need never fear anything the summit can do to you in winter – and you will have the time of your life! It is the person who goes hiking inadequately equipped, with no reserves or warm clothing, who lands in trouble. Adjustment to cold is a highly individual matter. There have been many cases of climbers exposed all night on mountainsides in sub-zero temperatures. Some die, while others, in the same party, survive little or no adverse effects. Some years ago it was noted that the Australian Aborigines could sleep naked all night in temperatures close to freezing, while Europeans, even covered with a couple of blankets, could not sleep at all. It is also known that one can condition oneself to cold. It is well known that one always feels the cold more at the beginning of winter, before the body has become adjusted to the lower temperatures.

HEAVY SNOWFALL STRETCHING INTO KZN MIDLANDS

   But cold, or rather hypothermia, which means a lowering of the temperature of the body’s inner core, can be a subtle and diabolical killer. One should never underestimate it.

   When one is exposed to extreme cold the body responds, first of all, by constricting the blood vessels of the outer skin, with the result that less blood flows to the surface to be chilled. This warmer blood is then concentrated in those vital internal organs, which are thus protected from harm. Frost-bite, in its early stages at least, is therefore one of those protective devices of nature.

   The body, having done all that it can to conserve heat, now sets about producing heat at a greater rate, so as to replace any heat that is lost. The heart beats faster, additional adrenaline is pumped into the blood, and the metabolic rate rises. All this result in greater heat. We feel stimulated.

   Then as the temperature continues to drop, other mechanisms are brought into play. The muscles begin to contract spasmodically, and we shiver. Again the result is the production of heat. But shivering also consumes a great deal of energy. If the shivering is intense and prolonged, it can result in exhaustion.

ICICLES A METER LONG

   One of the interesting effects of extreme cold is the effect on emotions. Moderate cold is exhilarating: extreme cold is exhausting. Fits of depression are common, one becomes irritable, there is a loss of judgment, and also, as we have seen, of memory.

   What causes hypothermia? It is not cold alone. Many a person has survived extreme cold with no ill effects, while others have succumbed when the temperature was well above zero. Apparently it is caused by a combination of four factors. None of these alone, with the possible exception of the first, will be lethal. These four factors are: cold, wetness, wind; and personal pre-conditions, for example being particularly susceptible to cold, or in an exhausted condition.

   Wind, combined with cold, is certainly one of the biggest contributing factors in cases of hypothermia. Worst of all, and a real killer, is a combination of cold, wind and wetness. More fatalities are ascribed to this cause than any other.

A FROZEN WATERFALL

   To survive on the summit and in the Wilderness, therefore, in a blizzard or extreme cold, becomes a problem of avoiding these combinations.

   Clothing must be adequate. The head is the greatest source of loss of heat from radiation. If your feet are cold, put on your hat! Body heat is derived from two sources – food and muscular activity. Keep nibbling. Sweets, especially chocolates are excellent. Intake of hot liquids will also help considerably. Stay away from alcohol – it will kill!

   Exercise is essential. Hiking can increase heat production as much as six times. If you are holed up, keep flexing your muscles.

   Wind is your worst enemy. Even a moderate breeze in cold weather can lower your body temperature. It has been found that merely to wear windproof garments over wet clothing raises one’s chances of survival, in cold-wet-windy conditions, five times. Wind is made infinitely worse if your clothing is wet. Also always wear clothing next tour skin that breathes.

   Don’t wait to feel cold before putting on protective clothing. Warm clothing will not produce heat: it merely conserves already existing heat. Camp down in plenty of time, while you still have all your faculties about you.

CAMPING ON THE ESCARPMENT IN WINTER – DARK AND COLD CONDITIONS

   Prevent any further loss of heat. Add heat to the body; make a person as warm as possible. Rubbing frost-bitten area with snow is quite fallacious and will add to the likelihood of permanent injury. Then into a warm sleeping bag, out of the wind with warm dry clothing. It will also help to put another person into the sleeping bag. Give warm fluids to drink, and sweetened foods. Remember that carbohydrates are the foods that are most quickly transformed into heat and energy.

   With these few simple precautions you should be safe in the Drakensberg. Even so, always remember that the unpredictable can happen, and be ready for it when it comes.

   There is no more a lovely time in the Drakensberg than when the snow comes and possesses the earth. In summer the peaks have a hard, bright beauty, stenciled starkly against a turquoise sky, with the clouds breaking around them in a splendor of white foam. In autumn they have a softer, more dream-like quality, as they gaze down into the sun-drenched valleys of the Little Berg. But when the snows come that whole expanse of mountain splendor is sheathed in purest white, glistening in the clean sunlight, the snowfields stretch to the horizon, and the peaks stand tranquil and proud over it all. Snow can come to the Drakensberg at any month of the year.

We as hikers, explorers, and adventurers have the absolute duty to respect and protect our Wildernesses.
Nobody else will do it for us. Take ownership!

 

The End.

Safe Hiking.

References and Acknowledgements

Photos Bushmen:   Barrier of Spears – RO Pearce/M Pearce

Source:   Barrier of Spears – RO Pearce

Compiled by:   Willem Pelser

CHOOSING A HIKING SLEEPING BAG

 

“GREAT THINGS ARE EXPERIENCED WHEN MEN, MOUNTAINS, AND A WILDERNESS MEET”.

UNKNOWN

CHOOSING A HIKING
SLEEPING BAG

Choosing the right sleeping bag is a crucial part of hiking. And it very much depends on the circumstances you want to use it in. In most situations, a three-season bag will do the job. These are designed for use in spring, summer, and autumn. For hiking at altitude or in winter, then you may need a four-season bag.

   The most expensive, lightweight, and compact bag use high quality down. Synthetic fillings give cheaper but heavier and more bulkier bags.

   If you want to save weight when hiking, choose a three-season down bag. These are not cheap, so it’s best to get one that’s suitable for a wide temperature range. A comfort temperature rating of -5 degree Celsius should mean the bag is warm enough for most days in the Drakensberg Wilderness. In summer you will have to open the zips to remain comfy, while on colder nights simply slip into your base layers before getting into the bag.

   Your sleeping bag needs to keep you warm and comfortable, but still be light enough to carry any distance.

   Down is so efficient you don’t need much of it to keep you warm, so a down bag will be compact and low in weight, meaning you can stow it easily in a backpack.

Weight
It’s also worth noting that box construction methods produce a lighter bag than other, more elaborate designs; but other methods hold the down in place better for a more even distribution of insulation.

Fill weight
The better the down, in terms of fill power, the less of it you will need to stay warm – so a lower fill weight is required if the best down is used. By comparing the fill weight of bags with identical fill power, you can judge how warm they will be. But construction methods will also affect warmth, particularly over a period of time.

Lining material
Fast-wicking, breathable fabrics are needed to keep you dry inside a sleeping bag, but they must also prevent the down from escaping. Lower priced bags use poly-cotton, but this can feel clammy over time as it is relatively slow-drying.

Fill power
This gives a gauge of how efficient the filling is at trapping air (and therefore keeping you warm.) The higher the number, the better – and a fill power of 750 is the best generally available. However, different test methods can be used to determine fill power, so a 750 fill power down-tested in Europe may rate as 800 or 900 when tested in the US, for exactly the same product.

Temperature ratings
These are only useful as a guide: how warm you feel inside a sleeping bag depends not just on the bag itself but also on your gender, metabolic rate, food intake, exertion levels, and environmental conditions such as wind and humidity. Ratings also assume a sleeping mat is used. A season rating may be provided, such as three seasons, on cheaper bags. Better bags come with a comfort rating and an extreme (low) temperature rating.

Shoulder baffle
Sleeping bags work by trapping air next to the body, and a shoulder or neck baffle helps to keep that warm air inside the bag.

 

Side zip
Side zips that extend the whole length of the bag are provided so you can get into your bag easily and have a degree of temperature control. Two-way zips are often used so that you can open them at the bottom to allow your feet to cool down. Half-length side zips make a bag lighter and less expensive, but this may render the bag too hot to use in mild weather. The side zip should always have a substantial baffle to prevent draughts and cold spots, while an anti-snag design is essential to prevent the zip from jamming when operated.

Filling
Eider duck down is the best, but it’s also the most expensive, because it has to be hand-picked from the nests as eider ducks are a protected species. Goose down is almost as good, while duck down is a cheaper alternative. The amount of feathers that are mixed with the down affects performance, because feathers don’t provide as much insulation as down. The quality of down is therefore given in terms of how much down and feathers it contains. The best possible down is 96/4 percent, but the feathers have to be removed by hand to achieve this ratio. So usually a 90/10 mixture is used on the best bags, with 70/30 being common on lower-priced bags. Quite simply, the better the down, the more expensive, but also the more effective it will be – so you’ll need less to stay warm.

Shell material
The shell has to be breathable to allow condensation out, and yet the holes must be small enough to keep the down trapped inside. Ideally it should also be water-resistant, as down is a poor insulator when wet, so the latest bags use a highly water-resistant shell to combat the damp environment of a tent in winter.

Size

The measurements are taken across the largest ‘footprint’ made by the bag, with a measurement at the shoulders as well as from the head to toe.

Construction

The long-term performance of a sleeping bag is dictated by the construction method used. Basically, the better the construction method, the less opportunity there is for the down to ‘migrate’ and leave cold spots. A system of fabric baffles inside the bag is designed to trap the down where it is most needed, and the best bags use a number of construction methods to optimize long-term performance.

We as hikers, explorers, and
adventurers have the absolute duty to respect and protect our Wildernesses.
Nobody else will do it for us. Take ownership!

The End.

Safe Hiking.

References and Acknowledgements

From the book – The Ultimate Hiking Skills Manual –

                              A Hinkes / C Bagshaw

Photos – Willem Pelser

Compiled by Willem Pelser

Storms in the Drakensberg Wilderness

  

"WE HIKE THE WILDERNESS, SO THAT WE FILL THE SOUL, MILE AFTER ENDLESS MILE, WITH THE GOODNESS OF NATURE.”

UNKNOWN

Storms in the Drakensberg Wilderness

The magnificence and tremendous impact of a storm in the Drakensberg has to be seen to be believed.  First come the black clouds, enmeshed with billowing soft puff-balls of gleaming white. It grows ominously darker and the clouds are heavy as lead. There is a distant growl of thunder. And suddenly the storm is upon you. The cloud is split by a fiery javelin of white-hot light, a sharp crack which merges instantly with the mighty roll of thunder, and you know the dreaded thunderbolt has struck not far from you. And then they come, one after another, hammer-blows, and you stand appalled at the fury of the storm. Sometimes so rapid are the discharges that the whole sky and the boiling clouds seem to throb and glow with fire. Cataracts of flame pour down on the earth, glowing like molten iron, and the roar of the storm is an unending, deafening cacophony of sound.

   No wonder the ancients thought they were witnessing the anger and black hatred of their gods. Modern science, of course, has explained much of the wonder of the storm, especially the mechanics of lightning, but still there is much that we do not know, much that is still unpredictable.

   We know that as the thundercloud builds up it becomes a huge dynamo, generating millions of volts of electricity. Then a separation of electrical charges takes place, the positive charge streaming to the top of the cloud and the negative to the bottom.

   Then, by a complicated interaction of electrical forces, the negative charge at the bottom of the cloud induces a positive charge on the earth below it. As the cloud passes slowly over the countryside, it draws the positive charge below on the ground after it, and the two drift together, down-wind.

   It is, of course, a well-known fact that if a positive charge is brought into contact with a negative charge, electrons flow from one to the other. But the two charges do not necessarily have to touch. If they are brought close enough together, the electrons will jump the gap, causing a spark. The spark is nothing more than air intensely super-heated to 30 000 degrees Celsius in a split second. No wonder you hear a crack (the air expanding with the heat) when you touch the two terminals of your car battery together. And no wonder you hear a mighty roar of thunder, and see a spear of light, when the lower terminal of the cloud and earth come close enough together.

   One consequence of all this is that lightning, contrary to popular believe, does not strike down. Actually, three things happen almost simultaneously. First there is certainly a downward discharge of electricity, about one million volts in barely one hundredth of a second. But then there is a surge of high voltage electricity flashing back up the original path, again in a minute fraction of a second. It is the second, upward flash that does the killing. Lastly, there is a sustained and longer charge between the cloud and the earth, lasting for about one-tenth of a second. It is this charge that burns or melts the object struck. The total voltage, in a single flash of lightning, can reach 100 million volts. Of course, all this can also take place between one cloud and another, if they are differently charged. High-speed photography has proved all this.

   Heat is the main killer. When a tree is struck by lightning it looks as if the bark has been split open. That is exactly what has happened. The intense heat, passing through the core of the tree, causes the sap to expand explosively, and to burst open the enclosing bark. The electric current runs through the roots and trunk and out through the branches and leaves, raising the temperature in the flash of a second to millions of degrees centigrade.

   Lightning is completely unpredictable. There are certain general rules, but the main rule appears to be that these are continually broken! For instance, climbers are told to avoid high points during a storm, on the theory that lightning will always strike the highest point. But often, sitting on a hillside during a storm, you will see lightning striking down in the valleys below. Even so, it is a wise precaution to choose low, flat ground (not a slope) as a place to sit out a storm.

   What other precautions can one take? First of all, on no account shelter under an isolated tree. Clumps of trees, or forests, are safer, but it is better to even avoid these. Also, keep away from wire fences, posts, horses, and cattle. If you are mounted, dismount and move away from your horse. Drop anything metal you are carrying, and don’t, whatever you do, run for shelter. Running seems to produce a magnetic field which can attract lightning.

    Deep caves are safe, but avoid shallow caves and overhangs, and also cracks and chimneys, especially if water is flowing down them.

   The safest place in a storm is a car or a building. There is some evidence that in a dry storm the bodywork of a car can be damaged by lightning, but there is no known case where a person sitting in a car has been killed or even injured.

   If you have no car or house in which to shelter, the best course is to sit down on some insulating material, such as a sleeping bag, draw your knees up, put your arms around them, and sit the storm out. It is a good idea to drape something like a cape around you. Don’t lie down and down stand up. Above all, don’t panic. Remember that, statistically speaking, it is extremely unlikely that you will be hit.

   Actually, although African huts in the Drakensberg are often struck by lightning with fatal results (thatched huts are potentially very dangerous, South Africa holds a world record in this respect. Some years ago a hut in which 64 Africans were holding a party was struck by lightning, and 61 were killed instantly.), very few climbers and hikers have been struck.

   Two incidents are worth mentioning. Years ago 2 climbers were standing in the middle of a group of horses. Lightning struck and killed the 2 climbers and a horse. Years later, at Injasuthi, a park Ranger, his girlfriend and a dog was standing in one of the most exposed positions one could imagine – the highest point on a bleak, remote and rock-scarred plateau, next to some Protea trees -  watching an approaching storm coming from Monks Cowl. Then came a freak thunderbolt – one blinding flash of light – and left all 3 dead.

   Don’t take a chance, respect the mountains and her weather patterns, and always play it safe.

The End.

 

Safe Hiking.

References and Acknowledgements

From the book: Dragon’s Wrath – J Byrom/RO Pearce

Photos:  ©Willem Pelser

Compiled by:  Willem Pelser